Jesus’ obedience in the wilderness was a necessary part of His accomplishment of redemption (Romans 5:19). Whereas Adam and Israel disobeyed in their representative roles, Jesus obeyed as the last Adam and true Israel—the end-time Son of God and son of Abraham. By His obedience, Jesus struck a necessary blow to the evil one.

We have all had experiences that have uniquely shaped who we are as individuals. Perhaps it was losing a parent at a young age, meeting our future spouse at a bookstore, getting a significant promotion at work, or suffering a particular physical affliction. Although they may have been shared experiences, the circumstances attending them make them uniquely formative for us as individuals. When others want to truly know you, they need to know about the formative experiences of your life.

In the same way, the Lord Jesus had several significant experiences that uniquely defined Him as the Messiah. Among them are His incarnation, baptism, temptation, transfiguration, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Each of these epochal events played a significant role in Jesus’ work as the Redeemer. Christ’s temptation by the devil in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1–11; Mark 1:12–13; Luke 4:1–13) is among the most frequently misunderstood of these epochal messianic experiences.

Many read about Christ’s temptation without grasping the uniqueness of it for Him as the Redeemer. Instead, they first ask whether there are lessons to be learned about how we can resist temptation as He did. Though we can certainly glean important lessons from the example of Christ, His temptation in the wilderness was unique to His messianic person and work in redemptive history. How, then, can we rightly understand the redemptive significance of this unique experience for the Savior in the wilderness? We will first need to set it in context  in redemptive history and then consider the circumstances surrounding it (e.g., the actors, location, temptation, and outcome). When we do, we will see that Jesus was recapitulating old covenant Israel’s experience in the wilderness as the true Israel of God.

At the very outset of the New Testament, Matthew tells us that Jesus is the promised “son of Abraham” (Matt. 1:1). Christ is the antitypical son of Abraham. Isaac and Jacob were types—forms or examples that pointed forward to the fulfillment of the promise, which was revealed in Christ, the antitype. Isaac was the typical son of promise; Jesus is the true and ultimate Son of promise. As Jacob was first called Israel in redemptive history (Gen. 32:28), it is fitting that the true son of Abraham, Jesus Christ, would Himself be the true Israel of God.

Jesus understood the unique relationship that He held to Abraham as the One who would fulfill the promises given to Abraham (Gen. 12:1–3). He told the Jews who opposed Him: “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). Since Jesus is the promised son of Abraham, He is the covenant-keeping Redeemer. The promises of God passed down from Abraham are fulfilled in Jesus (Gal. 3:16). Since He is the true son of Abraham, everyone united to Him by faith is ingrafted into the true Israel (Rom. 11:11–24). The Apostle Paul explained this succinctly when he wrote, “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29), and “for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God” (6:16).

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