Matthew 4:1-11 continued…

“And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” Matthew 4:2-4 (KJV)..

Temptation. There are a lot of questions to be asked, that will be asked, but I will not try and answer. When it comes to Jesus and temptation I have heard many a question concerning Him and temptation, especially if the Son of God is really God. After the baptism of Jesus we are told that He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Now this would be quite the temptation.

This is another point which proves the deity of Jesus. It does not seem that the devil is a credible witness, but the very thought of his tempting Jesus kind of begs the question, “Why would he bother otherwise, unless he knew Jesus to be the Divine Son of God?”

We are now looking at the first offer of a shortcut around the will of the Father. There is within all of us the desire for survival. We have all heard many stories of people caught in snow storms, stuck in the mountains, unable to move from their position, and they survive. People caught in all kinds of horrific incidents where anyone without the will to survive would not have survived. It is a God-given drive that has been placed within us. There is no sin in this desire.

Jesus had fasted, ie., done without food and sustenance for forty days and forty nights. He was hungry. I have never gone very long without food. Most of the people of the United States of America have never gone very long without food. Forty days and forty nights would be stretching the absence of food to the limit. Jesus was hungry. The devil approaches Jesus, with the temptation, ‘If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread’, and he knew who Jesus was. It just seems that he was thinking in Jesus’s weakened state He would be mentally, and spiritually weakened and even deny who He was, or at least doubt it.

What would have been wrong with Jesus turning the stones available to Him into bread? He had the power, the ability. He would have been giving in to His appetites rather than following the will of the Father. If there was no other reason than the temptation of the devil, that was reason enough for Him to refuse turning stones to bread.

Many times in order to survive in the business world, the spiritual world, physical well being world, people are tempted to risk their very character and fail – their moral excellence. Jesus did not. There are also many tempted and do put their integrity at stake – who you are when no one is watching. Again, Jesus did not. Jesus understood, as well we should, that survival is dependent upon more than the material [bread] alone. Jesus realized there was a Higher Authority, and He was responsible to Him alone, and the Father did not lead Him to this temptation to turn stones to bread. That Higher Authority is God the Father, of course, and He has given us His Word as an instrument to wield against the overwhelming temptations to compromise when we are tempted to live by the material.

Jesus answered the devil’s temptation with, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Deut. 8:3). Learn the Word and face these temptations victoriously. O, how badly we need to work at this. I know I do.