After Jesus was baptized, the Spirit led him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights. When that time was over, he was hungry.
Jesus did not reach the wilderness by accident. The Spirit led him to the place of testing. His fast continued through both days and nights, and the tempter approached after that extended hunger had become real.
The tempter came to him and said that, if he was God’s Son, he should command the stones to become bread. Jesus answered with Scripture: people do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from God.
The first test joined the stones in front of Jesus to his immediate need for food. The tempter made sonship the condition and demanded a demonstration. Jesus did not attempt to prove his ability. His answer placed human life under every word spoken by God rather than under bread alone.
Then the devil took Jesus to the holy city and set him on the highest point of the temple. He told Jesus to throw himself down if he was God’s Son, and even quoted Scripture about angels protecting him.
The second setting was no longer the open wilderness but a high point of the temple in the holy city. Again the challenge began with the words “if you are the Son of God.” This time the devil used words about God commanding angels to catch and protect him, turning a promise of care into a reason for Jesus to throw himself down.
Jesus answered that Scripture also says not to put the Lord your God to the test. The devil then took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. He offered them to Jesus if Jesus would fall down and worship him.
Jesus did not accept a demand simply because it had been framed with Scripture. He answered with another command: God must not be tested. Deliberately creating danger in order to force a display of protection would make God’s faithfulness the object of a test.
For the third test, the devil offered a reward rather than beginning with a challenge to prove sonship. From a very high mountain he displayed the world’s kingdoms and their glory. The stated price was one act of bowing down and worshiping him.
Jesus told Satan to go away. Scripture, he said, commands people to worship the Lord their God and serve him alone. Then the devil left him, and angels came and cared for him.