Matthew 4:1-11
1 – Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2 – And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3 – And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4 – But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5 – Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6 – And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7 – Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8 – Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 – And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10 – Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
11 – Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
Satan’s hatred for God and His creations has him on a never-ending mission to seek out and destroy the lives and testimonies of those who love the Lord, and he saw what he thought was a golden opportunity to bring down all of mankind in one fell swoop by tempting Jesus out in the desert. Satan knew that if he could entice the Saviour to sin against His Heavenly Father, it would doom each and every one of us, including Jesus Himself, to an eternity in a fiery hell.
But try as he might, satan failed in his attempt to get Jesus to sin. He thought he had a good shot at it because, like you and me, the earthly Jesus was a human being, and satan knew that we humans are susceptible to temptation. But what he failed to take into account was the fact that Jesus was much more than just an ordinary man – He was also fully God, and as such He was – and is – literally incapable of committing a sinful act. The devil could have tempted Jesus until the proverbial cows came home, but He would never have succumbed to his enticements no matter how grand they might have been.
After all, since Jesus was God, he already “owned” everything anyway. There was nothing in heaven or on earth that Satan could offer Jesus that He didn’t already possess. And even if there had been, Jesus would never have accepted it anyway because He was God, perfect and upright, literally incapable of doing anything whatsoever that wasn’t within the will of His Heavenly Father.
Satan’s devious plan to tempt our beloved Saviour was a miserable failure, and Jesus’ blood remained pure and worthy of being shed upon the cross at Calvary as atonement for our sins. What a wonderful, loving and powerful God we serve!
Amen!!