TEMPTATIONS
I know that my Redeemer lived
for us as he faced and overcame every temptation. Matthew chapter 4 reveals
Jesus enduring three intense temptations directly from the devil. He did not
allow him to indulge to any degree in any kind of sin! He didn’t
leave any room for the temptations to take root in his soul (see Hebrews 4:15;
John 17:17-19). He lived for us through those temptations and withstood
them, thus making it so that he would be able to fulfill his role as our Savior
and Redeemer when the greatest test and darkest temptations would descend upon
him nearly three years later.
To better understand the depth and
breadth of the temptations Jesus overcome throughout his life and especially
during his Atonement (Alma the Younger taught, “And he shall go forth,
suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind” [Alma 7:11]),
let’s look at how he himself describes the experience of facing the powers of
hell. When addressing Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail, the Lord listed many terrible
conditions a person may face in mortality, many of which are attested in his
own life (see Doctrine and Covenants 122:5-7). As a final exclamation mark to
that awful list, he told the Prophet, “And above all, if the very jaws of hell
shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these
things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good” (Doctrine and
Covenants 122:7). Truly, Jesus lived for us, even while “[descending]
below them all” (Doctrine and Covenants 122:8) and facing the very jaws of hell
(see Isaiah 50:6; 52:14; 53:3-5; Matthew 27:26-35, 45-46; and Luke 22:43-44).
Because he perfectly overcame all temptations, we can call upon him for help
when we experience our own battles with the adversary today (see Hebrews
4:14-16). (Tyler J. Griffin, “I Know That My Redeemer Lived,” in The
Power of Christ’s Deliverance, ed. Jan J. Martin and Alonzo L. Gaskill [Provo,
UT: Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2022], 46-47)
Elsewhere Griffin noted that
The New Testament accounts attest
to Jesus experiencing all the trials listed in Doctrine and Covenants 122:5-7
except those listed in verse 6 regarding being torn “from the society of thy
father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine
enemies tear three from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine offspring, and
thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments.”
His mission and travels did cause some rifts with some of his family (see Mark
3:21). (Ibid., 64 n. 3)