Lessons to Learn From the Temptation of Jesus: The temptation of Jesus is by far one of the most significant events in the history of human kind, following the death of Christ and the Passover of the old testament. Jesus was tempted just like we are all tempted today. The different temptations signify the three different types of temptations we humans face in this our present world, which is:
a. World: The indifference and opposition’s to God’s will and design for our lives(the devil wanted Jesus to eat the bread but God didn’t want his focus to be on earthly gains but heavenly gains).
b. Flesh: Gluttony, revenge, sexual desires and other passions humans have that will make them commit sin.
c. Pride: The desire to acquire things that are either not necessary for us at the moment or are not pleasing to God to have. The devil also wants us to have the riches of the world through him and not God.
The above signify the three ways each human is tempted daily, and that Jesus passed through this unscathed means that we can be victorious also. From his victory we have learnt a lot of lessons.
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Important Lessons to Learn from the Temptation of Jesus Christ in the Bible
The following are lessons worth learning from the temptation of Jesus:
1. Fasting is a very important weapon of war against the enemy: A lot of Christian’s of our modern age play down on fasting and that’s why the devil ends up taking advantage of them. Christains that understand the benefits of fasting however, know that fasting is a method of killing the flesh in order to the uplift the spirit. In other words, your abstainment from food is meant for you to give the spirit a chance to grow through prayer, supplication and seeking God.
By fasting, christains humble themselves before God and show that they are nothing without him. Fasting originated in the past with the twelve disciples who prayed so much that they didn’t have the time to eat, this shows how much they believed in God. They ended up doing incredible miracles, signs and wonders as layed down in the scriptures. This shows that if we fast and put all our focus on God during prayer and not on earthly things then our prayers will be answered speedily.
2. Fasting helps us to grow both physically and spiritually: Fasting is as well a good spiritual exercise as it is a physical exercise. Spiritually it helps us have an edge against the enemy and those who are coming against us.
Physically it gives the digestive system some rest and helps us come back rejuvenated. Shortly after fasting the body should however be handled with care as the intestine shrivels and heavy or solid food can damage the system because of the narrow intestine, if not kill the person.
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3. Anyone can use the scriptures adversely: This is the case with many people who claim to be christains today, as they only read the Bible for the sake of argument or to boast about the fact that they have memorized some verses word for word. Meanwhile, this is not supposed to be.
The Bible is a book that contains God’s word and directions for people to live right and should be read to edify the spirit in order for the flesh to not corrupt the whole system. The word of God only makes room for growth when we read it to understand it and put it into practice accordingly, and not vice versa.
Also important is for us as christains to discuss the word of God in groups, fellowships and programs, meditating on those parts where Christ and the disciples were able to find out when the devil was in control over a person or situation and using the scriptures to cover-up, they should then go ahead to emulate them.
4. We can be tempted to do a good thing: Doing this would then mean testing God, and this is what Jesus knew so he didn’t succumb. The good thing in the temptations of Jesus is that the devil told him to eat. Wasn’t he hungry? I mean, if I was the one, I would do it, saying, “Great idea.” But Jesus didn’t do this, as he knew that this wasn’t the will of God at the time.
This first temptation can be found in Matthew 4:3 where Jesus stated that: “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”
But why didn’t Jesus turn this stones into bread so that he can satisfy his hunger? Jesus was known throughout his stay on earth to perform numerous miracles for people that had multitudes following him, so why wasn’t he able to perform this seemingly good miracle for himself? Come to think of it, the reason for Jesus not turning this stones into bread is yet to be revealed, but as we all know, Jesus was a man who followed God’s will, as seen in his prayer in the garden of Gethsemane.
He never wanted to go away from the path that God set out for him. That’s most likely his reason for not turning those stones to bread, as he would be obeying the devil. The devil brought a thing that appeared to be good, telling Jesus to do it, so that when he does it he would be obeying the devil and going contrary to the will of God. This teaches us that we shouldn’t do things that we think are right or looks right, but to do the things that are right in the sight of the Lord.
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5. The Devil goes away temporarily, but we have to resist him first: At each point of the temptation the devil went away for awhile to cook up something else before coming back, and at each time he came back Jesus resisted him. We can do this by quoting scriptures like Jesus did, and even shouting at the devil. In the last temptation Jesus emphatically told the devil that he should get away before he quoted scriptures.
This can be seen in (Matthew 4:10 NIV). Here we learn that when we are tempted we shouldn’t contemplate the situation, or justify our bad actions before we even embark on them. When the devil goes away the devil will surely come back with other schemes but if we keep resisting him that’s when we become the winner.
6. The devil tempts you using your weak points: This is the devils strategy, as most Christian’s think that the devil would just tempt them with anything other than what they love or what they desire. They are missing the truth, because, in actual fact, the devil’s only strategy is to tempt you with what you are desirous of; especially what they desire instantly, I mean, what other way is better to use in luring people than with what they desire?
In the first temptation Jesus had fasted for 40 days and nights and was very hungry so the devil tempted him with food: The devil told him to relieve his hunger by turning the stones into bread.
He replied with: “It is written: One does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” In the second the devil told him to leap from a pinnacle and rely on angels to catch him.
He replied with: “Again it is written, you shall not put the Lord, your God to the test.”
In the final temptation the devil told him to kneel before him and in return he would have all the kingdoms of the world at his beck and call.
As you can see from the above, this are all the things that God his father gave to him, and God doesn’t bless you with what you don’t desire.
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Some people don’t believe in the temptation story because events of the Bible that were known were recorded, so how was the temptation story made known to the world? Controversies arise that Jesus told his disciples, and some say that the spirit of the Lord revealed it to one of the disciples so they wrote it down, some groups even claim that Jesus wrote the account himself and read it in synagogues and so it became part of the Bible we know today. My take is that I believe the temptation stories because in essence, that’s why the Bible uses the words Watch and Pray, because when praying, the devil’s is also on the look out for a reason or an opportunity to strike.
Edeh Samuel Chukwuemeka, ACMC, is a lawyer and a certified mediator/conciliator in Nigeria. He is also a developer with knowledge in various programming languages. Samuel is determined to leverage his skills in technology, SEO, and legal practice to revolutionize the legal profession worldwide by creating web and mobile applications that simplify legal research. Sam is also passionate about educating and providing valuable information to people.