Throwdown

Matthew 4: Wilderness Victory (3)

Pray Psalm 91.1-3.
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler.
And from the perilous pestilence.

Sing Psalm 91.1-3.
(Lauda Anima: Praise My Soul the King of Heaven)
All who dwell within God’s shelter in His shadow will reside. 
He our Tow’r, our Fortress ever, in Him we our trust confide. 
From the trapper’s snares He saves us; safe from sickness we abide.

Read Matthew 4.1-7; meditate on verses 5-7.
What was wrong with the devil’s use of Scripture?

Prepare.
1. What did Satan want Jesus to do? How did he try to bolster his temptation?

2. To what did Jesus appeal in answering the devil?

Meditate.
Satan implied in this temptation that, if Jesus didn’t do what he suggested, it would indicate He doubted the truth of God’s Word. But Jesus knew that to yield to the devil’s test would be to doubt the Word of God, rather than to trust it. God had indeed said that His angels would protect and care for His servants. That was good enough for Jesus—and, as we shall see, it turned out to be correct (v. 11). To test the Lord’s Word by doing what Satan indicated would actually have been to doubt its reliability by trying to manipulate God.

We should be warned by what we see in this temptation, that it is possible to misuse the Word of God, even when you are quoting it exactly. Satan’s only goal in these temptations was to get Jesus to submit to his word, to exercise authority over Jesus, so that he could realize his own will above that of God. So, if using the Scripture would help him to achieve that end, he was not above doing so.

Jesus, however, would not give in to this sinister ploy. He shows us that, when we are interpreting the Bible, we must keep in mind a certain hierarchy of truths. Not included on that list is what we want for our own selfish purposes, and what we might try to get the Bible to endorse, so that we can have our will rather than submit to God’s. At such times, the devil is encouraging us to use the Bible for our purposes, rather than those of the Lord. The more we know of Scripture, the better equipped we will be to understand how to compare passages of God’s Word, to know how to obey Him (1 Cor. 2.12, 13). We will be less likely to try to make the Scripture submit to our desires if we are continually growing in our understanding of God’s.

Jesus answered the devil’s throwdown with a throwdown of His own, and it would be His sticking to the Word of God in all things that ultimately threw the devil down to defeat (Rev. 12.7-9).

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“Every Word of God is pure;
He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.
Do not add to His Words,
lest He rebuke you, and
you be found a liar” (Prov. 30.5, 6).

Satan not only misused, mis-nuanced, and over-played his hand with the Word; 
but he also forgot to put it in context—conveniently forgetting important portions.

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Ps. 91.1).

Jesus was conceived by this shadowing of God, as the angel Gabriel explained to Mary:
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you;
therefore, also, that Holy One Who is to be born will be called the Son of God” (Lk. 1.35).

Jesus knew all about living within God’s plan and protection.
He understood fully about living under the shadow of His Almighty Father.
And He was not about to go outside the bounds where God’s love could reach and bless Him (Jude 21 TLB).

And Satan, once again, forgot about that little problem of tempting God, which is a real No, No.
“You shall not tempt the LORD your God as you tempted Him in Massah (see Ex. 17.1-7). 
You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the LORD swore to your fathers, to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken” (Deut. 6.16-19).

In the same way the Egyptian magicians proudly did some of the same devastating “miracles” against their own people in an attempt to overthrow God (for the full story see Ex. 7-11); Satan overlooked the line about “casting out all your enemies” whilst in the throes of this attempt to wrest Jesus’ power from Him. 
This is about you, Satan. Are you missing it? You are the enemy.

God is never tempted; nor does He ever tempt anyone. Temptation is always from the enemy.
“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, 
nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires 
and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, 
brings forth death” (Jms. 1.13-15).

The overshadowing of God conceives life—Jesus first, then secondly the Holy Spirit within us.
But Satan only conceives sin which leads to death.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6.23).

We are part of this glorious truth because Jesus always made the right choice.

So, let us emulate our Savior’s throwdown of evil—with and through The Word.

“To grant that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life” (Lk. 1.74, 75).

Reflect.
1. How can you know when someone is “twisting Scripture”, as Satan did?

2. Why is it so important that we continue reading and meditating on God’s Word?

3. What’s the first step to take when you are confronted with temptation?

What does Christ then do? He is neither indignant nor provoked but with extreme gentleness reasons with him again from the Scriptures, saying, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God,” teaching us that we must overcome the devil not by miracles but by forbearance and long-suffering and that we should do nothing at all for display and vainglory. John Chrysostom (344-407), The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 13.4

Pray Psalm 91.11-16.
Thank God for angels to protect you throughout the day, and for His promise to deliver you in the face of every evil. Throughout the day, call upon the Lord in your times of trouble, and rejoice in His salvation.

Sing Psalm 91.11-16.
(Lauda Anima: Praise My Soul the King of Heaven)
He shall give His angels charge to bear us up, lest we should fall. 
They will guard and carry all who on the Savior’s mercy call. 
Cobra, mighty lion, serpent: We shall tread upon them all! 

Save us, Lord! We love You only; set us up secure on high! 
You we know, on You we call in trouble: Hear us when we cry! 
Show us Your salvation, let long life forever satisfy!

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.