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Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”  But He answered and said, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you and In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, you shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Again the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, “you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. ^{Mark 4:1-11}

Now as we look further the devil shows how deceitful and tricky he can be. The devil now uses the words of Jesus Himself “for it is written”, this is a perfect example of how the devil uses any means necessary to deceive anyone he is trying to overcome. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. ^{2 Corinthians 11:14} The devil will even try and use the bible to confirm his detours, make sure you are familiar with the words that God gave us. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ^{1 Peter 5:8} We are told in the bible the closer we get to Christ’s return it is going to get even easier for the devil to deceive people:  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;  and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. ^{2 Timothy 4:3-4} With this said you can see how the devil will be able to trick people, he will tell them what they want to hear, they will look to their own knowledge not trusting what God has told us all in the bible. Trust Him, have the faith of the mustard seed allowing God to be your guide.

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Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”  But He answered and said, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you and In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, you shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Again the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, “you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. ^{Mark 4:1-11}

What do you think Jesus meant when He said: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God? There are times when we worry that God will not have your back; the difficult yet easy thing to do is trust Him He’s there for you. Later in the book of John we are reminded that: Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. ^{John 6:31-59} God took care of the Israelites while they were on the 40 year journey to the Promised Land, yes remember 40 years. He further reminds us: Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ^{Matthew 6:26} These history lessons in the bible are there to show us just how much He is willing to do for each one of us. It does not matter if He is taking care of the birds that fly or helping a whole civilization survive. God tells us in Ezekiel 34:11-31 “ Behold, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. REMEMBER you are one of His sheep, He is your shepherd and will take care of you.

 

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”  But He answered and said, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you and In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, you shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Again the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, “you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. ^{Mark 4:1-11}

And Jesus answered it is written; have you ever contemplated what this would refer to. We have been told that all scripture comes from God: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ^{2 Timothy 3:16} So when Jesus says it is written He is referring to the Old Testament (Torah) at the time there were no letters from Paul, the gospels had not been written, Jesus had not completed his ministry. So when he is saying it is written you need to look no further than the bible itself. “Always remember  For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope”. ^{Romans 15:4}

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Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”  But He answered and said, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you and In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, you shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Again the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, “you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. ^{Mark 4:1-11}

While Jesus was in the wilderness He was fasting, let’s consider what exactly fasting is. A fast is quite simply not eating food for a personal set amount of time. The Christian view of a fast takes it a little further, it is a time to abstain from anything distracting you from keeping your eye’s on God’s will and humbling yourself before God. It is a time to prayer and repentance looking into ourselves and asking for God’s direction. Daniel was a man focused on what God wanted him to do, he would fast to understand what God wanted. This is what Daniel would do: At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks.  I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over. ^{Daniel 10:2-3} Isaiah puts it this way after some had fasted making fasting into a show and trying to garner personal gain: Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?  “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness,  to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? ^{Isaiah 58:5-7} He was scolding the people he was addressing but it is a great definition for consideration when you are wondering what a fast is. 

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Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”  But He answered and said, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you and In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, you shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Again the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, “you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. ^{Mark 4:1-11}

     So Jesus knew exactly what He was walking into, He did not say there’s, “no way I am going for a stroll in the wilderness”. In fact not only did He walk into the wilderness but He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. You know your limitations could you face this kind of temptation with nothing to eat? He was tired, grumpy, weak and ready to grab a burger this is when the devil approached Him. Most of us would have said no thank you, it is one thing to face an adversary when you have it all together but at the point when you are at your weakest; really! Jesus knew that when He walked into this attack that He would have help:  I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. ^{Isaiah 41:10}

 

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”  But He answered and said, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you and In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, you shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Again the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, “you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. ^{Mark 4:1-11}

 “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness”; have you ever really thought about who the Spirit was? Lets see if we can analytically break this statement down; always remember that  when you have a question about the bible always use the bible as your reference it will answer all of the questions you have. So what does the bible say the spirit is:  And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. ^{Isaiah 11:2} Think about that; Isaiah explains it well the spirit is a counselor, a source of strength, knowledge, and a foundation of respect. It’s our Lord’s Spirit; even Jesus was led by the spirit, this is the very same Spirit that we are given as our guide. We should use His example as an explanation of what we should be doing. He listened to the spirit allowing the spirit to be His guide. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ^{John 16:13}

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Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”  But He answered and said, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you and In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, you shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Again the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, “you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. ^{Mark 4:1-11}

When we read this there is so much knowledge we can gain if we look a little deeper in the notion of temptation. The synonyms of temptation are: Lure, enticement, attraction, offer, invitation, pull, bait, turn-on, desire, urge, impulse, compulsion, longing, wish, appeal. When we look at these words used to describe what temptation is it really is no wonder why the devil is able to deceive us as easy as he does. When Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness have you ever thought about….. MORE