Matthew Chapter 4

¹ Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

• Hebrews 4:15 ¹⁵ For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
• When Adam was created, he was told one commandment, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The devil tempted Eve, she fed Adam and man died spiritually. Adam failed the test. Jesus did not… he remained faithful. He also gave us a blueprint on how to deal with temptation. First, he was fasting and praying, second, he answered the temptation with the Word… affirming his alignment with God and rejecting the sin and the “rewards” it offers. After Jesus had finished being tempted and standing firm, an Angel ministered to him.

² And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

• At around day 3 of a fast, hunger leaves the body. After 40 days of fasting, the average sized body has used up all the stored fat and is depleted to the point that it will begin to break down muscle. It is at this point that hunger returns….a ravenous hunger.

³ And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

• The tempter (Satan) knew exactly who Jesus was, he didn’t need more proof… but instead he wanted to try and provoke pride in Jesus. I think it’s more than that too…I think it was also that Jesus was hungry and Satan was telling him that he could make the stones turn to bread and fix his hunger because he is the Son of God. This entire event is used to show us how to walk by the example Jesus is setting… Jesus responds with the next verse, telling us how his followers are to live.

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.

• In this statement, Jesus resisted acting in pride to prove who he was and acting to quench his fleshly hunger. He remained focused on what the Holy Spirit led him to do in obedience to God. He was extremely hungry… his body was beginning to starve…but Jesus said no to bread, he was going to obey God not his flesh.

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.

• Again trying to provoke a pride reaction… trying to get Jesus to prove he’s the Son of God by throwing himself down from a great height, around 15 stories high. This is more than just trying to provoke a pride reaction, too… he was trying to get Jesus to commit suicide. God isn’t tested like this where you do something dangerous because the Word promises protection… it’s sinful to do that… which is why Satan tried to tempt Jesus this way. Jesus responds with this next verse.

⁷ Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

• Satan quoted Psalms 91:11-12 ¹¹ For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.¹² They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
  But he left off Psalms 91:10 ¹⁰ There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
  Psalms 91:10 gives a framework for verses 11-12… not of someone going out doing dangerous things testing God, but of someone doing what they should be doing and being protected against evil befalling them. This is a prime example of why it is vital to keep the context of every verse of the Bible. Context matters.

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.

• These things were given into Satan’s hands to control… this is a tempting to obtain power and wealth. To make the pursuit of those things your focus and goal… and basically your god. In making those things your focus and god, you would be worshiping Satan. Jesus responds to this with the next verse.

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.

• Jesus tells Satan to get out of his sight, he isn’t going to listen to anymore, and he affirms that the Word says “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” This is Jesus’s position.
• On a side note… when I first read this as a new Christian I thought Jesus was saying “Take a hint Satan, 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.

• James 4:7 ⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
  Jesus gave us the way to deal with temptation in these three examples. We come against the temptations with the Word of God. By quoting the Word and not compromising one bit… and by knowing the Word in context and standing firm, we can resist the devil and drive him away.
  Ephesians 6:17 ¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

¹² Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;

• There is commentary on the Hermeneutics stack exchange that give several commentators opinions on why Jesus went to Galilee when John was thrown into prison.
  My thoughts are that Jesus was going to Galilee to do what God sent him to do, a work that John the Baptist made ready by baptizing and preaching repentance.
  In John 3:25-30 ²⁵ Then there arose a question between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purifying. ²⁶ And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. ²⁷ John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. ²⁸ Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.²⁹ He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. ³⁰ He must increase, but I must decrease.
  John the Baptist seemed to know that his ministry was going to decrease now that Jesus was here. When he was thrown into prison, Jesus went to Galilee to do what he came here to do. He started gathering his disciples. It was known that people from Galilee were considered to be the lowest class…and this is where Jesus, who came out from the same region, begin to gather his disciples. God didn’t call a bunch of Pharisees and temple priest to be Jesus’s disciples… he called common men. Jesus equips his disciples himself…so he didn’t call the Scholars of the Law.

¹³ And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:

¹⁴ That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,

¹⁵ The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;

¹⁶ The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

• Isaiah 9:1-2 9 Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.² The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
• My notes: It seems that Jesus chose an area with the greatest spiritual darkness to begin his ministry.

¹⁷ From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

• Repent- Jesus said repent. Repent means to recognize that your fleshly way is against God… our sins separate us from God, and we decide that we no longer want to engage in things that are ungodly and sinful but instead want to follow Jesus. We ask Jesus to forgive us of our sins, we have a change of heart and no longer live a life of willfully sinning. Today, there are false Preachers who lead people in a prayer of “salvation” that does not include repentance, which is contrary to what Jesus taught right here.

¹⁸ And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

¹⁹ And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

²⁰ And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

²¹ And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.

²² And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

²³ And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

²⁴ And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

²⁵ And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.