Word Live: Passing The Test
Begin today by saying the Lord’s Prayer slowly and thoughtfully. You can find it in Matthew 6:9–13.
Bible passage
Matthew 4:1–11
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 for 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.’
4 Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the highest point of the temple. 6 ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down. For it is written:
‘“He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”’
7 Jesus answered him, ‘It is also written: “Do 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 splendour. 9 ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’
10 Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”’
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Explore
No one relishes times of testing. Yet God allows such times (note that the Spirit leads Jesus into testing, v 1). For Matthew’s Jewish readers the words ‘wilderness’ and ‘forty’ would vividly recall the 40 years God led the Israelites through the desert ‘to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands’ (Deuteronomy 8:2).
Jesus’ temptations centred on his unique role as God’s chosen King (vs 3,6). As the devil cast doubt on Jesus’ identity, we wait to see if Jesus will trust his Father’s Word (v 17) or not. Where the Israelites in the desert failed to trust God’s Word, Jesus the obedient servant-king passed each test by relying on and applying God’s Word in each situation (vs 4,7,10). Even when the devil misapplied scripture (v 6), Jesus countered effectively because he knew the Scriptures in breadth and depth. Jesus has modelled a way through temptation by demonstrating how God’s Word is sufficient in every situation. If God’s Word is the means by which we endure and prevail over temptation (see 1 Corinthians 10:13), how might we prepare better for times of testing?
Author
Penny Boshoff
Respond
Be prepared! Why not aim to read the Bible in a year or memorise key scriptures about the character of God, or the Christian life?
Deeper Bible study
Pray that we may take the power of the Evil One seriously.
This incident is often described as the ‘temptation’ of Jesus, but this is misleading if it leads us to believe that the main issue was whether or not he might commit sin. What is at stake is Jesus’ commitment to the messianic role he has just accepted in the act of baptism. Ancient Israel was tested in the wilderness and now Jesus finds himself in the same location, confronting the satanic offer of a messiahship reflecting the patterns of power and domination which the kings of the earth deploy. Israel had faced the same kind of choice and had failed to resist the temptation to adopt the practices of their powerful neighbours. Will Jesus remain faithful to his Father’s calling and bring to a broken world the peace and justice which the prophets had promised?
In meeting the challenge presented by the devil, Jesus quotes from the Law of God in the book of Deuteronomy (vs 4,7,10). This makes it clear that the devil’s claim to authority over the nations is false; he has usurped what belongs to God alone. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection will break that demonic power and bring the kingdom of God to the earth. Where Israel failed, Jesus will triumph, but the struggle, of which this incident is merely the beginning, will be fierce, costly and unrelenting.
Having refused the devil’s offer of ‘the world’ (v 8), Jesus later asks his followers if they understand the terrible cost of striving ‘to gain the whole world’.1 The question echoes down the centuries and challenges our globalised age when the quest for limitless wealth and possessions has become a driving force in modern culture. It results now, as then, in hollowed-out, empty lives and terrible social divisions and injustice.
Take a moment to read Matthew 16:26 and reflect on the relevance of Jesus’ words today.
1Matt 16:26
Author
David Smith
