SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/4/2020
10:16 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Introduction
to “The Temptation”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
4:3-10
Message of the verses: “3 And the tempter
came and said to Him, "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 ON BREAD ALONE, BUT
ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’" 5 Then the devil took
Him into the holy city; and he had Him stand 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 WILL GIVE HIS ANGELS CHARGE
CONCERNING YOU’; and ’ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, LEST YOU
STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’" 7 Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it
is written, ’YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’" 8 Again,
the devil took Him to a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of
the world, and their glory; 9 and he
said to Him, "All these things will I give You, if You fall down and
worship me." 10 Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! For it is
written, ’YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’"
In
his commentary which we are following the outline John MacArthur gives an
introduction to this section he entitles “The Temptation,” and then we will be
looking at different sub-points to this section as there are more than one
temptation involved in these verses that Satan tried against the Lord Jesus
Christ. Those three sub-sections
MacArthur names them: 1) “Serving Self” 2) “Testing God” and 3) “Worshiping
Satan.” Lord willing we will begin
looking at the first in our next SD.
In
previous SD’s on this section in Matthew we talked about different names for
Satan found in the Word of God and in the sections we are beginning to look at
he is spoken of as “the tempter.”
Matthew or the other gospel writers do not tell us what form that Satan
took in his confrontation with Jesus.
The only way that we even know about this confrontation is because Jesus
had to tell His disciples about it for He and Satan were the only ones involved
until the angels came to minister to Jesus after the temptations were over. We can be assured that this confrontation was
direct and personal as they spoke to each other and even moved about together,
as the went to the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem and then to a high mountain.
As
we conclude this short SD I want to quote the last paragraph from John MacArthur
on his introduction to this section: “Satan’s
first great frontal attack on Jesus Christ as He began His earthly ministry was
in the form of three temptations, each designed to weaken and destroy the
Messiah in an important area of His mission.
The temptations because progressively worse. The first was for Jesus to distrust the
providential care of His Father and to use His own divine powers to serve
Himself. The second was to presume on
the Father’s care by putting Him to the test.
The third was for Him to renounce the way of His Father and to
substitute the way of Satan.”
I
want to go back to the first temptation as MacArthur states that in “the first
temptation was for Jesus to distrust the providential care of His Father and to
use His own divine powers to serve Himself.”
The reason that I bring this up it because of what I wrote in our last
SD about that I believe that Jesus did drink water on His fast, for in my
thinking if He did not drink water then He would be using His divine powers to
serve Himself as no human can live more than three days without water. In the book of Exodus we actually see Moses
going eighty days without water and this had to be something that God performed
a miracle in order for Moses to go that long without water.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Knowing the weakness that I have is knowing
where Satan will attack me and this is something that I need to trust the Lord
to overcome these temptations.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord
to see me through the temptations in the same way that Jesus did. Trust the Lord to give me joy as I study His
Word, and to keep me humble too.
2/4/2020 10:40 AM
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