"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 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 proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth 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 sheweth 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 leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him."
As we continue this study, we should never lose sight of the fact that up until He had received His glorified body, and had ascended back to the Father, Jesus was a *mortal man, a Jew, who was endowed with the Spirit of God. He would not identify as the third part of the Holy triune until He had completed His sacrificial ordeal.
Being *mortal, Jesus was required under the law of Moses to be circumcised and baptized in running water, He also had to prove, through the temptations mentioned in this lesson, His unwavering devotion to God the Father.
Jesus rejected Satan on every turn and passed the test, as we would say, "in flying colors".
* First Corinthians 15:53-58, "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."
A mortal remains a mortal until the death of the flesh. Once the flesh has died, the glorified body takes on immortality. Jesus remained a "mortal" until He had completed His soul saving sacrificial ordeal, His death, burial, and resurrection.~
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