N 1988 MARTIN SCORSESE DIRECTED A highly controversial film entitled The Last Temptation of Christ. The film opened to a wave of protest from virtually every Christian denomination. While we may have problems with Scorsese's fictional account of Christ's life, there is, I believe, great value in critically reflecting upon the life of Christ and His times of temptations in particular.

Of all the temptations Christ faced, perhaps most trying was His encounter with Satan in the desert. The goal of this article is to consider the nature of Christ's temptations and learn how this portion of His life can benefit believers facing their own desert battles.

The Beginning, Again
The Genesis creation story begins with nothing--"without form and void." But the presence of the Trinity brings life into being. First, the Spirit is seen moving over the waters. Next, the spoken word of God breaks through the darkness, declaring, "It is good." Finally, in the creation of humans we see Christ drawing near and making them in God's image (Gen. 1:2-4, 26).

While all this talk about Adam's creation may seem far removed from the temptation of Christ, it becomes relevant when we recall that Christ is, in the typology of salvation, the Second Adam. When setting in motion Christ's public ministry, we again find the Trinity drawing near. Once more, God the Holy Spirit is present--this time flying above the waters of the Jordan; verbal evidence of God the Father's presence comes in an announcement of that which is "good" ("My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased"); and God the Son, Christ Himself the agent of Creation, draws near once again, this time for the re-creation of humanity.

As this story develops we will see how these tokens of divine presence (Spirit and word) not only play a pivotal role in the establishment of Christ's ministry but are the very means by which it moves forward.

Similarities
Matthew 4:1 tells us Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. Christians often point to Christ's victory over Satan while in the wilderness. We are proud of the fact that Jesus could exit the desert trail untainted. But I believe Jesus came out of the desert without sinning largely because He went into the desert without sinning. Sometimes, I wonder if our marveling attitudes about Jesus' victory (as compared to our own failures) do not in some way fall just short of sin itself. Are we guilty of drawing awe and "holy" wonder where we should be gaining insight and similitude to the example given? Do we marvel and then go on life's way still failing and falling as if the record of Christ's life holds few truths and little power for our own times and temptations? Could it be that the reason I fail where Christ succeeded is that I enter "deserts" of my own choosing rather than the Spirit's leading?

We fail the tests of life not because obedience is impossible, but because obedience is all but impossible in the places or conditions we have wandered to on our own. Unfazed we go on to wonder why the Lord has abandoned us or led us to such barren lands. Jesus' example tells us that we would end with God more if we would begin with God more.

Temptation One: To Manufacture Evidence
Christ's desert experience was immediately preceded by His baptism at the Jordan. Contrast between the two settings could not be keener. At the Jordan all was well. Vegetation, refreshing water, and, most significantly, words of encouragement and confirmation of human and divine origin. But desert life was different; Christ found Himself thirsty and hungry. And in this solitary wasteland such visible support was nowhere to be seen.

In this context of contrast Satan comes to Jesus as an angel from heaven. His statement "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread" suggests that the test has reached its end and that Jesus may now deliver Himself from His famished condition. What's more, Satan hints that Christ can demonstrate His divine relationship to His Father in miraculously doing so.

In this way the first temptation raises a basic but important question. Namely, "How does a man prove he is a child of God?" "How does a woman show she is on God's side?" Satan here implies we do so by creating something ourselves--by works. What he's asking is for us to manufacture evidence. And all too often we readily oblige. When we face difficulties, particularly those that come unexpectedly, Satan steps in and questions our relationship to the Divine in light of our circumstances. Do you really believe God would allow this to happen to His son or His daughter? It is, at once, a question regarding God's love and our position before Him.

In our "show me the money" world, there's an incessant call to prove the vitality of our relationship to God by our own efforts. This is particularly true in times of struggle, when our sense of danger and vulnerability is raised. It's as if we need to reassure ourselves and others that everything is still fine. To Satan Jesus replies (in effect): "At present My life may look unsuccessful. I may appear abandoned. I may not seem much of a Messiah. Sonship is not proved, however, by My will, but by the recognition and surrender to the will and leading of the Father."

From the beginning Jesus' constant desire was to hear and follow His Father's will. In this process Christ may not have always understood how the individual pieces of God's puzzle were to finally come together. But this mystery, which at times greatly enhanced the human struggle, was no excuse for self-promotion or release. Christ knew the greatest evidence of His divine sonship was continued faith in the wise and loving guidance of His Father. Any other sign of divine right would have been failure by human effort.

The first temptation raised questions about the relationship between Jesus and His Father. But we see that Jesus refused to answer Satan's question by evidence of His own choosing. To provide His own evidence would have been a denial of and an attempt to externally add to the evidence already given: the Father's announcement at the Jordan (an external sign) and the Spirit's leading (an internal sign). Jesus refused to play this game, and in so doing overcame His tempter.

Temptation Two: To Manipulate God's Promises
By His response to the first temptation we see that Jesus refused to doubt His connection to the Father. In the second temptation Satan reverses his strategy completely. Now he comes assuming the presence and blessing of God. This change tells us something of Satan's methods of temptation and the perspective from which he works. First, let's consider his perspective.

It is often said that desperate people do desperate things. In Satan's varied and contradictory temptings are traces of the fearful desperation from which he was working. When the wise men looked at baby Jesus in swaddling clothes, they saw a child of unknown significance. Their bowing down was an act of faith. When Satan saw baby Jesus lying in the manger, he saw the Creator of the universe made flesh. Satan had no faith, but he knew the truth. Though a helpless child, in Him Satan saw the potential end to all that he had accomplished since the Fall. All he claimed as his own was now tangibly placed in jeopardy. Satan knew that Christ had not come to obtain victory for a privileged few, but to give pardon and power to as many as would believe. What's more, Christ's presence not only signaled victory to responding sinners but marked certain defeat for Satan and the end of sin itself. Satan knew he was cornered, and his approach shows as much.

This polar shift in Satan's approach tells us something of his methods in temptation, as well. Sometimes he comes making obvious calls to abandon God. At other times the path of denial looks much more like the path of faith. In temptation two Christ was being asked to "believe" in God to trust in His watchcare. Satan often makes the bad look very good, and only diligent attentiveness to God's Word and the Spirit's leading will enable us to identify the right path.

Another point. Much has been made of Christ's use of Scripture to respond to Satan's attacks. But we benefit in also noting the way in which Jesus did not use the Scriptures. Christ refused to fall into the trap of expecting or demanding from God those things He had not promised. After study and reflection upon the Scriptures Jesus refused to give in to the temptation to water down or artificially sweeten God's Word. This saved Him from disappointment in false promises masquerading as truth.

Satan suggested to Jesus that now, on His own timetable, He should demonstrate His arrival by gloriously descending from the sky accompanied by protective, attending angels. By doing so, the Temple worshippers could acknowledge and proclaim His arrival. It was a temptation to improve upon God's timetable. But the time had not yet come for Christ to descend upon Jerusalem surrounded by angels. That will take place on the "great day" to come. Once again Jesus held to His belief that the best way--yes, the only way--for Him to prove His equality with and faithfulness to God was to live in subjection to His revealed will and wait upon God's time.

Temptation Three: To Make Shortcuts
While Luke's account never has Christ rebuking Satan by name, Matthew does this very thing following the third temptation. Some might see in this a new and final awareness on the part of Christ regarding the identity of His tempter. While it is true that the cumulative effect of these deceptions would have had their weight, I believe there was another reason for the timing of this dismissal--with a name attached.

In the first two temptations it seems that Satan came to Christ as an angel sent from God bringing new directives and manifesting godly compassion. The first temptation does so by purporting to be a message of mercy from a satisfied Father. "Enough already!" is the cry. "You have shown Your fidelity in abstinence, now relieve Your hunger and summarily prove Your divine nature."

Similarly, the second temptation declares, "Trust God," "Trust Your calling," "Trust the Scriptures." Such heavenly directed talk suggests that Satan sought to maintain his deception of light until it was clear he had failed a second time.

But here in the final temptation Satan attempts to mislead the Savior not by trickery but by direct appeal. This temptation was about the means by which Christ was to achieve the Father's purpose here on earth.

Satan's invitation to pay homage suggests that he was no longer presenting himself as an angel of light, but openly showing himself to be Satan, secondhand owner of this world. At various times Christ Himself gave partial support to Satan's claim of ownership.

In this third temptation Satan quizzes Jesus on the best means of obtaining His objective. Before a weakened Christ, Satan stands like a school-yard bully taunting a weaker boy with his stolen ball. "Do You want it back?" he asks. "I'll give it back; just bow down to me, and it's Yours." Of course, a bully's offer is fictitious, as was Satan's. Satan not only planned to keep the world, but from a legal standpoint his immediate success was the only means by which he might obtain it. Although Satan had limited power and partial claim to this world because of the Fall of Adam and Eve, his place of authority, like Adam's, was conditional and thus temporary.

At the time of this temptation the world, though fallen, legally remained God's. Consequently, Satan's request that Christ bow to him was little different from his offer to Adam and Eve. Before their Fall Adam and Eve already held positions of authority given of God. Satan caused them to cast aside this position in hope of obtaining something better. In short, he offered them a shortcut. "Eat the fruit, and you will not only keep this world but gain something more--something God has not yet given you: Godlike wisdom." But in eating, they merely lost what they already had.

Again, Satan asks for little more than token allegiance, and by this Christ is told He will gain the world. However, it was not an offer about giving, but of taking. Had Christ bowed to obtain this world, by that very act He would have been giving it away. Such an act would have been the last legal "step" in Satan's hostile bid to take over this world.

Satan comes to us in much the same way today, tempting us to behold our weakened condition and abandon the path of Christlike similitude for the path of immediate satisfaction. Satan was offering Christ credit-card salvation. In light of our limitations he says, "Bow to me, and I will help you obtain that which you seek without sacrifice."

In one sense Satan is right, for we can obtain victory in life's warfare only as we acknowledge our fallen, needy condition. At the same time, we claim victory over Satan by recalling that which is already ours (just as Christ overcame the third temptation by recalling that this world was already His). We have the offer of forgiveness and adoption in Christ. The true gold (of heaven's streets) and the truer gold (of Christ's righteousness) have been freely offered us--not in spite of our weaknesses, but because of them. We should not bow, because we need not bow. This is that truth that Satan seeks to keep from our sight--to blind us to God's grace and riches in Christ by the weight of our humanity and failings.

Hebrews 4 tells us of a High Priest who is also our King. If Christ is our king, we stand as princes and princesses because of His name.

The suffering, temptation, and victory of Christ on our behalf magnificently demonstrate His amazing love for us (see Heb. 12:1, 2). It is this love that binds us to Him and grants us victory over temptation. With the apostle Paul we can declare, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" (see Rom. 8:35-39).

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Joel Thomas Ingram writes from Glendale, California, where he serves as director of Chaplaincy, Bereavement, and Volunteer Services for St. Anne's Hospice.