Matthew 4:1-11

The Voice

4 The Spirit then led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil. ²Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. After this fast, He was, as you can imagine, hungry. ³But He was also curiously stronger, when the tempter came to Jesus.

Devil: If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.

Jesus (quoting Deuteronomy): ⁴It is written, “Man does not live by bread alone. Rather, he lives on every word that comes from the mouth of the Eternal One.”^[a]

The point, of course, is not that Jesus couldn’t have turned these stones to bread. A little later in the story He can make food appear when He needs to. But Jesus doesn’t work miracles out of the blue, for no reason, for show or proof or spectacle. He works them in intimate, close places; He works them to meet people’s needs and to show them the way to the Kingdom.

⁵Then the devil took Jesus to the holy city, Jerusalem, and he had Jesus stand at the very highest point in the holy temple.

Devil: ⁶If You are the Son of God, jump! And then we will see if You fulfill the Scripture that says,

    He will command His heavenly messengers concerning You,
        and the messengers will buoy You in their hands
    So that You will not crash, or fall, or even graze Your foot on a stone.^[b]

Jesus: ⁷That is not the only thing Scripture says. It also says, “Do not put the Eternal One, your God, to the test.”^[c]

⁸And still the devil subjected Jesus to a third test. He took Jesus to the top of a very high mountain, and he showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in all their splendor and glory, their power and pomp.

Devil: ⁹If You bow down and worship me, I will give You all these kingdoms.

Jesus: ¹⁰Get away from Me, Satan. I will not serve you. I will instead follow Scripture, which tells us to “worship the Eternal One, your God, and serve only Him.”^[d]

¹¹Then the devil left Jesus. And heavenly messengers came and ministered to Him.

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