Matthew 4:1-11 Satan tempts Jesus

These are my thoughts, from my quiet time 2nd July 2015.

The wilderness is a barren place and one which may have wild and dangerous animals in it! It is also a place of solitude and maybe somewhere which could make one vulnerable. Well, Jesus was taken to the wilderness by the Holy Spirit and He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, after which, Satan came to Him! To be our 100% Substitute Christ HAD to be tempted so that He could identify Himself with those He was going to redeem! 

1. Physical temptation - Jesus was physically hungry and probably thirsty when Satan came to Him. So in a human context He would have been weak and vulnerable - Satan being the sly old thing he is, used Christ's hunger to tempt Him. In some ways he used a similar technique he used in Eden - trying to make it sound like if Jesus couldn't do the miracle, then His ministry and work was going to be of no use and He wasn't who He claimed to be. He wanted Eve to doubt God in Eden - and not be truthful in His command about not eating the fruit. 

Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

 

See that IF - it's like Satan is saying - come on prove that You are who You say You are

 

Satan thinks he has found a chink in Christ's armour - hunger! "OK You're hungry and as You claim to be the Creator of these stones - prove it, turn them into bread."

 

Christ must have been absolutely famished after fasting for so long BUT He is mightier than those things in the world and being The Word He counters Satan with the word! He, the Creator, the all-powerful One was NOT going to fall prey to the created, dark, fallen angel. He counters Satan by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3

 

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

 

Satan uses physical things to tempt us as well. Money, bigger house, faster car etc. Anyone in Christ doesn't need those things to be sustained. None of those things can fill the 'God space' we have in our souls! Only God can fill that 'aching void'

 

OK that didn't work so now Satan tries a slightly different tack

 

2. Positional temptation - Jesus, being the Son of God, had the legions of heaven at His command. To prove who He said He was Satan tempts Jesus to throw Himself off the temple (the dwelling place of God - Shekinah glory). Again the Evil One uses the word IF... goading the Lord to prove Himself? He didn't need to prove to Satan who He says He was - for a start He created him and He had also fulfilled some O.T. prophecies. Here Satan uses Scripture again to tempt Jesus (Psalm 91:11, 12)

 

“If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’

and,

 

‘In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

 

Again Jesus counters him with Scripture (Deuteronomy 6:16).

 

“It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”

 

We can't tempt God because He is above and beyond our comprehension and His ways are perfect!

 

People try and tempt us to doubt our walk, our faith etc - If you are a Christian then you shouldn't do this or that etc As a Christian you shouldn't judge anyone, so long as they love one another and are committed to one another who are you to judge them? - BUT what does the world know of Spiritual things? Nothing - they aren't indwelt by the Holy Spirit! They live in Satan's domain and under his sway so don't be intimidated by their false accusations and their supposed knowledge of Scripture!

 

3. Pride temptation - Jesus has no pride, being righteous so this was a no-brainer from the get-go! see the irony of this:

 

Satan takes the Creator up onto the exceedingly high mountain [He created], and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory - as the hymnist wrote:

 

The kingdoms of this world

Lie in its hand;

See how they rise and fall

At its command...

 

('it', being the great providence of Heaven/God)

 

[Great Providence of Heaven by David Charles 1762-1834)

 

The kingdoms etc. are subject to God's providence anyway and are not Satan's to give away!

 

Satan has the audacity to offer those to Christ if He would worship the created, fallen being! Again Jesus counters this with Scripture Deuteronomy 6:13:

 

“Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”

 

There is only One we should serve, worship and obey - that is God and Him alone!

 

Satan uses our pride to make us fall these days. Go on a certain TV show to further your career, do this and the world will love you. It doesn't matter if you metaphorically stab someone in the back to get a promotion - just think of the respect you will gain. That little white lie - that's nothing, doesn't mean a thing - it will get you out of trouble and you will be the best amongst your colleagues, school friends, neighbours, church folk!

 

It really goes to show how important it is to read and memorise our Scripture. I was thinking that it is part of our spiritual armour - the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God [Ephesians 6:17b]. How can we counter accusations etc if we can't wield the Sword of the Spirit?

 

Satan will accuse us of lacking in love or compassion if we say that gay marriage is wrong or adultery/flirting etc is wrong - it's only harmless fun - why should you judge someone who is having fun? The judging argument is a lie - the only judging we're not to do is hypocritical judging.

 

Do you really think you're a Christian because of... (insert Satan's lies here).

 

We need to be rooted and grounded in Scripture and be filled with the love of Christ and the wisdom of God to know how to counter all of the world's accusations!