Matthew 4:1 ¶ Then was
Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and
forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 3
And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God,
command that these stones be made bread. 4
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. 5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy
city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of
God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge
concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any
time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7
Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord
thy God. 8 Again, the devil taketh him
up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the
world, and the glory of them; 9 And
saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and
worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto
him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11
Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto
him.
This passage is also reflected in Luke although there is a little
difference in the order of the temptations in the two accounts. Remember that
Matthew is recounting what Christ told him and Luke is going on the testimony
of not only the Apostles but other Christians who preached and wrote and
discussed what they were told. Both accounts are given by inspiration of the
Spirit of God. There is absolutely no significance in the slight differences
unless you are a skeptical modernist who reads the Bible like your car manual,
in which case you will get little from the text because you don’t really
believe it. Here also are comments I’ve already written.
Luke 4:1 ¶ And Jesus being
full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness, 2 Being forty days tempted
of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended,
he afterward hungered. 3 And the devil
said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made
bread. 4 And Jesus answered him, saying,
It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of
God. 5 And the devil, taking him up into
an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of
time. 6 And 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. 7
If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 8 And 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. 9 And 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: 10 For it is written, He shall give his angels
charge over thee, to keep thee: 11 And
in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot
against a stone. 12 And Jesus answering
said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 13 And when the devil had ended all the
temptation, he departed from him for a season.
“An important point must be made about verse 2 in Luke 4. To tempt is to test or try.
Revelation
3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of
my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
When Satan tempts one, tests one, the ultimate goal is to make
them fall. God never tempts anyone of His people for the purpose of making them
stumble as it says in James.
James
1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
God tempted Abraham but knew that Abraham’s faith would keep him
from disobeying.
Genesis
22:1 And it came to pass after these
things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
Hebrews
11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was
tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his
only begotten son,
A temptation then is not merely a matter of whether you looked too
long at the magazine rack at the airport but a test of your faith, a trial.
Only who is it from; the Devil, Satan, to make you fall or God to prove your
position in Him, if only to yourself? Job’s entire ordeal can be called a
temptation. Early Christians were sometimes faced with a demand that they
reject Christ or die. This is also a tremendous temptation, an assault on one’s
faith, belief in God, and trust in God as can be an illness or pressure from
the world. Noteworthy scripture on temptations include;
Luke
11:4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
1Corinthians
10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you
to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
James
1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation:
for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath
promised to them that love him.
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