{"id":806,"date":"2022-09-27T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-27T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=806&2022"},"modified":"2022-09-22T18:00:09","modified_gmt":"2022-09-23T00:00:09","slug":"three-angles-of-temptation-matthew-4-1-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/three-angles-of-temptation-matthew-4-1-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Angles of Temptation: Matthew 4:1-11"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"spoiler spoiler-style-2\"><div class=\"spoiler-title\">Focus Passage: Matthew 4:1-11 (GNT)<\/div><div class=\"spoiler-content\">\r\n<p><sup>1\u00a0<\/sup>Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the Devil.  <sup>2\u00a0<\/sup>After spending forty days and nights without food, Jesus was hungry.  <sup>3\u00a0<\/sup>Then the Devil came to him and said, \u201cIf you are God&#8217;s Son, order these stones to turn into bread.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>4\u00a0<\/sup>But Jesus answered, \u201cThe scripture says, \u2018Human beings cannot live on bread alone, but need every word that God speaks.\u2019\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>5\u00a0<\/sup>Then the Devil took Jesus to Jerusalem, the Holy City, set him on the highest point of the Temple,  <sup>6\u00a0<\/sup>and said to him, \u201cIf you are God&#8217;s Son, throw yourself down, for the scripture says,<\/p><p>\u2018God will give orders to his angels about you;<br>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0they will hold you up with their hands,<br>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0so that not even your feet will be hurt on the stones.\u2019\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>7\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus answered, \u201cBut the scripture also says, \u2018Do not put the Lord your God to the test.\u2019\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>8\u00a0<\/sup>Then the Devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in all their greatness.  <sup>9\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cAll this I will give you,\u201d the Devil said, \u201cif you kneel down and worship me.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>10\u00a0<\/sup>Then Jesus answered, \u201cGo away, Satan! The scripture says, \u2018Worship the Lord your God and serve only him!\u2019\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>11\u00a0<\/sup>Then the Devil left Jesus; and angels came and helped him.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"passage-read-more\">Read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew 4:1-11&amp;version=gnt\" title=\"Read the passage on BibleGateway.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"hyperlink-underlined\">Matthew 4:1-11<\/a> in context and\/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n<p>While reading what the gospels share about Jesus\u2019 temptations at the start of His ministry, I am amazed to see three distinct types of temptations present. These three temptations mirror three broad areas of life, and when looking at Jesus\u2019 temptations with this framework, we are able to see how Satan tries to knock us off course and out of God\u2019s will.<\/p>\r\n<p>In the first temptation, Satan challenges Jesus by saying, \u201c<strong>If you are God&#8217;s Son, order these stones to turn into bread.<\/strong>\u201d (v. 3b)<\/p>\r\n<p>This first temptation challenges Jesus regarding His immediate, physical need. After fasting for 40 days and nights, Jesus was hungry, and this temptation was simply to use some of His creative power to provide food for Himself.<\/p>\r\n<p><em>Satan\u2019s temptations often come to us in ways that focus on helping ourselves in the moment or challenge we are in. Satan\u2019s temptations try to get us to shortcut and give up what is best for us in the long term.<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p>The second temptation Satan challenges Jesus with in Matthew\u2019s gospel is, \u201c<strong>If you are God&#8217;s Son, throw yourself down, for the scripture says,<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>\u00a0\u2018God will give orders to his angels about you;<br>\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 they will hold you up with their hands,<br>\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 so that not even your feet will be hurt on the stones.\u2019<\/strong>\u201d (v. 6)<strong><\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>This second temptation challenges Jesus\u2019 acceptance (or lack thereof) with the spiritual leaders, and it is a challenge for Jesus to take advantage of God\u2019s protection. This temptation comes when Satan and Jesus are standing at the highest point of the temple, and if Jesus had jumped off and God had kept the promise to protect Him, Jesus would have been using this knowledge to draw attention onto Himself.<\/p>\r\n<p>We could then categorize this temptation as a social, intellectual, or mental temptation. Jesus did not come to draw a crowd or to draw attention onto Himself. He came to glorify God and to give His life for our sins. <em>Satan\u2019s temptations towards us often come in ways that make us want others to focus and pay attention to us instead of getting others to look through us to Jesus\/God.<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p>The third temptation Matthew shares Satan challenging Jesus with is, \u201c<strong>All this I will give you, if you kneel down and worship me.<\/strong>\u201d (v. 9)<\/p>\r\n<p>The third temptation is a spiritual one. In a potentially supernatural way, Satan has taken Jesus to a high mountain and shown Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the offer is one to shortcut His spiritual mission. Satan wanted Jesus to deviate from the path of the cross \u2013 which was the path God had placed before Him.<\/p>\r\n<p><em>In a similar way, Satan challenges us to shortcut, deviate, or give up the mission God has placed before us. If Satan can get us to give up on God\u2019s plan and His will, then he will throw spiritual temptations at us to do so!<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>In these three temptations are three types of attempts to get Jesus to deviate from God\u2019s will and to draw attention to Himself. Satan uses these three types of temptations against us as well, but with God\u2019s help, we can avoid falling for his tricks, and we can continue pressing forward on the mission He has given each of us to live.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<div id=\"aj-wrap-up--806\" class=\"aj-wrap-up\"><p><em>This thought was inspired by studying the <strong>Walking With Jesus<\/strong> \u201cReflective Bible Study\u201d package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, <a class=\"underline\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/\" title=\"Check out Reflective Bible Study!\">click here<\/a> and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!<\/em><\/p><p><em><a class=\"underline\" href=\"javascript:void(0);\" onClick=\"rbs_aj_inline_subscribe(this, '806');\">Subscribe<\/a> to this blog and never miss an insight.<\/em><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While reading what the gospels share about Jesus\u2019 temptations at the start of His ministry, I am amazed to see three distinct types of temptations present. These three temptations mirror three broad areas of life, and when looking at Jesus\u2019 temptations with this framework, we are able to see how Satan tries to knock us [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Three Angles of Temptation: Matthew 4:1-11 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/three-angles-of-temptation-matthew-4-1-11\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Three Angles of Temptation: Matthew 4:1-11 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While reading what the gospels share about Jesus\u2019 temptations at the start of His ministry, I am amazed to see three distinct types of temptations present. 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