The nature of temptation

“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. 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. 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.” (Hebrews 4:14–16)

From this passage, Chambers says that all humanity understands the temptation of being drawn away by our own desires, but only after we are born again and Jesus lives in us do we understand the temptations of Jesus. He adds, “Satan does not tempt us to do wrong things; he tempts us in order to make us lose what God has put into us by regeneration, viz., the possibility of being of value to God. He does not come on the line of tempting us to sin, but on the line of shifting the point of view . . . .”

This raises several questions, one of which is: how does this man define sin? If anything takes me from being of value to God, then what else can it be called?

Another question: what is temptation? While Satan’s lies might appeal to the sinful nature in people, being tempted is not a sin. Sin (or not sinning) is what we do in response to it, regardless of how the liar is making his appeal.

Perhaps Chambers is thinking about the nature of Jesus. The Lord was fully human but did not sin because He had no sin nature. Did Chambers then assume that since Jesus had no desire to deviate from the will of God, then the nature of the temptation must be different? Did it not occur to him that being fully human and also without sin is possible, or at least it once was? Adam did not sin, at least at the beginning — and he was fully human. The difference between that man (and also us) and Jesus is that he sinned when tested and Jesus did not.

Those verses from Hebrews say Jesus was tempted in every respect like we are. While my human temptations are based on the enemy’s appeal to my weaknesses and desires, weaknesses and desires that Jesus did not have, this raises another question: in what way was He tempted like I am tempted?

In looking at Jesus’ temptations, I can see that the devil tried to get Him to bypass the will of God and do things that might appeal to a human being. He was hungry and had the power to make bread from stones (Matthew 4:1-11) but He did not use that power to satisfy His human appetite. He also had the power to prove God’s protection but did not put God to the test, nor would He give in to Satan’s suggestion to possess the kingdoms of this world now. This sin would bypass the cross and ignore God’s salvation plan.

The nature of these temptations (the word can also mean tests), unlike Chambers’ suggestion, is that the devil attempted to get Jesus to go against the will of God. The Bible says that sin is going “our own way” (Isaiah 53:6). Could Satan have made an assumption that Jesus was fully human like other humans and had a sin nature like the rest of us?

How then are the temptations presented to Jesus like those presented to me? It seems to me the devil does not want me to do the will of God, so tries to get me to do something else. He might tempt me to take what is not mine, or be envious, or to hate someone, and from those verses above, the devil came to Jesus with those same tests. In His case, He said no, and because He lives in me, I also can say no. Before He came to dwell in me, I did not have that ability.

I flat-out do not agree that my temptations are no longer to do wrong things, only to “shift my point of view.” This sounds too much like the old Greek idea of dualism and that the sins of my old nature are of no account. For example, if I give in to a temptation to lie to someone, I am not merely losing what God put into me (truth), but lying is a sinful, anti-God action. Besides, John said:

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8–10)

For sure, Jesus did not sin, but I cannot make that claim either before I was saved or after. However, the suggestions to sin are temptations or tests that He faced and that I face. He didn’t give in to them and I sometimes do, but that doesn’t mean we can change the definition of a temptation, nor can we say going against the will of God is something different than out-and-out sin.

Certainly temptation is Satan’s attempts to get me to step outside of what God has put in me. That is, he wants me to walk by the flesh and not by the Spirit. If there is any dualism, this is the biblical one. We are told to live in the power of the Holy Spirit and not let the flesh run our lives. If I live by my I-wants, that will eventually lead to death. God gave me new life and the devil longs to get me to live by the old one and fall into sin. This is the spiritual warfare of Christian living.

In dying I live . . .

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Unlike me, the Lord Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human and totally sinless —without any need to deal with a sin nature. He also qualified as a spotless lamb and died for sinners, now living and interceding for us. He also lives in His people and gives new life to our old sinful humanness. Because of my ‘dual’ nature, I relate a tiny bit to the experience of Jesus in Gethsemane as it is interpreted by Oswald Chambers.

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” (Matthew 26:36–38)

Chambers says that Jesus was not in agony because He dreaded death; He came to earth to die. He knew that as God the Son He would come through; Satan could not touch Him there. However, getting through this ordeal as fully man was being challenged. Satan had already attacked His identity as the Son of God (Matthew 4), but this was different. Jesus was being attacked as the Son of Man for it was as a man He must die.

Who knows the lies of the enemy to Jesus in Gethsemane, but if they are anything like the junk he feeds me, they would include things like, ‘It won’t work’ and ‘This will fail’ and ‘You cannot pull this off.’

When God calls me to a task, I pray admitting that I cannot do it. However, I know that Jesus lives in me and through Him, I can do all things. Because I was crucified with Christ, I don’t rely on my old nature (or at least know that I don’t have to), but can live by faith in Jesus.

Jesus faced a different situation. He could not call upon ‘deity’ to go to the cross and do the dying; He had to die for sin as the Son of Man. No other human being could do this; our sinfulness disqualifies us.

I cannot fathom His agony in Gethsemane as the Son of God, but even more, I cannot fathom dying for the sin of the world as fully man. Such an onslaught is incomprehensible.

Jesus prayed that if it was possible, could this not happen, yet He yielded saying “Not my will, but Your will be done.” That is the part that I understand. Jesus living in me always says that, always accepts whatever God wills for the human part of me. This includes my body, emotions, relationships, my life here on earth. With Him, I can trust the Father to bring me through whatever He ordains for me, but without Him, I cannot do that. Unlike Jesus, in sin, selfishness, and mistrust, my old nature will fight the will of God without any submission.

This is why He crucified me with Jesus. Unless I also was crucified, I could never live in the power of Christ nor experience what it means to abide in Him and trust Him with all my heart. Jesus even said that without dying there is no life . . .  

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24)

Chambers finishes: “The agony in Gethsemane is the agony of the Son of God in fulfilling His destiny as the Savior of the world . . . .” For some reason, today I feel some of that agony and also a great deal of gratitude. Because Jesus died, I died too — and because Jesus lives, I also live.

Kept safe in a very dangerous place

I read through the Bible every year using a guide generated by a software program. The reading for today included Matthew 4. Then I opened my devotional booklet and the reading for today is Matthew 4:1-10. Like Gibbs on NCIS, I do not believe in coincidences. God has something vital to say to me from this passage.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” (Matthew 4:1–10)

The first thing I notice is that this temptation was part of God’s plan. The Spirit led Jesus to a lonely place where He would experience it. Oh my . . .

Last night I woke up around 3:30 and spent the next few hours in the wilderness. My husband is on the other side of the world. With that plus several other circumstances, I felt alone, even abandoned to the point of physical pain. It was horrible. At that time, I could not ‘call a friend’ or do anything to fix the problem. I did pick up a novel, but first spent some time in the Bible and in prayer.

As I read this passage this morning, I noticed three characteristics of these temptations that I’d not noticed before. In His hunger, Satan tried to move Jesus to rely on something else instead of the Word of God to help His with His hunger. I realized how strong Satan tempted me to escape into my novel and not bother at all with Scripture and prayer. However, I knew that I needed words from God, not words from David Baldacci.

In the second temptation, Satan suggested that Jesus take matters into His own hands and test God. I thought of taking matters into my own hands, and even that relying on Christian friends would be far better than reading a novel. However, at that time in the night, I doubt if any of my friends would be ready to jump up and come over to hold my hand. I was on my own, or at least felt like it. Instead of trying to fix this by myself, I began saying God’s promise, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” While it did not change my emotions, this did change how I was thinking.

Third, the devil tried to get Jesus to put something above obedience to God and above worshiping God. Jesus didn’t fall for that either. Instead He quoted Scripture again. I remembered a few verses and also began singing praise choruses. I’m not a great singer and the horrible emptiness was still there, but eventually fell back to sleep. My alarm rang about an hour later.

The first thing I noticed was that I was in a new place, not in that wilderness with the tempter trying to turn me into a faithless, self-sufficient atheist, but at peace and ready to get up. I might need a nap later, but verse 11 says, “Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.” (Matthew 4:11)

I say, Praise God and amen.

To Live is Christ — even in the wilderness

We are driving south to spend a week in a wilderness resort. While it has golf, swimming pool, bike rentals, air conditioning and a room with a roof, it is also isolated, even without cell phone service. I wonder what being away from my to-do list might mean for my spiritual life.

The question comes easily as I've been reading about the Old Testament people of God and their wilderness experiences. It seems that this has always been a place where God made them take some exams.

In Exodus, the people left Egypt and slavery, but when they refused to enter the land God promised them because they were afraid of its inhabitants, God let them wander in the wilderness for forty years. That was a test and they didn't do so well with it. The prophet Ezekiel reminds them of those days, but also that He did not destroy them for their disobedience.

So I also raised My hand in an oath to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey,' the glory of all lands, because they despised My judgments and did not walk in My statutes, but profaned My Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols. Nevertheless My eye spared them from destruction. I did not make an end of them in the wilderness. (Ezekiel 20:15 17)

The next passage was later. They had been in the land for years, but were still not obeying God. This time Ezekiel told them how He was going to deal with those who disobeyed.

And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face. Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you," says the Lord God. "I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; I will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 20:35 38)

Then I read again the passage from my devotional guide. This time, instead of chastening and warning them about their disobedience, God tells them what He intends to do with their wayward hearts.

Israel, I, the Lord, will lure you into the wilderness and speak gently to you. I will return your vineyards, and then Trouble Valley will become Hopeful Valley. You will say "Yes" to me as you did in your youth, when leaving Egypt. I promise that from that day on, you will call me your husband instead of your master. I will no longer even let you mention the names of those pagan gods that you called "Master." And I will agree to let you live in peace you will no longer be attacked by wild animals and birds or by weapons of war. I will accept you as my wife forever, and instead of a bride price I will give you justice, fairness, love, kindness, and faithfulness. Then you will truly know who I am. I will command the sky to send rain on the earth, and it will produce grain, grapes, and olives in Jezreel Valley. I will scatter the seeds and show mercy to Lo-Ruhamah. I will say to Lo-Ammi, "You are my people," and they will answer, "You are our God." (Hosea 2:14 23, CEV)

The children of God never did well on their wilderness tests. Then God sent His Son who was also tested in the wilderness. He passed.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." But He answered and said, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.' " Jesus said to him, "It is written again, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.' " Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.' " Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. (Matthew 4:1 11)

I don't know if my wilderness experience will be a test of some kind, or only a vacation. If a test, I've the Word of God to guide me and the Son of God to set the example of how to pass a wilderness exam. If not, I can still depend on His presence should this backwoods experience simply allow me a chance to relax.