THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST

(Part 4)

Matt. 4:1-11

Morning Meditation 9/28/14

Verses 1-4 say, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 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.”

The words “But he answered and said” tell us that what is about to be said is a quote of the answer Jesus gave to Satan when he challenged Him to turn stones into bread. The word “answered” translates “apokrinomai” and means “to give an answer to a proposition proposed.” It is an aorist passive participle. The aorist tense expresses the time and finality of the answer. The passive voice suggests that Jesus received His answer from His Father and gave it as His answer to Satan. What a lesson in this for us. We should never act, when we are tried, apart from the Word. God will give us the answer that we should give to Satan, or, someone else that Satan is working through to get to us. The answers we give should never originate in us. The wise man said, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Prov. 3:5). Trust is never faith in what we think to be true but faith in what God says. He also says, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 16:25) The word “said” translates “epo” and is an aorist active indicative verb. This means that Jesus uttered this answer verbally. The aorist tense suggests that Jesus did not elaborate and get into a conversation with Satan. He stated what was necessary and that was it. We do not need to go beyond a simple Biblical answer when we are confronted by Satan. Those who talk to demons may be making a serious mistake. I believe Satan will lure us into conversation with Him and this is a trap. If the Son of God avoided this, we should also.

Matthew tells us that Jesus said, “It is written . . .” These three words translate “grapho” and mean, “to write, with reference to the form of the letters; to delineate (or form) letters on a tablet, parchment, paper, or other material.” It is a perfect passive indicative verb. This is a reference to the written Word of God. Jesus takes this just like He would if God spoke to Him audibly. The perfect tense means that God inspired the Scriptures in the past and what He said remains true now and forever. The passive voice means that the Words of Scripture didn’t just show up on the parchments of themselves. There was no magic there. God moved on holy men to write His Word and they did it. It was not their word (active voice) it was His (passive voice). Circumstances, customs, and the development of education and society never change the meaning of that written revelation. The Word of God is the STANDARD. This is one of the reasons that Satan has authored so many translations of the Bible. He is confusing people about the STANDARD God has given to know what is right and what is wrong. If God says it’s wrong it’s wrong. If God says it’s right it’s right. That is it, clear and simple.

The words “ . . . Man shall not live by bread alone . . .” are a quote from Deuteronomy 8:3: “And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.” God set the STANDARD for the lifestyle of His people. He left no doubt about what to do and not to do. Jesus said, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). This doesn’t put the believer in bondage, it sets him free. We do not have to guess. And Satan cannot oppose the Word when we quote or read it to Him. Just as he left Jesus he will have to leave the believer who resists him with Scripture. The words “by bread alone” mean that man is a spiritual being as well as a physical being.. Bread feeds and sustains the body but the Word of God feeds and sustains the spirit of the believer. We have an inner man that must have Food for growth. That food is the Word of God. The written Word is the Word of the LIVING WORD and is the link between us and God. There is no communication between us and God apart from the Scriptures. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17) The word “hearing” in this verse is translated “report” by Darby. The word “report” is in Strongs definition of the word used here. We must get a report from God before we can believe. The “elders obtained a good report” concerning things they did not see and believed (Heb. 11:1-3).

The words “but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” is Jesus’ conclusion of the extent of the revelation of Scripture. The word “every” translates “pas” and means “individually, each, every, any, all, the whole.” In other words, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God . . ..” The word “word” translates “rhema” and means “that which is or has been uttered by the living voice, i.e., a thing spoken.” The written Word was first spoken by God to those who wrote it down. And what is written down can become the “Rhema” of God to us, i.e., the written Word can become the spoken voice of God to us to act on by faith. It is common to hear among believers statements like “God spoke (rhema) to me in that verse of Scripture (Logos).” You can always act by faith on a verse that God makes alive to you. This is always where faith is. Faith is and must always be a response to the written Word as God makes it the living Word (Rhema) to us. The word “proceedeth” translates “ekporeuomai” and means “to come forth, to issue forth like a river.” Every river has a starting place. This is saying God is the source, the starting place of the Scripture. In other words, Scripture issued forth from God. They are His Words not the theological beliefs that issue forth from the writers of Scripture. These holy men of God were not the source of their Writings. They were simply a channel though which God spoke His Word. The word “mouth” translates “stoma” and means “the mouth as a part of the body.” God spoke with His mouth. Jesus makes this statement to Satan. It is written down for our learning. God has spoken literally. Woe to the man who sets himself up as a judge of the Scriptures. The Scripture judges us not us it.

Now lets take a look at what we are studying. Jesus believed in and quoted the Old Testament Scripture as the very Words of God. Jesus said these Words issued from God. They are the living voice (Rhema) of the eternal God. Satan does not argue or debate the issue. He is much wiser than some who claim to be Christians. He has more sense than to argue the point of the Source of Scripture. He leaves this and goes on the second temptation. He does not tarry when Jesus quotes Scripture. Never listen to the man who thinks he can argue the point of inspiration. He is a deceiver. He will use his scholarship to impress you to believe his perversion of the Word of God. He says, “God created the world through the process of evolution.” His concept of God just works on a level where man can explain it. He can’t live with the idea that God spoke and the heavens and earth suddenly appeared (Psa. 33:6,9). He also has a problem with a universal flood in Noah’s day and the parting of the waters of the Red sea. He has a problem with Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. He thinks Jesus resuscitated Lazarus! If our concept of God is right, we will have no trouble believing the Scriptures literally.

There was a little girl riding on a plane. She was reading her Bible. The man sitting next to her was a modernist who didn’t believe the Bible is the inerrant verbally inspired Word of God. He said to her, “You don’t believe that that book you are reading is the Word of God do you?” She said, “Yes sir, I sure do.” He was a little irritated and said, “Do you mean to tell me that you believe the whale swallowed Jonah? You know it is a scientific impossibility for a whale to swallow a man.” She said, “Yes sir, I sure do. But I still believe the whale swallowed Jonah.” He said, “How can you ever check it out and make absolutely sure it is true?” She said, “Well, I believe it is true because the Bible says it is true. But I will ask Jonah when I get to heaven and he will tell me.” He said, “Well, what if you get up there and he’s not there.” She replied with a grin, “Then you ask him!”

May God bless these word to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White