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for there was nothing sinful in Christ that could respond to Satan's evil suggestions, as
there is in us who have a sinful nature. We now give Matthew's account of the
Temptation:
"After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. The tempter came to Him
and said, If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. Jesus answered, It
is written: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the
mouth of God. Then the devil took Him to the holy city and made Him stand 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. Jesus answered him,
It is also written: Do not put the Lord your God to the test. Again, 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. Jesus said to him,
Away from me Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him
only. Then the devil left Him, and angels came and attended Him" (Matthew 4: 2-11,
N.I.V.).
In the narrative of the Temptation we have the first instance of the Lord quoting
Scripture. In this Gospel the Lord quotes thirteen of the books of the O.T. and clearly
refers to two other books, besides other allusions. For the student of the Word we give
the occurrences--Genesis (19: 4, 5); Exodus (5: 21, 27, 33, 38; 19: 18, 19) some of
these might refer to Deuteronomy; Leviticus (5: 43; 19: 19; 22: 39); Numbers (5: 33);
Deuteronomy (4: 4, 7, 10; 5: 31; 22: 37; 24: 31); Psalms (22: 44; 23: 39;
xxvi.64; xxvii.46); Isaiah (xiii.14,15; xv.8; xxi.13; xxiv.7,10,29,31): Jeremiah (xvi.13);
Daniel (24: 15, 21, 30; 27: 64); Hosea (9: 13; 12: 27); Micah (10: 35, 36);
Zechariah (24: 30; 26: 31); Malachi (11: 10). The references to I Samuel (12: 14)
and Jonah (12: 38, 41) are clear. We shall completely miss the point of these
temptations unless we realize that the Lord Jesus came to this earth as appointed by the
Father, and as the faithful Servant, who was completely dependent and obedient to Him.
Christ Himself said "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His
work" (John 4: 34). Christ's will, His words, and His work were not His own, but the
Father's (John 6: 38; 14: 10; 5: 36; 9: 4). Thus it was that He lived in complete
dependence upon the Father, and in doing this, He did not use His own divine power for
His own needs. He could have done so, but only at the expense of forsaking the role of
the obedient Servant Who was always at the disposal of the Father and dependent on Him
for everything.
The devil's first words look back to the declaration of the Father from heaven, "this is
My beloved Son". Satan said, "if you are the Son of God . . . . .". The `if' is not one of
doubt, but as Professor A. T. Robertson says this is "a condition of the first class which
assumes the condition to be true", so `if' could be rendered "since". "Since you are the
Son of God, change these stones into bread", thus tempting Christ to be unwilling to
render to His Father the complete obedience that His position as the Servant demanded.
It was when the Father willed, His hunger would be satisfied, and for this He had to wait
in order to be faithful.
But Satan in effect said "no, why wait? There is nothing sinful in relieving hunger by
eating a meal. You have the power to do it, use it and satisfy your need". This was