Let’s read Luke 4:1-2, “Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry” (NKJV). The first thing we must see (before we answer your specific questions) is that Jesus was “filled with the Holy Spirit” and was “led by the Spirit into the wilderness.” The Holy Spirit had come upon Jesus at His baptism, as we see in Matthew 3:16, “When he had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and ALIGHTING UPON HIM.” Why did the Holy Spirit come upon Him? Because from that moment on, Jesus was going to enter into His public ministry as a dependent Man empowered by the Spirit. The prophet Isaiah had predicted this in Isaiah 11:2, “The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.” This “anointing” of the Spirit was also foretold in Isaiah 61:1, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because he has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.”

But before the Lord would begin canvassing the cities and villages of Israel to present Himself to the people as their Messiah by preaching the gospel and performing miracles, He was led of the Spirit to be tempted of the Devil for 40 days. Why was this necessary? I can think of at least three reasons why.

1) He was tempted in order to BIND SATAN. In Matthew 12:28-29 we read, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man.” We saw from Isaiah 61:1 that Jesus was going to “proclaim liberty to the captive” and “set at liberty those who are oppressed,” but before He could enter into Satan’s territory and set the captives free He had to “bind the strong man.” The “strong man” refers to Satan and when He was tempted by the Devil, He overcame him in each temptation (see Luke 4:3-12). The Devil then “departed from Him” (verse 13) and Jesus was able to enter into his kingdom and “plunder his goods” (i.e. “set the captives free”).

2) He was tempted to PROVE HE WAS HOLY. Hebrews 7:26 declares, “For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.” In order for Jesus to become the believer’s High Priest, He had to prove that He was fit to be so. His temptations by the Devil were allowed to prove that He was absolutely holy and incapable of sinning. Some wrongly teach that “Jesus could have sinned, but He didn’t.” They believe they are honoring Him by saying this but the fact is “if Jesus COULD HAVE SINNED THEN, He would still be capable of sinning, for Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” If He could sin, He Himself would need a Savior and He could NOT be our High Priest! But praise be to God He is intrinsically holy and His temptations by the Devil proved that He COULD NOT SIN.

3) He was tempted to BE ABLE TO SUCCOUR (HELP) THEM THAT ARE TEMPTED. We learn this in Hebrews 2:18, “For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.” His temptations by the Devil serve as an EXAMPLE to us so that we too can overcome the Devil when we are tempted. How did Jesus overcome the Devil in the wilderness? He overcame him by the power of the Holy Spirit AND the Word of God. Each time the Devil tempted Him he answered him with the Word of God. So, He can now “help them that are tempted” by giving us just the right scriptures to meet the enemy and to defeat him.

Before I close, I want to say one more thing. The Lord was NEVER tempted “inwardly” to succumb to the Devil’s temptations; His temptations came from “without” but He never once entertained the thought of doing what the Devil suggested. So, even though He was extremely hungry, He never caved when the Devil told him to “command this stone to become bread” (Luke 4:3). The Devil’s temptations were real, but because the Lord was holy He never once was tempted inwardly to commit sin. Hebrews 4:15 confirms this, “For we have not a high priest not able to sympathize with our infirmities, but tempted in all things in like manner, SIN APART” (DARBY). The words “sin apart” mean the thought of sinning was NOT involved in the temptation, for there was nothing in our Savior that would cause Him to respond to the Devil’s temptations. See 2nd Corinthians 5:21; 1st Peter 2:22; and 1st John 3:5 along with John 14:30. (273.5) (DO)