In Matthew 8:28-29, Jesus met two demon-possessed men. They cried-out, saying, “What do we have to do with You, Son of God? Did You come here to torment us before the time?”
The devil knew who he was dealing with Jesus the Son of God.
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.’ 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.’” Matthew 4:1-3
Jesus Messiah is the Son of God! He passed the test the human race failed.
Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden with ample food when tested by the devil. The devil quickly broke down their resistance. Jesus was in a wilderness. He had not ate in 40 days. He was extremely hungry. The devil tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread. This would have alleviated His hunger pains. Bread would have tasted good. Didn’t God make bread for the Israelites in the wilderness?
Jesus did not act on the devil’s words. In John 5:30 Jesus said, “The Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” In John 5:30, Jesus said, “I can do nothing on My own. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is just, because I seek not My own will but the will of Him who sent Me.” In John 12:50, Jesus said, “So whatever I say is just what the Father has told Me to say.”
In Deuteronomy 5:32 God told Israel, “Be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you. Do not turn aside to the right or to the left.”
Jesus did not turn to the right or to the left of God’s commands. His mission was to live a sinless life and to give His life as a ransom for us.
“It isn’t that Jesus refused supernatural help in feeding Himself. He was more than happy to eat what the angels brought to Him when the time of testing was over. It wasn’t a matter of refusing supernatural help. It was a matter of submitting to His Father’s timing and will in all things.” [1]
Jesus did not need to prove His worth. Neither do we! Our worth is found in the Word of God. The Bible says that God created us in His image. He so loved us that He sent His only begotten Son into the world that if we believed in Him we would not perish but have everlasting life.
“Jesus endured temptation both so that He could identify with us, and to demonstrate His own holy, sinless character.” [2]
By way of example, Jesus taught us to: Know the Word of God well, and to be led by God’s Holy Spirit.
“Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 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.’ Jesus said to him, ‘It is written again, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” Matthew 4:5-7
Jesus is the Son of God. To act on the devil’s temptation would be to act on a doubt, and not on reality. The devil tempted Jesus to take a risk. To gamble! To act independently of God and believe that everything would be okay... if You are the Son of God.
The correct response was to not to act on a doubt. The correct response was not to gamble. Jesus did not presume on God’s protection if He willfully acted independently of God.
In Jeremiah 7:8-11, God condemned the lie that people could willfully sin against Him and He would always deliver them. “Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My Name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations?’ Has this house, which is called by My Name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says the Lord.”
“Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.’ 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.’ Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.” Matthew 4:8-11
The devil tempted Jesus to commit idolatry. From the time of King Solomon until the time of the Babylonian captivity, Israel experienced many humiliating losses due to the sin of idolatry. They built altars to idols in high places (mountains) and bowed down to them and worshipped them. They even sacrificed their children to their idols during extended years of time in their history.
In Matthew 22:37-38, Jesus taught, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.” Jesus was not about to take the honor and love that belonged to God alone and give it to the devil.
Worship God and worship Him only!
God is eternal. The devil is temporary.
In John 8:44, Jesus said the devil “was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”
The majority of addicts and alcoholics that I have listened to have cited a lack of meaningful relationships, or a loss of a meaningful relationship as the starting point from which their substance abuse began.
It is impossible to enjoy healthy relationships with God and people when the devil has you captive to serving his will. He tells people to be proud, perverse, vulgar, idolatrous, bitter, a liar, a deceiver, a thief, a hater, and to be in solidarity with those who stay far from God.
1 John 4:8 says, “God is love.” 1 John 4:18-19 says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear... We love Him because He first loved us.” Expressions of love originate with God. Having God’s love flow in and through you yields great joy and peace!
In Mark 8:36, Jesus asked, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” To have the whole world but lack love for God and love for people is poverty.
The devil attacks our ego to lure us away from the life of God.
Jesus said, “Worship the Lord our God, and serve Him only.”
After Jesus told Satan to go away, the devil left Him, and angels came and ministered to Him. Yes, God did “give His angels” in due season to support Jesus.
“Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.’ From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” Matthew 4:12-17
Jesus did not withdraw from ministry when the government arrested a fellow servant of God. He went to Capernaum.
The people in Capernaum loved darkness. They did not hide themselves under the shadow of God’s loving wing. No, they sat under the shadow of death. A horrible place to rest. They had a highly inflated opinion of themselves. In Matthew 11:23-24, Jesus said of them, “Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.”
Jesus gave the people of Capernaum the opportunity to see the light. In Capernaum, Jesus casted out demons. He healed Peter's mother-in-law, a paralytic, a centurion’s servant, a woman with an incurable health crisis and in Capernaum Jesus resurrected the daughter of Jairus from the dead. In Capernaum, Jesus taught people that He was the “Bread of Life.” In Capernaum, Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Matthew to be His disciples.
“And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ They immediately left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.” Matthew 4:18-22
We should not assume that cities which are infamous for being evil are not worth the Lord’s time and attention. Remember what happened when Jonah preached God’s Word in Ninevah! They fasted, repented and God forgave them. Jesus found five of His twelve outstanding disciples in Capernaum. Later, in Galatians 2:9, Paul wrote of James, Peter, and John as being pillars of the Church. Pillars are able to hold up under very heavy loads. Jesus found them in Capernaum. Not everyone in the darkness wants to stay there.
In Acts 14:19, when Paul was preaching in Lystra, Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there. They persuaded a mob to stone Paul and drag him out of the city, supposing he was dead. Paul survived, and later, in Acts 16:1, he returned to Lystra. Would you return to a town that previously stoned you and nearly killed you? Paul did, and this time, he met Timothy. Timothy became like a son to Paul and later Timothy became the pastor of the Church in Ephesus.
“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. Great multitudes followed Him—from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.” Matthew 4:23-25
Jesus guest spoke at many synagogues. Synagogues served as religious gathering places as churches do for us Christians nowadays. He preached the Gospel which means good news. He preached the Good News of God’s Kingdom. Not just the bad news of humankind’s kingdom! God’s kingdom was near to them because Jesus was near to them. Jesus is the door to heaven. Those who believe in Jesus enter God’s kingdom.
Jesus performed signs of physical and spiritual healing. Diseases disappeared! Demons departed! Road signs help us to know where we are and where we need to go. Jesus let His audiences know with many confirmations that He was the Son of God and the Savior of the world. They only needed to believe in Him to be saved.
Many people came to hear Jesus speak. They came from great distances to hear His messages.
The Lord leads me daily to pray over enlarged maps of all the countries of the earth that the people of all nations would have faith in Jesus the Son of God. That we would all have ears to hear and eyes to see that Jesus is who He said that He is.
I pray that unbelief will be shattered as when an iron rod strikes a vessel of clay. And that criminal networks of corruption will collapse as the temple of Dagon collapsed when Samson by the Spirit of the Lord pushed over the pillars on which it rested. I pray that God will raise up righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, for that, wrote Paul, is the Kingdom of God. The Spirit also leads me to pray for laborers for the harvest. Jesus asked us to pray for laborers because the harvest is great but the workers are few. [3]
Please pray for the souls who have yet to hear the Gospel. Please pray that they will hear, know and receive Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and their Savior.
[1] Enduring Word Commentary
[2] Ibid
[3] Psalm 2:9; Revelation 2:27; Judges 16:28-30; Romans 14:17; Matthew 9:37-38
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