Exposing the Strategies of Satan (and How to Fight) Part 1
A Bible Study on Luke 4:1-13
Is there anyone who can say that they did not experience temptation? Surely none. Not even Jesus Himself. Jesus was tempted as well. Today, we are going to look at the (first out of three) interaction between the tempter and Jesus. But before we do, we need to differentiate between temptation and sin. Jesus was tempted— but he never sinned. Hence, temptation is not equal to sin.
The reason for studying this passage is that we will understand the strategies of the enemy and the strategies of our Lord that will help us fight our enemy.
Let’s move to our passage. According to Luke 4:1, it was the Holy Spirit who led Jesus into this wilderness for forty days. But why did He do it? Commentators think that there is a deliberate effort made by Luke to compare the forty years in the wilderness spent by Israelites with the forty days of Jesus in the wilderness. “Israel failed, but Jesus succeeded. God led Israel into the wilderness, and God’s Spirit led Jesus there. God tested Israel there, and God allowed the devil to test Jesus there.” (Source) Interesting, isn’t it?
At the end of this forty-day fast, Jesus was hungry. Nevertheless, He was full of the Holy Spirit. If you read carefully, the second verse reads that Jesus was tempted ‘for forty days’. This means, that the devil tempted Jesus more than three times. However, Luke mentioned only three temptations, which means that these three were probably more crucial than the rest. Let’s examine them.
First Temptation (Luke 4:3-4)
The first thing that the devil did was attack the identity of Jesus. He said, “If you are the Son of God…” The identity of Jesus is something that he already knew. But Jesus was not affected by the lies of the devil, for He knows that the work of the devil is to doubt what God asserts. On the contrary, Jesus already knew what His identity is. In Luke 1:22, Father declares who Jesus is: “You are my Son.” Thus, Jesus need not worry about what the devil was saying.
The devil knew the weakness of Jesus at that point, which was hunger. Empty stomachs have hindered so many people from coming to God. Fortunately, Jesus is not one of them. What we learn from this is that the pattern of the devil (and all the enemies in general) is that he attacks the weakest points.
Now that we’ve seen how the devil functions, let’s see how Jesus fought with the devil. Jesus used the one sword that He had: the Word of God. He quoted Scripture to the devil. This shows that there is indeed power in the Word of God. This power is enough to fight against our enemy.
We can learn many lessons from this first encounter:
Know your weakness: Carefully notice the sins that you easily commit, the sins that you love. Also, mark the situations or the fellowship of your friends that make you sin. It could be some picture or some movie. Whatever that might be, observe it and avoid it.
Know your identity: You are a child of God, the one who has already defeated Satan. You belong to Him. Knowing this will help you defend yourself against all the attacks of the enemy on your identity.
Use your weapon: The Word of God is the powerful sword you need to slay Satan. Without this weapon, you can never resist the devil.
Be full of the Spirit: Perhaps the antidote to the empty lies of the devil is to be full of the Spirit. Don’t merely read it; rather understand it, memorize it, and obey it.
I pray that this short study of Jesus’ battle against our enemy will encourage you to study God’s word more.
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