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- [D. A. Carson] One of the great themes in Luke's Gospel is the person and work
of the Spirit. Jesus is constantly tied to the Spirit of God. Nowhere is this clearer
than in Chapter 4. In Chapter 4, we find these expressions, "Jesus,
full of the Holy Spirit," or again, "Jesus led by the Spirit," or again,
"He returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit," or again,
"When he was preaching himself in his own hometown, the Spirit of the Lord is
upon me," quoting Isaiah 61. And then a little farther on,
"By the power of the Spirit, he drives out impure spirits."
So what you'll find in the Gospel of Luke is all the persons of the Godhead, Father,
Son, and Spirit working together to bring about the mission that is encapsulated
in the Gospel itself. Now, perhaps this is most striking in the way
the Spirit of God leads Jesus, we're told, into the desert to be tempted
by the devil. You normally don't think of the Spirit of God leading anyone to be
tempted by the devil. But that's what we're told about Jesus,
it is part of his identification with us. And the temptations that are listed are
part of Israel's past. Listen to the first thing that the
devil says, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
Now, that's making a direct allusion to the Old Testament, where Israel,
the people of God, sometimes collectively called the son of God. God says of Israel,
"Israel is my firstborn son." This son was in the desert and quite
frankly failed to learn again and again that the Word of God is more precious,
more valuable, more important, more significant than even our daily food.
And as a result, sadly, they turned away from God again and again,
and despised His Word.
Now, the end of Chapter 3 has the genealogy of Jesus, so and so was the son
of so and so, the son of so and so, the son of so and so until you get
down to Adam, the son of God. And now, Jesus has been introduced already
in the birth account as the son of God in a special sense. Not just a human being
like Adam, but in David's line, a king like David who is called
the son of God. and then beyond that, the son of God par excellence
because his human birth was brought about by extraordinary means,
the power of the Spirit of God on Mary to bring forth this one who is both son
of Mary and son of God. And now, the devil sneers all of this,
"If you are the son of God, whether son of God because you're a human
being like Adam, or son of God because you're in David's line,
or some special son of God, if you are the Son of God, then do this.
Tell the stone to become a bread." This is not a temptation to go and rape
somebody or bang the head of a policeman with a stick or anything like this,
what's the matter with making stone turn into bread? Later on
He will multiply loaves and fishes, why should this be
a great temptation? And the answer, of course, is that he has come to identify
with us. He takes on no miraculous powers for his own preservation,
or his own enjoyment, or to prove himself. The miracles that he does,
he does by his Father's explicit command for the sake of others.
And to do these things on his own, apart from his heavenly Father's sanction,
would be to say, "He doesn't really trust the Word of God either."
But how does Jesus respond?
"It is written, 'Man will not live on bread alone.'"
No. He is going to devote himself to God's will, to God's Word. And the Spirit has
driven him out into the desert to face these temptations precisely to mark him
out as the ideal son, the true son who lives by every word that
proceeds from the mouth of God.
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