Jesus was thirty when He set out to execute His Father’s will publicly. In fact, He had always willingly submitted His will to do His Father’s directives. He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. – Heb 4:15. As Man, He did not sin.

Though we do not know much about Jesus’ first thirty years, we can safely conclude that He kept doing His Father’s will all along, even during the silent years. We read that at the age of twelve, He was among the learned men (doctors!) in the temple at Jerusalem listening to, asking (and answering!) questions. He was about His Father’s business (though He still took over Joseph’s trade as a carpenter). All that He did during His next eighteen years were so very pleasing to His Father that He expressed His approval of that life at the river Jordan: “This is my beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased” – Matt 3:17. It certainly should have been a practical life of unmatched humility exhibiting obedience to parents, expressing love to His siblings (Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary? and His brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? – Matt 13:55, 56). taking responsible care of His family (probably in the absence of Joseph, who is supposed to have died by then), exercising forbearance towards the unbelieving loved ones (While he yet talked to the people, behold, His mother and His brethren stood without, desiring to speak with Him. – Matt 12:46), showing compassion to the poor, downtrodden and diseased, displaying long-suffering towards the corrupt authorities and demonstrating uncompromising defiance to the temptations of the subtly-pursuing devil.

The Deliverer was about to start His ministry – preaching the gospel to the poor, healing the broken-hearted, forgiving sinners, curing the sick and disabled, raising the dead, and setting at liberty the demon-possessed and the bruised. The “voice in the wilderness”, John the Baptist with the spirit of Elijah, had already come to make the paths straight for the King. The coming of Salvation, strength, and the kingdom of God would be heralded with a loud voice anytime soon (Rev 12:10). The King Who would rule all the nations with a rod of iron was soon setting up His kingdom and was posing a grave (grave!) danger to the devil’s kingdom of darkness.

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward hungry. And when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread”. But He answered and said, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”. Then the devil taketh Him up into the holy city and sets Him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto Him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands, they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, “It is written again, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God”. Again, the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto Him, “All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me”. Then saith Jesus unto him, “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve”. Then the devil leaves Him, and, behold, angels, came and ministered unto Him. – Matt 4:1-11; Mark 1:12; Luke 4:1-13.

It was high time the tempter intervened to lure, coax and persuade, this time, Jesus, the Son of man to bow to him – violence would follow later. It was the same tactic he successfully applied to throw down one-third of the angels from heaven in the beginning – coaxing and violence. Didn’t the devil know that Jesus was God in human form? Or, knowing fully well Jesus’s identity, was he so audacious that he would confront his Creator point-blank? (Satan might have been ignorant that Jesus’ disciples would also start exercising the authority bestowed to them by their Lord over the devil and the demons. Satan’s strategy of stalling the plan of God was heading for a comprehensive shatter, left, right, and center).

Not only this but the time of his defeat (with a deadly blow to his head by the Victor and the usurping from him of the keys of death and the bottomless pit was forthcoming. His confinement in chains to the bottomless pit (with the wicked, the ungodly, and the unrepentant mankind that die in their sins?) was around the corner (in fifty days after the resurrection of the Saviour? Pentecost!). The Old Serpent cannot jail-break the gates of hell to prevail against the Church that the Lord will build uninterrupted for a long time (a thousand years) from then on in His-story – until he is let loose for a short time. Then, he would gather a huge army to fight against the chosen ones, but his final attempt would also be a futile one.

Satan used the same winning strategy that he applied in the Garden of Eden here in the Judean wilderness. He hurled three weapons at the Son of God – the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life – probably not in that order. Physical hunger would drive Him to use the word of God for self-indulgence. The lust of the flesh is such a driving force that would blind the natural eyes to any extent that a human being would even commit heinous murder and homicide unmindful of the consequences. (Let us not forget that it was the lust for the red porridge to satisfy the hunger of his stomach that drove Esau (Edom – Jacob’s twin brother) to despise his birth-right and trade it off resulting in him, forfeiting a place among the believing Seed of Abraham). This lust of the flesh might be preceded by the lust of the eyes if this is the hunger for sensual gratification – pornography, adultery, fornication, lasciviousness, homosexuality, and other kinds of sexual immorality. Though being Man, Jesus did not want to satisfy His hunger by using the power of God to do something spectacular as converting stones to bread. He had a Scripture to quote that spoke of the sufficiency of the word of God for man’s existence – not always bread.

Satan showed Jesus all the power and glory of the world and tempted Him to fall at his feet in exchange for all those temporal riches. The lust of the eyes pushes man hard to pursue wealth and riches that will in turn get everything that his heart desires. This lust further drags man into all kinds of sinful activities that make “Self” the center of his being. Jesus was not one who would fall to this enticement. In fact, the whole earth and everything in it belong to Him. It is He who is worthy of all worship and adoration. He rebuked the devil thereby reminding him that he was only another creation and drove him away with another Scripture quotation.

Then Satan thought, maybe, this last one would yield the result – the pride of life. He seems to have said, “OK. I agree that you are the Son of God. But prove it to me and to yourself. Come on. Jump”. Satan thought that the Son of Man would perform a stunt in front of the watching crowd to prove that He is indeed the Son of God. (That could have resulted in an immediate acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah!). Jesus was not one who would want to prove His identity by cheap acts like this. (It is Satan who makes men popular through such magic and tricks in the sight of the gullible multitude). Jesus would prove He is the Son of God by an act that no human had witnessed hitherto but that was to come a little more than three years later as per God’s timetable. So, He answered Satan with yet another Scripture.

The pride of life is also the social status that one seems to have reached when he is supposed to have achieved everything he eagerly pursued in life. Self-actualization! Maslow’s pyramid of the hierarchy of needs! Or Greeds?

Satan failed in this attempt too. He imagined in vain he would deceive even the Son of God. Jesus was well-equipped to counter the attack of the enemy. The Word overcame the devil by His word. The Seed of the woman sent Satan hurling down the alley of defeat by the sword of the Spirit.

The life of a believer is always an ongoing battle – a dual – not just a mind game. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. So, a believer is advised to put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. – Eph 6:11-17. Scripture is the only weapon of offense in the armory. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: - 2 Tim 3:16. Reading Scripture, studying it, memorizing it, meditating upon it, obeying it and experiencing it are essential exercises in a believer’s life to keep oneself alive and healthy spiritually. Jesus said, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” – John 6:63.

After this face-off, Satan left Him for a season; a lot more attempts were made during the three-and-a-half-year life of Christ on earth. And there were numerous agents already planted by him and present everywhere around the Lord to help “their father” make his tactical moves. There was Judas Iscariot, son of perdition, at close quarters whom Satan possessed now and again, seeking to derail the purpose of God. Even Peter was momentarily possessed by the Devil who rebuked Jesus when He spoke about His death.

Satan fell from heaven to earth when Jesus launched His ministry – (Luke 10:18; Rev 12:9). He might have realized he had limited time on the earth and so, started panicking; he would soon be bound by chains and cast into the bottomless pit for a long time “that he should deceive the nations no more”. Rev 20:1-3.