Our Lord’s trial, taking the word peirasmos to mean trial and not temptation, is recorded in the testimonies of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and not in the testimony of John. In Matthew and Luke the description is full; in Mark the narrative is very brief. In Matthew and in Luke three distinct classes of trials are enumerated; in Mark no individual trial is specified. The best plan, therefore, will be to gather the general description by joining all the various facts recorded by the three.
Jesus, after being baptized of John in Jordan, received the Holy Spirit without measure. “And then Jesus, being full of the Holy Spirit, having returned from Jordan, was immediately led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil; and he was there in the wilderness with the wild beasts forty days, tempted of Satan, the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterwards hungered. And when the tempter came to him he said ‘if thou be Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.’ But he answered and said, ‘It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’ Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and, setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, ‘If thou be Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, ‘He shall give his angels charge concerning thee to keep thee: and in (their) hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.’ Jesus said unto him, ‘It is written again, Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God.’ Again, the devil, taketh him up into an exceedingly high mountain, and showeth him all the; kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, ‘All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto rue; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.’ And Jesus answered and said unto him, ‘Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.’ Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.” Such is the general account, gathered from the three histories. It may be now useful to point out the differences in the statements. In reference to the being led into the wilderness. Luke represents that Jesus was “led,” egeto; Matthew “led up,” ancethe; Mark “driven,” ekballei: terms expressive of a strong impulse, constraining him to depart from the haunts of the children of men, to be as Mark adds, with “the wild beasts,” these being representative of the animal feelings in man’s nature.
Many think that the three great trials that our Lord experienced were the only ones that he had: but it is evident, from the account given by Mark, that he was tried the whole of the forty days: “And he was there in the wilderness forty days tempted by Satan” and the statement of Mark is confirmed by the statement of Luke: “Being forty days tempted of the devil.”
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Author: John Epps
Keywords: Tempation of Christ, Temptation of Jesus, Temptation in the wilderness, Tempted of the devil, Tempted by Satan, Jesus temptation, Yetzer hara, Yetser hara, Yetzer ha ra, Yetser ha ra, Evil inclination, Sin personified, Personification of sin, Devil, Satan, Devil tempted Jesus, Satan tempted Jesus, Satan tested Jesus, Devil tested Jesus, Satan tempted Christ, Satan Jesus, Satan Christ, Devil Jesus, Devil Christ
Bible reference(s): Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:13, Luke 4:2-13
Source: A Biblical Exposition of the Truth Concerning “That Old Serpent, the Devil and Satan” (London: Sherwood & Co., 1842)
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