Matthew 4:1-11

Upon being baptized by His cousin, John, Jesus began His ministry.  The Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness, where after fasting for forty days and forty nights, Satan appeared to Him.  My mother always called me her "why child" so I wonder why the Holy Spirit led Jesus, the man, into the wilderness, knowing Satan would appear to tempt Him at the end of His fast. 

     I think the key here is that Jesus is now a man, and He had to defeat the temptations that Satan offered to Him in order to give us a plan, to prepare us to successfully resist Satan.  The plan is really quite simple.  Know the scriptures.

     Picture Jesus in the wilderness for forty days and nights.  I imagine He spent His time communing with the Father, getting hungrier every day.  Satan caught Him in this physically weakened state and very slyly said to Him, "If You truly the Son of God, just turn those stones into bread."

     Jesus was ready for him.  "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."  Notice that Jesus quoted Old Testament Scripture.  In Deuteronomy 8:3, Moses wrote to the Israelites to remind them of all God had done for them in the wilderness.  He wrote " . . . that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live."

     Satan then took Jesus to the holy city.  Remember, Jesus is still in a weakened state from not eating.  From the pinnacle of the temple, Satan again tempted Jesus.  It reads to me more like Satan was taunting Jesus.  He even quoted Scripture for this one. Psalm 91:11-12  "For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.   They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone."

     Again, Jesus replied, "It is written.  Thou shall not temp the Lord thy God."  What if Jesus, the man, threw Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple and no angels appeared to catch him?  The plan Jesus gives us is that we are to be true to the Scriptures, the holy Word of God.

     Satan tried to tempt Jesus one more time.  He took Him to the top of high mountain, showing Him all the beauty and grandeur of the world below Him.  Satan offered to give all the beauty and glory before Him to Jesus if He would only bow down and worship him.  Ah, the ultimate motive is revealed.  Satan went through all this to get Jesus to deny God and to worship him by offering to Him a world that was already His.

     Jesus responded with, "Get thee hence, Satan:  For it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shall thy serve."

     Realizing he was beaten, Satan left Jesus alone, and then the angels came and took care of His physical needs.  3 temptations, 3 wins for Christ.  Jesus had to know that Satan's ultimate goal was to get Him to worship the great deceiver as he wants us to bow down before him.

     Jesus showed us that when we are tempted by Satan, to search the Scriptures, to not tempt or challenge God and to not worship anyone or anything except the one true God.