Matthew 4
Having been led of the Spirit of God into the wilderness and having fasted for forty days and nights, Jesus was hungry. The tempter came to Him and said, "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." Jesus is God, but He came as a man. It is not a sin to hunger, but the tempter wanted Him to leave His place of obedience as a man, take over and use the power that He had as Son of God to satisfy His hunger. Jesus, as an obedient man, answered that it was written: "Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." Deut. 8:33And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. (Deuteronomy 8:3).
This temptation confronts all men. The Bible, the Word of God, is more necessary to life than bread, for by the Word through faith we receive eternal life. Bread only benefits this present life. "Bread" suggests all that the flesh desires. The bread must come from God alone. To lust after (desire) anything that God has not given is to sin and fall for this temptation.
Next, Satan took Jesus up to the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple. He told Jesus that if He were the Son of God, He should cast Himself down: "For it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee." Satan then omitted the clause, "to keep Thee in all Thy ways," and finished with, 'They shall bear Thee up in their hands, lest Thou dash Thy foot against a stone." Psa. 91:11,1211For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. (Psalm 91:11‑12). Jesus answered with Scripture, "Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God." Deut. 6:1616Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. (Deuteronomy 6:16).
Satan tempted the Lord to act with pride instead of humbly waiting for a word from God for His path. Jesus would not act without a word from God. God hates pride, yet it is one of the temptations that you and I have. Only with our eyes on Christ, who vanquished Satan, can we be kept. It seems that pride goes all the way with us until we leave this world. It manifests itself often unless we pray.
Finally, the devil took Jesus up an exceedingly high mountain so that He could see all of the kingdoms of the world and their glory. He said he would give it all to Jesus if He would fall down and worship him. Jesus said, "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." (See Deut. 6:1313Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. (Deuteronomy 6:13).)
As the Messiah, Jesus had all of the promises, but He would wait the Father's time to avail Himself of them. He would not exalt Himself or disobey. All of the kingdoms of the world were His as the Son of man, but He would want to receive them from the Father's hand. The devil then left Him, and angels came and ministered to Him.
There is a constant temptation towards idolatry. An idol is anything that I set my heart on that takes the place of Christ as my object. There never was a day of idolatry like today. Houses, lands, cars, boats, money, honor, position-whatever gets in between my soul and Christ is an idol. Man faces temptation from three enemies: the flesh, the world and the devil. Our only safety is prayer and obedience.
Jesus, in these three temptations, bound the strong man with three scriptures from Deuteronomy. He acted in simple obedience to the holy Word of God. What can Satan do when Jesus relies utterly on the Father to preserve Him? By His only using three scriptures from just one book of the Bible to resist Satan, God shows that a young convert could resist Satan if he had one scripture for each temptation.
Jesus Begins His Ministry Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom
John the Baptist's ministry was now finished. He had prepared the way of Christ. John the Baptist being cast into prison, Jesus began His ministry with the same message that John used. "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Jesus went into Capernaum, which was to be His own city where He dwelt and did many miracles (Matt. 17:2424And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? (Matthew 17:24)). It was on the seacoast of Galilee, near the land of Zebulun and Naphtali. For the people of this land, Isaiah prophesied, 'The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up." (See Isa. 9:1,21Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. 2The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. (Isaiah 9:1‑2).) It was Jesus, the Creator, who once said, "Let there be light." Gen. 1:33And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (Genesis 1:3). He became the moral light for these people and ourselves.
In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus taught the character of the kingdom of heaven: its principles and its blessedness. By His own life He displayed the moral power of what He taught to overcome the enemy, Satan. In His absence, these teachings apply unto us. They are not laws, but instructions which we as sons of the kingdom love to obey.
The Lord called for men such as Peter, Andrew, James and John to follow Him. It was a personal, not an official, call. (Zech. 10:1010I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them. (Zechariah 10:10).) These fisherman left all to follow Jesus. This call was for the preparation for service later.