Seeds for 05/03/2023 - Matthew 4:5-7

Scripture: ⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ⁶ “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    and they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

⁷ Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Observation: The setting has changed from the wilderness to Jerusalem on top of the temple.

Once again, the devil wants Jesus to demonstrate His Sonship on his terms. But there’s something new and noteworthy. The devil can quote scripture too. In the first temptation, the devil wanted Jesus to use his power to perform miracles to provide bread and address His hunger. Now the devil is tempting Jesus to use His relationship with the Father in a manipulative way based on God’s promise in Psalm 91:11-12.

But this is an unfaithful reading of scripture. The devil is engaged in a biblical version of “gotcha journalism”—taking a quote out of context and springing it on Jesus to try to catch Him off guard and get a reaction. Jesus’ response, from Deuteronomy 6:16, puts the quote in context: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” God may watch over those who find their refuge in Him, but He’s not signing up to be a genie, at the beck and call of His people for party tricks. Jesus’ resistance to the devil’s temptation involves quoting scripture, as in the first temptation. Here, He shows that He can not only quote scripture—the devil can obviously do that—but understand and apply it.

Application:

• How can you grow your understanding of scripture, not only your knowledge about it?

• What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?

Prayer: Lord, ground me in the scriptures. Give me a discerning heart, both to know and to understand the truth of your Word. Amen.

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“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)

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