"It Is Written"

From: Messages of God's Love: 1944

Luke 4:1-13¹And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, ²Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. ³And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. ⁴And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. ⁵And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. ⁶And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. ⁷If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. ⁸And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. ⁹And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: ¹⁰For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: ¹¹And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. ¹²And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. ¹³And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. (Luke 4:1‑13)

After the Holy Spirit had come upon the Lord Jesus, it is told that Satan spoke to tempt Jesus to obey him. It was in the lonely land near the Jordan river, and Jesus had eaten no food there, and was hungry. Satan said to Him, “If thou be the Son of God, command this stone to be made bread.”

God had spoken from Heaven to say Jesus was His beloved Son, but Satan tried to doubt those words. Yet Jesus did not do a miracle to prove Who He was, or for food; this was His answer: “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” Deuteronomy 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).

Those words were from the Old Testament, and it was from those scriptures He answered each time.

Satan could not deny Jesus’ answer, and he tried another way to persuade Jesus to obey him; he said all the nations of the world were his, and he would give their glory and role to Jesus, if He would worship him.

That also was doubting that Jesus was the Son of God, Who should be worshiped; and the nations were not Satan’s to promise. Jesus answered him again with words of God,

“It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” (vs. 8; Deut. 6:13¹³Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. (Deuteronomy 6:13)).

Satan tried once more to cause Jesus to obey him, and said that “if” Jesus were the Son of God, He should throw Himself down from a high point of the Temple, because it was written that God would give His angels charge over Him, to keep Him, lest He dash His foot against a stone.

Those words were from Psalms 91, so Satan knew scripture, but used it in an evil way; for the words were not given that the Holy One should do as Satan wanted. The answer of Jesus was, as before, from God’s written words to men:

“It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Deuteronomy 6:16¹⁶Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. (Deuteronomy 6:16).

Satan then went away, he found he could not tempt Jesus to do his way; he showed his awful pride and hatred that he could try to tempt the One he knew to be the Son of God to obey him; his promises were false; he knew the written words of God, and used them for evil to try to bring harm to Jesus. Yet his fear was shown, for he went away.

In all the tempting, Jesus did no miracle, but showed His trust in God as a humble, perfect man; He showed that God was the authority over all, and proved the power of His words in the scriptures.

Some persons try to believe there is no Satan, yet he is written of in many parts of the Bible as a most wicked being, or spirit, not seen by men, but able to suggest to the mind what is evil and false, especially to have them doubt that God’s words are true.

Yet God’s words are “the weapon,” or power, the Christian has to resist Satan’s doubts and evil, as the Lord Jesus resisted him, and it is told he will be fully conquered by the Lord (Rom. 16:20²⁰And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. (Romans 16:20); 1 John 3:8⁸He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8); Rev. 20:10¹⁰And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)).

ML 11/19/1944

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