Matthew 4 Enduring Word (2024)

FAQs

What is the main message of Matthew 4? ›

It would show that, though Jesus was fully human, and fully God, He remained fully sinless in the face of temptation (Matthew 4:1). Jesus fasts for 40 days and nights. "Fasting" does not always involve taking in no food of water, ever, at all, for the entire time period.

Reflection. Jesus will feed on the living word of God. Our real hungers are fed by the meaning and the love of the word of God. One form of prayer is to allow ourselves by addressed in the heart by the word of God.

Matthew 4:1-11

At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights and afterwards was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.

Matthew‬ ‭4:2. This verse describes the launching pad of the public ministry of Jesus Christ. The first thing Jesus did after His baptism was fast and pray for forty days and nights. His public ministry started with prayer, was sustained by prayer and ended with prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Share. But 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. Then 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.

The Devil is tempting Jesus to prematurely reveal Himself as the Son of God by forcing God to send angels to save Him. This would result in revealing Jesus' true identity to Israel immediately. The Father's plan, though, was for His Son to suffer and die for the sins of humanity.

In the Christian Bible, Jesus is faced with 3 temptations of the body, mind, and heart at the hands of Satan. These temptations challenged his devotion and faith to the Lord. By walking away from each temptation, Jesus reveals some valuable lessons about faith.

Yahweh, name for the God of the Israelites, representing the biblical pronunciation of “YHWH,” the Hebrew name revealed to Moses in the book of Exodus.

Matthew 4:1–11 describes Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. After 40 days and nights of fasting, Jesus faces three temptations from Satan. Each one attempts to lure Christ into abusing His power; to take immediately what God the Father has promised to provide later.

The verse makes clear that the Spirit, presumably the Holy Ghost prominently mentioned two verses before in Matthew 3:16, is the one who leads Jesus into the desert.

What was Jesus quoting in Matthew 4:4? ›

4 Jesus answered, "Scripture says, 'A person cannot live on bread alone but on every word that God speaks. '" 4 But He answered, "It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. "

“Tell these stones to become bread” – The first dilemma which Jesus faced was how to use his miraculous power, whether to use it for selfish reasons or to help others. Jesus denied himself the opportunity to satisfy his hunger, even though he had been fasting for forty days and nights.

God Himself will never tempt us and He has also promised to never allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. At the same time He may allow Satan to tempt us, but then use those temptations as a trial to teach us to rely on Him more.

Matthew 4 has four main sections: the temptation of Christ, the beginning of Christ's ministry, calling the disciples, and healing and teaching. The temptation of Christ is important to the Gospels because it that Jesus is the Son of God (Hagner 61). He went through the temptations and passed the test.

Satan is not really challenging whether Jesus is the Son of God. Instead, he seems to dare Jesus to go outside of the Father's will in order to meet His own desire for food. Satan is tempting Jesus to make Himself independent of the Father. After all, Satan is saying, you are the Son of God.

In Matthew 4:4 Jesus said that man cannot live by bread alone but they need the Words of God, just like you couldn't eat this slice of bread on its own. There is a trick though, would you like to try it again? (Hand them a glass of water and tell them that they can drink it as often as they need.)

These 3 temptations represent the challenges Christians face to remain loyal to the Lord. Sometimes, the body, mind, and heart are tested, but God-fearing people stay faithful no matter what.

It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people (the Jews) but is rejected by them and how, after his resurrection, he sends the disciples to the gentiles instead. Matthew wishes to emphasize that the Jewish tradition should not be lost in a church that was increasingly becoming gentile.

The phrase "Man shall not live by bread alone" is today a common expression meaning that people need more than material things to truly live. However, it is also sometimes used in almost the opposite sense to justify material luxuries beyond simple things like bread.