Desires of the Flesh
In Matthew 4:1-4 we find Jesus’ first temptation in the wilderness. It is the temptation of self-sufficiency. Jesus was led by the Spirit to the wilderness and after 40 days he was hungry. (as you might expect) His reply reveals two kinds of hunger: the hunger of the body and the hunger of the soul. Are you hungry?
Do you perceive lack in your life fueling a desire for something you do not possess? Is the ancient whisper seducing you to disbelieve God’s wisdom which has led you into a wilderness? Have you wondered where He is after a 40-day period of waiting? Has your starving heart been tempting you to disbelieve God’s goodness?
The tempter aimed deeper than Jesus’ stomach. His assault was on his identity, “If you are the Son of God.” (Matt. 4:3) Have you succumbed to the post-Exodus place the Israelites found themselves? Their peculiar amnesia led to grumbling that God had abandoned them. (Ex. 16:2-3) The sons desired Egypt again.
Jesus’ reply to the tempter reveals a contentment of soul, and a deep trust in the Good Shepherd who led him.
His reply is Scriptural, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4, Duet. 8:3) The reader must not miss the truth, nor the example of Jesus. God’s word is true, and in time of temptation, the greater Israel, our Lord Jesus, unsheathes the sword of the Spirit. (Eph. 6:17)
His reply is also Spiritual. God’s word sufficiently feeds the soul, nurturing an abiding contentment, no matter the condition of the body. Satiated, Jesus neither complains about his lack, nor does he need to manufacture an alternate plan than the one His Father desired.
Finally, his reply is Dependent. As the better Adam, Jesus does not “see, take, nor eat” (Gen. 3:6). He trusts God’s guiding wisdom (into the wilderness), timing (40 days) and goodness (no bread).
Make no mistake, this account is more than an example. Jesus, as the better Adam and True Israel, does not succumb to the “desires of the flesh” (1 Jn. 2:16). Jesus, in his substitutionary atonement, took on our desires of the flesh. He wore all of our hungering and lusting after all we do not possess. He became the sin of our disbelieving God’s guidance, timing and goodness. He was crucified under the curse of self-sufficiency, that we may also be God’s beloved. (Matt. 3:17)
“Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me!”
Praise the Lord Jesus, the very Word of God, who speaks sufficiently through his living word today! By His Spirit, he shows us the path He’s walked — resting in God’s guidance, timing and goodness.