Following the order of Luke’s Gospel, the second wilderness temptation of Jesus involves authority. Satan “showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, ‘To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.’” But there was a condition, an if: “If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus had only to allow Satan to be his king, his object of veneration, and he could have all the authority that the world had to offer. But Jesus responded, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”
All three of Jesus’ rejoinders in these temptations are taken from Deuteronomy and signal a strong connection with what Jesus is undergoing in the wilderness and God’s testing of Israel in their own wilderness journey This particular rebuke is from Moses’s warning that Israel, when they enter the Promised Land, should not “go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you.” Alas, Israel failed. Their history is overwhelmingly marked by idolatry. Jesus, however, held true in his devotion to the Father and Father’s will, succeeding when the Israel did not. As such, he was the true Israel.
I also think this second temptation addresses the foundational rebellion of Adam when he made the decision to come out from under God’s authority by transgressing the command to not eat of the forbidden tree. In this defiant act, Adam attempted a coup. He had been made to serve as regent in God’s creation, but he wanted to be king. What is ironic is that Adam had already been given more than enough authority. He was to exercise dominion over the earth! But when told he could be like God, the allure of independent authority and personal glory captured his imagination. And so he ate. His decision was fatal.
In the second temptation, Jesus, our champion, enters into battle with our foe. He withstands the temptation and comes out the victor and, as our representative, resets the divine-human relationship. We, by our faith-union with him, are brought back under God’s authority and perfectly worship and serve him. We know by experience, however, that the perfection we have in Christ is not manifested in our Christian walk. The process of sanctification is one that involves a progressive awakening to and ability to walk in righteousness and holiness. To this end, God uses temptations to test the “genuineness” of our faith so that it “may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:7) In each temptation, therefore, we are being tested to see if we will be content to be regents and not kings, to live under the authority of the one to whom “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given.”
Amazingly, the weapons that our champion brought to the fight are also ours: the power of the Holy Spirit, the truth of the Word of God, the confidence that the challenge we find ourselves in is something orchestrated by God, and his promise that he will never leave us nor forsake us. By faith in Christ we can share in his victory — no matter the temptation.
