When Satan tempted Jesus, we look at it as Him overcoming temptation. If you zone in on the word usage, you can see that our Lord did more than resist temptation, He won.
4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”
5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:
‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’
and,
‘In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.
-Matthew 4:1-11
In this passage, it appears that Jesus is tempted by the devil and He overcame. But if you watch for the setup of the narrative, you will observe key words that may reveal another layer to that theory. “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” – Mat 4:1. Jesus knew where He was going, He was going to a fight. How did He prepare? His preparation was by fasting. “Now when the tempter came to Him” – Mat 4:3. You cannot miss the “Now“. It was after Jesus fasted. Jesus was not in His best form in the worldly sense. So, Jesus was primed for temptation. Satan was confronted by Jesus when he was in a weak spot, temptable form and yet Jesus prevailed.
God was in control the entire time. “Then the devil left Him”.-Mat 4:11 There are many smarter interpretations of these passages. But I like to look at it today as God is always in control. Jesus defeated Satan right from the get-go. Satan did not have much of a strategy other than throwing out of context scripture at Jesus.
Now, we know for a fact that the devil is weaker than God but stronger than us. We are afraid of the devil, since we are here and he can cause pain, sickness, confusion, hate and discontent. However, as children of God, we have divine resources. What we are afraid of is inferior to who we worship and who we are being transformed into. Stay strong in our Lord, Christian!
Dear Jesus,
You overcame temptation to show us that when we trust in You, we can be victorious. Thank you for adopting us into your divine family where loyalties abound and strength in goodness prevails. Your omnipotence can deliver us from evil. In You, I trust. Amen!