The temptation of Jesus Christ was to do his will and not the will of God. When I came to understand the temptation of Christ, I came to realize my journey as a Godly wife even more. I found it to be one of the most wonderful parts about Jesus’ ministry and it is summed up in two important scriptures Hebrews 4:15 & Luke 18:18-19 (which can also be found in Mark 10:17-18 and Matthew 19:16-17) says:
Hebrews 4:15 – “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”
Luke 18:18-19 – A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.
In reading these verses, you realize that Jesus was just like us and that is why he said “why do you call me good [teacher]? There is only ONE who is good!” Jesus knew that he, himself, was not good when compared to God because if he was good, he wouldn’t want all these wrong things. But he was tempted in every way, just as we all are. Yes, he was sinless, as in he never acted upon any temptation but he was tempted in every way, yet God cannot be tempted with evil, ever.
James 1:13 – When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Jesus was also dragged away from God’s will in order to be enticed by his own desire. He did not continue in this desire giving birth to sin. He made a conscious decision to follow God’s will instead of his own, everytime, making him sinless.
How do you tempt someone unless they want to do what is wrong? Suppose you’re determined to lose weight and have decided to completely cut out all junk food. For lunch, you get ready to have a salad while your husband prepares to indulge in a luscious chocolate cake. You’d be tempted to cut a slice, right? You’re tempted to eat the cake but you know it would be wrong. You don’t agree that you can’t have the cake, but you’ve accepted that it is right in order to lose weight. This question brings us to a very important fact which is that Jesus did not completely agree with the word of God, he accepted it. So then it was just as difficult for Jesus to follow God’s word, as it is for his followers today.
Hebrews 2:18 – Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
In Hebrews 4:15, the scriptures say that although tempted in every way, he [Jesus] did not sin. That means that Jesus was tempted because he did not agree with God’s word but he didn’t sin because he accepted it. When people hated him, he chose to say ‘I’m still going to forgive them’ because he accepted that as God’s word. But he may not have agreed with it and that’s how he was tempted. Otherwise, how do you tempt someone? You can only tempt someone when they don’t agree. Then you can tempt them.
For example, suppose you meet a couple and find out that the wife really loves dancing but the husband does not, and so being a Godly wife, she respects her husband’s decision and the couple don’t go out dancing. It would be easy to tempt the wife into wanting to go dancing because she does not agree with her husband, but she accepts his decision. So one could tempt the wife away from accepting her husband’s wishes simply by stating how wonderful it is for couple’s to go out dancing. However, if the wife also despises dancing, there would be no chance to tempt her away from her husband’s wishes.
And this is precisely what the devil does to us. He tries to tempt you and me away from the word of God, through attacking what we agree with. He is constantly trying to tempt us away from what we have accepted as God’s word. Otherwise, he can’t tempt us. He has to tempt us away by what we agree with so that we stop accepting God’s word and then we fall. We think we should be rich, but God says, ‘give up all, preach the gospel and I will provide for you’. We must accept this as God’s will, and place no importance on what we want. Then the devil cannot tempt us. You think a godly marriage is where your husband compromises with you but the word says that a wife must submit in every way, not her husband. Then you must accept what the word of God says and let go of what you wish to agree with. This is where the devil tempts wives from what they agree with as opposed to God’s will. This is how they are enticed away by their own evil desires of equality in their marriage.
Once you twist God’s word to make it agreeable, the devil wins. You make the word agreeable to yourself. For example, you may think the word does not say a wife should submit to her husband. Then you’ve lost. You’ve made the word agreeable to yourself so that it is more palatable for yourself. You have rejected the words of Jesus and lost all integrity.
So then, there is nothing wrong with accepting the word of God without agreeing with it. I may not agree with half the bible, but I accept it. If someone slaps me, I don’t agree that I should have to turn the other cheek but I accept it. So anyone who says that they agree with the entire word of God, clearly doesn’t understand it. They have made it agreeable to themselves because God’s standards are not agreeable. We don’t like it because we are all sinful by nature. It’s easier to agree with self defense than it is to pray for those who despitefully use and persecute us. Be humble, don’t have pride, forgive everyone, give up all – none of it is agreeable. If you find it easy to follow Jesus, you’re going the wrong way! Those who don’t accept the word of God are at risk of making the word agreeable by twisting and compromising it. Then when they hear the real truth of what it says, they reject it. And so in turn, they despise Jesus.
What I’m trying to say is that Jesus wanted money. He wanted power. But he knew this was not God’s way and he constantly battled with it. That’s why we see Jesus resisting Satan in the wilderness when he was tempting him with all the riches, money, power and respect.
There is a difference between seeing a lot of money and not being tempted to steal it and seeing the money, being tempted to take it and stopping short of stealing it. Jesus wanted the things offered by the devil but he refused to give into his own will and what he agreed with. Instead, he went with what he had accepted as God’s will in the word of God. That’s not how most people see Jesus. Most people see Jesus as perfect; floating around, hanging on the cross without a care in the world. I’m telling you, he wanted money, power and riches. He wanted to slap those who abused him. But he knew it would be wrong as per God’s word and he accepted that. Jesus wanted all the things that we want today.
And this is what Paul also says;
Romans 7:15-25 – 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Paul is stating that he was saved of his sinful nature through Jesus’ example and teachings. In other words, everytime Paul is to do something right, he wants to do what is wrong instead but he has to force himself to do what is right. For that reason, Paul goes on to call himself a wretched man. Paul is stating that he does not act on what his flesh agrees with but rather what he accepts as the truth from the word of God. This is repentance in its purest form. And this is what Jesus is saying also: ‘don’t call me good’. He wanted to do all these wretched things and it took great effort to do what was right. And he refused to make the word agreeable to himself. So when someone called Jesus ‘good’, he had to correct him. There is only one that is good and that is God. Now we see Jesus as all too human like us, yet he was still obedient. The obedient One. A man who died to himself, his own desires and wants but he didn’t agree, He accepted God’s will.
He didn’t agree that he had to die on the cross. He didn’t agree that he had to suffer so much. I’m just telling you, it’s what he said, not me. “Not my will”, meaning Jesus didn’t think he should have to suffer like this. “But your will” – Jesus is saying ‘if that’s what you think I should do, I’ll go with what you think for I accept your will and not mine’.
That’s a man I can follow because that’s how I feel everyday. We think Jesus just floated through life so easily but it cannot be for he said “little children, it is so incredibly hard to enter the kingdom of heaven”. That means that he found it incredibly hard to accept the word and follow it. He didn’t find it easy. When they slapped him on the face and Jesus said, ‘for what did you hit me?’, he wanted to hit back! Otherwise he could not have been tempted in every way. But he knew it would be wrong as he taught us that we cannot resist an evil man, and to turn the other cheek.
That’s powerful but unfortunately most Christians don’t think so. They think I have somehow reduced Jesus’ power. But reducing Jesus’ power would be to say that he never felt these temptations that we all feel and so that’s why he could do them. To claim these things is to claim that Jesus did not come in the flesh, meaning that he did not have temptation in his own spiritual flesh.
2 John 1:7 – I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.
1 John 4:2 & 3 – By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
It’s like saying he was numb, he never felt any pain. And so when he was beaten up, he felt nothing but if you beat me up, I’d sure feel it.
So then, if I could take the beating whilst feeling it, and not sin, I am more powerful than Jesus because he took the beating and didn’t feel it – so big deal. But that is not the case. Jesus felt everything, yet he did not sin. That’s power! He said “take heed [take heart], for I have overcome the world”. In all the world’s ways, no matter how tempting, he never sinned. He did it through his faith and repentance; his acceptance of God’s word. So we can do it too.
Which brings me to my point, and that is; you don’t have to agree with the word of God to accept it. Not all of us agree with the laws in our country, yet we’ll accept it because we know what will happen if we break it. So then, it is entirely possible for us to not agree with something in the Bible yet accept it as the truth.
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