“When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left Him until an opportune time.” Luke 4:13
We read about the temptations of Christ by Satan at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in both Matthew’s and Luke’s gospels (Mark 1:13 also mentions that He was tempted, but does not give the details). But this verse at the end of Luke’s account of the temptations gives us an additional insight: although Jesus withstood Satan and did not give in, these were not the last temptations that He faced.
I think the greatest temptations that Jesus had to deal with, were in the days and hours leading up to the cross. In Matt. 16:23, Jesus rebukes Peter, saying, ‘Get behind Me, Satan!’ when Peter suggested that Jesus need not go to the cross. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus again indicates that He had a choice between submitting to being arrested, or calling legions of angels to come to His aid and get Him out of there (Matt. 26:53-54). While He was on the cross, He was taunted by people to come down, if He was the Son of God (Matt. 27:39-44) – words that Satan uttered in the first instance.
Satan knew that if he could dissuade Jesus from dying on the cross, then he would have control over the world and its inhabitants forever. He could thwart God’s plan to set people free from their sin. The death of Christ was not an accident. It was all planned, by Jesus Himself – and it was completely necessary for our salvation.
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