Matthew 4:1-11 What Should I Believe In?
Everybody has something they believe in, something they live for. For some it is just their football club, others it is their career, popularity or family but we all believe in something. All people are people of faith, what differs is what we believe in.
Martin Luther King Jr. connected faith to action, courage, and perseverance, viewing it as a force to overcome uncertainty. He is quoted as saying,
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase”.
Our faith or beliefs shape the way we live. Some have faith in ‘scientific materialism’, thinking that what they can see is all that there is. Atheists believe that there is no creator and that when we die the chemicals that made my body return to the soil and the cycle of new life being formed is repeated. The difficulty they have is logically deriving values such as honesty, love and beauty and the need for integrity from such a faith, so usually other beliefs are co-opted in even though it is impossible to see where they come from logically
Some business men make their career their overriding faith. Success and money are their goal. “Money” was a track from English progressive rock band Pink Floyd in 1973 which epitomises this belief:
“Money, get away
A new car, caviar
Four star day-dream
Think I’ll buy a football team”
Many rise early in the morning, get home late, pursuing materialistic goals, thinking ‘I’ll get as much as I can whilst I can’. Unfortunately such goals are only seen to be empty when they die. What have they then?
Sir Richard Branson (born 1950) is an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970, controls many companies and financially he is worth billions. In his biography he obviously values his family. He has immense energy and was given his knighthood for his contribution as an entrepreneur. He founded Virgin records, Virgin airways and Virgin railways. Yet he is an atheist,
“I would love to believe," he said. "It's very comforting to believe”.
Yet he clearly does believe in many things but has chosen not to accept the rule of God.
What people believe in shapes how they will shape our lives. There is no such thing as a non-believer. Most of us have a portfolio of beliefs that usually involve what we enjoy most.
Matthew has written this book to ask us if our belief system stands up under scrutiny.. In this passage we read that Jesus’ beliefs were tested to the limit and his responses confirm who he is. Matthew has one major aim in chapters 1-4, he wants everyone to understand who Jesus is and therefore to turn and trust completely in Jesus Christ. He is showing us that Jesus is God’s only Son, he is his Messiah, his King so, because of this, we should leave all other ideologies and trust and follow only him.
John the Baptist’s essential message was:
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Matthew 3:2
Jesus’ essential message was the same:
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Matthew 4:17
All people must turn round the direction of their lives because God’s Kingdom and God’s Son have entered his world.
That all people, religious or not must repent and turn to Jesus is the message of the whole Bible. As an example, look at the book of Ezekiel, written when God’s people had been sent as slaves to Babylon. God’s message to them was the same as it always is:
“Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?” Ezekiel 18:23
“Repent! Turn away from all your offences; then sin will not be your downfall. Ezekiel 18:30
“For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!” Ezekiel 18:32
“Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’ Ezekiel 33:11
“If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, they will die for it. And if a wicked person turns away from their wickedness and does what is just and right, they will live by doing so.” Ezekiel 33:18-19
Matthew is telling us all that we must turn and give our loyalty to Jesus. In this passage we are told that Jesus proved himself to be God’s son by the way he was tried and tested. Jesus stood up under fire as no other person and no other belief systems can do.
Some, when interpreting this passage focus on the temptations we will face and how to deal with them, but Matthew is saying much more than this. His focus is on who Jesus is, he is continuing to say that Jesus proved himself to be our Lord and Saviour by the manner he overcame the most severe temptations.
Revision
At Jesus’ baptism God identified his Son in no uncertain terms:
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17
God is picking up on the great prophecy of Isaiah, - here are two translations:
“Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,” (NIV)
“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;:” (ESV) Isaiah 53:4
Literally, the Hebrew of the Isaiah prophecies says ‘he lifted off’ our pain or griefs. It is as if you have a great pile of work on your desk that you cannot cope with and then someone else takes it off you out of the goodness of their heart - out of grace. The word translated ‘bore’ or ‘carried’ is literally ‘shouldered’. God will shoulder or take responsibility for all that troubles us. Isaiah is saying that God’s King, his suffering Servant, will lift off our burden and take responsibility for it. But what is this burden we carry? The next verse answers this:
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5
Isaiah is saying that the Messiah, the Suffering Servant, would die as our substitute. He would take responsibility for our sin. Isaiah then explains how the Messiah would fulfil all that the Old Testament sacrifices modelled:
“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6
The question we all need to answer is whether Jesus really is this person that God has promised. Can he open the the gateway to heaven by fulfilling the ministry of the suffering Servant?
The Temptations of Jesus
Jesus substantiated his claim to be God’s Messiah by the way he overcame these three very real temptations. .
God still allows us all to face temptations and other pressures, he tests us to know what is in our heart. Jesus was also repeatedly tested but he passed each test, so proving that he is truly the Son of God.
“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting for forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.” Isaiah 4:1-2
This testing after 40 days mirrored the 40 years the Israelites were tested in the wilderness. ‘He was hungry’ was surely an understatement but this was also what the Israelites faced. The Israelites were hungry and feared starving in the wilderness, which is why God provided manna as a daily food source, teaching them to rely on God rather than their own resources.
First temptation v. 1-4
Satan came to Jesus when he was weakened by hunger and tempted him seek the supernatural help instead of trusting what God says
“The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’” Matthew 4:3
If Jesus had opted to use his divine power to serve his own needs and comfort it would have undermined his whole ministry. He had left heaven to become God’s Suffering Servant, to take on himself the suffering and separation from God that our sin deserves. If he failed in this test he would have failed to fulfil God’s will. If he failed here he would never be willing to go to the cross. If he failed here he was not the perfect suffering Servant who would die for us out of love. In the Garden of Gethsemane, instead of saying:
“Not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42
He would have been meaning:
“Not your will but mine be done.”
If Jesus had given in to an earthly appetite he would be a sinner just as we are so he could not be the ‘lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29). What Peter said would be untrue:
“He committed no sin and no deceit was found in His mouth” 1 Peter 2:22
It is therefore significant that Jesus answered by reminding Satan what God’s word says in Deuteronomy 8:3:
‘It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4
The words Jesus quoted come immediately after the words of God in Deuteronomy explaining why people are tested.
“Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Deuteronomy 8:2-3
Jesus is acknowledging that he is the Son of God and that God has spoken and all people must listen. Jesus passed this test. Isn’t this the issue that Matthew wants us all to grasp? Whatever problems we face, we must not immediately look to the supernatural but trust in what our heavenly Father has said.
When Jesus quoted from the Old Testament he affirms that the Jewish Scriptures are God’s authoritative word and that he himself is the LORD God.
“Jesus answered, It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Greek θεός).’” Matthew 4:4
This original quotation in our Bible reads:
“ . . . that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” Deuteronomy 8:3
Jehovah and God (theos) mean the same.
The lesson for us is clear. We must feed on the word of God if we are to be spiritually well-nourished. To fail to study the Bible as we approach all the temptations of life is worse than entering for an exam and not doing any preparation for it.
Second temptation v. 5-7
Jesus is next tested on whether he will trust what God has said about who he is or will he seek further supernatural confirmation:
“Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the highest point of the temple. ‘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.” Matthew 4:5-6
Jesus knew the 330 prophecies about himself in the Jewish Scriptures and he had just heard God say:
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17
Now Jesus was being tempted to doubt what his Father had said.
In the wilderness,God similarly promised his people that he would be with them through thick and thin but they repeatedly put God to the test and did not obey him. They did not trust his word. Sadly we all act similarly but Jesus alone is different, he has passed the test.
I once picked up a hitch-hiker who turned out to have been a soldier in the Falklands War. He and his company had been descending down Tumbledown hill to Port Stanley when they came under intense machine gun fire. He said that his friend next to him was hit in the head and died instantly. He then added,
‘We all dug in as best we could and we all prayed”.
I asked if even the atheists prayed:
“Oh yes, we all did.”
“Do you still pray?” I asked.
“Oh no, I don’t need to now!”
Unfortunately many treat God in such a way, only turning to him when there is a real problem and when the problem is over forgetting what was prayed. Too often God is treated as a commodity.
If Jesus had decided to opt for the spectacular, miraculous path that Satan had suggested, instead of trusting his Father to watch over him and care for him through all hardships, he would not have been able to face the real horror of the cross. Would he call on legions of his angels to deliver him? No, Jesus had given up all the privileges of being God when he came to earth as the Suffering Servant. Matthew wants us to see that Jesus knew that he was God’s Son because of what the Scriptures said, because of what His Father had said at his baptism, so he must act accordingly by faith. He refused to take a short cut. He could have descended from the cross but he again refused because he was not only the Son of God but also the Suffering Servant:
“Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their headsand saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” Matthew 27:39-41
Thankfully Jesus replied to Satan:
“It is also written: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” Matthew 4:7
Here Jesus is again quoting from the time the Israelites were in the wilderness and were deviating away from the Lord:
“Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you;for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah.” Deuteronomy 6:14-16
There is only one God and Jesus is saying that he is that God.
This temptation to look for signs and miracles has always been a strong device of Satan. After the miraculous feeding of the 4,000:
“The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.” Mark 8:11-12
Jesus strongly rebukes those who demand signs as a condition for belief, calling them a ‘wicked and adulterous generation’. This ‘adultery’ is spiritual, referring to a heart that is unfaithful to God and seeks external proof rather than trusting His character and his word.
“He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” Matthew 12:39
They had already been given so much evidence for Jesus being God’s Messiah, they had heard what he taught and did not want to obey. The biblical standard for a relationship with God is to:
“. . . walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7
Repeatedly looking for signs can reveal a lack of trust in God’s promises and a desire for control rather than surrender.The Lord is still looking for willing obedience to all that he says in his word.
Third Temptation v. 8-10
The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour.
“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Matthew 4:9
This offer was absurd. Jesus had created the whole world but then deliberately had left the glory of heaven to come and suffer of that cross for each of us. Satan is offering him a shortcut to glory. No cross needed, you can keep your glory. What Satan omitted to mention was the rest of humanity who are separated from God by our sin. If Jesus did not take that path we could never be forgiven. Satan was appealing to the self-centred side all humans have yet Jesus alone always refused to give into this temptation. He had come for you and me. If he had given in to the temptation of worldly glory he couldn’t have completed his commission. He was offered ‘glory on earth’ at the expense of an ‘eternal glory in heaven’. Thankfully Jesus replied
“Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Matthew 4:10
This verse was again taken from the time the Israelites were in the wilderness. It follows after the ‘Shema’ where the Jews were reminded what their chief responsibility is:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:4-5
Jesus is again applying this to himself,
“Worship the LORD your God, serve him only.” Deuteronomy 6:13
There can be no doubt what Jesus wants us all to understand by relaying this story to Matthew. He is the Lord God, he is the Messiah but he is also the Suffering Servant. We are called to follow him, whatever the cost.
Application
Although there are many lessons we can to learn from this passage about how we should face various temptations, the point that Matthew focuses on in these first four chapters is who Jesus is. Through overcoming these very real temptations we can see that he is truly God’s Son as well as God’s suffering Servant. The ‘Kingdom of heaven is near’ because the King has come.
Matthew sees the Messiah much as we would see a marathon runner entering the stadium at the end of a gruelling race. All the focus is rightly on him.
Back to where this article started. We all have something we believe in. We are all people of faith. Yet it is not uncommon to hear people say,
“I wish I had your faith.”
Such people have put their faith in something that is only temporary. Careers, scientific materialism, family, religion or hobbies or a mixture of these. Christians are convinced that God really did step into his world, he came as both God’s Messiah, the Son of God, and as God’s Suffering Servant. Our faith is based on strong historical evidence, on the fact that what Jesus taught resonates with what we instinctively know to be true. On top of this we have this evidence about how Jesus faced the temptations that we all face, and came through unscathed.
The question we are each being asked is:
‘Does my faith stand up to such an investigation?’
Is my god or are my gods selfless? Would my faith give itself for others eternal well being? Can it give a hope that lasts beyond the grave? Does my god claim to be King of Heaven and the Son of God? Is there really evidence that my gods live.
Christians have decided to obey God and have him as the priority of our lives, we listen to His Word and trust him even when life becomes difficult. We are committed to learning about what God has promised and how he wants us to live. We follow Jesus because he has entered the stadium of history and has lived a perfect life. Everything points to Him, he is tried and tested.
God says to each one of us:
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17
This is why we must ‘Listen to him’. The alternative is to face eternity without him.
There are other points we can learn from this account:
Satan is a real enemy who is out to seduce us just as he tried to undermine Jesus’ ministry.
All of us will be tempted in our service of the Lord, just as Jesus was at the beginning of his ministry
The central place the Bible has in a Christian’s life. Jesus had learned the Scriptures through committed hard work, so it is important for all his people to commit themselves to the same goal. ‘The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit’
Jesus can sympathise with us as we face difficult times and temptations. “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” Hebrews 2:18
Jesus is the Lord God of all and cannot be trifled with.
All of God’s people will be tested and tempted. God wants to see that we react as his Word teaches, that is to live by faith, and not follow our worldly instincts or look for signs.
Does your heart not stir within you as you read about the Lord Jesus?
BVP
