People often ask me, "Pastor, why did God put that Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden if He knew Adam and Eve would sin and eat from it?" I think folks suspect this is one of those really tough questions that can't be answered because we can't see inside the mind of God. But actually the answer is quite simple. The Lord put the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden to teach Adam and Eve, even before the Fall, even in the Paradise of the newly created earth, to teach Adam and Eve that "Man does not live by bread alone but by every Word which proceeds from the mouth of God." Even before the Fall into sin, the Word of God was given to Adam and Eve to hear, to learn, to obey, to give them life and protect them from disobedience and death. But Eve decided that the fruit looked good instead of hearing what God's Word said about it. Adam decided to follow his wife's lead rather than remind her and himself of what God's Word taught. When Adam and Eve gave up God's Word, they were sitting ducks. By letting go of God's Word, they had no protection against the devil's lies and so they fell into sin and death and the world was cursed.
Ever since then the Lord has continued to graciously give His Word to mankind in this world and mankind has continued to despise and reject God's Word in favor of anything else. Brothers and sisters in Christ, would not our world be a much better place if people heard and obeyed God's Word? Would not the church be full of people if they didn't go seeking after other Gods? Wouldn't families be happier if husbands and wives loved and honored each other as the Lord commands, parents taught their children the Word of God as God commands, and children obeyed their parents in all things as the Lord commands? Wouldn't it be so much better if people regarded God's Word so that we wouldn't see such a waste of human life and destroying of possessions and reputations by crime and violence? Would we not be happier if we learned to stop coveting and be satisfied and content with all that God gives us? But these outwards blessings which we might have from hearing God's Word cannot erase the hidden and spiritual death which has resulted from turning away from God's Word. For ultimately, we have turned away from the Lord by turning away from His Word and thus we have brought upon ourselves everlasting damnation and punishment! But you are not able to keep God's Word! That's the whole problem! Sure, the world would be a better place if we all just obeyed the commandments, but we cannot! Our sinfulness is so through and through deadly and destructive that we cannot possibly hope to escape it. The story of Jesus doing battle with the devil in the wilderness during His temptation is NOT a story to teach us how to learn some Scripture verses and then quote them against the devil and so save ourselves! No, we cannot even do that: hear and learn and believe God's Word and save ourselves! Rather, we need a Savior who will come to fight for us, in our place, to defeat our enemies for us and to rescue us from sin, death, devil, hell, the Judgment of God and the curse of this fallen world.
Enter Jesus, the Son of God, newly baptized in the Jordan, having taken upon Himself the sins of the world. The Spirit leads Jesus out into the desert and He fasts for a brutal forty days, enduring just physically more than any of us could bear. Then comes the Tempter to do his tempting! To try to get Jesus to give up being a Savior the way He will be a Savior. To tempt Jesus away from living on God's Word to making his own bread out of rocks. To tempt Him with the glory of the kingdoms of the world to be some other kind of Savior than the kind He came to be. To tempt Jesus to put the Father to the test rather than entrust Himself to the Father's will. Brothers and sisters, the Good News of the Temptation of Christ in the wilderness is not that Jesus shows us how to defeat the devil. It's that Jesus Himself does the defeating for us! We, who are powerless to stand against the old evil foe have a Champion come to fight for us! The Good News of the Temptation of Jesus is not that He shows us how to resist temptation but that He Himself resists temptation for us. And this battle with the devil will continue later at the cross when Jesus is tempted to come down from the cross and save Himself and thereby abandon us. But the Lord does not! He carries out the will of the Father. He carries upon Himself the sins of the world. He destroys Satan's power over us because of our sins, by taking our sins into Himself. He rescues us from the wrath of God against sin by becoming the cursed object of God's wrath. Having wiped out the power of sin, He then triumphs over death by rising again the Third Day. No, brothers and sisters, our Jesus did not come to give us some good tips on getting out from under the devil! He came to fight and do battle for us and rob the devil of any power over us and to rescue us and bring us into the eternal kingdom of God! THAT is the Good News of Jesus' temptation. That He succeeds against Satan and so wins the victory FOR US!
It is the same Word that promised life to Adam and Eve, the same Word which promised a Savior to come, the same Word who was in the flesh, the very Word preached into the world that saves us and unites us with Christ and declares for us that the One who faced Satan and won has faced Satan and won for you! The Word and water of Holy Baptism have brought you into the Kingdom of God. The Word of Absolution has pronounced that your sins are forgiven and that you are no longer under the power of this world's curse and ruler. The Bread of Life, the body and blood of Jesus feeds you with Christ Himself as you travel in this barren wilderness of a fallen world. In these means of grace, Christ joins you to Himself and Himself to you so that you may never doubt but be firmly believing that He is your redeemer from every evil of body and soul. In these Word-filled gifts, Christ makes it known that the salvation He accomplished is yours!
Yet the battle rages on, dear Christians. The devil is not content to let Jesus rescue you from sin and then keep you! Oh, no! The devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh work 24/7/365 to make you doubt God's Word, to despair of God's mercy and to teach you to trust in yourself. Each day you are pulled by these enemies away from God's Word to decide, as Eve and Adam did, to live by what THEIR wisdom decides. Every day, the temptations are upon you to NOT be a child of the heavenly Father. To worship yourself and make "you" the center of the universe. The temptation to refuse any help or blessing to your neighbor and instead to "look out for number one!" What then is the defense against these temptations? Is it some set of steps and rules you can use to fight back? Against your sin, is there something you can do? Against the devil, can you just quote the Bible like Jesus, as if you have the power to drive the devil away? Brothers and sisters in Christ, there is only one thing that rescues you from these enemies. As we have said, that is Christ Himself. And there is only one way that salvation is delivered: in the means of grace. Therefore the only weapons and defense and salvation we have against these enemies EACH DAY are the means of grace. Against the devil, the world, and your flesh stands your Baptism! Declare that you are Baptized and live each day in daily contrition and repentance, knowing that in that Baptism you have been rescued and the Evil Foe has no claim on you. Demand of your pastor that he hear your confession and absolve you so that you may hear over and over that your sins are not held against you but forgiven for Christ's sake. Flee often to the Lord's Altar, there to receive the body and blood of the one Whom death could not keep down. And if the devil, world and flesh cannot defeat and destroy Jesus, they can't defeat and destroy you in whom the Lord Jesus lives by His flesh and blood! Put simply, dear Christians, live and move and have your being in God's Word and means of grace for it is by these that you have Christ, remain connected to Christ, and defeat all enemies that come against you. Don't dare try to live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. His words save you!
So why put the Tree in the garden? The tree that killed Adam now points to the tree of death upon which Jesus hung that by the shedding of His blood for our sins has become the new Tree of Life for our salvation. Adam and Eve failed to live by the Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Jesus came and did exactly that, doing what Adam failed to do: trusting and believing and living by God's Word. You and I have not lived and cannot live by God's Word. So our Lord Jesus gave us that Word to save us. The world fell under the curse of sin and cannot rescue itself. Jesus comes to take our place and rescue us by fighting FOR US. Devil, world, and flesh assault us non-stop. Our Lord stands for us and fights, keeping us with Him and in Him by His holy gifts. During this holy season of Lent, dear Christians, come and hear the Gospel readings in which we hear Jesus casting down the devil and his power and raising up poor sinners like you to life with Him and with the Father and the Holy Spirit who are blessed forevermore. Amen.