Lesson 4 - Matt. 4:1-11 - THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS
INTRODUCTION: Last week, in Matt. 3:1-12, we covered the story of John the Baptist and his ministry. As the forerunner of Jesus, John announced that the "kingdom of heaven" was at hand and called the people of Judea to repentance and baptism with water in preparation for the coming of "He who is mightier than I" -namely, Jesus Christ as their Messiah king. We briefly discussed two views of the term "kingdom of heaven" : (1) the Amillennial view that the kingdom is completely spiritual so that the physical world will end when Jesus returns and (2) the Premillennial view that Jesus will return to establish His earthly kingdom for 1,000 years. The main thrust of John's message to the Jews was that their heritage from Abraham would not automatically allow them entry into God' Kingdom, but that they must repent and accept Jesus, who would baptize them with the "Holy Spirit and fire" (i.e., grant them eternal salvation). The two main points of application were: (1) One's religious heritage is never a substitute for true repentance; and (2) people who accept Jesus as Lord are baptized by the Holy Spirit and fire, and by doing so will enter the kingdom of God, i.e., eternal life under either of the kingdom views.
This week, we skip the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist where, "After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased." (Matt. 3:16-17). In today's text, Matt. 4:1-11, we'll study the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness by Satan. But before we get into it, we need to keep in mind that Jesus, who "emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men" (Phil. 2:7), was subject to every human emotion and need from birth to death. He experiences hunger, pain, grief, and anger. Otherwise, His incarnation in human form would be incomplete-so, He was no more exempt from temptation than me or you. Therefore, Jesus' testing by Satan in the wilderness is one the most important marks of His unique person. Jesus' genealology and virgin birth proved His human qualifications to be Israel's king, His baptism indicated His divine approval from the Father, and His temptation demonstrated His moral fitness to reign.
Read Matthew 4:1-2 - LED BY THE SPIRIT TO BE TEMPTED
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.
v. 1: "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." - The same Spirit who brought Jesus into the world (Matt. 1:20) and demonstrated God's approval of Him (Matt. 3:16), now led Him into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. The "wilderness of Judea" is the traditional site. Israel itself had experienced temptation in another wilderness for 40 years. The word for "tempted," (Gk. peirazo) means to test in either a good or bad sense, for success or failure. God's objective here was to demonstrate the character of His Son by subjecting Him to Satan's tests.
v. 2: "And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry." - The number 40 is frequently seen in the OT in the context of sin and testing (Gen. 7:4, 12; Num. 14:33; 32:13). And here, Jesus experiences temptation in the wilderness after fasting for 40 days and nights. In Scripture, fasting was intended for a spiritual purpose: to cause a person to surrender a physical need in order to gain focus on a more important spiritual need. Both Moses and Elijah had fasted for 40 days and nights to prepare themselves (Ex. 34:28; 1 Kings 19:8); and Matthew's Jewish readers would have recognized this connection.
Read Matt. 4:3-4 - THE FIRST TEMPTATION
3 And the tempter came and said to Him, "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 ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'"
v. 3a: "And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God," - the participle "If" in the original Greek could translate to say, "Since You are the Son of God." Satan knew who Jesus was.
v. 3b: command that these stones become bread." - Notice that Satan attacked Jesus when He was vulnerable-extremely hungry. The temptation was not to doubt that Jesus was God's Son; it was to suggest that as the Son of God, Jesus certainly had the power and the freedom to satisfy His own needs independent of the Father. In short, Satan urged Jesus to use His Sonship in a way that was contrary to His mission and His Father's will. In the OT, God had intended Israel's hunger in the wilderness to teach her that hearing and obeying God's Word was the most important thing in life (Duet. 8:2-3). The devil's design was to persuade Jesus to repeat the apostasy of Adam and Israel-to break Jesus' trust in His Father's good care, and by doing so, alter the course of salvation history.
v. 4: "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.'" - Quoting Deut. 8:3, Jesus' response to Satan's proposition reflected His total commitment to follow God's will as revealed in His Word. The quoted verse originally applied to Israel, but Jesus applies it to everyone, and in particular, to Himself. By applying this passage personally, Jesus placed Himself in the category of a true "Man"-i.e., fully human.
Read Matt. 12:5-7 - THE SECOND TEMPTATION
5 Then the devil *took Him into the holy city and had Him stand 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 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.'" 7 Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'"
v. 5: "Then the devil *took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple," - The "pinnacle" was the high point of the Temple in Jerusalem, 180 feet tall, the equivalent of an 18-story building, a vantage point that would enable you to see far beyond the city itself. This implies that the temptation would have been national in scope. Thus, when Jesus stood on this pinnacle, He was, from a theological perspective, at the center of the world, a point from which the Messiah could easily exorcize His powers to claim the nations as His own and rule over them with an iron fist.
v. 6: "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.'"- Here, the devil misapplies Scripture (Ps. 91:11-12) out of an effort to persuade Jesus to directly challenge God's faithfulness. So, be warned that the devil and his disciples can quote Scripture for evil purposes. The quoted passage promises that angels will help such a person in a way similar to that of a nurse who steps in to cares for a helpless baby.
7: "Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'" - Here, Jesus quotes Deut. 6:16, which gives one Scripture precedence over another. No one, not even Jesus, has the right to put God to the test. Such testing is not evidence of faith, but of doubt. To test God means putting ourselves in the driver's seat and requiring God to follow us.
Read Matt. 4:8-10 - THE THIRD TEMPTATION
8 Again, the devil *took Him to a very 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 fall down and worship me." 10 Then Jesus *said to him, "Go, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'"
v. 8a: "Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain" - The "very high mountain" to which Satan took Jesus is traditionally though to have been near Jericho, but its exact location isn't important. It simply provides a visual perspective from which the devil can point out all the other kingdoms that surround Israel. Again, we should be reminded of Moses, who met God on a high mountain (Ex. 19:3-25), and Jesus Himself on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1-13).
v. 8b: "and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory;" - Considering Israel's subordinate status under Roman rule, an offer of the whole "world" would be a powerful enticement. The Jews remember with longing the days of David and Solomon. In those times Israel was a nation to be reckoned with-small but great. Now Israel is but a shadow of its former self. Practically speaking, nothing would draw people to Jesus faster than a guarantee of political and military supremacy. Do you see that?
v. 9: "and he said to Him, 'All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.'" - Here, the devil names his price: "fall down and worship me." This temptation offered Jesus an opportunity to obtain all the benefits of being the Messiah, power and glory, without all of the troublesome and difficult problems that would otherwise go with the job. But to get this, Jesus would be forced to change His allegiance from God to Satan! We should also recognize that this was a legitimate offer: Satan had the ability, under the sovereign authority of God, to give Jesus what he promised. This third temptation, like the other two, was designed to test Jesus' loyalty to His Father and His Father's will.
v. 10: "Then Jesus *said to him, "Go, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'" - Quoting Deut, 6:13, Jesus forcefully reminds us that God is the only proper object of a person's worship. Later, on the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus will tell us that "No one can serve two masters" (Matt. 6:24), but first, He must demonstrate that principle in His life. With that, He banished Satan with the divine command to worship and serve God alone. So, the critical question for you and me is: Are we striving to put God first in everything? A very wise self-test, yes? More about this later.
Read Matt. 4:11 - THE ANGELS CAME TO MININSTER TO HIM
11 Then the devil *left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.
v 11a: "Then the devil *left Him;" - So, after Jesus resisted Satan successfully, the enemy left Him, but only temporarily. Jesus half-brother James would later say, "Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).
v. 11b: "and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him." - Now that Jesus had resisted temptation and passed the test, God sent angels to bring Jesus comfort and nourishment. This is God's normal practice for any of us when we resist temptation-pass the test.
APPLICATION-Resisting the Devil's Temptations:
1. To resist Satan, we must become wise to his schemes. It's clear that Jesus believed in and the Bible certainly teaches us about the reality of a personal evil spirit called Satan (adversary) or the devil (slanderer). Evil isn't just an impersonal force. The devil and the demons are angelic beings who rebelled against God and now are behind all the evil in this world. While the devil is a powerful and intelligent, he isn't omnipotent, omniscient, nor omnipresent like God. While Satan's final doom is certain (Rev. 29:7-15), he is for the present a powerful and cunning adversary of the church and its saints. Therefore, we can never allow ourselves to be ignorant of his schemes (2 Cor. 2:11).
2. To resist Satan, we must imitate Jesus as our perfect model. At Jesus' baptism, the Father proclaimed, "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased." Our text clearly shows why this was true: Without any exceptions, Jesus lived to obey and accomplish the will of His Father (John 5:19, 30). In today's text, we also observed Jesus living and behaving in complete dependence upon the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1), who had descended on Him at His baptism. Jesus could live as the perfect man because of His perfect obedience to the Father and complete dependence on the Holy Spirit. I remember from years ago the saying: What would Jesus do?-WWJD? Remember that? When any of us are tested with a critical decision today, WWJD is still an excellent model for us.
3. To resist Satan, we must arm ourselves with God's strategies for believers. This goes back to the idea of striving to put God first in our lives (v. 10). The most important strategy is the personal discipline of spending time alone with God. Not only during these 40 days, but also at other times, Jesus would routinely get away from the crowds and even from the disciples to spend time alone with the Father (Matt. 5:16). Time alone with God does not automatically prevent temptation, but it can and will strengthen us to overcome it. If you are consistently keeping yourself in God's Word and in focused and purposeful prayer, you will be far more likely to be forewarned and spiritually equipped for standing against the schemes of the devil.
