Luk 4:4 | KingComments | STEP | The devil introduces the first of his last three temptations with the words “if You are the Son of God”. He challenges the Lord to prove this, as it were, and to do so by making bread out of the stone. The devil acknowledges the power of the Lord’s word that He only has to say it to the stone, and the stone will change into bread. And did He not have an enormous hunger? Then it’s best to use your power to provide for that, isn’t it? Later He would several times satisfy a large crowd with just a few loaves. It is not about whether He can or cannot do it, but whether the Father wants it. This first temptation is related to the physical need for food that is also Christ’s need. He is true Man and needs bread for His body. To be hungry is not a sin and also to eat to satisfy the hunger is not a sin. As said, He has the power to make bread from this stone. Also the use of His power is not sin. But if He were to use that power for His own benefit and eat now, at the devil’s insistence, He would sin. He would then eat, without a command from His Father. If He had eaten, He would have been guided by His physical need instead of His Father. He would have asserted His own will instead of being dependent on God’s will. How perfectly does He answer the devil with a quotation from God’s Word ( ). The Lord does not say to the devil: “I am God, and you are the devil, go away.” This would not have been to the glory of God, nor would it have helped us. He takes the place that we also have. Like Him, we can only resist the temptations of the devil and chase him away by quoting the Word of God. His answer to this first temptation shows that he takes the place before God that suits man, that is, the place of complete dependence on God. The natural life of man depends on eating bread. The spiritual life of man depends on accepting and obeying the Word of God. He listens every morning to what God has to say ( ) and that determines what He does and speaks and where He goes; therein He finds His strength. Many believers live from stones instead of bread. They also set a bad example for their children. If the Word is not our daily food, we should not expect our children to ask for it. The Lord Jesus quotes something from the book of Deuteronomy every time. In that book the people have finished their wilderness journey and the promised land lies ahead of them. In that book God tells the people how He took care of them in the wilderness, what He wanted to teach them in the wilderness, and what wonderful blessings await them after the wilderness. God wants to shape their hearts through everything He says in this book so that they will all focus on Him alone. He wishes to have a nation of sons with whom He can speak about what concerns His heart. And a son is for the good pleasure of God. We see this perfectly in the Son, but God also wants to see it in all His children. This requires that our life will be formed by the Word of God and that we live by it, and that we do not let our life be determined by physical needs, as if that’s all that matters.

‏ Luke 4:4

First Temptation

The devil introduces the first of his last three temptations with the words “if You are the Son of God”. He challenges the Lord to prove this, as it were, and to do so by making bread out of the stone. The devil acknowledges the power of the Lord’s word that He only has to say it to the stone, and the stone will change into bread. And did He not have an enormous hunger? Then it’s best to use your power to provide for that, isn’t it? Later He would several times satisfy a large crowd with just a few loaves.

It is not about whether He can or cannot do it, but whether the Father wants it. This first temptation is related to the physical need for food that is also Christ’s need. He is true Man and needs bread for His body. To be hungry is not a sin and also to eat to satisfy the hunger is not a sin.

As said, He has the power to make bread from this stone. Also the use of His power is not sin. But if He were to use that power for His own benefit and eat now, at the devil’s insistence, He would sin. He would then eat, without a command from His Father. If He had eaten, He would have been guided by His physical need instead of His Father. He would have asserted His own will instead of being dependent on God’s will.

How perfectly does He answer the devil with a quotation from God’s Word (Deu 8:3). The Lord does not say to the devil: “I am God, and you are the devil, go away.” This would not have been to the glory of God, nor would it have helped us. He takes the place that we also have. Like Him, we can only resist the temptations of the devil and chase him away by quoting the Word of God.

His answer to this first temptation shows that he takes the place before God that suits man, that is, the place of complete dependence on God. The natural life of man depends on eating bread. The spiritual life of man depends on accepting and obeying the Word of God. He listens every morning to what God has to say (Isa 50:4) and that determines what He does and speaks and where He goes; therein He finds His strength.

Many believers live from stones instead of bread. They also set a bad example for their children. If the Word is not our daily food, we should not expect our children to ask for it.

The Lord Jesus quotes something from the book of Deuteronomy every time. In that book the people have finished their wilderness journey and the promised land lies ahead of them. In that book God tells the people how He took care of them in the wilderness, what He wanted to teach them in the wilderness, and what wonderful blessings await them after the wilderness. God wants to shape their hearts through everything He says in this book so that they will all focus on Him alone.

He wishes to have a nation of sons with whom He can speak about what concerns His heart. And a son is for the good pleasure of God. We see this perfectly in the Son, but God also wants to see it in all His children. This requires that our life will be formed by the Word of God and that we live by it, and that we do not let our life be determined by physical needs, as if that’s all that matters.