The Temptation Of Christ Explained

The Temptation Of Christ Explained

Both Matthew and Mark speak to the moment when the devil leaves Christ after unsuccessfully tempting him, and the angels attend (or minister) to him. Mark notes an extra accompaniment of the wild animals or beasts along with the angels. Thomas Manton, a Puritan, put this scene into a 1,000 foot-view in one of his sermons. "When we read the story of his temptations, how he was tempted in all parts like us, we might seem to take scandal, as if he were a mere man therefore his humiliation is counterbalanced with the special honor done to him: he was tempted as man, but, as God, ministered unto by angels" (via A Puritan's Mind). 

Christ empathized with humanity to the very level of deprivation and temptation, but he was pure enough to reject those temptations. Yet, as Manton notes, he was also fully God and the angels were there to minister and attend to him as the true Son of God who maintained obedience to his Father. In some ways, one could maintain that the wild animals, too, understood this victory and celebrated it with the angels. However, we are not given enough information to say this conclusively.