2nd Temptation of

Matthew 4:1-11

Matthew 4:1-11 2nd Temptation of Jesus – Misuse of Power of the Messiah.

Matthew 4:1-11, Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. ³ Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶ and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” ⁷ Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” 8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

¹¹ Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. The temptation of our Lord has several links with the Old Testament. We can see a correspondence between the first temptation of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 and the temptation of our Lord in Matthew 4.

Matthew highlights the link between the temptation of our Lord in the wilderness and the testing of Israel in the wilderness, as emphasized in the early chapters of Deuteronomy. But there is another link between our Lord’s temptation and Deuteronomy that the link with these words regarding Israel’s king.

Deuteronomy 17:14-20, “When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ ¹⁵ you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ ¹⁷ Neither shall he multiply wives for

himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. ¹⁸ “Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. ¹⁹ And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, ²⁰ that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.

Through Moses, God looks forward to that time when Israel will ask for a king. God sets down several qualifications for this king. 1. Israel’s king must be an Israelite, and not a foreigner.

Deuteronomy 17:15. Jesus certainly met this qualification and more, as we see in Matthew’s genealogy. Jesus was both a “son of Abraham” and a “son of David” (Matthew 1:1). 2. Israel’s king must be divinely chosen.

Deuteronomy 17:15.

This is precisely the situation with Jesus. ➢ John the Baptist did not know for certain who the Messiah was (John 1:26-34). Jesus was divinely designated as the Messiah. ➢ Initially, this was done through the angel of the Lord, speaking to Joseph (Matthew 1:20-23), ➢ Later through the star and the testimony of the magi (Matthew 2:1-12).

➢ At His baptism, Jesus was divinely designated as the Messiah, Israel’s King, through the witness of the Spirit and of the Father and the designation of John the Baptist (Matthew 3:14-17). 3. Accumulation of things. Horses, silver, gold, wives. Horses, silver, and gold are things which give one the false impression of power and control.

Wives were often the seal of a political alliance. While it is not clearly stated in Deuteronomy 17, the king was to trust in God for military victory and not in “the arm of the flesh.”

Proverbs 21;31, A horse is prepared for the day of battle, but the victory is from the Lord.

Isaiah 31:1, Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, And rely on horses, Who trust in chariots because they are many, And in horsemen because they are very strong, But who do not look to the Holy One of Israel, Nor seek the Lord!

Deuteronomy 17:17. Foreign wives would turn the heart of the king from God to other gods.

This was certainly the case in the life of Solomon (1 Kings 11:1- 8). Jesus could never be accused of accumulating anything. He did not accumulate money, nor clothes, nor houses, nor land. He had to be buried in a borrowed grave.

Jesus had His trust in the Father alone. Jesus surely met this qualification regarding the accumulation of worldly goods. 4. The king must write out law.

Deuteronomy 17:18-20. Since the king could not carry the law with him as he went about his daily affairs, and certainly not when he went to war, he could only have the law “with him” if he had it in his heart.

Several qualifications emerged related to the Old Testament law. The king must observe “all the words of this instruction” (17:19). The king must not exalt himself above his fellow citizens, “turning from the commandment right or left” (17:20).

The king must not see himself as “above the law,” and thus exempt from its requirements. How obvious it is to Matthew that our Lord met these requirements! Jesus certainly “had the law with Him” in the wilderness. Each time He was tempted, He responded by quoting from the law. Jesus rejected Satan’s temptations because by doing as he suggested our Lord would have disobeyed the law.

All of this is to say that our Lord, and only our Lord, precisely fulfilled the requirements for Israel’s king as set down by God in Deuteronomy 17. Jesus was indeed the Messiah. The relations between the 1st &2nd Temptations of Jesus In the first temptation, Satan sought to prompt our Lord to act independently of the Father, and contrary to the leading of the Holy Spirit, saving His life by commanding stones to become bread.

Satan seems to have believed the saying, “Where there’s life, there’s hope.” After forty days and nights in the wilderness without food, Jesus’ life seemed to be fading away. Following God’s leading seemed to be leading to our Lord’s death. Jesus had the power to convert stones into bread, so why should He not do so? Such was Satan’s reasoning.

Jesus knew better. In the Book of Deuteronomy, God told the Israelites that He was testing them in the wilderness to see what was in their hearts.

Deuteronomy 8:1-3, “Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. ³ So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. In the closing chapters of the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses once again points out that true life comes from obedience to God’s Word.

Deuteronomy 32:46-47, and he said to them: “Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your children to be careful to observe—all the words of this law. ⁴⁷ For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess.”

God led the Israelites into a situation where they would be hungry and where they would thirst to see if they trusted in Him. God fed them in a miraculous way so that they would come to understand that life is much more than mere physical survival.

Life is found by trusting in God and obeying His every word. God wanted to prove that Jesus must trust in God and not seek His own solutions. The first temptation was about life and faith. Satan wanted our Lord to doubt God’s goodness and guidance, fearing that He might die if He trusted and obeyed the Father.

Satan wanted the Lord to act independently of the Father, saving His life by making bread from stones. Jesus knew that true life came from trusting God’s Word; it came by faith. Satan takes his cue from our Lord’s words. He learns that Jesus is committed to trusting in God’s Word. He sees that Jesus has

entrusted His life into His Father’s hands. Satan now seeks to twist our Lord’s trust in the Father by tempting Him to act in a way that will put His Father to the test, all in the name of faith. We might paraphrase Satan’s second temptation in this way:

Psalm 91:11-12, For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. ¹² In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

This Scripture says exactly what you believe that God will protect your life. I know you believe this passage and that you would stake your life on it, just as you have entrusted your life to God with regard to your hunger and thirst.

A Change in Setting V 5-6,” Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶ and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’

You have every assurance that God will employ His angels to protect your life, so why not put your faith to the test? Why not show just how much you trust God and His Word by jumping off the pinnacle of the temple?

Our Lord is not in the wilderness at this moment of testing. He is in Jerusalem, at the temple, on the pinnacle of the temple. We do not know how our Lord got there, but I do believe that Jesus is actually there, in Jerusalem on the pinnacle of the temple. Otherwise, how could Satan challenge Jesus to jump?

The setting is very strategic to the temptation. Just as the wilderness and our Lord’s hunger was foundational to Satan’s solicitation to turn stone into bread, so Jerusalem and the temple are vitally important to Satan’s second temptation.

What is the connection? In the first temptation, Satan was seeking to persuade Jesus that God was far off. He tried to convince Jesus that He would die because He had no food. Even today we call places like that wilderness “God forsaken.” In that “God forsaken” wilderness, Satan argued that our Lord would die unless He acted on His own to save Himself by making “stone bread”.

Now, in the second temptation, Satan is not arguing that God is remote, and that Jesus must therefore act on His own. Satan takes Jesus to the place where God has chosen to dwell. Over and over in the Old Testament law, God spoke of the place where God would choose to dwell. In time, we saw that this place was Jerusalem, and more specifically, the temple.

Psalm 132:13-14, For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place: ¹⁴ “This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it. Satan takes our Lord to the one place where God could not (in Satan’s mind, at least) be nearer to Him. If Satan could not prompt Jesus to act independently of God’s Word by thinking

God had abandoned Him (in the wilderness), then Satan would try to prompt Jesus to act presumptuously, convinced that His Father was ever so near. How could God let Jesus fall to His death right there at the temple, in Jerusalem?

Jerusalem and the temple were Satan’s braces, which he believed would give credence to his assurance of divine deliverance.

What is in this for Satan? Angels seem to play an important part in our Lord’s temptation. Satan himself is an angel, a fallen angel for sure. The text which Satan cites from Psalm 91 is about angels. God’s angels will protect the one whose trust is in Him. When this period of testing and temptation is over, the angels are again involved.

Matthew 4:11, Then the devil left him, and angels came and began ministering to his needs.

What does Satan hope to gain? Satan believes that he will prevail if he can somehow kill Jesus. This is what he will seek to do through Judas. Satan did not understand that our Lord’s death (and resurrection) would be his downfall.

Jesus’ death, then, seems to be Satan’s victory.

How then Satan could expect to kill Jesus? Satan is a fallen angel, and along with him he brought whole bunch of them. Satan cites a psalm that promises angelic protection for the one who trusts in God. Surely this promise of protection would apply to the Lord Jesus.

I was reminded of this text in Daniel that has to do with fallen

and unfallen angels

Daniel receives a vision in the reign of king Crus of Persia. Daniel fasted and prayed for 3 weeks. In the end the angel from God comes with a clear vision.

Daniel 10:11-14, And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling. ¹² Then he said to me, “Do

not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. ¹³ But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. ¹⁴ Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.”

Here is the proof that Satan’s fallen angels can resist and oppose God’s angels, resulting in a delay.

Did Satan thwart God’s purposes here? Not at all! Had the timing of the angel’s appearance been crucial, God could easily have employed various means of getting the angel there immediately. But from Satan’s point of view, he believed he was able to oppose God’s (unfallen) angels in such a way as to delay them.

Satan sits there on the pinnacle of the temple, looking down as much as several hundred feet. Satan was convinced that if Jesus jumped and God’s angels attempted to come to His rescue, he and his angels could delay them just long enough to bring about Jesus’ death.

Satan is a schemer, who seeks in any way possible to bring about our Lord’s death. The Jews expected the Messiah to appear in some very dramatic way. By leaping from the pinnacle of the temple and then being rescued in a spectacular manner, Jesus would fulfil Jewish expectations and thus convince those who witnessed this dramatic display of power that He was the Messiah.

Satan was tempting Jesus to act in such a way as to gain a following by forcing God to save Him. In the first temptation, Jesus refused to save Himself because He trusted in God, and in His every word. Jesus knew from the law that life was far more than mere physical preservation. Life came from God, from trusting and obeying His Word.

Picking up on Jesus’ response to the first temptation, Satan modifies his approach, tailoring his temptation to Jesus’ strengths. Jesus did not fear physical death as the most dreaded possibility. Satan thus tempted Jesus to live dangerously.

Jesus trusted in God’s every word. Satan calls Jesus’ attention to Psalm 91:11-12, which speaks of divine protection. Jesus proclaimed His faith in God.

Satan challenges Jesus to put His faith to the test. Jesus should prove His faith in God, and in God’s Word, by leaping from the pinnacle of the temple. If He was God’s Son, surely God would save Him, especially right there where God chose to abide, in His temple.

From the Book of Deuteronomy, Jesus knew that He, like Israel, was being tested in the wilderness. God was testing His Son, the Messiah, to see whether He would obey His commandments, as given in the law (Deuteronomy 8:2).

V 7, Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” Jesus responded to Satan by citing a text from Deuteronomy 6:

Deuteronomy 6:16, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted Him in Massah. How did the Israelites “put the Lord to the test” at Massah?

Exodus 17:1-7, Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. ² Therefore the people contended with Moses, and

said, “Give us water, that we may drink.” So Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the Lord?” ³ And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” ⁴ So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!”

⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. ⁶ Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.”

And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

The Israelite’s situation was much like that of our Lord in the wilderness. They lacked water to drink. They failed to trust God and concluded that God had led them into the wilderness to kill them. They were about to overthrow Moses, God’s appointed leader.

Our Lord was now in the wilderness as well, and He lacked food. Satan sought to convince Jesus that He was about to die. He challenged Jesus to act independently of the Father and create

food (bread) from stones. Jesus refused to believe that God had led Him to the wilderness to die, but was willing to entrust Himself to the Father, in obedience to His Word. He believed that obedience to God’s Word was the deciding factor between life and death.

Now in the second temptation, Satan urged Jesus to put His faith and God’s Word to the test by leaping from the pinnacle of the temple. Satan’s use of Psalm 91 was a clear case of “Scripture twisting.” The psalm assures the one who trusts in God of divine protection. It assures the faithful believer of God’s protection from the attacks of those who are determined to destroy him.

Psalm 91 promises protection from the destruction that others would bring on us. The believer will not undergo the outpouring of God’s wrath upon sinners. The believer is protected, while others suffer. The believer will look on as God’s wrath falls upon the wicked.

The righteous are protected because they have taken refuge in God. God tasks His angels to watch over His own. They will intervene, even to the point of preventing one from stumbling and falling upon a stone. God will enable the saint to subdue dangerous enemies.

Satan knows the fact that God’s protection is for those who are devoted and loyal to Him. God’s protection is for those who trust and obey. Satan urges Jesus to step out on His own, out from under divine protection. Satan would have Jesus disobey Deuteronomy 6:16 by putting God to the test.

Jesus could have refuted Satan by simply expounding Psalm 91, but instead He turned to Deuteronomy 6:16, which forbids men from “putting God to the test,” as the Israelites did at Massah. Satan’s temptation was, once again, deceptive. It was not our Lord who was putting His faith to the test by following Satan’s suggestion.

God has every right to put our faith to the test. We have no right to put God to the test, especially in the manner Satan suggested. Testing God is not trusting God. The assurance of Psalm 91 was that God would not allow His faithful one to stumble over a stone.

Conclusion

If Jesus jumped from the temple and Satan was successful in hindering the angels who came to His rescue, then Jesus would be dead, and in Satan’s mind, it would all have been over.

But if Jesus jumped from the temple and God used His angels to rescue Him, then Satan would have succeeded in prompting Jesus to act in a way that sets aside His submission to the will of the Father. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus emphasized that He did nothing on His own initiative, but rather He acted on the initiative of the Father.

John 8:28, Then Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak just what the Father taught me”. (John 5:20; 8:42; 12:49; 14:10). Jesus submitted Himself to the Father’s will. He did not act or speak independently, but rather He said and did those things which were prompted by the Father. Satan’s fall resulted from his rebellion against God, so that he sought to elevate himself to a position equal with God (Isaiah 14:13-14). Satan also successfully tempted Eve and Adam to act in rebellion to God’s Word in order to be like God (Genesis 3:1-7). Every sin since the fall has involved rebellion against submission to God’s authority. Jesus alone has passed the test and has remained in submission to the will of the Father.

Our Lord’s victory over Satan’s schemes meant that He and He alone was qualified to die for our sins. Jesus would not put the Father to the test by leaping from the temple, but He would obey the Father by going to the cross. He knew that the Father would not keep Him from death, but that He would deliver Him through death, by raising Him from the dead.

What do we learn from this second temptation? 1. Satan will keep trying. We should learn that Satan will employ a wide range of tactics in his efforts to tempt us to sin. We should recall that there were many more temptations than just the three that Matthew and Luke have recorded (Mark 1:13; Luke 4:2). We should also note that the temptations did not end here.

Luke 4:13, So when the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until a more opportune time. If Satan fails with one approach, we can expect that he will simply move on to another. With the first temptation, Satan seeks to attack our Lord at the point of his “weakness” – His hunger and waning physical strength. When this fails, Satan moves on to attack Jesus at the point of His strength – His trust in the Father and His commitment to obey God’s Word.

Hebrews 4:15, For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin. 2. Satan tempts us with benefit. Satan’s temptations always promise us some benefit, without really describing the cost. In the first temptation of Adam and Eve, Satan promised Eve that they would be “like God, knowing good and evil.” He also promised her that they would surely not die.

They did die, and the knowledge of good and evil that they obtained was no blessing. In Satan’s second temptation of our Lord, it seemed as though Jesus’ actions would have no negative repercussions and would produce only good. It was simply not true.

The ride is short, and the cost is too much to pay. 3. Tempt to self-seeking. The primary incentive for the first two temptations has been self-service.

Satan sought to convince Jesus that He was about to die. He inferred that God’s leading was responsible, and thus appealed to Jesus to act independently of God, in rebellion against God to save Himself. The second temptation is similar. Self-seeking leads to rebellion and sin. Submission leads to self-sacrifice and servanthood.

Satan sought to entice our Lord to make God the Father His servant by forcing Him to come to His aid. Ask yourself this question.

Who is serving whom? Am I trusting God and seeking to serve Him, or am I demanding that God serve me? Sometimes people are “tempted” to trust in Christ because of all that He can and will do for them. Some promise potential converts that God will make them happy, prosperous, and popular. That is not what Jesus said, nor is it what Paul preached.

Luke 14:25-33, Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, ²⁶ “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. ²⁷ And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. ²⁸ For which of you, intending to build

a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— ²⁹ lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? ³¹ Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³² Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. ³³ So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

Acts 14:21-22, And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”

2 Timothy 3:10-12, But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, ¹¹ persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. ¹² Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

The Christian faith is not about us making God our servant, but it is about us becoming His servants. The gospel should be presented honestly. As lost sinners, we are enemies of God, destined for God’s eternal wrath. The work of Christ on the cross of Calvary can save us from our sins, but it does not promise us a life of comfort and ease. If we are faithful servants of Christ, we will suffer persecution.

4. Spectacular things

We should beware of the spectacular. If Satan was seeking to tempt our Lord to “bring on a spectacular rescue,” we should note that such a rescue would not have been a good thing. Many Christians are attracted to the spectacular because it has the appearance of success. God does work in a spectacular way at times, but not always.

If God wishes to act in such a way, that is well and good. But we dare not seek to force Him to do so by reckless and foolish actions on our part. Elijah seems to have been overly concerned with the spectacular, such as the event on Mount Carmel. But God had to instruct this prophet that He often speaks in a still, small voice (1 Kings 19:9-18).

Many foolish things have been done by Christians, who claim to be acting in faith, but who are really seeking to put God to the test. We purchase something we cannot afford, “trusting God to provide.” We make a foolish commitment, knowing that we do not have the means to fulfil it, thereby demanding God to intervene.

How often our acts of folly are labelled as acts of faith. Satan seems to take special pleasure in enticing us to sin by appealing to our “spiritual” side. 5. Abuse of Scripture. We should learn a lesson in the use and the abuse of Scripture.

Satan’s first temptation did not appeal to Scripture, but when our Lord refuted this temptation by quoting Scripture, Satan then resorted to using Scripture. Do not assume that just because someone quotes Scripture, they are right. Satan is the master “Scripture twister.”

We should be certain that our interpretation of any Scripture text conforms to the teaching of the Bible as a whole. Jesus refuted Satan’s use of Scripture by quoting another Scripture. One Scripture, rightly interpreted, will not contradict

another Scripture. We should always seek to interpret Scripture with Scripture. Satan used the Scriptures, but only to validate his own error. Satan’s error was one pertaining to the application of Scripture. Some of the greatest abuses of the Bible are found in the misapplication of the Bible.

God’s Word is never a pretext for sin, but it is a preventative for sin.