THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

Temptation of the Messiah

Chapter 4: 1 to 11

Preamble

Matthew indicates when and where the Lord Jesus was tempted by the Devil: it was after His baptism, in the desert, the same area where John the Baptist lived and preached.

It is not surprising that He was tried after being officially presented as the Lamb of God, and baptized, marking the beginning of his ministry. It is the experience of many new workers when starting a work for which they were recommended by their church: the trials and temptations soon appear.

The initiative was of the Holy Spirit, who took Him (drove Him according to Mark) to undertake the test of temptation by the devil. The word "devil" comes from the Greek original, which means "slanderer", a translation of Hebrew with the same meaning.

“To tempt” is the same as “to prove”, and it has two meanings:

That of endeavouring to make a person fall into sin. We know that "God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed." (James 1:13,14). Human nature is such that, given sufficient incentive, we end up yielding to evil. Jesus was different; he did not have this sinful nature and being the Son of God, could not be tempted by evil. He always was "Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26).
The temptation could only be of another sort: to prove the character of a person and his faithfulness to God. This is the meaning of the "temptation" that God does Himself, as to Abraham (Genesis 22:1), or allows the devil to make, as to Job. Now it was time for Jesus to go through this test.

The temptation

1. The legitimate Son of God could never fail this test. The devil knew that, and twice lied by saying that the Lord Jesus could prove that He was really the Son of God by obeying his challenge.

Leading to this, the Lord Jesus had eaten nothing for a period of forty days and forty nights. It was not a ceremonial fasting, but one that resulted from an intense reflection and communion with God. In this situation, His physical needs were suspended. Moses had a similar experience (Exodus 34:28).

After that period, He was hungry. Referring to the words of God at His baptism, declaring that Jesus was His beloved Son, the devil says, "If you are the son of God, command that these stones become bread" (lit. transl.). The subtlety of this challenge is remarkable. It is the “lust of the flesh” of which John alerts us. (John 2:16 1).

In reality this supernatural act, which would be simple for Him in order to satisfy His own appetite, was not in accordance with the will of God. The Messiah came into the world to live as a man, in submission to natural conditions as all men had to do, without resorting to His infinite power to sooth the weakness of His voluntary human situation.

In His model prayer, which He taught His disciples, we find the request "give us this day our daily bread". The provision for the food of man comes from God, and the Lord Jesus was living as a man.

His reply, as the others during this test, was taken from the Bible. This is from Deuteronomy 8:3, inspired words of Moses to the people of Israel at the end of his life, stating that "man does not live by bread (food) alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God". Obedience to God is even more important than the satisfaction of our physical needs. Our life in this world must be conditional upon obedience to God.

2. The devil continued, making a new attempt to demolish the firmness of the Lord Jesus. He took Him to the pinnacle of the temple in the holy city (Jerusalem - a place where all the people who stood below could see Him). Note that the Lord Jesus allowed the devil to take Him there: knowing that He was being put to the test, He did not hesitate, aware of His superiority over the tempter.

Taking a text of Scripture himself (Psalm 91:11,12), the devil instigated the Lord Jesus to launch Himself to the ground spectacularly from there, suggesting that no harm would come because (according to his misleading interpretation) the text promises that He will be protected. Is the “pride of life” mentioned by John (1 John 2:16).

For any simple man, convinced that he was the Son of God, that temptation could well be quite valid, for his ambition would blind him to the misinterpretation of the text and the omission of an important clause. Convinced that the angels would carry him like a parachute when he jumped, if all went well he probably would sufficiently impress the crowd to be accepted as the Messiah descending from heaven ... That would be a sign of heaven complying with the popular expectation concerning the Messiah.

But the Lord Jesus proved that He was the son of God, knowing the Scriptures perfectly, giving a simple and crushing answer to this temptation, taken from Deuteronomy 6:16: "you shall not tempt the Lord your God". The devil had applied the promise of protection which he found in the Scriptures in a very wrong way. Before him was the Son of God who he could never deceive by misinterpreting His word.

God would preserve the life of the Messiah, but His conduct would always be in obedience to God. In an act of disobedience, it would be trying God to expect Him to fulfil his promise of preservation. The mission of Jesus was to be crucified to bring us salvation, and only after that He would be glorified - not at that moment through a sensational act.

3. For the last time the devil proved the Lord Jesus, taking Him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showing him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. Then he promised to give Him everything if he fell down and worshipped him.

It was the lust of the eyes that John mentions (1 John 2:16): to the eyes the view would be magnificent, and to possess everything could be very desirable. However, we doubt if the devil really owned everything to pass its ownership to someone else. Even if he had, would he fulfil his promise? He is the father of lies (John 8:44).

However, the Lord Jesus went straight to the core of the question, ordered Satan (adversary) to go away and again quoted the words of Scripture: "You shall fear the LORD your God and serve Him" (Deuteronomy 6:13). During His ministry, Jesus warned against serving two masters: God and the world, saying it is an impossible situation. One of them will always be preferred to the other. We should only serve the Lord God.

The Lord Jesus, the Son of God, would never worship the devil whom He himself created (Colossians 1:16). One day the kingdoms of this world will come to Him and He will reign forever (Revelation 11:15). Unfortunately, however, many people succumb to the temptation of serving the creature rather than the Creator, replacing the opportunity to receive an eternal heritage by a fleeting glory in this world.

Upon receiving the order of the Lord Jesus and His response, the devil immediately left, defeated and humiliated, and waited for another chance (Luke 4:13).

Immediately the angels came and served Him. No details are given, but they knew who He was, and they had come to His birth 30 years before. Maybe they brought the food supply he had refused to obtain miraculously at the first temptation.

We learn that those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit may be tempted by Satan, but he can do nothing against those who resist by using the Word of God, the sword of the believer (Ephesians 6:17).

R David Jones

1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.

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

4 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.' "

5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple,

6 and said to Him, "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.' "

7 Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'YOU SHALL NOT TEMPT THE LORD YOUR GOD.' "

Mat 4:8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
9 And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."

10 Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND HIM ONLY YOU SHALL SERVE.' "

11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

Matthew chapter 4, verses 1 to 11