September 28, 2022

IT IS WRITTEN

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

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.’ ”

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 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.’ ”

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

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

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.’ ”

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

Personal Challenge

This is a lot of text to read through but is important to get the whole picture. Here is Jesus just having finished fasting in the wilderness for 40 days. He is hungry. He is tired. And now the tempter shows up to tease Him into trusting in the tempter to meet His needs. Jesus defends each attack, each temptation, with a quote from the scriptures. "It is written..." Our personal challenge is to know the scriptures well enough to be able to push back on the temptations that come our way. There is one more very important lesson in here. Even the tempter proclaims, "It is written..." He too knows the scriptures and will twist them to his advantage. We must be careful that we do not do the same and twist the scriptures to mean what we want them to mean. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!