Why God Allowed the Devil to Tempt Jesus, and What is its Ramification
By: Noel Corpuz
Tags: Spirituality, Religion, Faith, Christianity, Life

The First Encounter of Man and the Devil (the Serpent)

After Man was made, God gave him authority over all the earth and a commission to do God’s will. God then planted a garden and placed man in the midst of it with a specific command leading to either sustain life or bring death.

Genesis 2:15–18 says, Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; BUT of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

Verse 21 continues, And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept, and He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.

In this garden, man would meet his tempter, the serpent.

Genesis chapter 3 tells us of the encounter where man succumbed to the serpent (devil’s) temptation.

1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’ ” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 BUT of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

As God is true, and the devil the father of lies, man’s disobedience to God’s command ushered him to his fall which would end in death.

With that, Adam and his wife found themselves naked in shame, guilty in sin, hiding from the face of God.

17 Then to Adam, He (God) said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake;

In toil you shall eat of it

All the days of your life.

Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,

And you shall eat the herb of the field.

In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread

Till you return to the ground,

For out of it you were taken;

For dust you are,

And to dust you shall return.”

— therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man, and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Man Succumbing to the Devil’s Wile Handed Himself Over to the Control of Satan.

As Paul, the apostle states in Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned — “

By giving in to the devil’s temptation by going against God’s will, man lost three things.

First, The blessing of eternal life and instead received the curse of death.

Second, The loving presence of God, God’s provision as well as God’s protection. He was banished from the place which God has prepared for him.

Third, Although God gave dominion to man to rule over all the earth, he lost the power to reign the moment he submitted himself to the serpent’s will.

So as the man gave himself to Satan’s rule, so was his earthly possession and authority given over to the devil to plunder, a principle which Jesus confirmed in Mark 3:27, “No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.”

Therefore, Satan the devil could tell it to the Son of God when he tempted Him in the wilderness, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; FOR THIS HAS BEEN DELIVERED TO ME, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”

That was of course a lie because in the eyes of God that authority still lies with man to whom He gave it. God cannot recognize the devil’s claim since He never gave it to him.

As Adam was in the garden, Jesus was in the Wilderness

In that moment of testing, Jesus was in the same situation as the first man Adam was in the garden. Will Jesus accept the devil’s deception? Of course not, for He only believes His Father’s words. So He responded with God’s word “For it is written:”

“Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.”

Rather than aligning Himself with the devil, Jesus secured His position with God. So the devil left Him, and angels came and ministered to Him.

Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all (Luke 4:14–15).

Now, what would happen if Jesus took the bait of the devil as Adam did?