Word and Breath

“And the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God…’” (Mat. 4:3).

Weak. Tested. Stretched beyond endurance with forty days of no food. And Satan comes and attacks. He attacks his view of God his Father, the goodness of God toward him. He plays on his physical weakness, his power, his mission, his favor with people, etc. Satan plays with his identity as the Son of God.

Jesus overcomes. Victory! By the Word of God, Jesus speaks and triumphs over Satan!

Yet Luke adds: “And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13). Our Savior—no easy path for him. Satan lurks and speaks later through Peter. The full waves of temptation under which we fallen human beings would cave crash against Jesus, and he bears on, perfect in every way, tempted in every way.

Yet Satan is not done. His insidious whispers and temptations attack at his weakest moment. In the Garden during his prayer, there must have been temptation, but Jesus cries, “Not my will!” And on the cross, the same Tempter’s voice is thrown out in the mockers’ voices, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” (Mat. 27:41). If you are the Son of God, if you are the Son of God, if you are the Son of God.

And in his gasping breaths, Jesus still praised and honored his Father: “MY God, MY God…. Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit…. Father, forgive them…..”

My Lord, tempted in every way. Perfect underneath it all. Perfect for me. His strength covers my weakness. I bend and break, I crack under the temptation to despair, of discouragement, impatience. We each have our own areas—addictions, idols, people-pleasing, worry, fear, anxiety, anger, pride, gossip, lying, manipulation, strife, etc. But Jesus faced it all, and took the victory. In the constant nagging, the constant battering of temptation, he stood firm for me.

And won the victory for me. 

Take a minute--think of our Lord in his temptation, bearing all the weight. All that you feel, the crushing weight that makes you feel you must cave in--he bore it. He is with you now. 

“And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming” (2 Thes. 2:8).

By the very breath of his mouth he will destroy the evil one—the same breath that breathed out the Word of God before Satan, the same breath that cried out to God in the Garden and on the cross.

“And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ‘Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death’” (Rev. 12:10-11).

The victory wasn’t won by the angels’ strength. It wasn’t by power. That was Satan’s field; that would have been fighting on the enemy’s terms. It was by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of their testimony, the Word of the gospel, the Word of Truth, the Word of Life, that wins. The Lord’s own confession of My Father, Your Will, Your Word.

Oh My Lord! What power! What meekness! What love! What steadfastness! In face of the daily batterings of temptation and all the power the evil one and his armies could exert. You alone conquered; and we ride in your victory. We confess you as King, with your breath in us. Yours alone is the victory!

What temptations are you facing? How does Christ’s victory help you in your moments?