Matthew 4:1-11

Tempted by the Devil

Matthew 4:1-11

Then marks the close connection between the heavenly voice of the baptism and the fiery ordeal of the forty days. Notice that temptation is not in itself sin; only when the evil suggestions of the tempter are harbored do they become sin. Notice also that all around us is a dark region of evil, out of which temptations arise. Whenever you have received a conspicuous revelation, you may expect a time of testing. This is God's way of rooting the trees in the soil, and burning in the fair colors which He paints on the vessels that are being made meet for His use.

The first temptation was that our Lord should use for His physical needs the power which had been entrusted to Him, as Son of man, for the service of men. The second was an effort to incite Him to act presumptuously, at the dictate of self-will and apart from the clear guidance of God's Spirit. The third was to attain the throne by a wrong method. It was only by the cross that He could win power to rule and save.

See Hebrews 4:15-16; Hebrews 5:8-9.