Pastor Colin Smith continues his Christmas season devotional to help you reflect on Jesus’ glory by taking a broad look at all that God has promised and accomplished in Him. The readings follow the pattern of his sermon series, “The Plan: God’s Design For the Universe and Your Place In It.” You can read, hear or watch these sermons as they are posted at Unlocking the Bible.
Christ confronted Satan and triumphed where Adam failed. The serpent tempted Adam and Eve three times, and here, Satan tempts Jesus three times. The parallels are obvious: Don’t miss the differences.
The environment was clearly different. Adam and Eve faced temptation in a garden with food supplied on the trees all around them. Christ faced temptation in a desert, where there was no food, and where He was hungry.
The initiative was different. Satan comes looking for the man and the woman in the Garden. But Christ goes after Satan in the desert. The Spirit led Him into confrontation with the devil. Christ stalked Satan out, drew him into the open and initiated the confrontation.
The greatest difference was the outcome. Where Adam failed, Christ triumphed. Having plied Christ with his most exquisite temptation, Satan was forced into retreat, “until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13). Satan knew that overcoming the Holy One by temptation was no longer an option.
Christ’s triumph over temptation has huge significance for us. Adam’s failure brought misery. He passed on the effects of His failure to all who derive their life from him. By nature, we belong to Adam who failed. We share in his failure. We are “under sin” (Romans 3:9).
But Christ’s triumph brings hope. As Adam passed on the effects of his failure to all who derive their life from him, so Christ passes on the effects of His triumph to all who draw new life from Him. By grace and through faith we belong to Christ who triumphed. We share in His triumph. We are “under grace” (Romans 6:14).
The weakness of Adam who failed is in you, so be on your guard against temptation today. But the strength of Christ who triumphed is also in you by the Holy Spirit, so when you are tempted today, stand firm.
O loving wisdom of our God, when all was sin and shame,
A second Adam to the fight, and to the rescue came.Oh wisest love, that flesh and blood, which did in Adam fail,
Should fight again against the foe, should fight and should prevail.
John Henry Newman, “Praise to the Holiest in the Height.”
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