Fourth Week
How Did Jesus Respond to Satan in the Wilderness?
Last week, I asked you to reflect on the idea of testing God.
I hope that Day Six has prepared you to see Jesus’s response to Satan in a fuller perspective today. Jesus echoed the same words from Deuteronomy 6:16 that I wrote about last week.
As I keep reminding you, Lent calls each of us to prepare our hearts for Easter. When we read about how Jesus was tested in the wilderness, we ourselves may feel called to fast, pray, and give in ways that far outweigh our normal practices. Can you see how forty days of fasting affected Jesus’ words in His response to Satan?
Let’s look at just how the conversation between the Son of Man and Satan went.
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.
(Matthew 4:5-7 NIV)
Satan may know the Scriptures, but Jesus’ ways and responses are simply higher.
After Jesus fasted for forty days, the devil tempted Him. When Satan first spoke to Jesus, he told him to tell the stones to become bread.
Do you remember Jesus’ response?
He quoted Scripture, and more specifically, Deuteronomy 8:3.
In this next exchange, Satan throws Jesus’ reliance on the Word of God back at Him.
When Satan said, “For it is written,” he went on to quote Psalm 91:11-12.
As I learn more about the devil and spiritual warfare, I see that Satan has a tendency to take what is true and good and twist it into something for his own purposes. That is exactly what he tried to do in this moment with Jesus Christ.
Let’s pull back for just a moment to check the context of this moment.
We know that these forty days of fasting served as a prelude to the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Jesus was preparing his heart, mind, and body to take on a daunting task. Would it make sense for Him to throw Himself off a temple just to show Satan how His angels would save Him?
My mind goes to 1 John 5:14 here: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”
Is participating in some ridiculous test of God with a fallen angel part of God’s will? I think not.
But the way Jesus responds is so much better than how I would have responded. He sees that Satan tried to use Scripture in a way that serves his own plan (not God’s) and responds with, “It is also written” (my emphasis).
Jesus is showing us just how important it is to approach the Scriptures with respect and understanding.
We cannot just turn to the Bible and pick out verses without also considering:
context of the bigger picture.
translations due to version (NIV, KJV, AMP, etc.).
how that verse connects to other books of the Bible.
I encourage you (and me, for that matter) to approach the words in our Bibles as we would approach the very God who spoke them.
While Jesus knew that He would be protected because it was not yet His time to die, He also knew that He had come to model a reverent and loving approach to God the Father.
Jesus was well versed in what happened with the Israelites at Massah. He and the Father are one, after all. He remembered just how demanding and impatient the chosen people had been. It would go against the nature of who He was—even in the form of a man, to test God in this way.
So I ask you a question now: Are you testing God just as Satan would suggest you do?
Just before I wrote that I had a moment of uneasiness because I had to ask myself, Am I testing God with some very specific questions in my life? And that question leads me back to checking my heart posture.
Friends, the only way I know to combat the tendency to test God is through a constant check on my heart. I know that if I am asking God for something that would serve His Kingdom, it is a reasonable ask. I also know that if I am reading His Word, then I will be ready to learn more of His power and sovereign control over my life.
I do not know how God will answer me, but I do know that I do not want to test Him in the same way that the Israelites did. And I certainly don’t want to test Him as Satan would have me do. I want to truly hear and understand what Jesus said when He was here in the flesh. It would be so easy to pick out my favorite verses without looking at the context or the history surrounding them; it would be easy to use the Word of God in selfish pursuits that support my wants and beliefs, but I want to follow a higher path.
