Addressing Jesus' Conflict with the Devil

Because we are not God, we will always wrestle with the problem of evil. Why does it exist? How did it come into existence? Indeed, why does the Holy Spirit drive Jesus into the wilderness for the express purpose of being subjected to evil, specifically the temptations of Satan (Matt 4:1)? There are at least two interrelated approaches to addressing this problem. The first approach recognizes that Jesus’ role as the mediator of the covenant of grace includes an element of spiritual warfare. While the problem of evil resides within our hearts, it is aided and abetted by the schemes of the devil. Not only must the mediator of the new and better covenant offer himself as a substitutionary sacrifice to atone for our sin, but he must also win the victory over the devil who was the instrument by which humanity cast itself into the depths of corruption. Therefore, Jesus must be tempted by the devil, not merely leading up to the cross but for the entirety of his public ministry. So, as part of the unfolding of his mediatorial work, Jesus is driven into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, i.e. to do battle with this great enemy of God and his people.

But why is that necessary in the first place? Because of the failure of the first man, the mediator of the first covenant that God made with humanity, both a new covenant and a new mediator were necessary—and both needed to remain whole if anyone was going to be saved from the wrath and curse of God.

But, again, why does anyone need to be saved from the wrath and curse of God? Or, to say it another way, what are the origins of sin and evil in the first place that necessitated these temptations in the wilderness? On this question, Herman Bavinck is helpful. Going back to the fall of Adam and his original sin, he writes,

We can shed some light on the possibility of the fall, but the transition to the actuality of it remains shrouded in darkness. Scripture makes not so much as a single effort to render this transition understandable. Therefore Scripture also lets sin stand unmodified in its properly sinful character. There is such a thing as sin, but it is illegitimate. It was and is and will eternally remain in conflict with the law of God and with the testimony of our own conscience.[1]

Without attempting to trace the origin of sin beyond or behind the willful decision of Adam to reject God’s covenant with him, Scripture refuses to locate the origin of sin, insofar as it concerns humanity and not angels, outside of humanity and outside of reason. The point is that our first parents made a choice for death, the consequences of which have rippled through time and space from generation to generation with a humanly irresistible force.

So, then, when the Lord Jesus makes his public appearance, identifies himself with fallen humanity, and is announced as the beloved Son, he signals the arrival of something new that inevitably must be tested by the standard bearer of all that opposes God, namely the devil. Jesus’ conflict with the devil is, therefore, a conflict with cosmic consequences. It is also a necessary conflict in that without being tried and tempted, Jesus would not have proven himself as a mediator better than Adam.

But because Jesus does prove himself to be a better mediator of a better covenant, he ensures the ultimate undoing of sin and its consequences. It will take until the second coming of Christ for this to be fully realized, for only at the final judgment will death and the devil be thrown into the lake of fire (Rev 20:10, 14) and only at the establishment of the new heavens and new earth will no unclean thing exist within or among God’s people (Rev 21:27). Nevertheless, a key step toward that great day of complete cosmic renewal is Jesus’ conflict with the devil in the wilderness at the beginning of his earthly ministry. It was no small thing that Jesus did; our hope hinges on his perfect, perpetual, and personal obedience to the will of God. May we, then, give all glory to the Lord Jesus who saves us from the wrath and curse of God and brings sin and Satan to nothing.

[1] Herman Bavinck, The Wonderful Works of God: Instruction in the Christian Religion According to the Reformed Confession, trans. Henry Zylstra (Westminster Seminary Press, 2019), 206.