Sermon on Canvas: Christ in the Wilderness

This is Christ in the Wilderness by Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy (1837-1887). It vividly depicts the ordeals of Christ as he fasted in the wilderness, suffering all of the temptations that human beings are subject too...and resisting them all:

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."

But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'"

Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, 'HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU'; and 'ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'"

Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'" Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, "All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me." Then Jesus said to him, "Go, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'"

Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.
A close-up reveals the exhaustion on Jesus' face as he answers Satan. His words were not bold proclamations from a pulpit, but wheezing gasps from a desperately hungry and thirsty man. They might as well have been his last breaths, yet Christ did not give in. He did not succumb to temptation.

And because he did not, Jesus could offer himself up as a perfect sacrifice for our sake.

The price was so very, very high.