“Super Showdown”

Luke 4: 1-2a: “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.” Something we need to understand: Jesus came into this contact with both His divinity and humanity fully intact – both natures. But He had emptied Himself of His divine privileges (Philippians 2: 7) and was in the form of a man. The devil, being a spirit creature, was able to pull stunts like show Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and bring Him up to the pinnacle of the temple (there were no stairs going to that point). And yet Jesus, fully human, armed only with His divine nature, the Word of God and the Holy Spirit – the same Nature, Word and Spirit available to us – was able to overcome him. In other words, His victory, no matter what the temptation, can be our victory!