Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,

This coming Lord’s Day is the second Sunday of Advent.

As you know, our series of Advent messages is on the three temptations of Jesus, those He experienced in the wilderness as His earthly ministry began. We find this story recounted for us in Matthew 4:1-11.

Following our first message, what we know so far about this event is:

It happened just after our Lord’s baptism.

Jesus was purposefully directed by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness.

It was there, in that lonely place, where Christ would “be tempted by the devil” (v. 1).

We also know that Christ had been “led” there by the Spirit in order to become our Savior and High Priest, and to offer obedience and submission to God the Father as a Man. Additionally, we know that it was in this mysterious event that our Lord Jesus would begin to defeat the enemy of our souls, and to bring down his devilish kingdom once and for all!

As we look at each of these three temptations we will see both our Lord’s perfect humanity and deity, and we will become convinced that He is our faithful, merciful, and sympathetic High priest. As the Epistle to the Hebrews says, “because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (2:14). And He is the “one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (4:14).

This week we will consider the first of the three temptations. You’ll discover it in verses 3-4.