Luke 4:1-13

Have you ever been tempted by someone to do something that you knew was wrong? How did you react? In this story, we read about how Jesus reacted when He was tempted by the Devil.

After His baptism, Jesus went into the desert and, for forty days, He was tempted by the Devil. The desert was hot, as the sun beat down, and there were many wild animals. During those forty days, Jesus had nothing to eat and, at the end of the forty days, He was very hungry. The Devil came to Jesus and tempted Him in three different ways.

First temptation

The Devil showed him a stone and said that, if He was the Son of God, He should tell the stone to become bread. Jesus was very hungry by this time but He resisted the Devil and said to him, “It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'” Jesus was not going to use His powers to satisfy His own hunger. He also knew that it was more important to obey God than to have bread to eat.

Second Temptation

The Devil led Jesus to a high place and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world. He told Jesus that, if he bowed down and worshipped him, he would give Him all the world’s kingdoms. Jesus refused and told him, "It is written that you are to worship God and only God”. Jesus was God’s Son and God was going to give all the kingdoms of the world to Him when He had finished the work that God had given Him and that He had come to the earth to do.

Third temptation

The Devil led Jesus to Jerusalem to the highest point of the temple and told Him to throw Himself down. The Devil said that, if he was the Son of God, the Bible said that God would send His angels to protect Him. Again, Jesus refused and told him that it was written, “You are not to tempt God”. Jesus never did any miracles to prove who He was. He only did miracles to help people who were having problems that no one else could solve, for example, He fed 5000 hungry people with five small loaves and two small fish and all of them had enough to eat.

After these temptations, the Devil left Jesus until the right moment would come when he would try to tempt Him again. When the Devil left Jesus, God sent angels to look after Jesus’ needs.

Jesus did not allow the Devil to turn Him aside from the work that God had given Him to do. Each time Jesus replied to the Devil by quoting from the Bible. It is important for us to read the Bible so that we know what things are right and what things are wrong.

Jesus proved that He was greater that the Devil by overcoming him in the wilderness. He was then ready to start the work that God had given Him to do. We will learn about it in His miracles and from His teaching in other stories.