Matthew 4

SUMMARY

This chapter practically depicts how the ministry of Jesus began. He was tested as a man and as He passed the test He moved on to begin the work which God had purposed for Him to do. The wonderful thing about this chapter was how the devil tried to work on the very present weakness of Jesus to get to Him and bring Him down. His method was very tricky and well carried out to almost perfection.  At the time that the tempter came to Jesus, He was hungry after  a whole month of dry fasting, He was weak and tired and what His body needed the most was the substance of food. The devil saw a great opportunity here and he knew that if he could get Jesus to betray God for the benefit of His want then he would cause a major havoc to the ministry of Christ and God’s plan to save the world. After John had baptized Jesus at the river of Jordan, Jesus went away to prepare Himself spiritually for the work because His Sonship had been confirmed and He was ready to begin the very work he came to do. So the devil caught Jesus in the time of weakness, he used the very nature of Christ, the Word against Him. It’s surprising that of all the method the devil could use, he used the Word and Jesus Himself not ignorant of the Word used the Word to His defense. He may have been weak and hungry but that did not rub Him of His senses rather He was aware of the danger the devil poses to His calling by coming against Him with the Word. The fact that He tempted Jesus as man shows that the devil knew the weakness of the flesh, he did not attack the spirit but the weak flesh, he used food, pride, material possessions so that he can swerve Jesus from the righteous stand that He had with God and destroy the work of the life of Jesus. And praise God that Jesus did not give in to the devil’s seductions and deceit, the truth is that the With this victory against the devil on the turf of the Word of God, Jesus went on to preach the kingdom, call His first disciples, Heal the sick and because of this he went on to be famous and won more people to His side and more people followed Him. This move was the very thing the devil wanted to stop Him from accomplishing and Jesus did well to see this threat and He averted it by standing strong on the depth of the Word of God.

 LIFE APPLICATION

For the fact that we are Christians does not mean that the devil will come to test us, he will come around to try our faith and see how deep and solid we stand in God’s word not just for the fun of it but in order to deter us from becoming the spiritual liberating people that God has called us to be. The plan of the devil is to destroy the plan of God by destroying us and we must be wary of this every day of our lives. Just as Christ was tempted in the flesh so are we going to be tempted during the weakest and wanting moments of our lives and it is the Word of God that we have in us that will help us to stand. The truth is, there will be temptations everywhere but temptation is not a sin in itself until we fall into them. According to our weakness and the things that priced most in our lives, the devil will feed on them and will give us the excuse  to back up this sinful aims. Whether at the office or at home or in a relationship or in business, temptations will come and it will take a man who is deeply rooted in the word and solid in Christ and whose only aim is to please God to survive and go on to become the person God has called us to be. I see you as that person.

PERSONAL DECLARATION

I declare today, that I am deeply rooted and solid in the Word of God, I will not fall for schemes of the enemy. I will stand on the Word, for it is my supply and my defense at all times as I go on to be who God has called me to be.

Matthew 4:12 to Matthew 5:12

Reading – Jesus Begins to Preach

¹² When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. ¹³ Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— ¹⁴ to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁵ “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
    the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,
    Galilee of the Gentiles—
¹⁶ the people living in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
    a light has dawned.”^[a]

¹⁷ From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Jesus Calls His First Disciples

¹⁸ As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”²⁰ At once they left their nets and followed him.

²¹ Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, ²² and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Jesus Heals the Sick

²³ Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. ²⁴ News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. ²⁵ Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis,^[b]Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.

Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount

5 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, ² and he began to teach them.

The Beatitudes

He said:

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴ Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
⁵ Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.
⁷ Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.
¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Footnotes:

1. Matthew 4:16 Isaiah 9:1,2
2. Matthew 4:25 That is, the Ten Cities

All scriptural passages are taken from the NIV version of The Bible.