How could Jesus be tempted?

That is an awesome question! If you read the very first line of the Book of Matthew, Chapter 4, Verse 1, it says, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.”

So, just by this verse alone, we learn two things: 1, God (the Spirit) was involved in this plan and 2, he allowed Jesus to be tempted. You see, it is not a sin to be tempted. The sin is giving in to that temptation.

You wanna know what’s really cool? Jesus is God. And, Jesus is man. I’m telling you this because, if Jesus had wanted, he could have made Satan disappear with a thought or the blink of an eye. But, instead (and this is the part I love), He responded to Satan as a human to set the example for the rest of us humans. He showed us through His actions how to resist temptation!

Jesus set the example for us. He accessed God’s strength. He used the passages from the Bible to give Him the strength He needed to resist Satan’s temptations. He did that to show us that if we can access God’s strength through prayer or knowing God’s Word and trusting in God’s Word that we can also resist temptation. Because, guess what? We can’t do it alone. And Jesus was showing that He couldn’t do it alone as a man.

Remember 1 Corinthians 10:13? It said, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But, when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” That is a promise from God to you. God knows we can’t do it alone. Jesus knew it and that’s why He showed us how to resist temptation by turning to God and by turning away from Satan and to keep walking away from him.

So, how could be Jesus be tempted? Because God allowed it to show us how we can resist the devil. The key is that Jesus did not give in to the temptation and He turned away from it.