The sermon this week delves into the wonderfully rich account of Christ’s temptation in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-13). The account has always fascinated me with its brevity and beauty. While it is instructive for the youngest Christian, it is also inexhaustible for the oldest one. In what follows, I reflect on two further questions arising from Luke’s temptation account. After each question is answered, I will consider the ‘so what’ of the findings.

1. Why did Jesus quote only from Deuteronomy 6 & 8?

In Luke’s account, Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 8:3 in Luke 4:4, Deuteronomy 6:13 in Luke 4:8 and Deuteronomy 6:16 in Luke 4:12. The book of Deuteronomy contains Moses’ last three sermons for Israel to warn them not to act like they did in the past. These three quotations are situated in the second sermon of Moses (Deut 5-28), at the juncture where Moses calls Israel to love God wholeheartedly (Deut 6:4-8). There Moses recounts how Israel failed as God’s son (Exod 4:22–23), turning to idols in spite of God’s faithfulness (Exod 17:1–7; Deut 9:6–29; cf. Acts 7:35, 39–43).

On top of Jesus’ quotation of Deuteronomy, the temptation echoes Israel’s story in various ways. Joel B. Green, in his commentary on Luke, brings to our atten tion:

How both Jesus and Israel were led into the wilderness (Deut 8:2; Luke 4:1).

How one was in the wilderness for ‘forty’ years (Exod 16:35; Num 14:34; Deut 8:2, 4) and the Other for ‘forty days’ (Luke 4:2).

How ‘though Jesus was full of the Spirit and followed the Spirit’s guidance, Israel “rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit” (Isa 63:10)’.

These extensive similarities are meant to bring into comparison Jesus and Israel. Jesus, the True Son of God, is obedient where Israel, the unfaithful son of God, was not.

So what?

Episodes like this inform our reading of Scripture. While there are unfaithful ways to read Christ into the OT, we must not throw out the baby with the bathwater. According to John Stott, the OT is meant to be united preparation for Jesus Christ and the NT, united witness to Jesus Christ.

We typically see that the OT point towards Christ through explicit prophecies about the Messiah. But OT history and revelation is more Christotelic than that – that is, the entire storyline is anticipating fulfilment in the Christ. In the case of the OT background mentioned above, Israel’s story presents us with a problem: how will God deal with his repeatedly unfaithful people (Israel) who fail to trust and obey him? Enter Christ, the True and Faithful Israel, who obeys God perfectly (even amidst relentless temptations).

Let us pray that God will use all of the Scriptures, not just the NT, to lead us to know Christ more fully and to worship him more deeply.

2. Why is Luke’s sequence of temptations different from Matthew’s?

The temptation account is recounted only briefly in Mark 1:12-13 but more extensively in Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13. Comparing Matthew and Luke’s account, many have noticed that Matthew’s second (temple) and third (kingdoms) temptations are switched by Luke. Luke places the temptation on the temple in Jerusalem as his last temptation (Luke 4:9-12). But why does he do that?

While many explanations have been given, it seems to me that placing the Jerusalem temple temptation last serves Luke’s gospel account in at least three ways:

First, it deepens Luke’s emphasis of Jesus as the Son of God. Luke’s third temptation, begins with: ‘If you are the Son of God’ (v9). The Son of God theme, already introduced in Luke 1:35, is taken up again in Luke’s genealogy. In the climactic ending of the genealogy, Luke traces Jesus lineage to Adam, the first ‘son of God’ (Luke 3:38). Then, in Satan’s first recorded words to Jesus in the first temptation, Satan prefaces the temptation with: ‘If you are the Son of God’ (v3). In other words, Luke is at pains to highlight Jesus as the true Son of God.

Second, it foreshadows Jesus’ determination to go to Jerusalem. Luke, perhaps more so than Matthew or Mark, highlights that Jerusalem is the focused destination of Jesus. Luke mentions ‘Jerusalem’ thirty-one times compared to Matthew’s thirteen and Mark’s eleven. What is noteworthy is that in ‘the central section of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus eight times declares the necessity of his going to Jerusalem (9:31, 51, 53; 13:22, 33; 17:11; 18:31; 19:28)…The temptation of Jesus as “Son of God” to jump from the temple prepares for a fourth and perhaps greatest test, no longer in the wilderness but in Jerusalem itself, where Jesus, the “Messiah of God,” is tempted to forsake his salvific mission by coming down from the cross and saving himself (23:35).’ (James R. Edwards)

Third, as mentioned in the sermon, it provides a culmination of Satan’s devices. From Jesus’ responses to the first two temptations (in Luke), it is apparent that Jesus will depend on God, rely on Scripture and worship God wholeheartedly. In the culminating temptation, Satan includes all three of Jesus’ convictions in an attempt to deepen the deception. In response to Satan’s wordy proposal, Jesus responds in wise brevity: “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (v12) In other words, the deepest deception in Satan’s repertoire is definitively defeated by the wisdom of Christ.

So what?

Taken together, we must respond in grateful worship.

Our Lord, Jesus Christ, is singularly obedient to the Father – nobody else is.

Our Lord, Jesus Christ, is singularly determined to die for us in Jerusalem – nobody else will.

Our Lord, Jesus Christ, is singularly wise to stand against the devil’s lies – nobody else can.

The incomparable Christ is humanity’s only hope.