THE DUEL IN THE DESERT. I heard that title used on the radio this week advertising the upcoming Hot Rod Nationals in Phoenix. It’s used for UFC fights, cheerleading competitions, youth sports events, and golf tournaments. But for us, it means something much bigger, something way more important, something of great significance. Of course, I’m talking about the annual football game between the University of Arizona and Arizona State…U of A versus ASU…the Wildcats’ against the Sun Devils. This morning as we think about THE DUEL IN THE DESERT the one that is actually of highest importance, the one that involved Jesus and Satan I have to ask you to not take that Sun Devil example too far!
When Arizona beats that team from up north, we take great pride because Arizona is our team. They represent Tucson and their fans. We even say, “We won!” even though you and I weren’t on the field. In ancient times, a single warrior would sometimes battle against a single warrior from the opposing army. Whichever man won, won the victory for his people you might think of David and Goliath. Today, we get to witness the one-on-one battle between Jesus and the Devil.
Why would the Father send the Spirit to lead Jesus out there to duel with the Devil? Why would Jesus willingly go? Because Jesus came to do his Father’s will, and his will was that he defeat the Devil. And so, he went out for a face-to-face opportunity to defeat the one who continually fights to lead people away God.
Jesus was led out to meet the Devil in a desert wilderness very much like the land we know well here in southern Arizona. THE DUEL IN THE DESERT pitted the one who tempted Adam and Eve and made sinners of them and all people after them against the One who came to save sinners.
Matthew’s gospel tells us about the last three temptations that the Devil hurled at Jesus at the end of his 40-day period of fasting. He wanted to cause Jesus to sin, to destroy his work of salvation just as he prepared to reveal himself as the promised Savior and set out on a three-year course toward the cross where he would undo the Devil’s work of bringing sin into the world.
Temptation 1
With Jesus weak from hunger, the Devil said, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.” We might wonder what the harm in that would be. Jesus could show his power, and he could satisfy his extreme hunger. But this is exactly what the Tempter wanted! He wanted Jesus to use his divine power to escape human suffering. Jesus would have failed at his mission to endure what people endure, to understand what human beings go through, to suffer for sinners. By refusing to solve his earthly need with godly power, Jesus was trusting his Father to provide for him. This was about trust in God.
Jesus fought back by using what the Apostle Paul would later call “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17). He said, “It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.” God is the one who speaks and gives life. A person lives because God says, “Let there be…” and a life begins. This is the main thing. The other is that we do need food to eat! We’ll die without it Jesus would have eventually died without it. God also speaks in his written Word, where he says that he provides food and all we need.
So, Jesus would rely on his Father’s providing instead of giving up and using his divine power to solve his human need. If it’s not entirely clear to you how this would have been that big of a deal, think of how the Devil later influenced those gathered around Jesus’ cross. They shouted at Jesus, “Save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross (Matthew 27:40b)!” The temptation is the same, isn’t it? Jesus would have failed in the fight to save us if he had used his divine power to overcome his human suffering on the cross
This is how Jesus can understand the suffering of hungry men and women living on the streets. This is how he knows the plight of children around the world who go without food for long stretches. This is how he feels for the parent who loses a job and doesn’t know how they’ll put food on the table for their family. He knows how it feels. He understands that temptations may come to them to solve their problem by sinning in some way violence or theft maybe. Or perhaps it is despair, giving up on God.
Comfort can be found in this truth from Hebrews chapter 4: We have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin (v.15). And strength is found in the example of Jesus who trusted in his Father to provide Most importantly, forgiveness for failures is found in the One who fought for sinners.
Temptation 2
How much do you trust God? Maybe you handle this next example well, but many of us don’t: Do you ever think that maybe you can’t afford to give offerings back to God as he expects in a way that is generous and in proportion to what he has given you? That’s fear. Or maybe when it comes to this kind of thing, you claim to trust God so much that you don’t worry much about managing your money or planning for the future. That’s foolishness.
Are you afraid to trust that God will take care of you? Or do you put God to the test in his care for you? This is one example of temptation’s extremes when it comes to God’s providing There are these kinds of extremes with many things in our lives where we might sin by either living in fear or living in foolishness before God.
It was the latter temptation that the Devil threw at Jesus. From the pinnacle of the Temple, he dared Jesus to jump to what would be certain death—oh, but wait! Didn’t God say that he would send angels as protectors for his people?! Certainly, Jesus trusted that Word of God like he trusted God’s words about not living by bread alone!
It wasn’t a lack of trust in God. Jesus knew how foolish it would have been to put God to the test, to make him act in a miraculous way to save him! Jesus wielded the Word of God again and struck back: “It is written: You shall not test the Lord your God.”
The Devil tempts us to misuse the grace of God, pushing us to be overconfident, to believe that we can go ahead and sin and think that we’ll be just fine, when really, what we’re doing is testing God and toying with his grace. Jesus knows what this is like because the Devil tempted him to put God’s love and protection to the test. He understands our struggle.
We can be comforted knowing that Jesus understands, and we can find wisdom and strength to beat the temptation to live foolishly before God by remembering how Jesus fought this temptation. Above all, we are relieved to hear that we are forgiven when we fail because Jesus won this battle for us too.
Temptation 3
From the top of a mountain, Satan displayed the glory of all the kingdoms of the world. How exactly he did that, we don’t know, but there it all was, right before Jesus’ eyes. “I’ll give you all of this, just bow down and worship me.”
Jesus couldn’t be tempted by something as dumb as this, could he? He’s the Son of God, everything in all of creation is already his! But remember, Jesus faced this temptation as true God AND true man. He lived here with human flesh and blood, with human needs, affected by the things that affect everyone—like hunger and pain and a desire to avoid suffering and he was tempted to sin like we all are.
As Jesus surveyed these kingdoms, he was aware that they were filled with the very sinners that he came to save. Could he have seen this as a shortcut? All the people of the world become his without the next three years of persecution and the gruesome death that lay at the end of it all? After five and a half weeks of no eating and living in the desert with continual temptations, this may have been very appealing.
All he had to do was bow down. Put Satan on the same level as God—worthy of worship. Then the suffering would be over and all he saw would be his. A false promise absolutely! Because the kingdoms weren’t Satan’s to give, and because the people could not become God’s people if Jesus bowed down to Satan. In order for sinners to be won for God, the blood of a perfect Champion would have to be offered. That was the price that would bring forgiveness and salvation. Nothing else would do. The Lord God who had declared it long ago is the only one worthy of worship.
I’m sure you would say that you would never worship Satan, and I want to say that too. But Satan puts temptations in front of us in order to pull us away from God, which necessarily means that we’re pulled toward him. He tempts us to prioritize something ahead of God. You might not think of it as worship if we give in, but it is. We’re
worshiping whatever that thing is money or experiences or a person or family or material things. By doing that, we’ve chosen to fall in line with Satan’s will and ways.
Your Savior knows what it is like to be tempted to worship something or someone else. He overcame that temptation by reminding his Enemy that Scripture says to only worship and serve God. We are comforted to know that Jesus understands because he’s been there. We are strengthened as we learn from Jesus how to beat that temptation. But what means the most to us is knowing that Jesus won that battle, which means that we are forgiven for those sins when we lose a battle.
Jesus proved himself the Champion as he fended off that final attack. He gave the command, “Go away, Satan! The Devil lost the DUEL IN THE DESERT…but he would be back, time and time again…and he would be there at the end too on that dark Friday—grinning, thinking that he had finally defeated Jesus, feeling like a champion. But Jesus ended up defeating him then too, didn’t he? His Easter victory over death was the final proof that Jesus is the Champion we needed!
There are two important lessons for us to take away from Jesus’ victory over the Devil.
The first is that Jesus defeated Satan for us because as we have thought about along the way this morning—we often give in to his temptations and sin against God. We needed a Champion to fight for us, and Jesus did. And like warriors of the past who battled an enemy one-on-one and gave the victory to their people, Jesus has given his victory to us!
The second is that we learn from Jesus how to battle the devil when we are tempted with the Word and promises of God and a trust in him above all things.
We thank and praise Jesus for making his victory ours, and we ask him to be with us as we fight temptation until the day our battle ends and the final victory is ours in heaven. Amen.
Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.