Matthew 4 - Jesus Meets the Accuser!


Go to Matthew 4
Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness
4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

As we head into the beginning of Jesus' public ministry after his baptism in chapter 3, the chapter begins with these verses.  This chapter will also include Jesus' first sermon, his calling his first disciples and doing his first miracles.  But before all this, Jesus had a personal battle with the devil. The word "devil" can literally can be translated, "accuser" or "slanderer".  It comes from the greek word "diabolos".  
What I find interesting is that it is Spirit who descended on Jesus in his baptism who leads him into to the desert to be "tempted" by the devil.  Some translations use the word "tested", which could be seen as two sides of the same coin.  Regardless, as you look at the three temptations, each time the devil tries to accuse or slander Jesus by saying something to the effect of, "if you are the son of God".  The devil is trying to accuse him of not being the son of God, because he won't do miracles at his behest. He wants Jesus to "prove" himself.  
But Jesus doesn't bite.  He overcomes this test by relying on the scripture he had learned as young boy.  Instead of reacting, he reflected on God's Word, and then responded.  Before Jesus did any ministry he went through this test in the desert.  The test was would Jesus rely on himself and his own power to silence his critics? Or, would he have an audience of One, His Father in heaven.
As you look at the tests you are going through in your own life, how might these same dynamics be at work?  How are you trying to prove yourself, or do something you might not do to get someone else's approval.  Jesus turned to God's Word when he was tested.  God's Word recalibrated his mindset so that he made a good decision.  
I'm glad you are in God's word on a regular basis.  Paul tells us not to be "conformed" or "squeezed into the world's mold" but be TRANSFORMED by the renewing of your mind.    


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