Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

” ‘He will command his angels concerning you,

and they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'”

7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'”

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'”

11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

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C. S. Lewis wrote that the devil’s cleverest trick is to convince people that he doesn’t exist.

Satan has played that trick on most people today. Very few people believe in the devil as a real, personal being. On an evangelism visit, a gentleman scoffed at me when I mentioned the devil. “How can you know there’s a devil?” he asked. “Have you seen him?”

“No, I haven’t seen him-” I answered, “just his tracks.” The world is littered with them. When this world left the hand of its Creator, God said that it was very good, that is, perfect in every way. You don’t have to look far to see that this is no longer true. Crime, suffering, disease, death-none of these were part of our Creator’s design for the world.

From where did sin and suffering come? From the devil, who convinced our first parents to abandon their trust in their heavenly Father and embrace the devil’s lies.

Not surprisingly, the devil attempted the same thing with Jesus. He came at Jesus with three great temptations. After Jesus had fasted for 40 days, the devil tempted Jesus to abandon his trust in his heavenly Father and to provide himself some bread. Next, he tried to convince Jesus to make God prove his love by saving Jesus from a serious fall. Finally, the devil suggested that Jesus win the kingdom by bowing down to him. All three times the devil’s suggestion was the same: “Jesus, your Father can’t be trusted. Forget him. Follow me.”

It was the same technique the devil had used in Eden, but this time, praise God, the outcome was very different. Jesus routed the devil, using Scripture to expose his lies.

Jesus’ trust in God was unshakable.

Jesus’ victory is our victory. God looks at us as though we have overcome all of Satan’s temptations. Jesus, how can we thank you enough?

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for defeating Satan and opening the kingdom of God to me. May I follow Jesus’ example and trust you always. Amen.