temptations

The Temptation of Jesus

1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil.2 For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. 3 During that time the devils came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread." 4 But Jesus told him, "No! The Scriptures say, `People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'s" 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple,6 and said, "If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, `He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won't even hurt your foot on a stone.'s" 7 Jesus responded, "The Scriptures also say, `You must not test the LORD your God.'s" 8 Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.9 "I will give it all to you," he said, "if you will kneel down and worship me." 10 "Get out of here, Satan," Jesus told him. "For the Scriptures say, `You must worship the LORD your God and serve only him.'s" 11 Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.

Matthew 4

part 1. this passage took me a while to finally get everything. i wanted to closely examine each temptation and look at the symbolic meanings and practical applications for each. so, diving into the first temptation. the symbolic meaning. satan tells Jesus to turn the stones into bread to eat. Jesus replies that it's not only through bread that man lives, it's by the Word of God. i got this the first morning i was reading this passage, it means for people who live only on material things, such as food, shelter, clothing, and all that extra stuff, they're not really living! they're not really living until they're living by the Word of God, i.e. Jesus! so anyone who is in Jesus is truly living. *note: had a new revelation yesterday. adding onto this. this is the practical application. =] any person who claims that he or she is a Christian and doesn't read or stay in the Bible is spiritually dead. Jesus says it Himself that man does not live on bread alone but by every word that comes from God! for those of us trying to fool ourselves into thinking that we're spiritually healthy without reading the Word, maybe we should pay closer attention to what Jesus says! to be alive, to be a real Christian, you have to read the Word of God, there's just no way around it! if you don't, you are simply, spiritually dead.

part 2. symbolic meaning of the devil taking Jesus to the holy city of Jerusalem to the highest point of the temple. i had to read some commentary for this one. we have to realize here that the devil could have taken Jesus anywhere he wanted to. a mountain or a cliff but he took him to the highest point of a temple. check this out. the temple represents our "spirituality." even when we think we're super spiritual and we know everything there is to know about the Bible and God, we can still be tempted by satan. and he can totally use scripture against us. he misquotes scripture all the time to get us to do things that we shouldn't do! the thing we have to be sure to do is search all the scriptures for reference and back up, Jesus fights back against the devil using scripture! remember, even when you think you're spiritual, satan will still come and tempt you and know your scripture, it'll help fight back against the devil!

practical application. here we see ourselves. spiritual and in close with God. and the devil tempts us. "go ahead! jump! He'll catch you! sin! go ahead! He'll forgive you!" tempting, right? to know that if we just go and sin, God will forgive us. but Jesus responds, "do not test the Lord, your God." don't sin just because you know God will forgive you. don't test Him. why would you want to? why would you want to purposefully fall into sin and fail once again just so He can catch you? He wants you to be strong and maturing from that baby Christian you were. to not fall every time you get tempted. this is something else i learned about sin. that yes, God will forgive you when you sin, so why not just sin? simply because God doesn't want you to. and simply because it's just not beneficial. it's not good for you. how many times in our lives have we truly been joyful that we sinned? have we been truly joyful when we lied, cheated, lusted, were greedy, selfish, unloving? no. it's just simply not good for you. and God doesn't want you contaminated by it.

part 3. the last temptation is pretty straightforward. satan shows Jesus everything He can have if He will just bow down before him. satan gives us this option every single moment we're alive on this earth. satan offers us "the world." "the american dream." he offers us school, career, girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, wife, family, friends, cars, houses, sports, tv's, laptops, video games, etc. all to take the place of God. he knows that when we start thinking about these things more than God, we've made them idols. Jesus recognized this as well! that's why He responded with, "You must worship the Lord your God and serve only Him." when we become preoccupied with all the things that are attached to this world, we're actually worshipping the world and not God! we're putting the world up higher than God! we don't live for God anymore, we live for the world and sprinkle God on top to make ourselves less guilty!

i love this last part. Jesus waited on God. He would not test the Father. when the devil told him to jump and angels would come and rescue him, Jesus knew that it was not the time and He was not going to test the Lord. when the temptations were over, the angels come swooping in to take care of Jesus. Jesus persevered. He didn't throw in the towel and jump like the devil told him to. He pushed through until the very end and angels came to take care of Him. it's the same way for us. when we persevere, when we push towards God, God will not let us keep going without sending His angels. He will comfort us. He will patch up the wounds and heal the scars. i encourage every believer out there to keep pressing on against sin and temptation. know the Word, and don't just know it, practice it and take it as a whole to see the love story written all throughout, and move God into the center so the world moves to the sides.