Many people read about the Temptation of Jesus Christ when the Son Of God walked the Earth in human form. But few people could empathize & understand what Jesus Christ went through to face temptations in human form. Our Lord God & Holy Spirit guide us to analyze, understand & empathize the temptations of Jesus Christ so that we the followers of Jesus Christ will be more Christ-like and will follow his shining examples in everything we do.

In Matthew 4:1-17, The Temptation of Jesus Christ - After fasting for forty days & forty nights, Jesus was hungry & was tempted by the devil who said to him "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." But Jesus refused & said to the devil "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" (This verse "Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God" is quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3.)

The Bible states very simply that Jesus was hungry and in our opinion an understatement because it is effectively reducing the significance of the temptation of Jesus by the devil. Do not misunderstand that we are finding fault with the Bible or its translation, just that Jesus in human form is not just hungry but extremely hungry like any human being who had fasted for forty days & forty nights.

To get closer & understand the temptations of Jesus Christ, let us imagine that we had fasted for forty days & forty nights. How would we feel after fasting for forty days & forty nights? Would we be simply hungry or would we be starving or dying in need of food? Would we be standing up to face the devil & answer the devil in a clear coherent voice or would we be so weak on the floor & could only answer the devil his stupid questions by barely whispering back to the devil?

Take note that Jesus Christ did not fast in the comfort of an air-conditioned room with TV or music but in the hot arid desert with the sun blazingly hot in the day & cold in the night. Just imagine yourself fasting just 1 day in the hot arid desert, would you be able to last 1 day or would you give up & blame God for putting you to fast in the hot arid desert for 1 day?

Jesus Christ could have given up easily & fallen to the temptations of the devil at the point when he was extremely hungry & weak after fasting for forty days & forty nights. Can you imagine that you are talking to the devil with a sunburnt body and very hungry & growling stomach? Would you be able to stand up & concentrate on your mind, thoughts & spirit to rebut the devil and not think of food? It must be very hard to focus or concentrate on your mind or thoughts after forty days of fasting.

Ponder for a moment and imagine yourself going through severe testing of the mind, will & soul, will you be tempted to listen to the devil & not hold fast to the scripture and turn "stones to become bread" or will you heed & remember the word of God that "Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God"? Are you still able to be Christ-like in the face of severe testing & temptations by the devil or will you fall & give up?

Our Lord Jesus Christ did not give up after enduring the effects of fasting for a long period & blame God for all his sufferings but instead focused on the word of God for his guidance when tempted by the devil. He deliberately focused his mind on God's word, ignored what he had went through, the hunger, the heat from the desert sun, the feeling of weakness etc.. Jesus Christ is our shining example of what we should do in the face of severe testing & severe temptations when we human beings are bombarded badly to the weakest point. We must stand firm & hold firmly to the word of God & not be tempted in any way and give in to the devil.

In the temptation of Jesus, we saw that Jesus repeated the verse Deuteronomy 8:3 that 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' Jesus in repeating that verse underlined the importance of Man needing the spiritual food of God otherwise he will be empty spiritually & that Man living on food alone will always have a hungry spiritual void.

A closer examination of the temptation of Jesus Christ shows that the devil will cause us to sin using temptations when we are at our weakest points. An example of how the devil tempts us in this modern age is that when you are overseas alone on business trip with an opposite sex colleague, without your spouse & there existed some misunderstandings leading to discontent in your marriage, the devil might come & whisper temptations in your ears that it is alright to have a one night or few nights sexual affair with your colleague and your spouse would never know as it would be between you two adulterous parties only. Would you stand firm to word of God that "thou shall not commit adultery" or would you fall to the devil's temptation?

A study on the temptation of Jesus Christ reveals the tactics of temptations used by the devil which we can learn & be wary of. The devil uses wealth & power to seduce Jesus Christ & likewise the devil will come & tempt us, human beings, with lust of money & lust for power so that we will worship & love the world and not hold fast to the word of God. The devil is very shrewd. He won't tempt us when we are contented in life. He will first create dissatisfaction & jealousy thoughts in human beings when human beings are not careful & fall to various influences of the media controlled by the devil. At the right timing, the devil will then come & tempt us with lust of money & lust for power. For the weak & careless, they will then fall to the devil's temptations. Knowing now the tricks of the Great Enemy, we must now be very careful & alert to manipulations or influences by media or others creating discontentment in our lives. We must hold fast to the word of God and not yield any inch to be influenced by the devil.

God's plan in allowing the temptation of Jesus is a literal representation of another sinless human being like Adam who was sinless in the beginning, did not succumb to the devil's 3 tries of temptation unlike Adam falling to sin via Eve's first sinning disobedience against God. God's plan to sacrifice his only Son in the form of human being puts right & allows us go back to God via faith & belief in Jesus Christ. Through the temptation of Jesus Christ, we learn that God may also leave it to us, human beings, to handle our own temptations by the devil. God did not intervene in the temptation of Jesus & thus God may choose not to intervene in our temptations by the devil. In the face of our own temptations by the devil, we learn from Jesus to hold firm to the teachings & word of God like what Jesus Christ did in his own temptation to guard ourselves being tempted by the devil. We have ourselves to blame if we fall to temptations or sins for we do not guard ourselves like Jesus Christ & focus our minds & thoughts like Jesus Christ did on the word of God. Brothers & Sisters in Christ, let us be prepared to face the devil who may tempt us when we are at our weakest point for he will surely come. Let us adhere strictly to God's commandment & God's word so that no matter and however the devil tries to tempt us, the devil will fail.

With thanks & guidance to God & Holy Spirit For Article - SingaporeChristiansOnline.com