Matthew 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Whatever the issue is, you’d certainly feel differently about it at ten o’clock at night then you would at ten o’clock in the morning. Usually things are a little brighter when the sun is shining. Things big or small cast longer shadows when it is nighttime. The same can be said about the way you perceive things when you are hungry.
So, it should not surprise any of us that when God incarnate, God the Son, was tempted of the devil after forty days of fasting. He had not eaten, and I don’t know how much sleep he had. I’m not giving an alibi to people who succumb to temptation simply because they are tired. However, we are spiritual and physical beings, and it is wonderful to know that we have a High Priest who is not untouched by the feelings of our weaknesses, but “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
Matthew 4:1 says, “Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” There are three key players here: Jesus, the Holy Spirit of God, and the devil. Two things really astound me as we look at Jesus sparring with the devil. One is that Jesus, the incarnate Word, used the written Word of God when battling the devil. In a weakened state when tempted, God the Son did no better than remembering the Word of God.
The Bible says, “But he answered and said, It is written.” Jesus knew the Word. That is astounding to me that God Himself in the person of Jesus, God the Son, would use the Word of God when combating temptation and sin. Yet, there is one thing even more fascinating to me, and that is that the devil “used” the Word of God also!
Verse 6 says, “And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written.” Were the devil and Jesus even because they were both quoting the Word of God? No! The point to be taken here is that God’s Word is not something you use; it is something you obey.
Someone may sarcastically say, “Well, the Word of God can be used to mean anything. It can be used to justify anything. People can make it say whatever they want.” But that is not to say that God intended it to mean everything that men have used the Word of God to say. No, God said what He said and meant what He meant. Memorizing the Word of God is wonderful, but rightly dividing the Word of God is even more important.
The devil knew the Bible by memory, at least a portion of it. He did not have a Gideon Bible from which he very carefully looked at the small print and knew this verse in the Psalms. No, he had it memorized. I wonder then how much the devil has memorized. He has had lots of time, he is smarter than you or me, and he misuses the Word of God. He wrests the Bible out of its rightful place and does not live in submission to it..
Matthew 4 begins by saying, “Then Jesus was led up of the spirit…to be tempted of the devil.” In other words, Jesus had God’s Word, but He also had the Spirit giving Him guidance. The devil had God’s Word, but he was misusing it. In short, God’s Word is not something you use. It is something you obey. That is why we should not be impressed with a man’s memory of the Bible, but with what the Bible actually says.
When I hear someone preach, I want to know if he is truly expounding what the Bible actually says. Now, I have found that the people who seem to quote the Bible the most often give the most credence to what the Bible says. But at the end of the day, it is the Bible itself, what God intends and what God said, that is powerful. It is not my memory or my creativity that are powerful. It is God’s Word. God’s Word is not something you use; it is something you follow and obey.