Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if He would bow down and worship the enemy. It was the offer of a crown without the cross – a shortcut to accomplish the goal of Jesus’ life. The focus of this temptation is our ambitions. In a world that believes in the philosophy of “have it all and have it now”, one can see how ambitions can go wrong. If our ambitions are not shaped by God and surrendered to God they can clearly lead us astray.

The story of Jesus’ baptism and temptations go hand in hand. At His baptism, the Holy Spirit came on Jesus and He heard words of affirmation from God the Father. The next moment the same Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. A major confrontation takes place in the wilderness and a lot was at stake! Until this moment, the human race had lived in defeat and bondage to the enemy. Now for the very first time, we have a son of Adam raising up an effective defense that counters the schemes of the Devil.