Jesus Was Tempted

Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13



Thank you for continuing this journey of The Gospel Project^® for Kids. Sunday’s Bible account takes place immediately after Jesus’ baptism. After Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness. Jesus fasted for 40 days, and He was hungry. The Devil (the agent of temptation and the father of lies) said to Jesus, “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”



If You are the Son of God? The Devil knew who Jesus was. He challenged Jesus to prove it. The Devil wanted to ruin God’s plan of redemption which was set in motion in Genesis 3. In the garden of Eden, Satan used a seemingly innocent question to arouse doubt in Eve: “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). Adam and Eve ate the fruit God had forbidden them to eat, and sin entered the world. Jesus came to reverse the curse, to succeed where Adam failed. The Devil’s aim was to get Jesus to sin, to disqualify Him from the role of sinless Savior.



Jesus did not give in to temptation. Each time Jesus was tempted, He remembered God’s Word. The Bible includes several verses about temptation. For example, God does not tempt anyone. (James 1:13) We can pray to resist temptation. (Matthew 26:41) When we resist the Devil, he will flee from us. (James 4:7) But what happens when we do give in to temptation? We can boldly approach God’s throne to receive grace to help us through temptation, and mercy and forgiveness when we sin. (See Hebrews 4:14-16.)



The writer of Hebrews said that our high priest—Jesus—can sympathize with our weaknesses because He was tested in every way we are, yet He never sinned. Jesus was tempted, but He never sinned. Jesus is perfect and righteous. A perfect sacrifice was required to take away sin. Jesus was that perfect sacrifice. He died on the cross to free us from sin and to give us the power to say no to temptation.