Satan Hear This Proclamation
Luke 4:1-13: Then Jesus left the Jordan, full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4 But Jesus answered him, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone.”
5 So he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 The devil said to him, “I will give you their splendor and all this authority, because it has been given over to me, and I can give it to anyone I want. 7 If you, then, will worship me, all will be yours.”
8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”
9 So he took him to Jerusalem, had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:
He will give his angels orders concerning you,
to protect you, 11 and
they will support you with their hands,
so that you will not strike
your foot against a stone.”
12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said: Do not test the Lord your God.”
13 After the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time.
We begin with the premise or assumption that the devil, Satan, is real. We do not defend the devil, but we do defend the reality of his existence. And therefore we also defend the reality of what he did: he really did (and continues to do) things that are very evil. We need to acknowledge this truth and reality. We can also say that what he did especially includes three events. Three major events.
The first event was near the beginning of creation when he tempted Adam and Eve. And Adam and Eve, instead of responding as they should have, instead of firmly holding to the proclaimed word of God where God said, “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die” (Gen. 2:17), instead of replying to the devil with faith in that word of God, the true word of God, the powerful word of God, Adam and Eve went with and fully accepted the clever lie of the devil.
The result was what we have seen ever since and what we still see today. Every evil we see today, every war and catastrophe we see today, every sin we see in others and within ourselves, every death that occurs, are all the result of the fall into sin. That was the first major and real event of evil of the devil. He has been doing the same sort of thing ever since.
But the second major evil event is the one in our text: the temptations of Christ. These temptations were like those put before Adam and Eve, for they called for faith in the word of God. In the first temptation, the devil was saying, “I know you’ve been fasting for 40 day and you’re coming close to death. So if you are the Son of God, then do what he would do. Use your almighty power to turn these stones into bread and eat and live.”
The situation for Jesus, however, was that he also now and had been for the last 30 years a true man. And because he was true man, in order to resist temptations, he was obligated to respond to the devil like the first human beings, Adam and Eve, should have responded but did not. Jesus was obligated to proclaim the word of God and throw it in the face of the devil. And that’s what he does. He quotes from Deuteronomy 6: “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone.” When you go back and look at the entire verse in Deuteronomy, it becomes very clear what Jesus is doing: “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (6:3) “Not your word, devil, but his!”
We find something very similar in the second temptation: “So he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. The devil said to him, ‘I will give you their splendor and all this authority, because it has been given over to me, and I can give it to anyone I want. If you, then, will worship me, all will be yours.‘” The temptation to commit idolatry.
Again, Jesus throws back at the devil the word of God, something Adam and Eve did not do faithfully: “Jesus answered him, ‘It is written [in Deuteronomy 6:13]: Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'” The devil loses, and a man remains faithful.
In the third temptation the devil says, “Alright, you want to play the ‘word of God’ game! Then throw yourself off the top of the temple, for the word of God says of the Messiah, ‘He will give his angels orders concerning you, to protect you, and they will support you with their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'” Like the devil did with Adam and Eve, he twists the word of God, takes it out of context.
So Jesus proclaims the correct word of God that applies in this situation: “Jesus answered him, ‘It is said [Deut. 6:16]: Do not test the Lord your God.'”
In all three of these temptations, Jesus demonstrated perfect trust in God and his word, something Adam and Eve did not do, something the following generations would not do, something no other human being has ever done. The only exception is this man, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who at his baptism was filled with the Holy Spirit so he could deal with these temptations by proclaiming the true and powerful word of God.
These three temptations were the second great evil event that the devil did, though this time he failed.
The third major evil event of the devil is implied in these words of our text: “After the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time.” But not forever.
We read about this third major evil event of the devil taking place three years later, just days before Christ’s crucifixion: “The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to put Jesus to death… Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, who was numbered among the Twelve. He went away and discussed with the chief priests and temple police how he could hand Jesus over to them.” (Luke 22:2-4) “If I can’t tempt Jesus to sin, to reject God, I can put him to death,” the devil was saying. And it worked. So he thought.
What the devil did not know, however, was the sins and rebellion of Adam and Eve, of all people, of you, would be placed on the dying Jesus. What the devil did not know was the justice of God would be directed at and carried out on his own Son, so that Adam and Eve, any person, you, would not have to face that justice and eternal anger of God. What the devil did not know was that this crucified and dead Jesus would physically come back to life – would be resurrected – on the third day after his death, proclaiming he won, and the devil lost. What the devil did not know was that this work of Christ, this forgiveness of sins, this not-guilty status before God, this eternal salvation, would be offered and received free of charge to those who are baptized and believe in this Jesus, including young Charlotte. For it is in baptism that Christ himself has placed the forgiveness, life, and salvation that he won on the cross. What the devil did not know back then was that this baptism in the name the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, commanded by Jesus himself, would unite the baptized with Jesus, with the death of Jesus, with the resurrection of Jesus, in a way that gives the baptized the most important identity, that would give them the most well-lived life, the most meaningful life, the most spiritually protected life, the most confident life, the most fearless life, the most fruitful life, the most Spirit-filled and directed life. The devil did not know that, then.
But let me tell you what the devil knows now. He now knows that the worst thing is for people to receive this baptism, so he tries to prevent that from happening. For example, in certain Muslim countries, militant Muslims try to identify and hunt down Christians to put them to death. They ID them specifically by finding out whether they have received a Christian baptism. So the devil tries to scare some away from Christianity because baptism can be a mark of death. But the devil does not always succeed, thank God.
The devil also now knows that it is just as bad for baptized Christians to remain in their baptism. So he cleverly schemes ways to pull them away from their baptism. “You’re baptized” he says, “Don’t concern yourself with truly trusting Christ alone.” “You’re baptized? Do not worry about repenting of your sins; go ahead ignore them, enjoy them, or live in them.” “You’re baptized? Don’t concern yourself with bearing the fruits of faith and the Spirit.” “You’re baptized? Don’t worry about nurturing and sustaining your faith by gathering together as Christians to hear the proclaimed word of God and to receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.” So beware. It is no coincidence that after the apostle Peter writes, “baptism now saves you” (1 Pet. 3:21) he follows this by saying, “Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. Resist him…” (1 Pet. 5:8-9)
But for you baptized believers, remember and rest in and hold to this: you cannot overestimate the power and the benefit of baptism. It unites us with Christ, it forgives, it saves, it fortifies, it strengthens, it produces, it protects. That is because it is rooted in Christ and his work. It proclaims to sin, death, and the devil, “You have no power over me.” It is no less powerful than the word that the Son of God proclaimed to the devil.
Amen.
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