Temptations by Satan
Matthew 4:1-11 records the three initial temptations of Christ by Satan. These are given particular prominence, but you can be reasonably assured that these were not the only times that Satan tempted Christ. The bible says in Hebrews 4:15 that Christ was tempted in all points as we are tempted, but without sinning. Now clearly, the exact temptations we have today weren't duplicated a couple of millennia ago. But the basic underlying sin tendency, whether you like to reduce the set down to the seven deadly sins or accept a broader categorization are the same today as they were all the way back to Adam's time, and even further back if you consider that Satan fell into some of the same temptations when he rebelled against God.
This temptation occurred right after the water baptism of Jesus and the Father and Spirit showed their oneness with Jesus by speaking from heaven and having a dove like apparition appear to hover over Him. Jesus was man as He'd left His divinity behind to come and do this work for mankind. So He had all the influences of His upbringing and His surroundings that were showing Him how most any other person would feel with such a display of God's presence. It would go to most of our heads pretty quickly I'll bet if God gave a prophetic word by the Holy Spirit saying He was well pleased with us.
Perhaps Jesus recognized these tendencies in Himself at that moment and realized He needed to fast and pray alone with God. At any rate, He had left and was in this state when Satan came to tempt Him.
We should draw many parallels from the lead up to this interaction with Satan. First, we need to be sure that pride doesn't go to our heads, even if things are going well. God gives the blessings. All we have is ultimately His, as He created the universe. If we let pride reign in our hearts and minds, it gives an easier path for Satan to come in to destroy. Guard your hearts when things are going well.
Second, this was the point when Jesus was going to embark on His career of ministry. When you are going to embark on a new endeavor for God (or anything else that is a major change), it doesn't hurt to secrete yourself as Jesus did and seek God's will and direction for your life.
Third, when you're just starting something new, and particularly when that something new is going to win people to Christ, you can be sure that opposition will arise, directed by God's enemies, both from evil men and women, but also from the angelic world from Satan and the fallen angels that went with him. Temptations will arise to put aside the plans that God has laid upon your heart and do your own thing or to fall into some form of sin. Satan will always oppose the effective furtherance of the Gospel. If you're going to do something that won't have any impact, he might not care. But if your ministry has the potential to do great things, as Christ's certainly did, you can be sure Satan will try to derail it from the start.
Fourth, if possible, Satan will hit you at a weak moment. Those weak moments can come from many things. Maybe he will hit you when your health is failing. Maybe he will hit you when relationships with family and friends have taken a hit. Maybe he will hit you when your finances are imperiled due to work hours or pay being cut, more bills than expected, financial declines in stocks, bonds, or today cryptocurrency, or something else. Maybe he will hit you when you've suffered through a natural disaster. But rest assured, he will try to hit you when you're weakest.
First Temptation for Sustenance
In Christ's case, He had been fasting for a period of 40 days and nights, and His body was hungry. So the first temptation that Satan threw Christ's way was to use His divine connections with God to turn some rocks into bread to help alleviate the hunger His body was experiencing.Jesus counters with scripture, in this case quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3. This represents one of the best courses of action that we can make use of when we are tempted. Quote scripture.
This applies not just to Satan's temptations, but is also a promise for when we are opposed, whether at trial or otherwise. Jesus gives the promise in Mark 13:11 that the Holy Spirit will give us the words to speak in trying situations. John 14:26 promises the Holy Ghost will bring the words of Christ to our remembrance. But a key thing of both of these passages, is that we need to have filled our mind with God's word so the Holy Spirit has something for us to remember.
Read and study His word as often as you can. Some recommend daily, and that is great if you can do it. But it is better to really study a particular passage and spend some time on it rather than just reading x chapters a day to get through the Bible in a year. That can be beneficial - no study of God's word is without merit - but all too often such forced schedules lead us to skim or read quickly just to say we've done it and we retain little when done.
Second Temptation to Show Jesus was the Messiah
In the second temptation, Satan misquotes Psalms 91:11-12 implying that at any time the angels would save Jesus from suffering injury. Don't be deceived that Satan is ignorant of scripture. He knew exactly how he was misquoting the passage. It wasn't that he had forgotten.
I'm pretty sure that if Satan saw some advantage to be gained against God, he could correctly quote or slightly and intentionally modify every Bible verse ever written, including the Apocryphal books and any of a number of other books that weren't included by either the Catholics or the Protestants as they decided what books would make up the Bible. And he's an expert at making the Bible seem just a bit more tolerant than it is or the promises just a bit more expansive or condition free than God had declared.
Here, he moves the "in all thy ways" phrase that was associated with direction to say Jesus would be kept safe at any time. If the Holy Spirit has something to work with, He can let you know when scripture is being misquoted. He can do that even if you haven't heard it if you are full of the Spirit and work in discerning of spirits, but there is no substitute for knowing His word. If something seems fishy that you hear, look it up and read the context. Maybe the speaker or writer is correct and you've just never thought of something that way before. Or maybe the speaker is off base. Reading and knowing the word are essential for believers (Psalms 119:11).
At any rate, Christ warns Satan that tempting God to act in a certain way is wrong, quoting Deuteronomy 6:16. I think that there has been a segment of the church that has failed to heed this scripture. God does love us. He does watch over us. When Paul was bitten by a viper in Acts 28:3-6, he shakes the snake off into the fire and suffers no harm. The people on the island expected him to die, but he did not.
Paul didn't go looking for the snake to be bit and show off. It was an accidental encounter that ended badly for the snake. God did take an interest in him there and either caused the snake to not inject venom or healed him afterward. That is a much different scenario from those who put themselves in danger by handling snakes (for example) to show that God is with them. God may be with them, but I feel they cross over into tempting God with their actions.
Third Temptation to Use Satan's Influence to set up an Earthly Kingdom Early
The final temptation was to throw out God's plan that had been in place since the beginning which required Christ to die on a cross as a sacrifice for sin. Satan would just give Christ the kingdoms of the earth so Christ could immediately set up the kingdom that was coming without going through any pain and suffering.
You need to realize that this was a valid offer. Adam had ceded control of the planet back to Satan when he disobeyed God and listened to Satan's direction. Satan was once again back in his original spot of the ruler of the earth, so he could choose to give that control up to Christ if Christ would just worship him. He really thought worship should be his due, and still does. It was what got him and his fellow angels who followed him in trouble with God in the first place.
To escape a death on the cross, which was a horrific end, was a real temptation. But again, Christ did not give in. He quoted Deuteronomy 6:13 as a response. Christ told him to leave, and he had to obey. Once he had left, angels came and ministered to Christ.
Our temptations may not always end the way Christ's temptations ended. It would be nice if every time we struggled and won a victory when we are tempted that we would immediately get an angelic visit to help us get back on our feet. You shouldn't expect that. But know that God is watching over your life. He knows when things are going badly for you. He knows when you are being tempted. He doesn't allow Satan to tempt you more than you are able to bear (1 Corinthians 10:9-13). And He rejoices when you come out victorious over the temptation.
Also know that no temptation comes from God (James 1:13-14). Satan is the tempter, but our own inward flesh can also tempt us to do wrong.The Holy Spirit is there to help us overcome any temptation, but it still remains a choice that we must make.
Choice of Home Base
Matthew 4:12-16 records a bit more about what happened after the temptation. Luke 4 gives a bit more information where it says He preached first in His home town, telling them that He was the fulfillment of prophecy. However there, it is recorded that the people in the synagogue where He was speaking were filled with wrath and He was thrown out of the city of Nazareth.
After leaving Nazareth, He came to Capernaum and from there He begins to preach and declare that the kingdom is at hand. This fulfills a prophecy in Isaiah 9:1-2 .
Even though this is just a historical account, we need to realize that each of us lives in a world that is filled with darkness. Perhaps we are lucky enough to be in a family where the light of Christ is shining brightly. But I'll bet if we think it's not to hard to come up with neighbors, students, associates at work, or other members of your family who are currently in darkness. Perhaps they had a knowledge of light at one point, but for one reason or another they have rejected that. Perhaps they have never experienced the light.
The light of God is great. It should shine forth brightly from us. I do realize that this is a symbolic passage, and light is rarely something that we see as an effect of God, although there are examples like Moses (Exodus 34:29-36, 2 Corinthians 3:13) and Jesus (Matthew 17:2-9) whose faces shone as a result of being close to God.
But certainly, we need to spread the symbolic light of the gospel message to those who are in darkness. We may be the only Christians some will ever experience. We need to be especially careful not to reject truth like those did in Nazareth. It is easy to become so familiar with someone, as they did with Jesus, that when God begins to work through them (or in their case Jesus is revealed as the Messiah), that we can't accept the change in them and reject the work God is doing through them.
Sometimes it is hardest to witness to those who know us best. After all, they know our faults and foibles. But they need to realize that God is working on us, just as He is working on them. Nobody stays the same forever. We all should be growing in Christ. If we've failed someone in the past, that isn't an excuse to not forgive and try to see what God is doing in their lives now. Hopefully everyone is growing stronger and closer to God as they age. If you aren't, realize that God isn't the one who changed. His promises (conditional or not) are the same for all time and He is true to His word. You may not be able to trust in your fellow man, but you can trust in God.
The message that Christ preached isn't much different than what we can preach today. The kingdom of God is at hand. It has been a lot of years since Jesus walked as man on the earth. So far God has tarried. But if you look at prophecy and what is going on with Israel today, it is easy to believe that the world is close to the tribulation and millennial period than ever before. Jesus is coming again.
Maybe there will be a great revival that will cause God to delay the rapture and judgment until a later date. Trump did his part in reading the Bible through and was given 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 as the passage. I thought it was a fitting passage for him personally and for the country in general. But in the absence of some change of heart, I suspect that the end is much nearer than it was when Christ said the kingdom of heaven was at hand.
In His case, He was present on the earth, and as such the kingdom of heaven was literally at hand. He might not have been ready to establish His rule, but He was present in a way that God had never before been present among His people at least since the days of Adam and Eve where God walked with them in the Garden of Eden and occasional visits as recorded to those considered to be the great patriarchs of the Old Testament.
Calling of Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John
Matthew 4:18-22 records the calling of four of the initial disciples who would walk with Christ throughout His three year ministry. Peter and Andrew were fishermen, perhaps fishing from shore, who were called while at work. James and John were brothers, also fishermen, fishing from a boat with their father Zebedee and currently mending their nets.
All four stopped what they were doing and followed Christ. They left their livelihood behind, and in the case of the brothers, their family. Think about that for a minute. The Holy Spirit had to have already been working on their hearts to prepare them to make such a quick decision. But also, the work that Jesus was doing I suspect gave them a very real desire to be "part of that".
Matthew 19:28-20:16 gives a sentiment that many are called to work, but few are chosen. We all need to pray that the church of today will become, once again, a body of believers that is impacting the world. And I don't mean impacting the world by protesting or standing against evil people. I mean we need to be a body that is making the kingdom of God real to the world here on earth now.
Satan has been tearing down the church for to long with little opposition. Old mainline denominations are embracing sinful lifestyles to try to stay "relevant" to today's culture. There are far too many "Christian" leaders who have lived lives full of sin and who have negatively impacted the image of the church. I am far from perfect myself. I've made my share of mistakes. So has every other Christian because we are all human. But we should all be trying to do better rather than accepting the status quo.
We all need to seek a greater filling of the Holy Spirit if we have been baptized in the Spirit, and if we have not, then we all need to seek that baptism. We need to start filling ourselves with the fruit of the Spirit so that we are someone that people want to be around. We need to let the gifts of the Spirit work through us to show that Christianity isn't the dead religion that too many think it is.
God hasn't changed. He wants to light up this world for Christ, and He needs Christians to do that. Eventually, after the Christians have been taken to heaven in the rapture, He'll send angels to spread the gospel message and warnings against the antichrist to every person left. But for now, we are His chosen vessel for evangelism.
Let's all help to make God's church be a place that people will gladly give up everything to work for if God lays someone on our heart to invite to work for Him in a bigger than everyday Christian capacity.
These four didn't know what the future held. But they saw that this person who invited them to come work in His ministry had something special that was from God. The entire Christian church needs to get back to that place again - and not leave it this time. The Holy Spirit is still dealing with hearts of both unsaved and saved people. It is our job to present something that people want to be a part of instead of something people want to avoid because of the sin and general badness we present to the world.
You can read some of my political pieces of the failings of the current administration and the whole far right Christian movement if you want my thoughts on how the church is currently failing. You can also find a good sample list of things to pray for, (For our Country and For our Colleges and Universities) if you don't have enough to pray for yet.
Early Ministry
Chapter 4 concludes with a description of the success of Christ's early ministry (Matthew 4:23-25). Jesus taught in the synagogues, He preached the good news, and He followed up with the Holy Spirit working through Him to heal all sorts of illnesses and to cast out demons for those who were oppressed. The more His fame spread, the more people came to Him to be healed. Perhaps some of them came as a challenge to see if Jesus was powerful enough to deal with malady X, but most just came for relief. He healed them. Great multitudes followed Him because of the works of God that He did.
It is one thing to talk a good line. Anyone who has dealt with a new car salesman in their life can tell you what a good sales pitch sounds like. It's a whole different thing when you see God working in a ministry, and divine operations being performed hour by hour and minute by minute.
When it comes to growing the church, someone who knows the scripture and is a good speaker is great. Don't get me wrong on that. If you're reasonably good at business or good at picking a board of directors who can do the business so you can get on with preaching, so much the better. But given someone slow of speech like Moses was who God would work healings and miracles through versus a polished speaker who can run an organized to the minute service, I'll pick the one God works through any day of the month.
If you're a pastor or associate pastor, missionary or evangelist, or just a teacher, and you want your church to grow, don't worry about implementing some cutting edge state of the art special effects, growth program, or fancy worship service. Pray that God will start working through you like He did through Christ and seek to figure out what God wants you to do where you are at. Jesus was successful in His ministry because He did what He saw the Father doing. If you get that worked out, you won't need to waste money on physical plant renovations and technology. The people will swarm to you.