Matthew 4:1-11 – Don’t Be the Devil’s Fool

By Mark W. Christy, PhD, Pastor of MBC in Channelview, TX

Matthew 4:1-11 – “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You’; and ‘On their hands they will bear You up, So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; 9 and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” 11 Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.””[i]

After the Spirit of God acknowledged Christ’s sonship in Matthew 3:16-17, he then leads Him into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. In Greek, the word translated to mean tempt can also be employed to mean test. Whereas the devil tempted, the Spirit’s purpose was to test Christ’s character. Like Christ, Abraham was tested by God when he was commanded to sacrifice his son. James informs us that all believers experience trials of testing: “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (1:2-4). Peter tells believers to not be surprised when they encounter trials and then connects these trials of their faith to the sufferings of Christ: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation” (1 Peter 4:12-13).

During these trials, tests, and temptations, the devil’s intent is purely evil, but God’s ultimate purpose is always good. The Old Testament provides multiple examples of this reality but two in particular readily stand out, namely the experiences of Joseph and Job. In regard to Joseph, he was hated by his brothers to the extent that they intended to kill him at first before finally choosing to sell him into slavery. After undergoing multiple years in slavery and even enduring unjust confinement in prison, Joseph was exalted to the highest position in the land of Egypt below that of only Pharaoh himself. When famine drove his brothers to Egypt, they encountered their now powerful brother. Joseph had this to say concerning their evil deed: “Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come closer to me.” And they came closer. And he said, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt” (Gen 45:4-7).

Whereas Joseph was served up to Satan to be tempted and tested by his brother (albeit according to God’s purpose), Job was directly pointed out by God during a conversation He was having with Satan: “The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.” Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord” (Job 1:8-12).

With God’s blessing, his most righteous servant was hand delivered to Satan. His body was afflicted with open sores for months, his wealth and livelihood was wiped out, his ten children were killed at the same time, and his friends failed to speak words of comfort to him during this time. At the end of Job’s ordeal, God fails to offer any detailed explanation for his actions in regard to Job and instead asks a series of questions demonstrating Job’s inability to understand the mind of God: “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, “Who is this that darkens counsel By words without knowledge? “Now gird up your loins like a man, And I will ask you, and you instruct Me! “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding” (Job 38:1-4).

In verse 2, Jesus fasts for 40 days and 40 nights. The number of days here aligns with the number of years the Israelites spent in the wilderness before entering the promised land. During this time, they were tested in multiple ways and failed. Their disobedience which was particularly made manifest during their trials and temptations demonstrated humanity’s inability to be and remain perfectly holy before God and therefore merit salvation. Jesus, however, was being led by the Spirit so as to demonstrate that God alone in the person of God the Son was holy and He alone can merit His own salvation by satisfying His own demand for absolute holiness.

In verse 3, the devil comes to Christ. It is important to notice that he shows up during Christ’s moment of heightened weakness due to the severity of His fast. In this first temptation, Satan tempts Christ to use His divine authority to supply His earthly need. While Christ could have most certainly turned stones into bread, doing so would have violated God’s purposes for sending Him into the world as a man. As a man, Christ was to take on a role of submission to God whereby He looked to God the Father alone for His provision. In Philippians, Paul speaks of Christ’s humility and its necessity: “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (2:5-11).

In this temptation, Christ was tempted to serve himself. Even today, the devil tempts us to serve ourselves by placing our faith in anything and everything except the Word of God. When we are in need or think we may be in need, our first thought is on how we will rectify our situation. For example, when we experience joblessness or the threat of being without a job, do we default to trusting in God’s provision or does worry set in? Do we seek out God’s divine assistance even as we do whatever is in our power (in keeping with faith) to address the problem, or do we address the problem irrespective of costs to our character?

In verse 4, Christ’s demonstrates exactly how we as people are to respond during times of testing. Specifically, He responds by placing His trust in God’s Word and uses it as His weapon. In Ephesians 6:17, the Word of God is called the sword of the Spirit. The writer of Hebrews makes it clear that Christians who desire to remain obedient in the face of trials must diligently equip themselves with the Word of God: “Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:11-12).

To be prepared to answer these questions in a way that God would be pleased, we must be evermore ready to apply God’s Word to our situation and cling to it during the difficult times. That being said, how many of us have spent significant time readying ourselves for the coming of Satan’s temptations by grounding our minds in the study of God’s Word?

In verse 5-6, Satan comes at Christ again with a second temptation and creates a sensational way from which Christ can satisfy His emotional desires. During this time of extreme deprivation where God’s provisions for His earthly needs seem to be in short supply and the loving hand of His father seems a distant memory, the devil tempted Christ to seek out an emotional high by acting out His faith in God and His Word in a sensational manner.

To accomplish that, he cleverly applies the God’s Word from Psalm 91:11-12 to Christ’s situation. This psalm is addressing God’s provision for those who place their trust in Him. In this Psalm, God Himself makes it abundantly clear that He will indeed make provision for His faithful servants.

While Psalm 91 addresses God’s faithfulness to those who trust Him, Satan wishes to tempt Christ to not trust God by deliberating testing God’s faithfulness to His own word. Had Christ complied, He would have sinned by failing to trust God. Essentially, Satan took Scripture, misapplied it, and sought to mislead Christ into sin.

Christ, however, in verse 7, responded to Satan’s misapplication of Psalm 91:11-12 with Deuteronomy 6:16. Instead of allowing His emotions to take precedence during His time of testing, Christ kept His brain turned on and centered it upon the Word of God. Like Christ, we all face many temptations. During these times, it will seem that God is distant and that His love for us has grown cold. Instead of giving into to the sensational whims of our emotional beings, we must hold firmly to the truths in God’s Word. We must carefully prepare our minds by diligently studying God’s Word.

We must not simply cling to one verse and its apparent promises as if that verse stands alone outside of the full counsel of God’s Word. Unfortunately, many false teachers of today are leading people to do just that. Many Christians who have spent little time in the study of God’s Word are getting caught up in their web of lies which employs Scriptures in ways that appear deceptively true. For example, prosperity churches ensure material prosperity to those who give financially to them. One of these churches that I studied recently employed Luke 6:38 to show God’s promise of prosperity: “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” Upon reflection, this verse (along with others they provided) most certainly does say that God will bless those who give financially. That being said, the Scriptures also declare, “And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself” (Luke 9:23-25)?

In verses 8-9, Satan comes to Christ with his final temptation. First, he had tempted Christ to have Him do for Himself, and then he tempted Him to have God do it for Him. Now, Satan in apparent desperation tries to get Christ to do for him by offering to do something for Christ in return. In his offer, Satan essentially reveals the emptiness of even the greatest of his trinkets. As the ruler of this world (John 12:31; cf. 2 Cor 4:4; Eph 2:2), Satan is able to offer Christ all of the kingdoms of this world. This, however, is an empty offer because the kingdoms of this world and even this world itself is passing away: “the form of this world is passing away” (1 Cor 7:31). In his desperation, Satan makes his best offer to Jesus who is God the Son in the flesh. As God, Jesus already possess all things for He created all things. Essentially, Satan is offering Christ a part of what Christ already owns. In this sense, the utter absurdity and ultimate emptiness of Satan’s best worldly pleasures is made manifest here in his interaction with Christ.

While Satan’s offer was certainly foolish from an eternal perspective, Christ as fully human was living in the earthly present, so Satan was hoping to tempt Christ to act on impatience. Whereas Christ could endure His present sufferings and patiently await His future glorification as King of Kings and Lord of Lords who would sit at God’s right hand for all eternity, Satan’s offer though paltry was an offer that was immediately available if only Christ would worship him.

In verse 10, Christ once again dispelled Satan with Scripture. He refused to surrender to Satan’s attempts to exploit His fleshly weakness. He chose to trust God even while God was seemingly nowhere to be found.

In our trials, God will send us through times of waiting where His promises seem to have fallen by the wayside. In the Scripture, perhaps the best way to learn how to deal with times of waiting in the midst of trials and temptations is to carefully read through the Psalms. For example, Psalm 27:7-14 says this,

“Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice, And be gracious to me and answer me. When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.” Do not hide Your face from me, Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not abandon me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation! For my father and my mother have forsaken me, But the Lord will take me up. Teach me Your way, O Lord, And lead me in a level path Because of my foes. Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence. I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.” Jesus waited for the Lord, and in verse 11, the devil was left with no option but to flee. As he fled, God immediately sent His angels to minister to Christ’s needs. This verse reveals that Christ’s afflictions were never about the Lord’s inability and lack of concern in regard to Christ’s suffering. Rather, Christ’s temptations were a test of His faithfulness in regard to the revealed character of God. Like Christ, we have been called to faithfully trust God when the devil inflicts his trials upon us. As James says, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (4:7).

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[i]All Scripture references are taken from NASB1995.