Matthew 4: Wilderness Victory (2)
Pray Psalm 119.1-4.
Blessed are the undefiled in the way,
Who walk in the law of the LORD!
Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,
Who seek Him with the whole heart!
They also do no iniquity;
They walk in His ways.
You have commanded us
To keep Your precepts diligently.
Sing Psalm 119.1-4.
(Ode to Joy: Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee)
Blessed are they whose way is blameless, all who walk within God’s Law,
who, His testimonies keeping, seek Him, filled with joy and awe.
These are they who, no wrong doing, ever walk within God’s ways.
LORD, Your precepts You command us; we would keep them all our days.
Read Matthew 4.1-4; meditate on verses 2-4.
How does one “live” on the Word of God?
Prepare.
1. How long was Jesus in the wilderness before the devil confronted Him?
2. What was the devil’s first line of attack against the Lord?
Meditate.
We can imagine that, during those forty days of fasting in the wilderness, Jesus reviewed, recalled, recited, and thus fed on a great many passages of Scripture. In fact, Scripture was undoubtedly the only thing on the menu for Him during those trying and lonely days, as He recapitulated Israel’s wanderings, and prepared for His great victory over the enemy of God.
When Satan finally showed up to tempt Jesus, he thought he was beginning at the Lord’s most vulnerable point—His hunger for food. The devil could not have been more wrong. Jesus was full of God’s Word, and strong in it, and He would not allow Himself to fall into the tempter’s trap. Satan knew Who Jesus was. He did not say to Him, “If it’s really so that You are the Son of God…” He would have used the Greek ἐὰν ean – if perhaps it is so—to say that (cf. v. 9). What he actually said was, “Since (Greek: eἰ, ei—if, or in this case, since) You are the Son of God…” Satan’s problem was he had too high a view of his own powers. But when you have ruled and bullied and trashed every kingdom of man for thousands of years, and the rest of creation to boot, you can begin to believe you’re capable of just about anything.
Wrong. Jesus, the Son and Word of God, was not going to take orders or follow any suggestions by the one He was about to clap into spiritual irons. He knew that feeding on, relying on, and being sustained by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God was more important than satisfying any merely fleshly desire, or performing some miracle at the behest of the father of lies.
Jesus shows us where real strength and power lie—in “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
When a person has a food intolerance or serious allergy and cannot eat certain things, their most vulnerable time is when they are hungry. For when we are hungry, we begin to rationalize and minimize hazardous problems, just so we can assuage our craving for food. In other words, we are in a weakened physical and mental state. Just on the edge of making a really bad decision.
Esau fell into just such a vulnerable situation, and Jacob his conniving brother, was right there to “help”.
“Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary.
And Esau said to Jacob, ‘Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.’
But Jacob said, ‘Sell me your birthright as of this day.’
And Esau said, ‘Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?’
Then Jacob said, ‘Swear to me as of this day.’
So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.
And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils;
then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way.
Thus Esau despised his birthright” (Gen. 25.29-24).
This was the history Satan was reading.
This he surmised, was how Jesus would fall.
After all, it had worked before with the grumbling Israelites, Esau, and Eve.
But God’s people are to be sustained on God’s Word; to make better decisions.
If we know the Word and God’s Law, we are already prepared for Satan’s luring tricks.
We have, after all, made our decision way ahead of time, as to what our response will be
when temptations strike.
The context in which this verse (Matt. 4.4) first appeared was in the wilderness the Israelites wandered in.
Moses said to them, “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD” (Deut. 8.3).
It was true for them; and it is equally true for us.
We can only truly live through following the Word of God—Jesus and Scripture.
But live, we will, if we decide always to hunger only for Him and to feast on His Truth.
Jesus knew beforehand that He would not fall for Satan’s lies. That was His mindset and heartset.
And it must be ours as well.
“My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end” (Ps. 119.112 NIV).
Jesus wants us to be filled with Him. So filled, in fact, that there is no room for anything else.
As He said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (Jn. 10.10).
He is our necessary Food—the Bread of Life.
“I AM the living bread which came down from heaven.
If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever…” (Jn. 6.48, 51).
Decide ahead of time, when hunger for anything else comes along, how you will assuage it.
Reflect.
1. What temptations do you expect to encounter today? How should you prepare for them?
2. How will you deal with these temptations when they arise?
3. How can believers help one another to resist the devil and gain the victory over temptation?
Christ answered all the temptations of Satan with “It is written;” to set us an example, he appealed to what was written in the Scriptures. This method we must take, when at any time we are tempted to sin. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Matthew 4.1-11
Pray Psalm 119.171-176.
Praise God for His Word, and for His Spirit to teach it to you. Commit to talking with someone today about the glories of God’s Word, and what you’re learning from Him.
Sing Psalm 119.171-176.
(Regent Square: Angels from the Realms of Glory)
With our lips we praise You, Jesus, for You teach us, full and free.
Now Your Word will ever please us; Your commandments true shall be.
Let Your hand come forth to ease us; we Your Word choose gratefully!
For Your saving grace we plead, LORD, and Your Law is our delight.
We to live and praise You need, LORD, all Your help by day and night.
Straying sheep, we do not heed, LORD; come and seek us by Your might!
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
For a closer look at what happened in the wilderness of Judea and why that matters so much, order a copy of our book, Satan Bound.
Other columns of interest: This week: The Read Moore podcast continues readings from If Men Will Pray. Our Crosfigell teaching letter begins a new series on the state of the Church in Europe at the time of the Celtic Revival. The ReVision column begins a new series on the Church. Check out our other excellent writers. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
