Matthew Series Week 3 - Temptation in the Wilderness
Matthew 4:1-11 Sermon Recap and Going Deeper
Bottom Line: Recognize Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promises because of His success in the wilderness and His victory on the cross and defeat of the grave.
This last Sunday Matt preached over Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness and what the implications are which that narrative points to. Remember what happened just before was John baptizing Jesus and the heavens opening up and the Father saying “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Then this narrative of the temptation in the wilderness is followed by Jesus starting His public ministry and proclaiming the Kingdom of heaven.
Matthew then seems to be setting up the baptism and temptation as the prelude to the narrative to the Gospel account, that Jesus came sinless and remained so by resisting temptation. But if that is where things kick off, what is the significance of these events? In short it’s Jesus replaying Israel’s 40 year journey through the wilderness where they failed to trust God. It started with them passing through the water from bondage into freedom, but instead of continuing to trust God, they began to doubt and rebel. Instead, after passing through the water and being proclaimed as God’s Son, Jesus has faith in the Spirit’s leading and can lean on an eternal perspective to fight against temptations in the moment, unlike the Israelites who complain and doubt in the moment every time things seem to not go their way.
So starting off in v1 knowing the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days so that His fidelity might be set in contrast to the nation’s infidelity. Here we can also notice that the Spirit leads Jesus, and the enemy tests or tempts Him. That is a clear contrast to be sure. [FSB] With those things in mind we can review the main points from the sermon in Sunday’s gathering:
Recognize Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promises to redeem His people.
Recognize Jesus succeeded by trusting the Father and depending on the Spirit, unlike the Israelites.
Recognize that the Father is good, the Son is Victorious, and the Spirit is empowering and trustworthy, and the Lord’s will cannot be thwarted.
“Bottom Line: Recognize Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promises because of His success in the wilderness and His victory on the cross and defeat of the grave.”
Jesus was the promised fulfillment of God’s plan for redemption. He was able to withstand temptation by standing upon His trust of the Father’s will, and His dependence on the Spirit’s guiding, to defeat Satan’s attacks here in the wilderness as a prelude to his ultimate defeat from Jesus’ Victory on the cross. This is why the passage from Hebrews about Jesus being our Great High Priest is so important and weighty in its implications.
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
The temptations He overcame also qualify him for his role as priest, since He is able to identify with His people in their temptations and restore them in relationship with God. His effectiveness and perfection as priest, with “His empathy and willingness to help those undergoing temptation originate in HIs personal experience. Hebrews 4:16 urges Christians to seek Jesus’ help, as He both understands temptation and pain, and possesses the ability to provide the aid necessary to surmount any obstacle.” [FSB]
Our Great High Priest is also divine as the Bible shows us that He is God incarnate, which obviously adds to His qualification as the ultimate priest on our behalf, as Jesus the Son of God “has passed through the heavens.” So our Priest, who is able to sympathize with us in our weakness, invites us to boldly come to God’s heavenly throne, which is referred to as “the throne of grace.” For those found in Christ, covered by the grace of His blood that paid for our sin, the throne is not where we find condemnation, but grace and mercy. [GTB]
As Paul says in Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” “Jesus overcame the devil in the wilderness, but ultimately he overcame him at the cross.” [SG] When he took our condemnation on himself at the cross he left satan, the accuser, with nothing but lies and empty threats.
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Chapell, Bryan, and Dane Ortlund, eds. Gospel Transformation Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013.
Barry, John D. et al. 2012, 2016. Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Spoken Gospel - Jesus’ Temptation - https://youtu.be/s4YDxBUGESE
Check out this great video summary of Matthew 4:1-11.