A Great Enemy

From: Messages of God's Love: 1943

Matthew 4:1-17¹Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. ²And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. ³And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. ⁴But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. ⁵Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, ⁶And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. ⁷Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. ⁸Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; ⁹And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. ¹⁰Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. ¹¹Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. ¹²Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; ¹³And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: ¹⁴That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, ¹⁵The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; ¹⁶The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. ¹⁷From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:1‑17)

The first part of the Bible tells of a wicked spirit, who spoke by a serpent to Eve, and caused her by his deceitful and false words to doubt God’s words, and His goodness. She obeyed the wicked one, and disobeyed God’s words (Gen. 3:1-6¹Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? ²And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: ³But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. ⁴And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: ⁵For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. ⁶And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (Genesis 3:1‑6)).

That same wicked one, called Satan, was so bold that he tried to tempt Jesus to obey him. It was in the wild lonely land near the Jordan River; there was no food in that rocky place, and Jesus had not eaten for a long time, and was hungry.

Satan wanted Jesus to command the stones to be made bread. But Jesus had not come to earth to use His power for Himself, but for others, and He did not obey Satan. His answer was with words from the Scriptures that God had told Moses to write:

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word....of God.” Deut. 8:3³And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. (Deuteronomy 8:3).

Then Satan showed that he knew scripture, and quoted from a psalm, wanting Jesus to cast Himself down from a high place of the Temple, that angels should come to keep Him from harm (Psa. 91:11,12¹¹For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. ¹²They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. (Psalm 91:11‑12)).

Jesus did not obey Satan, but again told him words from the Scripture:

“Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God.” Deuteronomy 6:16¹⁶Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. (Deuteronomy 6:16).

A third time Satan tried to tempt Jesus, saying he would give Hint the rule and glory of all nations, if Jesus would worship him. It is God who over rules the nations, so they were not Satan’s to give (Dan. 4:17¹⁷This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men. (Daniel 4:17)).

Jesus then commanded Satan to go away, telling him more words of Scripture:

“Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve”. Deuteronomy 6:13¹³Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. (Deuteronomy 6:13).

Jesus was more directly tempted by Satan than others ever have been, yet He did not obey him, but perfectly obeyed God’s words. That evil one is still an enemy to those who love the Lord; he is not seen, and has not a body, but is able to put doubts in our minds to tempt us to sin. Yet he cannot succeed if we trust God, and obey His words. Faith, or trust, is like a shield against him (Eph. 6:16¹⁶Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. (Ephesians 6:16)).

After this, Jesus went to Nazareth, then to other towns farther north. That land had once belonged to the tribes of Israel, but when Jesus went there, many of the people were of other nations, called Gentiles. It was told long before to Isaiah that those people should see The Great Light, which meant they should see Jesus, the Son of God Jesus went to them, and many believed on Him there (Isa. 9:1¹Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. (Isaiah 9:1); Matt. 4:14-16¹⁴That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, ¹⁵The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; ¹⁶The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. (Matthew 4:14‑16)).

ML 01/31/1943

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