Jesus' Preparation and 

Response to Temptation

MATTHEW 

Chs 1-3 is about the genealogy of Jesus, his birth, the Magi and Herod. 
Ch 3 tells us about John the Baptist and how he was introducing the Good News to come. 

John's message - "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." 
    I'd love to read the original language to see what this really means. Most possibly that God entering the world in human form through Jesus. Also referring to the spiritual kingdom, in our hearts. Anyone else?
    Another side point I've thought is that in v9 and 10 this is telling how Jews and Muslims are missing the point, that its not enough to "have Abraham as our father." But that Jesus will actually come with judgment, v12, burning up the unrepentant. May we never forget that there will be a judgment fire and those that don't respond to the Good News, of Jesus being the way to restore relationship with God, will indeed perish forever. Its a sobering thought, one which i often forget; but we can allow God to speak through us and pray that people will be saved.

    Jesus wanted to be baptised by John, v15, and this was, "to fulfill all righteousness". There are a couple of things i see here: Jesus had STUDIED SCRIPTURES and knew what had to happen, and he was OBEYING GOD. He was also PUBLICLY DECLARING HIS MINISTRY. In the same way we should be baptised because God had told us to be, and also because it is a public declaration of faith.

    Its interesting to note that within these first 3chapters, 5 prophesies were fulfilled.

    So in Ch 4 we find Jesus being led into the desert by the Spirit. Something i found out is that Jesus fasted 40 days and nights not as part of the temptation, but as PREPARATION for the testing time that was to come! He left the business of everyday life and withdrew to the quiet to commune with God, to really focus upon Him before his ministry began. This can show us that particularly at times of great decision or action we should take time to really seek Gods face and i think that fasting can also be part of this. Thinking about how much of each day we spend thinking about food, making it, shopping for it, eating it, and resting after it, there's a lot of time! Of course fasting has to be done in right reasons etc, as we find out later.

    Ch4 v 4 Jesus first temptation by Satan to turn the stones into bread. Jesus said that, "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." 

    We need to be like Jesus in that he knew the scriptures so well that he could quote them in response to a testing time. We need to dwell on the Word of God and commune with Him. We need to set ourselves apart from the world - WE ARE DIFFERENT from the rest of the world, we cant just settle to have the same world values as others. Jesus didn't give into
temptation even though he was human, what an encouragement to us. When we are vulnerable, tired, alone or faced with difficult decisions, we most need to be wary of being tempted by Satan. 

    Ch4 v 7 2nd temptation to throw himself of temple, Jesus responded by "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."

    Jesus again quotes scripture and indeed 2 out of the three quotes he uses are from Deuteronomy ch 6 which is a great read in itself and focuses on obeying God! The thing here is that the Devil even quoted scripture to Jesus!! We need to watch that people don't quote verses perhaps out of context in effort to support their own argument. A good way to weigh up something being said or done by people is in prayer and seeing
if it conflicts with other teachings in the Bible, if it does conflict then it is not from God.

    Ch4 v 10 3rd temptation of being given all the world. "Get away Satan! Worship the Lord your God only, serve him with absolute single heartedness"

    Satan wanted to tempt Jesus to take political control over the
world rather than carrying out the plan to save the world from sin. Satan may or may not have had the actual power to give it all to Jesus, but he is prince of this world, and does have temporary control because of mans sin. He is beaten though and will be cast into the lake of fire! Stand firm and be strong in the Lord!
    Don't be enticed by materialism and power, we cant let anything become a greater priority than God. Like in ch 3 v 10 when John was speaking about the axe being at the foot of the tree ready to cut down every tree with bad fruit, we need to wield our own axe at things which produce bad fruit in us. We need to watch our priorities and how we spend our time, effort
and money. 

    Lets be repentant and live lives filled by the power of the Holy Spirit, the comforter and counselor, Jesus asked the Father to give us. (John 14 v16)


My love to all of you in Christ Jesus