Dear saints, on the sixth day, God creates man from the dust of the earth. Because there is no helper suitable for the man, he creates woman from the man’s side. They are joined together in the first marriage. They are given the directive to be fruitful and multiply, filling and subduing the earth. God looks at all He created over those six days and declares them very good.
But the next thing we hear in the Bible is how the devil, disguised as a snake, tempts Adam and Eve. The temptation is three-fold. They are tempted with gluttony, for the food they were not to have, as the fruit of the Forbidden Tree was delightful to the eyes. They are tempted with vain ambition, for the serpent promises that their eyes would be open and that they would know good from evil. They are tempted with avarice, a desire for or seeking out of a high place, for by eating the fruit they would be like God.
Even though Adam and Eve know what God has commanded them; even though they know they share a perfect union with Him and one another, Eve takes the fruit and eats it. She gives some to Adam, who was there during the entire event and did not intervene and protect his wife, and he eats with her.
It is then that their world crashes around them. Indeed, their eyes are opened. They know good from evil. They know that the promise of being like God was a lie. They know they are now unworthy to be seen by Him, let alone look upon Him. And so, in shame, they hide.
As you recall, The Fall brings upon creation curses. It is why we have famine. It is why the harvest sometimes fails. It is why childbirth is so painful and, tragically, sometimes deadly. It is why, no matter how long you live, you will die. But even more important is the promise made. Even as humanity falls into sin, God promises to save and redeem it. He promises to crush the head of the serpent and rescue His creation.
And as you know, our Lord Jesus Christ is the promised Offspring of the woman.
We encounter Jesus this morning immediately after His baptism. Immediately after the heavens open and the Spirit descends like a dove. Right after the Father speaks and says, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” The first act of the Spirit is to lead Jesus into the wilderness. Paired with the Old Testament lesson, you may see a parallel with Adam and Eve being removed from Eden and put into a type of wilderness. But you also may hear, especially when we consider our Lord’s forty-day and forty-night fast, the wilderness wanderings of Israel.
Adam and Eve enter a wilderness because of sin. Moses leads Israel into the wilderness, through the parted waters of the Red Sea (a picture and type of baptism), as the Lord saves them from their bondage in Egypt. While there, Israel fails to trust the Lord God and will spend forty years wandering. Our Lord is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
The temptations that Jesus faces are the same as those faced by Adam and Eve. At the end of His fast, He is hungry. And the devil tempts the Lord. I cannot tell you if the devil knows of what happened at the Jordan River as Jesus is baptized. But he does know who our Lord is. It is as if he says, “Prove that you are the Son of God. Satisfy your hunger. Use your power. Turn these stones into bread.” But Jesus has not come to show His power for His own sake. He will perform miracles, even miracles involving food. But these are for the benefit of others; not Himself. Tempted by gluttony, Jesus responds by trusting in His Father for what He needs. He looks to the Word of God.
The devil next leads Jesus…well, Jesus allows Himself to be led to Jerusalem. In his hubris, Satan thinks he is leading and directing the Christ. And taking Him to the pinnacle of the temple, the devil quotes Scripture. Again, it is as if he said, “Prove that you are the Son of God. Make a spectacle. Force the hand of God and push Your angels into action! Show these people who you really are.” Here our Lord is tempted with vain ambition. The devil pushes Him to show off, to prove that He is the Son of God. And He is to do this by leaping off the Temple and making God act. Instead of trusting that God is good; instead of trusting that the will of God will be done, the devil would have Jesus have a false trust that God would not let His foot strike the ground. In the midst of temptation, Jesus refuses to put God to the test.
Finally, the devil takes Jesus to a high mountain. In an instant, the kingdoms of the world are shown to the Lord. One final time, it is like the devil says, “You know your mission. You know that you came to save your creation. But you know what you must suffer to do it. Avoid it! I will give them to you right now. All you need to do is bow down before me. Worship me.” The temptation is one of avarice. A temptation for a shortcut.
It is a silly demand. Sure, he might control and, in a sense, rule the kingdoms of the world. But it is because he has claimed power and authority that is not his to have. What he is proposing is that he will give to Jesus what he does not own if Jesus, the God-Man, would worship one of His created angels as a God. So, Jesus responds, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” Jesus is not allured for power through false worship.
At that, the devil leaves and begins to seek another time. Angels come to Jesus and minister to Him. And when He has recovered, He begins His earthly ministry.
Two men. Three temptations. The human, the first Adam, falls into sin, being tricked by the devil. Adam desires to fill his stomach, had the ambition of being like a god, and the avarice of having the same knowledge of God. The God-Man, the Second Adam, remains steadfast and pure. Facing the same temptations, He trusts the Word of God, He does not misplace His trust in His Father, and He is not tricked into false worship promising a shortcut and ease. Through the Temptation of Christ and the other times the devil sought to trick our Lord, we have a great high priest who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
God led His people Israel through the Red Sea, through the wilderness, and brought them to the promised land. He did this even though they were sinful and stiff-necked. He disciplined them. He brought them to repentance. He gave them victory over their enemies. The Church is God’s Israel today. As the Israelites followed Christ in the pillar of cloud and fire, Christians follow Him as He speaks to us through Word and Sacrament. We follow Him through the wilderness of this world and toward the glory in the world to come, in our Promised Land. In a restored Eden.
Like Israel, we constantly sin. We fall into the silly and stupid temptations of the devil. We look to feed our bellies rather than seek what God would give us. We have our own ambitions that benefit the “me” and no one else. We desire the easy road. The path of least resistance and the one that does not cause any pain or difficulty. When we do this, we find that we do not fear, love, and trust God above all things. We find that we are putting our faith in ourselves and displacing God from His throne. May God grant us repentance for this grievous sin!
Let us, therefore, remember that we are like the first Adam. Foolish and easily tempted to sin. But also let us remember we have the Second Adam. God in the flesh and righteous. While He goes hungry, others are fed at His hands. He grows weary but offers others rest. He is the Messiah but pays the tribute, the tax to Caesar. He is called the devil but casts out demons. He is sold for thirty pieces of silver but pays the ransom for all. He dies the death of a sinner but saves His people from their sins. He will not turn bread into stones for Himself, but He gives His body and blood to nourish the souls of His people.
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Amen.
Rev. Brent Keller
Peace Lutheran Church
Alcester, SD
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