Matthew 4:1-4

Through looking at these verses over the last week, I’ve come up with three main points or questions that I think we could learn from. The first is “When did the temptation come?”, the second “What was the temptation?” and “How did Jesus respond to the temptation?” They might sound like pretty basic questions to answer but when we look a bit closer at the verses they can teach us a lot and we can apply things to our lives now.

When did the temptation come?

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And then the tempter came…”

Jesus was baptised and then led by The Spirit to be tempted, God not only allowed Jesus to be tempted but He led him into the wilderness for that specific purpose.

Sometimes Christians can fall into the trap of thinking, that after being baptised and/or devoting their life to God it should be easy and they shouldn’t be sinful or tempted to sin anymore. But this passage shows that sometimes it can be the exact opposite. For some people, it may be a time of trial and testing, like it was for Jesus. It may be hard and it might seem like God isn’t there, but He is. God always has a reason for everything He does and it might be that our experiences and temptations that we struggle with could be the same as a friends or family members and we can help them through that trial.

To be able to wholly stand on our behalf Jesus had to experience life as a human, he was fully God and fully man. We know every human is given temptations and every human has been through some sort of trial, therefore Jesus was tempted and trialled so he could stand for us in front of God. He was tested before he began his ministry and teaching, so he could help us as he has experienced human temptation and suffering.

It says in verse 2 that Jesus had been “fasting for forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.” And then “the tempter came”. This shows that the devil waited almost 6 weeks before he turned up to tempt Jesus, he waited until Jesus was vulnerable and weak in his hunger. It may be at our weakest that Satan strikes and tempts us, when we are alone, when we are in the wilderness, at a hard time in our lives. Is it when you are like Jesus in the desert, vulnerable and weak, that Satan tests you?

There are two ways that we can choose to see trials, tests and temptations, because really they are a choice. We can choose to see them as “being led into sin” or we can see them as “opportunities to be faithful”. Jesus, in his temptation, saw the opportunity to refuse the devil and stay faithful to God, to stand stronger with God.

What was the temptation?

“And then the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’’”

As the Son of God Jesus could, as the devil tempts him to, turn the stones into bread for food. He’s hungry and he’s alone, no-one will know and he has the power to do it, so why doesn’t he? What is the actual temptation here?

Satan is tempting Jesus to use his power as the Son of God to cheat on humanity. Jesus is fully man and fully God, but to be fully man he has to have lived as a human. He says he has experienced what we have experienced, but if he got rid of his hunger by using his power as God, then he wouldn’t have lived completely as a human.

Now I’m not saying using his power during his time on earth meant he didn’t live as a human because that would mean he couldn’t have done all his miracles or rose from the dead. But that those miracles were not selfish but selfless works to serve others as the work of God.

Though this doesn’t directly relate to us, because unfortunately we do not have any supernatural or divine powers, we can see that we are not to be selfish and trust that God is there for us and fully understands whatever we are going through. Also as Jesus’ powers we one of the resources God had given him to serve others and do ministry with, we should serve others with our resources and not use them selfishly. It is important to make sure that we put God’s plan and ministry before making our own lives more comfortable.

To have given in to the temptation would have to have given up being faithful. Jesus would have been taking the easy way out and not relying on God. We need to rely on God and trust in him in our temptations even if it might be hard or we might feel alone.

Jesus was out in the wilderness, in the desert, He was seemingly alone with the devil. But he was no0t completely alone. God had not abandoned him, and God was still watching. Satan knew that in the desert there would have been no-one around to witness Jesus fall into the temptation, but God’s audience, His opinion is the only one that truly matters. He is always watching and He is always there.

How did Jesus respond to the temptation?

“But he answered, ‘It is written: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” ”

We can learn two different things from the way Jesus responded to this temptation. He replied 1) with the Bible and 2) about the Bible.

When Satan tested Jesus he could’ve given in but instead he refused and defeated Satan’s temptations. He used God’s word to respond to Satan clearly showing that He was going to stand strong in his faith and even though they were seemingly alone in the desert, God was there and always would be. By denying to fall into the temptation and responding with the Bible, Jesus acknowledges that God is more important than his hunger and relying on Him is better than selfishly fulfilling his own desire.

Jesus didn’t just throw a random verse out though he used a specific verse to defeat the temptation directly. He beat the devil, and the temptation of using his power to create food for his hunger by saying that man doesn’t only live off food but off the Word of God. This verse shows that Jesus knew His Bible and could pick a verse that counteracts and destroys the temptation completely.

In this Jesus sets an example for us. We need to know our Bible; it’s our ammo against temptation and against the devil. If we struggle with a certain temptation that we know is sinful we can look at Bible verses that counteract it. We can memorise these specific verses that help us overcome our temptations and stay faithful to God.

The actual verse that Jesus answers with is also significant. It says that “man cannot live on bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” So how long can you go between actual meals before you get hungry? We feed our bodies every day and that’s important to stay alive and healthy. How much more important is it then to feed ourselves spiritually with God’s word? How long do you go without spiritual food?

We need to read our Bible and feed ourselves spiritually just as Jesus did.

Written by Nicola Hargans.