Living by the Word of God
July 6, 2022
Matthew records three temptations that Jesus faced when He was in the wilderness. Because the Lord had been without food for 40 days, the first temptation that Satan offered Him was, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread” (Matthew 4:3).
Jesus responded by quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Why did the Lord quote this passage? Let’s look at the passage in context. Deuteronomy is the last book of the Pentateuch, written by Moses, and it is, in effect, a series of sermons that he preached to the Israelites just before they were to enter Canaan, the land promised to them by God. Like most of the sermons in Deuteronomy, this one contains warnings to the people about how they should live.
In the first verse of the chapter that Jesus quotes from, Moses said,
“The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers,” (emphasis added).
Notice what Moses is telling the Israelites. The key to living is being careful to keep the commandments that God has provided. The stated purpose for keeping the commandments is that by doing them, they will “live and multiply” in the good land that God has given them.
To illustrate why the Israelites should keep God’s commandments, Moses reminds them of what God had done for them. Verse 2:
“And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.”
For forty years, God had led them in the wilderness, providing for them with food and water to sustain them. But Moses wanted them to know that to enjoy life, to truly live as God intended for His people to live, we need more than just food and water.
Which brings us to Jesus’ response to Satan. Deuteronomy 8:3:
“And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
Why did God humble them by letting them hunger? He wanted them to understand that rather than seeking food, they should seek Him. He wanted to provide for them, and in fact did provide for them, but the wilderness testing revealed that in their hearts, they were an idolatrous people who were more concerned with the daily necessities of life than seeking the God who was providing those things for them. God wanted their testing to cause them to draw closer to Him and recognize how much they needed Him. Ultimately they failed.
Jesus, however, did not fail this test. When He came out of the wilderness, hungrier than the Israelites had ever been, He waited on God to provide for Him. Satan tempted Him to provide for Himself, but he understood that God was His provider. His testing revealed that in His heart He loved God more than even the food He needed to survive.
With whom do you have more in common, the Israelites who were most interested in the things of this life, or Jesus, who recognized that the Word of God is the only way to live and thrive in this good world that God has made?
You can tell by the decisions you make. The most important thing to the Israelites was satisfying their bodies, whereas the most important thing to Jesus was satisfying the Father. It is important to understand the end of those decisions. In Deuteronomy 28, Moses warned the Israelites that they would be driven from the land that God was giving them if they served themselves rather than serving Him. And that is exactly what happened when they were unfaithful.
Jesus, on the other hand, was exalted and rewarded by God for His faithfulness:
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:8-11)
What will the Lord find when He tests your heart? Are you devoted to Him, willing to sacrifice the desires of the body so that you might please Him? Or are you intent on serving yourself? Be thoughtful about the decision you make: one path leads to salvation and the other leads to destruction.