Temptations and Trials Faced by Bible Legends

Chapter 24—Jesus ChristChapter 24—Jesus ChristThere are so many trials and temptations Jesus went through that it would be impossible for me to list them all. I will do my best. Regardless of how much I do detail, my best explanations will be woefully inadequate to fully reveal the depth of what Jesus went through to save us. Trial and Temptation of Jesus Becoming HumanJesus came to earth as a human. In God’s salvation plan, just as one man (Adam) brought sin into the human race, one man (Jesus) removed sin from the human race. For him to save us, he had to become one of us. It was man that sinned, so it must be man that is punished for and fixes that sin. God the Father deemed this perfect man (who was both 100 percent man and 100 percent God at the same time) acceptable and sufficient to take all of the sins ever committed by the rest of mankind and put all of their sins on Jesus. And he, with our sins on him, was punished in our place. We were able to avoid the punishment for our sins, but we get the benefit of his act: our sins are paid for, and we are accepted as completely sinless and righteous before God because of this. In order for Jesus to do this, he had to come to earth and become man. It would only be acceptable if man paid the penalty for the sins of man.Why is Jesus just coming to earth to become man a trial? Because for thirty-three years, he had to give up being God in heaven. Think about that for a moment. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit existed forever as God. They were not created. They are the only things that exist that were not created. They always existed, and they then created everything else that exists. They created heaven, the angels, this universe, and everything that exists outside this universe. The Bible clearly states that specifically God the Son, Jesus, created everything that exists. Additionally Jesus is the source of life. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:1–4). Not only did Jesus create everything that exists, he also holds everything that exists together and makes it all work. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:15–17) Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom he also created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. (Hebrews 1:1–3) Try to imagine the glory, honor, and power that God has. God is: • the creator, sustainer, and ruler of everything everywhere; • the one who everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth will bow down to; and • the one that the entire creation sings to. I listed Jesus coming to earth as a trial because, for him to come to earth as a man, he had to give all of this up for thirty-three years. He was born of a woman, whom he handmade himself, along with handmaking those who crucified him. God was born as a man in a manger with dirty animals because there was no room at the inn. He had to give up all of his God powers and live with all of the limitations that we have. He was no longer the ruler of anything. He could now only be in one place at a time. He got hungry, thirsty, and dirty. He needed sleep and felt pain and discomfort. During his ministry, he did not have a home. “A scribe came up to Jesus and said to him, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head’” (Matthew 8:19–20). Although Jesus did miracles on earth, they were nothing of the scope of the power he used to create the universe. He gave up this power and authority to become man. It also seemed like, when he did a miracle, he would pray to his Father. It was possible that, as a man, he had no God powers at all, only what the Father gave to him after praying for it. He gave all of this up and more to come here to take the sins of people who continually rebelled against him onto him and got punished horribly in their place for them.Temptation in the TrialJesus could have said, “No, it’s too much. I won’t put myself through all of that for people who reject me.”Jesus’s Reaction to His Trial and the Temptation to Avoid ItHe went through with the trial and lived on earth as a man for thirty-three years. All of the loss and suffering he would have to go through to do this, he did it for us. I don’t want to speak for God. However, I believe he did it because he was doing it for his immediate family. Would you die in the place of an immediate family member?