Jesus' Baptism and Temptation: Triumph Over Trials

“Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.” The Word of God for the people of God, thanks be to God. Please be seated. Let us pray. [00:01:17]

So that immediately raises the question, doesn’t it, why would Jesus, who is sinless, submit Himself to a rite instituted to cleanse sinners from their sin? Well, I think we get a hint of the “why” this is taking place when in one of the other gospel accounts of it, Jesus says to John when John says, “You should be baptizing me, not that I should be baptizing you,” and Jesus speaks somewhat cryptically to John. [00:05:51]

And the point is simple, that as the Messiah, Jesus’ work in His life as well as His death is vicarious. It is substitutionary. He represents what Paul will describe later as the new Adam or the second Adam. And just as the first Adam represented the whole human race, and with his sin the whole of humanity was plunged into corruption and into death, so the new Adam by His obedience redeems His people for eternity. [00:07:34]

He has to live. He has to live a life of perfect obedience, which righteousness that He manifests is then transferred to all who put their trust in Him. Just as my sin is transferred to Him on the cross, when I put my trust in Him, His righteousness is transmitted and transferred to my account in the sight of God, so that when I stand before God on the judgment day, God is going to see Jesus, His righteousness, which will be my cover. [00:09:33]

And so the Son of God goes down into the water, and John dutifully baptizes Him, but the baptism of Jesus is a Trinitarian event. It is the Father who sends them… Him into the water. It is the Father who sends Him into the world. This is the Father’s son who is being baptized, and it is the second Person of the Trinity, who is united to the humanity of Jesus, that is now submitting to baptism. [00:10:53]

So what’s the significance of the Holy Spirit coming upon Him? It is the Holy Spirit anointing the human nature of Jesus. You know, we tend to think that the miracles that Jesus performed, He performed in His divine nature. No. He performed them in His human nature through the power of the Holy Spirit, that was given to Him at His baptism. Here is where God is empowering Jesus to fulfill the mission that He has. [00:12:14]

Now the Holy Ghost doesn’t whisper in Jesus’ ear and say, “I want you to so over there to the Judean wilderness.” The force of this passage is that Christ is compelled by the Holy Spirit, driven urgently into this desolate, God forsaken place that is filled with the wild beasts. Once baptized, Jesus ministry is inaugurated, but before it goes public, He has to undergo the ordeal, the crucible of the test. [00:14:32]

The circumstances for Adam and Eve’s temptation when the serpent came into Eden was that they were in the midst of a lush garden where they had every imaginable food at their disposal. Their bellies were filled. They were enjoying intimate companionship, a woman and a man together without sin in any way marring or disfiguring their interpersonal relationship, the fellowship that they had, and it was into that context that Satan came and put the temptation to the first Adam and Eve. [00:15:42]

Fast forward now to the Judean wilderness where Satan comes now to Jesus in His weakness, in His loneliness, and he doesn’t come to Him and say, “I want to see how much power you have. Turn these stones into bread.” No, what does he say? “If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread. I mean, this is no place for the Son of God. I can’t understand how the Son of God could suffer such humiliation, such deprivation, such hunger, such loneliness. [00:18:34]

Jesus said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Satan, I’m afraid you don’t understand the Word of God. The Bible says. He sounds like some backwoods fundamentalist, doesn’t He? The Bible says, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word, every word that precedes from the mouth of God.” “Satan, I know that there’s no sin in having breakfast when you’re hungry, but right now, I’m committed to this fast, and I can’t break it have breakfast, break-fast until my Father says so.” [00:20:16]

And when they were led in chains to the floor of the arena, they had these words, my Savior has been here and done this, and He said He will never leave me or forsake me because He’s my Champion who has resisted all things and who has stayed the course. And He’s present with us this morning. [00:24:01]

I don’t think we have a fraction of understanding of stress that was imposed by hell on Jesus in this situation. I mean, He withstood everything that Satan had to throw at Him. In his frustration, Satan leaves, and two things we need to note about that. When he leaves, we are told that he departed from Jesus for a season. It wouldn’t be the last time in Jesus’ life or ministry that Satan would throw everything he had against the Son of God. [00:22:45]