From Jesus (Luke 3:23) back to God are seventy-seven generations of the history of God’s creation, man’s fall, God’s promise, and man’s salvation: of God man was created (v. 38; Gen. 1:26-27; 2:7); in Adam man became fallen (v. 38; Gen. 3); through Abraham man received God’s promise (v. 34; Gen. 12:1-3); and in Jesus who is Christ man is saved (v. 23; 2:10-11).
We need to be impressed with the fact that the genealogy of the Lord Jesus in Matthew begins with Abraham and comes down to Christ, whereas the genealogy in Luke traces backward from Jesus to God. In Luke’s genealogy four names are especially striking: God, Adam, Abraham, and Jesus. We were created by God, we became fallen in Adam, we received God’s promise in Abraham, and we were saved in Jesus who is Christ. Therefore, we were created, we became fallen, we received the promise, and we have been saved. We can praise the Lord for God, Abraham, and Jesus. After we were created by God and became fallen in Adam, we received the promise of God’s salvation in Abraham. Then in Jesus, who is Christ, we have been saved. This is a summary of the genealogy of our Man-Savior.
Our Man-Savior did not come to save us merely in an objective way. Rather, He came to save us by joining Himself to us. In Him we have God joining Himself with man. This genealogy begins with a man and ends with God. How wonderful! Because the Lord’s genealogy begins with man and ends with God, passing through Abraham and Adam, it is truly unique.
We may say that the Lord’s genealogy and status are also ours. We were created by God, we became fallen in Adam, we received the promise in Abraham, and we have been saved in Jesus, who is Christ. The Lord was in God, in Adam, and in Abraham. We also were in God, Adam, and Abraham, and now we are in Jesus, our Man-Savior.
In 4:1-13 we have the test of the Man-Savior. Luke 4:1 says, “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by the Devil.” Matthew 4:1 tells us that the Lord Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. After being baptized in water and anointed with the Spirit of God, Jesus as a Man moved according to the leading of the Spirit. First of all, the Spirit led the anointed Man-Savior to be tempted by the Devil. This temptation was a test to prove that He was qualified to be the Man-Savior.
The Greek word translated “Devil” is diabolos, meaning accuser, slanderer (Rev. 12:9-10). The Devil, who is Satan, accuses us before God and slanders us before men.
In Matthew 6:13 the Lord Jesus taught the disciples to pray, “Do not bring us into trial.” The Lord, however, was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness in order that He might be tempted by the Devil. The Lord Jesus was strong, and He could withstand temptation. We, on the contrary, are not able to withstand temptation at all. We should not be proud, thinking that because we have the essential Spirit and the economical Spirit we are now able to withstand temptation. Such a thought indicates that we do not know ourselves.
The Lord Jesus is the only One who can stand the temptation of God’s enemy. When He was on earth, He was perfect and strong. Therefore, the Holy Spirit, who is God reaching man, led this perfect Man into temptation in order to defeat God’s enemy. Through the testing of the Man-Savior, God was able to show His enemy, Satan, the Devil, that there is a Man who can withstand temptation.
The Holy Spirit will never lead us to be tempted by the Devil, because we are not able to withstand Satan’s temptation. Even though we have been regenerated and to some extent sanctified and transformed, we nevertheless are not able to withstand the temptation of the evil one. Therefore we need to pray, “O Father, do not lead me into temptation.” No matter how strong we may feel, we actually are weak and cannot stand Satan’s temptation. The only One in this universe with the humanity that can withstand the temptation of God’s enemy is the Lord Jesus, our Man-Savior.