The Wilderness Temptation

This chapter is based on Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12, 13; Luke 4:1-13.

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.”HH 45.1

Jesus did not invite temptation. He went to the wilderness to be alone, to think about His mission. By fasting and prayer, He was to brace Himself for the bloodstained path He must travel. But Satan thought this was the best time to approach Him.HH 45.2

Mighty issues were at stake. Satan claimed the earth as his and presented himself as “the prince of this world.” He declared that humanity had chosen him as their ruler and that through human beings he held dominion over the world. Christ had come to disprove Satan’s claim. As the Son of man, Christ would stand loyal to God. This would show that Satan had not gained complete control of the human race and that his claim to the world was false. Anyone who wanted deliverance from his power would be set free.HH 45.3

Satan had known that he did not hold absolute control over the world. In humanity, there was a power that withstood his reign. See Genesis 3:15. In the sacrifices that Adam and his sons offered, he saw a symbol of communion between earth and heaven, and he set himself to intercept it. He misrepresented God and misinterpreted the rites that pointed to the Savior. He led people to fear God as one who delighted in their destruction. The sacrifices that should have revealed His love, they offered only to appease His wrath.HH 45.4

When God gave His written Word, Satan studied the prophecies. From generation to generation, he worked to blind the people so that they would reject Christ at His coming.HH 45.5

When Jesus was born, Satan knew that One had come to dispute his rulership. The Son of God had come to this earth as a man, and this filled him with alarm. His selfish heart could not understand such love. Since he had lost heaven, he was determined to cause others to share his fall. He would cause them to undervalue heavenly things and set their hearts on things of earth.HH 45.6