I am not sure that I am ready to declare that temptation to evil is good, but it is certainly clear that it is often used by God for good. Immediately following the baptism of Jesus, the Holy Spirit sent Him into the wilderness for the express purpose of being tempted by Satan. Because Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy chapter eight during the temptations and because both Israel and Jesus were in the wilderness during times of temptations it seems that Deuteronomy chapter eight is worth considering in regard to temptation.
Deuteronomy 8:2 states, You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. (NASU) Deuteronomy 8:16 states, In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end. (NASU) Temptations are allowed in my life and in your life for our own good. God uses them to prove to us if our faith is real or fake. Sometimes temptation comes immediately after a time of success or approval in our lives just like it did to Jesus. Jesus had just heard the approving voice of the Father from heaven at His baptism. Sometimes temptation will come at a low point in our lives. We are especially vulnerable during both circumstances.
Whenever we make a confession of belief in God, He tests that confession. Whenever we profess faith in God, He sends us into the wilderness (literally and/or figuratively) and allows us to be tempted. God loves us too much to allow us to go on faking our faith. Succumbing to temptation is clear evidence that our faith in God is weak. Temptation is designed to take our focus off God and redirect our focus to our circumstances. The series of temptations faced by Jesus in Matthew 4 were designed to get Jesus to turn away from the single goal of pleasing the Father. Jesus passed all of the wilderness tests. He did not succumb to any of the temptations. That is a tremendous part of the salvation process but it still leaves me with a pressing issue. How can I have victory over temptation? Is Jesus my model? Should I copy His method for dealing with temptation? Copying Jesus is always a good idea; however it seems that is not the point. Rather, I should rest in Jesus’ finished work.
Hebrews 4:15-16 tells us how we can have victory over temptation, For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (NASU) Christ died the perfect death on the cross. When He proclaimed, “It is finished” from the cross, surely He spoke of His perfect life as well as His perfect sacrificial death. Because the Christian lives in union with Christ, the Christian is afforded victory over temptation by virtue of Christ’s victory over temptation. Hebrews 4:15-16 tells us to simply come to the throne with confidence, expecting to receive the fruits of Christ’s victory over temptation. Mercy and grace will be poured out on us in the time of our need. Christ’s victory over temptation affords us victory over temptation. Yielding to temptation is a lack of faith, nothing more and nothing less.
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