Forty Days and Forty Nights

Once Jesus had fasted forty days and forty nights, the tempter came to him. That is what Matthew seems to say. It sounds like Satan troubled the Lord for only a few moments at the end. Mark’s account sheds additional light. Mark declares: “And [Jesus] was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts.” In other words the temptation lasted a full forty days and forty nights and the three temptations told in Scripture are merely highlights (or lowlights). St. Chrysostom describes the scene like this, “As pugilists, when they have received deadly blows, reel about, drenched in much blood, and blinded, even so [they] too, darkened by blows proceeded to the assault.” On this first Sunday in Lent, the themes we want to study are Satan, temptation, and how Christ conquered both.

The Church has always believed that Satan is real, not merely symbolic. This duel in the desert was also real. Did Jesus resort to His divine nature in His struggle with Satan? He could have. That would have been the easy way out. Satan would have succumbed in one second. Christ is a person with two natures, one human, the other divine. Thus, the Lord could have switched from a mild mannered reporter to a transcendent superman. But He didn’t do that. Jesus met the trial in His humanity. Verse one says that “Jesus” was led up into the wilderness. Verse two tells us that He was “hungry.” Of the many titles for the Lord, “Jesus” is the one most closely linked with his humanity. That was His name as a little boy, and a carpenter in Nazareth. The “hunger” speaks as well to His humanity. Divinity doesn’t need food; doesn’t get hungry.

“If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” Satan tempted Jesus to use His divinity to satisfy a physical desire. “If You are the Son of God…” “Son of God” is a title of deity. Satan is asking Jesus to take advantage of His Godhead to alleviate His hunger. What would be wrong with that? Isn’t hunger a condition that calls for remedy? Not under these circumstances. The dilemma is this: By turning the stones into bread, Jesus would have driven a wedge between our suffering and His; our temptation and His.

If the battle between Jesus and the devil had been fought on a non-human level the writer to the Hebrews could never have written: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin”(Hebrews 4:15). Jesus overcame the most deceptive and alluring temptations that Satan could offer, and He resisted them in a frail, hunger-ridden human frame. He could have yielded; He could have fallen into sin, but He didn’t. What a wonderful fact that Jesus overcame every temptation in His humanity! It means that you also may overcome every temptation Satan puts in your path. Which means that there is no gluttony too hard to resist, no fear too great to face, no lust too strong to flee, no habit too hard to break, no gossip too tempting to tell, no word too enticing to utter.

Lays Potato Chips used to advertise their product with a challenge. Some of you will remember the line: “I bet you can’t eat just one.” The commercial showed several people attempting to eat one potato chip and stop. Nobody could. After munching one chip they held off for a few seconds, then they gave in, grabbing the bag and devouring chips by the handful. The conclusion? “Nobody can eat just one.” The temptation is too great.

Jesus responded to Satan: “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Our Savior resisted turning the rocks into bread. He suppresed His physical need, and you can too. No temptation is inescapable. No food is too tempting. Jesus showed you how to triumph. With the filling of the Holy Spirit, the strengthening of Holy Communion, the guidance of God’s Word, and the fellowship of others, you have all the tools necessary to beat back temptation.

II. How about the second temptation? We read it in Matthew 4:5-7. [Read it.]

This temptation seems laughable. The devil tempts Jesus to cast Himself down from the Temple, just to see if God will protect Him. Why would Satan try such a ludicrous ploy? Perched on the highest wing of the Temple, and looking down, perhaps the devil reminded Jesus of Malachi 3:1. Malachi said, “Behold, I send My messenger and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple.” Some scholars believe that Satan wanted to take advantage of this prophecy because the people believed that this prophecy meant that the Messiah would suddenly appear at the temple. What a spectacular proof of Jesus’ messiahship this would be if He suddenly appeared on the pinnacle of the temple before all the people and then jumped off, only to be carefully placed on the ground by God’s angels. Surely everyone would believe then. The cross would be unnecessary.

But for Jesus to jump from the pinnacle of the temple would have been a ridiculous test of God’s power. Jesus avoided showiness. He went to Calvary in lowliness, not with razzle dazzle. We try to copy His humility, not His flamboyancy. Jumping off a skyscraper would have set a bad example, and sidetracked His path to the cross.

Notice also how the devil used the Bible. It is sobering that Satan knows the Bible and how to twist it to His own purpose. He quoted Scripture to Jesus. He cited Psalm 91. “Throw yourself down, He shall give His angels charge over you. In their hands they shall bear you up.” It is true that Psalm 91 promises a certain degree of protection to those in difficult circumstances. Doesn’t that apply to sky diving without a parachute? No. Satan took the passage out of context and then misapplied it. And this is sometimes the modus operandi of the cults.

Take for instance, the Maharishi Yogi. The guru of Transcendental Meditation wrote: “Christ said, ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ Be still and know that you are God and when you know that you are God you will begin to live Godhood, and living Godhood there is no reason to suffer.” [Close quote.]

According to the Maharishi, Christ taught pantheism; Jesus proclaimed that every person is divine. (If that is what Christ said, I sure missed it.) Let’s see. The Psalmist said, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Can anybody say that and believe he is God? Does that mean all people are gods? Let’s read the entire verse, and read it in context. “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Clearly, it is God Almighty who is speaking these words. The only Being who merits the worship and exaltation of the whole earth is the Lord of Hosts, the Creator and Sustainer of everything, the One who deserves might, majesty and adoration from every man, woman and child. To set oneself up as God, to pretend even for a moment it might be so, is a megamaniacal stance. (See James Sire’s Scripture Twisting. p.53)

Scripture must be interpreted in the broader context of specific verses. Moreover, as Anglicans we would add that the Bible ought to be interpreted in and by the Church within the boundaries of the Creeds and Councils. God’s Word is the ultimate authority, and the Great Tradition of the undivided Church serves as a secondary and subordinate standard of interpretation. The neglect of these hermeneutical principles allows heretics and cult leaders to thrive.

III. Let us move on to the third temptation. Reading Matthew 4:8-11. [Read it.]

Satan escorts Jesus to the top of Mt. Everest and presents Him with a 360 degree view of the kingdoms of the world and their glory: “All these things I will give you if You will fall down and worship me” (v. 9). Did Satan even have the right to make such an offer? Does the world belong to him? There is some evidence for it. Satan is called “the god of this world,” “the prince of the power of the air.” He made mincemeat of the First Adam. He did the same with almost everybody, until Christ came. As the prince of demons he rules a multitude of fallen angels that fly around the earth hindering the gospel and plaguing individuals, homes, and nations. So in a sense, Satan governs the world. But 1 John 2:17 suggests that he rules the world that is passing away (1 John 2:17). The world Satan commands is the world of sin and the curse that is losing ground to the Church. Why? King Jesus sits on his throne in Heaven and wields all authority on earth (Mt. 28:20).

Jesus told His disciples: “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). To be sure the First Adam was tempted in the garden and fell; but the Second Adam was tempted in the wilderness and conquered. By faith we are uner the Second Adam. The Second Adam fixes everything wrecked by the First Adam. Jesus beat Satan in the desert, accomplished redemption for His people, and inaugurated the Kingdom that gradually makes earth a garden.

No matter how much evil we see around us, no matter how often it afflicts us, the Christian knows that evil cannot dominate forever. Satan, the demons, death, and all those who shake their fist at King Jesus will be cast into the Lake of Fire. So it is only in a temporary and diminishing sense that Satan rules the world. Jesus said “Get thee hence, Satan.” “Away with you!” In other words, “Get out of here.”

Let’s read the last verses of our passage on this 1st Sunday in Lent. Reading Matthew 4:10-11. [Read them.]

The devil left Jesus and holy angels came to assist Him. Jesus had kept Satan tied up for forty days and forty nights. C. S. Lewis put the desperate struggle into fiction, depicting it as a blood and guts battle between Ransom and the Un-Man on planet Perelandra. This would be the second book of Lewis’ Space Trilogy.

Some Christians have the practice of praying against Satan. They direct their words to the devil and tell him to stop, or something to that effect. They mean well, but they make a mistake when they assume that the devil is omnipresent to hear their prayers. Satan can only be at one place at a time.

Revelation 12:3-4 tells us, that of all the angels God created, only one-third followed Lucifer; the other two thirds remain loyal to the Lord. Jesus tells us something else about angels. They don’t procreate. He stated: “They neither marry nor are given in marriage.” Hence, the number of angelic hosts is fixed. The population of angels, good and bad, will always stays the same. Humans are different. The human race can expand or contract. Satan faces a problem if it expands. The greater the number of people, the more strain this places on his resources. Gary North says, “The more covenant-keepers on earth, the more the breakdown of Satan’s control. He is like a juggler who has to keep a growing number of oranges in the air.” The devil and his demons can only tempt and possess a limited number of people at a time, since their own number is fixed. This is one reason why Zero Population Growth is a bad idea, and abortion too. Lowering the human population helps Satan to maintain his control over people, so does abortion. The more human beings on earth, especially Christian ones, the harder it is for the devil to keep tormenting everybody. [I am indebted to Gary North for this insight. Leviticus. pp. 565-6.]

God doesn’t have that problem. He doesn’t lose control when earth’s population grows. The Triune God is sovereign. He is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. It is true that He uses angels for many tasks, but He doesn’t have to. He doesn’t depend upon His angels like Satan depends upon his. God’s resources are unlimited; Satan’s are limited.

What do the temptations of Jesus demonstrate? Refusing to turn the stones into bread means that there is no trial or temptation too strong for you to resist. Jesus faced them all in His humanity. Spurning the enticement to jump off the temple tells you that Jesus avoided the flashy stuff so He could go to the cross in humility. Last, the conquest of Christ during His forty days and forty nights assures you that God alone deserves your worship. Satan is fighting a losing battle. His world is passing away. You have an indestructible hope. Come now to the Eucharist and thank the Lord for these His manifold blessings.

Let us pray.