Key Characteristics Of The Power Of Temptations In The Bible

the text of Matthew 4:1-11 not only encapsulates the power of temptation— which humanity continuously struggles with, but it more importantly reveals key characteristics about the person of Jesus Christ. At this point in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus has just been baptized by John as the Son of God , and has not yet begun his public ministry, where he will share the Word of God to the masses. Therefore, since we have only just been introduced to Jesus, we are still unclear of who he really is, and ultimately, what his purpose on earth is. It is in this passage where Jesus will have to resist the deceiver , remain grounded in his faith, and present himself as the second Adam—whereby, he will bring a new hope to humanity. In each of the three temptations, …show more content…
Again, the devil takes Jesus to a place on top of a mountain and offers Jesus all the kingdoms in the world, under one condition—Jesus worships Satan. A key word worth emphasizing is ‘kingdoms’, the plural version of kingdom. The kingdoms offered by the devil refer to the broken, divided, and conflicting powers of the world. However, God promised Jesus a Kingdom—a righteous world united in peace. Jesus, again for the third time replies by quoting scripture, “for it is written: worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only”. Unlike many of us, who get lured into worshipping idols other than God, Jesus chooses Christ. This temptation is undoubtedly the most powerful one yet, as he is “offering Jesus here the rewards of the cross without the cross” (Roets, 2011). The remarkable part about Jesus is that he remains faithful and does not abandon his calling at any point throughout the testing period. Although “the agent of this temptation is the devil…[the] overall control is in the hands of the Holy Spirit” (cite), which Jesus makes very clear with his