Jesus: Our Powerful Example and Hero!

Luke 4:2 – Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days He did eat nothing: and when they were ended, He afterward hungered.

    Imagine forty days in the wilderness; forty days and nights alone, without any human company or support; forty long days and nights without a friend to console you or to simply converse with. He was entirely alone. This was an intense test of who he truly was. It was a test of character, identity, security and destiny. The wilderness represents the place of fallen man; the wild place where nothing submits but, all things vie for supremacy. Tozer once wrote that, “The bias of nature is toward the wilderness, never toward the fruitful field”. Because Jesus was in the solitary and isolated place, he can identify with all these emotions and realities of our fallen world. He was there. He was tempted of the devil. He was scrutinized ‘of’ the devil. The Greek word for ‘of’ is the word ‘under’ which powerfully illustrates a concentrated, forty day experience of suffering. He underwent rigorous scrutiny and severe interrogation of the devil. The enemy is aptly called Diabolos; the slanderer and defamer of all that is righteous. One can only imagine the vindictives hurled against him; the slander, the accusations and the lies of the enemy, the constant barrage and cacophony of sounds from which we want to plug our ears.

    During all of this time that he was under this test, he did not eat even one thing. He did not do the most basic human thing. Eating is necessary for survival, for strength and for clarity of mind. Not once did Jesus take anything natural into himself. He lived on the basis of the Word of God; he was literally sustained by it. He overcame the enemy with powerful quotations from Scripture. He used the phrase, “It is written” to form the premise for his stance. He is our perfect example and we can follow in his steps. These words, “It is written” declare the spiritual and legal precedent for us as believers. It is written, it still stands, and it is still in force, therefore we can say with all authority, “Get thee behind me Satan!”