Introduction to “Jesus Returns to Nazareth” (Luke 4:14-30)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/10/2026 11:07 PM

My Worship Time                                         Focus:  Introduction to “Jesus Returns to Nazareth”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 4:14-30

            Message of the verses:  “¹⁴ And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding region. ¹⁵ And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.

¹⁶ And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. ¹⁷ And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him. And He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
¹⁹ To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

²⁰ And He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all the people in the synagogue were intently directed at Him. ²¹ Now He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ^[e]hearing.” ²² And all the people were ^[f]speaking well of Him, and admiring the ^[g]gracious words which were coming from His ^[h]lips; and yet they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” ²³ And He said to them, “No doubt you will ^[i]quote this proverb to Me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! All the miracles that we heard were done in Capernaum, do here in Your hometown as well.’” ²⁴ But He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. ²⁵ But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a ^[j]severe famine came over all the land; ²⁶ and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to ^[k]Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ²⁷ And there were many with leprosy in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was ^[l]cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” ²⁸ And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; ²⁹ and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and brought Him to the ^[m]crest of the hill on which their city had been built, so that they could throw Him down from the cliff. ³⁰ But He passed through their midst and went on His way.”

            I will now quote from John MacArthur’s introduction on the verses from above.

            “Through the first thirty years of His life, Jesus had lived in obscurity in Nazareth.  The only recorded incident from those silent years is His visit to Jerusalem and dialogue with the teachers in the temple when He was twelve.  Apart from that, nothing is known about His childhood years except for the general statement that He ‘kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men’ (2:52).  The next recorded event in Jesus’ life was His appearance at the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist.  After His baptism Jesus, at the direction of the Holy Spirit, spent forty days in the wilderness being tempted by Satan.

            “All that happened in His life up to this point in Luke’s gospel—the testimony of Gabriel, the angels who appeared to the shepherds, Zacharias, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, Simeon, Anna, John the Baptist, Jesus’ affirmation at age twelve that He was the Son of God, and His public attestation by the Father and the Holy Spirit at His baptism—had established His messianic credentials.  The time had now come for Jesus to step onto the stage of His full public ministry.

            “This introductory scene in Luke’s account of Jesus’ public ministry takes place in His hometown of Nazareth.  It may be divided into three sections: the setting, the message, and the reaction.”

5/10/2026 11:18 PM

 

 

“The Postmortem of the Battle” (Luke 4:13)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/10/2026 8:17 AM

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  “The Postmortem of the Battle”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                       Reference:  Luke 4:13

            Message of the verse:  “When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.”

            As we have studied each of the three temptations that Satan had for Jesus we know that the Lord won all three of them, and so he can now get some food and go on to begin his ministry.  MacArthur states that he believes that these temptations happened over His 40 day ministry.  So Satan left Him until an opportune time.  Such times of temptation occurred throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry.  In Luke 22:28, Jesus said to His disciples, “You are those who have stood by Me in My trials.”  Satan would through Peter tempt Jesus once again to avoid the cross, resulting in the Lord’s stern rebuke, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s” (Matt. 16:23).  The devil would successfully tempt Judas to betray Christ as seen in John 13:27.  “27  Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.’”

            “Several lessons may be drawn from observing Satan’s assault on Christ” writes John MacArthur.  “First, he uses the same strategies to tempt believers that he used on Christ.  He attempts to get them to distrust God’s love, doubt His plan, and presume on Him, and will twist Scripture to do so.  Second, Satan takes advantage of specific circumstances to launch his assaults.  He was physically weak after forty days without food and isolated from other people.  Finally, along with watchfulness and prayer (Matt. 25:41), Scripture is the essential weapon believers must wield to defeat temptation.  To do so effectively requires both knowledge of the Bible and a commitment to obey it.

            “To be successful in their struggle against temptation, believers must follow the pattern set by the Lord Jesus Christ.  They must trust God’s love, submit to His plan, and refuse to presume on His promises and grace.  By doing so, they will successfully ‘resist the devil’ and see Him ‘flee from [them]’ (James 4:7).

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  These are directions that I must follow when being tempted by the devil.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Follow the steps give in this SD to have victory over Satan.

5/10/2026 8:37 AM

“Satan Tempted Christ To Trust God Presumptuously” (Luke 4:9-12)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/9/2026 6:48 PM

My Worship Time                          Focus:  “Satan Tempted Christ To Trust God Presumptuously”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                     Reference: Luke 4:9-12

Message of the verses:  “9  And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10  for it is written, "’He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ 11  and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” 12  And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (ESB)

            Satan’s first two attempts to lure Jesus into sin had failed completely, but Satan made one final effort, and as we look at this last temptation from Luke’s gospel, we can say that in Matthew’s account it was second.  Luke arranged the temptations thematically rather than chronologically.  Taking Jesus to Jerusalem, Satan had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple.  That may refer to the southeast corner of the temple complex, overlooking the Kidron Valley several hundred feet below.  It was there that the devil said to Jesus, “If (since) You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.

            Jesus had rebuffed Satan twice before by quoting of Scripture, so Satan now quoted Scripture himself.  Now as one thinks about that they can realize that Satan knows the Bible from front to back, he is not stupid, but he is evil.  Satan even quoted this scripture in the same way Jesus had: “For it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning you to guard you,’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Now since Jesus would not deviate from His obedience to the plan of God, Satan offered Him an opportunity to allow God to fulfill His word.  The passage the devil quoted (Ps. 91:11-12) is from a messianic Psalm, where God pledges to protect the Messiah.  The devil hoped that one of the two things would happen if Jesus did jump.  If He was killed by the fall, He would not die on the cross as a substitute for sin as the Old Testament predicted that He would.  (Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 are two references to this.)  Or by forcing God to miraculously deliver Him, Jesus would cease to be in submission to His plan and will.  The essence of this final temptation was to presume on God, to back Him into a corner where He would be forced to act.  But Jesus refused to act presumptuously.  Instead, Jesus countered Satan’s twisting of the Scripture by quoting another passage from the book of Deuteronomy “16  "You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.”

            “This type of temptation is perhaps the most subtle and dangerous”  writes John MacArthur, “of the three, because it seemingly encourages people to exercise faith in God.  In reality, it arrogantly, brazenly demands things from God, turning Him into a utilitarian genie who grants people’s every whim.  That false view of faith, promoted in its most extreme form by the so-called prosperity gospel (also know as the ‘name it and claim it’ movement), in essence makes man sovereign.  If the right formula is used, God has to respond.  When He does not deliver the goods they have claimed by faith, however, many become disillusioned and abandon Him.

            “In contrast to that false, even blasphemous view of faith, true faith humbly submits to God’s will.  It prays, as Jesus taught, ‘Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matt. 6:10; cf. Luke 22:42).”

(Matt. 6:10; cf. Luke 22:42)

“10  Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

42  saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.’”

5/9/2026 7:13 PM

 

 

“Satan Tempted Christ to Doubt God’s Plan” (Luke 4:5-8)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/9/2026 10:36 AM

My Worship Time                                       Focus:  “Satan Tempted Christ to Doubt God’s Plan”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                     Reference:  Luke 4:5-8

            Message of the verses:  “And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.”  Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”

            I will begin this SD by stating that this temptation that Satan gave to Jesus is very similar to the one that he gave to Eve in the garden of Eden.  “1 ¶  Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?" 2  And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3  but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’" 4  But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5  For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”  It seems to me that the temptation that he gave Eve, and the one that he gave to Jesus were both lies, or at best half-truths. Satan certainly did not have the authority to give Jesus the kingdoms of the world, and since we will see that Jesus did not take Satan up on his offer, that He would eventually go to the cross to die for the sins of the world, then the Father gives all the kingdoms over to the Son.

            John MacArthur writes “Having failed to persuade Jesus to doubt God’s love for Him, Satan tried a different approach.  After he led Him up onto a high mountain (Matt. 4:8), Satan showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, evidently by means of a perspective belonging only to supernatural beings or simply by looking as far as our Lord’s eyes could see on the representative kingdoms in view.  Then the devil made an astonishing proposal, I will give You all this domain and its glory,’ he said, “for it has been handed over to me, and I can give it to whomever I wish.”  Satan’s goal was to get Jesus to doubt God’s plan for Him, and to bypass it.  ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance,’ the Father promised, ‘and the very ends of the earth as Your Possession’ (Ps. 2:8; cf. Daniel 7:13-14).”   

(Daniel 7:13-14)

“13  "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14  And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

“Yet Jesus was here in the middle of nowhere, with nothing more than the clothes on His back. And even worse humiliation was to follow; a life of poverty with ‘nowhere to lay His head’ (Luke 9:58); rejection by His people (John 1:11); the agony in Gethsemane; an unjust, illegal trial; a brutal scourging followed by a painful death on the cross.  Worst of all, He would be forsaken by the Father as He bore sin on the cross which would cause Him to cry out, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’ (Matthew 27:46).

            “Satan’s proposal would have allowed Jesus to bypass all that suffering and enabled Him to take immediately what was rightfully His.  Once again, the devil used a partial truth to bait the hook for his temptation.  It is true that Scripture calls Satan the god or ruler of this world (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 2 Cor. 4:4).  That does not mean, however, that he literally possesses it, but rather that he is the ruler of evil world system that dominates the nations of the world.  It is God who determines the times of the nations’ existence and their boundaries (Acts. 17:26), and rules over them (1 Chron. 29:11; 2 Chron. 20:6; Psalm 22:28; 47:2, 7-8; Daniel 2:21; 4:17, 25; Rom. 13:1).  Satan was a liar, pretending to offer what was not his to give.  Nor would he have surrendered authority over the nations to Jesus even if he did have it; the devil’s false promise was based on nothing but brash astounding evil pride.” 

(Acts. 17:26)

“26  And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,”

(1 Chron. 29:11; 2 Chron. 20:6; Psalm 22:28; 47:2, 7-8; Daniel 2:21; 4:17, 25; Rom. 13:1)

“11  Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.”

“6  and said, "O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.”

“28  For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.”

“2  For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth.”

“7  For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! 8  God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.”

“21  He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;”

“17  The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’”

“1 ¶  Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”

            “The condition Satan imposed on his offer uncovers his true motive.  Brazenly, he said to Jesus, ‘Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.’  It was his illicit lust for the worship that belongs to God alone that led Satan’s downfall and expulsion from heaven (cf. Isaiah 14:13-14).”  Now I went over these verses along with the ones from Ezekiel 28 in an earlier SD as both sets of verses speak of the fall of Satan.  MacArthur goes on to write “He sill desires to be worshiped, and proliferates false religions that ultimately are all some form of worship given to him (cf. 1 Cor. 10:20; Rev. 9:20).”

(cf. 1 Cor. 10:20; Rev. 9:20)

“20  No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.”

“20  The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk,”

“But the supreme coup would have been for Satan to persuade the Son of God to worship him.  That would have achieved his original goal of elevating himself above God (Isa. 14:14).”

(Isa. 14:14)

“14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’”

            “Christians must beware of the temptation to lose faith in God’s plan, particularly when they are enduring difficult circumstances.  There are no shortcuts; God’s way is always the best.  His infinite wisdom guarantees that any plan of His is perfect and cannot be improved upon.  Believers must, therefore, wait patiently for God to act on their behalf and refuse the temptation to make matters into their own hands (Psalm 37:1; 10:1; Heb. 6:12; James 5:7-8,10).”

(Psalm 37:1; 40:1; Heb. 6:12; James 5:7-8,10)

“¶  «Of David.» Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!”

“1 ¶  «To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.» I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.”

“12  so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

“7  Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8  You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

“10  As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.”

            “Jesus emphatically rejected Satan’s blasphemous suggestion, quoting again from Deuteronomy 6:13) as He had when faced with the devil’s first temptation.  “It is written, ‘ He declared, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’  Jesus refused to step outside of God’s plan.  There would be no deal with the devil; no shortcut to glory.  He would follow His Father’s plan whatever the cost to Him.”

My Steps of Faith for Today: It all is about trusting the Lord, even when there are bumps in the road, for He always knows what is best for me in my life.

Spiritual meaning for my life Today:  It is my desire to not go before the Lord’s plans that He has for me, but to trust Him to guide me each step He has for me to follow.

5/9/2026 12:02 PM

 

 

 

 

             

 

PT-2 “Satan Tempted Christ To Doubt God’s Love” (Luke 4:3-4)

 EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/8/2026 10:35 PM

My Worship Time            Focus:  PT-2 “Satan Tempted Christ To Doubt God’s Love”

Bible Reading & Meditation          Reference:  Luke 4:3-4

Message of the verses:  “And the devil said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”  And Jesus answered him, “it is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

I want to continue looking at these verses in this evening’s SD.

As we will see when we look at the other two temptations that Satan put against Jesus, we will see that the Lord replied to Satan’s half-truths and lies with the absolute, undeniable truth of God’s Word.  I might add that all of the verses would quote against Satan came against from the book of Deuteronomy, and let me make one more point.  You may remember that the book of Deuteronomy was written after the children of Israel wondered around the wilderness, and the reason they had to do this was because they did not trust the Lord to be able to defeat their enemies from the land that the Lord had given them.  So Moses wrote the book of Deuteronomy (which means the renewing of the Law) right before the children of Israel were to go in to the Promised Land to defeat their enemies, which is seen in the book of Joshua.

John MacArthur writes “Jesus answered him, “It is written (in Deut. 8:3), ‘Man shall not live on bread along.’”  Now I wish to quote the entire verse from Deuteronomy 8:3 “3  And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” (ESV)

MacArthur then goes on to write “What sustains a person’s life is not food, but obedience to ‘everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord’ (Deut. 8:3).  Christ’s point is graphically illustrated by the deaths of the disobedient Israelites, who eventually died in the wilderness because of God’s judgment, despite His provision of food for them.  Jesus would later tell His disciples, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work’ (John 4:34).  In the Sermon on the Mount, He said, 

Do not worry then, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear for clothing?”  For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things.  But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matt. 6:31-33)

“Paul expressed his unshakeable confidence in God’s provision when he wrote, “My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19).

“Jesus refused to act on His own initiative but, in complete trust of His faithful Father’s love and the Spirit’s care, chose to remain in submission to God’s will.  And in due time, the Father did provide for His physical needs, sending angels to provide food for Him (Matt. 4:11).

“Like Jesus, believers are often tempted to doubt God’s love for them.  If He did love them, they reason, He would not have permitted whatever painful, disappointing circumstances they find themselves in.  Sometimes their frustration is heightened by the realization that blatantly ungodly people seem to be prospering.  They find themselves in agreement with the psalmist, who wrote,

“For I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked.  For there are no pains in their death, and their body is fat.  They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like mankind.  Therefore pride is their necklace; the garment of violence covers them.  Their eye bulges from fatness; the imaginations of their heart run riot.  They mock and wickedly speak of oppression; they speak from on high.  They have set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue parades through the earth.  Therefore his people return to this place, and waters of abundance are drunk by them.  They say, “How does God know?  And is there knowledge with the Most High?”  Behold, these are the wicked; and always at ease, they have increased in wealth.  Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence. (Psalm 73:3-13).

“But like Jesus, Christians must refuse to act outside of God’s will, but continually trust in His loving provision (cf. Psalm 37).

5/8/2026 11:02 PM

“Satan Tempted Christ To Doubt God’s Love” (Luke 4:3-4)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/8/2026 9:23 AM

My Worship Time                                     Focus:  “Satan Tempted Christ To Doubt God’s Love”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                     Reference:  Luke 4:3-4

Message of the verses:  “And the devil said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”  And Jesus answered him, “it is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

            Now as we look at what the devil said to Jesus throughout these three climactic temptations contained an element of truth as deception can only hope to succeed when it is combined with partial truth. MacArthur writes “If is better translated since.” This is what I went over last evening, and I don’t know why the translators used the word “if” because surely Satan knew who Jesus Christ is, the Holy Son of God, and if I am not mistaken Lucifer, when God created him was identified with Jesus Christ, but he fell and the reasons why he fell are found in two OT books of Isaiah and Ezekiel.

 12  "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! 13  You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; 14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ (Isaiah 14:12-14).

11 ¶  Moreover, the word of the LORD came to me: 12  "Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord GOD: "You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13  You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. 14  You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. 15  You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. 16  In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 17  Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you. 18  By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries; so I brought fire out from your midst; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you. 19  All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever." (Ezekiel 28:11-19)

            These are the two sections that speak of Satan and how did he fall?  Notice the five “I wills” found in Isiaah 14:13-14, and this gives the answer, and that answer is pride.  Pride is a deceitful sin, and as we see Satan was full of pride.

            MacArthur writes “Satan’s words to Eve, ‘Indeed, has God said’ (Gen. 3:1) were intended to raise doubts in her mind.  But knowing the futility of such and approach with Jesus, Satan began by acknowledging His true identity as the Son of God…

            “Unlike liberal theologians, cultists, and other heretical groups, Satan and the demons never denied the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.  They had always known His true identity, and always affirmed it in their conversations with Him (e.g., 4:34, 41; 8:28; Matt. 8:29; Mark 1:34; 3:11). Satan’s affirmation of that undeniable reality is the core of truth in this final solicitation to evil.”

(e.g., 4:34, 41; 8:28; Matt. 8:29; Mark 1:34; 3:11)

“34  “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”

“41  And demons also came out of many, crying,, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.”

“28  When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.’”

“29  And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?’”

“34  And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.”

“11  And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.’”

            MacArthur goes on to write “The devil’s suggestion that Jesus command a stone to become bread was not a temptation to self-indulgence, for it is not a sin to eat food when one is hungry.  Still less was it aimed at getting Jesus to pridefully show off His powers, since He and Satan were alone and there was no audience to perform for.  Satan’s point was far more insidious and subtle.  He was aware that in the incarnation, Jesus had voluntarily set aside the independent use of His divine power.  The devil was attempting (as he had with Eve) to get Him to distrust God’s love and provision for Him.  He insinuated that God was indifferent and disinterested in Jesus’ plight.  After all, had God not provided food for the stubbornly rebellious Israelites during their forty years of wandering in the wilderness?  Had not David testified, ‘I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread’ (Ps. 37:25)?  If the Father truly loved His Son, why had He failed to provide food for Him these past forty days?  Satan hoped to entice Jesus to question the love of the Father and the care of the Holy Spirit.  This was a serious assault not only on the deity and perfection of Jesus Christ, but also on the unity of the Trinity.”

            Looks like I will have to finish this section in this evening’s SD.

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  I must continue to trust the Lord, because I know that Satan can tempt me and cause me to fall into sin.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to pray for my wife as she deals with this dreadful disease of cancer, that the Lord will comfort her in the pain she is having in her left side, that if it is the will of the Lord that He will send us to a new doctor to help her beat this cancer that has invaded her body.

5/8/2026 10:21 AM

 

“The Pattern of the Battle” (Luke 4:3-12)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/7/2026 7:21 PM

My Worship Time                                                                    Focus:  “The Pattern of the Battle”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                   Reference:  Luke 4:3-12

            Message of the verses:  “3And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” 4And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE.’”  5And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whom ever I wish. 7“Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.” 8Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’”   9And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; 10for it is written,
            ‘HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU TO GUARD YOU,’11and,‘ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP,
            SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’” 12And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’”

            This morning I had a lot of trouble trying to save my Spiritual Diary and ended up quoting a large sermon from John MacArthur to cover what I wanted to cover.  This evening’s SD will be very short as what we will be looking at this evening is an introduction to the verses quoted above, and then in tomorrow morning’s SD we will begin to break the verses down in order to look at them more closely.

            “The specific temptations with which Satan assaulted Jesus were unique to Him.  No believer today, for instance, could be tempted to turn rocks into bread, or to fly.  Nevertheless, the temptations the Lord faced are representative of the broader categories of temptation faced by all believers.  The satanic assault on the sinless Savior came in three waves.”  Now Lord willing I will begin to look at the first wave in tomorrow mornings SD.

            The following may come up later on but as I was listening to John MacArthur’s sermon on the first two temptations I learned something that I thought was true, but never knew how it was true, and that is the phrase “If You are the Son of God.”  Now think about how Satan became Satan, for he was a created being but then fell to temptation and became this evil being that he is now and taking one third of the angels down with him.  I don’t know which of the Three Persons of the godhead created the angels, but after they were created they all certainly knew who the second person of the godhead created them, so the way the phrase is using the word “If” should be translated “Since” for Satan knew Jesus was the Son of God.  As I listened to the sermon this afternoon on these verses MacArthur explained that it should be “Since” and not “If.”  It has something to do with the Greek constructive of the sentence.

5/7/2026 7:39 PM