After the Holy Spirit had come upon the Lord Jesus, it is told that Satan spoke to tempt Jesus to obey him.
It was in the lonely land near the Jordan river, and Jesus had eaten no food there, and was hungry. Satan said to Him, “If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.”
God had spoken from heaven to say that Jesus was His beloved Son, but Satan tried to cause doubt about those words. Yet Jesus did not do a miracle to prove who He was, or for food; this was His answer: “It is written, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:44And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. (Luke 4:4) quoted from Deuteronomy 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)).
Those words were from the Old Testament, and it was from those scriptures He answered each time.
Satan Defeated
Satan could not deny Jesus’ answer, and he tried another way to persuade Jesus to obey him; he said all the nations of the world were his, and he would give their glory and rule to Jesus, if He would worship him.
Satan tried once more to cause Jesus to obey him, and said that “if” Jesus were the Son of God, He should throw Himself down from a high point of the Temple, because it was written that God would give His angels charge over Him, to keep Him, lest He dash His foot against a stone.
Those words were from Psalm 91, so Satan knew scripture, but used it in an evil way; for the words were not given that the Holy One should do as Satan wanted. The answer of Jesus was, as before, from God’s written words to men: “It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (Luke 4:1212And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. (Luke 4:12); Deuteronomy 6:1616Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. (Deuteronomy 6:16)).
Satan then went away when he found he could not tempt Jesus to do his way. He showed his awful pride and hatred that he would try to tempt the One he knew to be the Son of God to obey him; his promises were false; he knew the written words of God, and used them for evil to try to bring harm to Jesus. Yet his fear was shown, for he went away.
Why Jesus Didn’t Use a Miracle
In all the tempting, Jesus did no miracle, but showed His trust in God as a humble, perfect man; He showed that God was the authority over all, and proved the power of His words in the scriptures.
Some persons try to believe there is no Satan, yet he is written of in many parts of the Bible as a most wicked being, or spirit, not seen by men, but able to suggest to the mind what is evil and false, especially to have them doubt that God’s words are true.
Further Meditation
1. What did the Lord use each time Satan tempted Him?
2. Notice where each Scripture that the Lord quoted came from in the Old Testament. How long would it take you to read these chapters? What does that say about the importance of reading God’s Word each morning?
3. If you want to spend more time meditating on resisting Satan then you might find Satan’s Operations on the Lord’s People: Ten Tactics the Devil Uses to Overthrow Our Lives Exposed by the Word of God written by B. Anstey.