1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

Matthew 4:1 - 11

4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’

and,

‘In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”

8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the deserted areas to be tested by the devil, this was God's will and Satan did not trap Jesus in a snare to tempt him, it was a willing test.

The word tempted comes from a Greek word which has the meanings of: to try; to see if something can be done; to attempt, endeavor; to try, make trial of, test, to solicit to sin, tempt.

The word devil comes from two Greek word, the first: 1. divine power, deity, divinity. 2. a spirit, a being inferior to God, superior to men, evil spirits and ministers of the Devil,(usually demons) the “prone to slander, slanderous, : accusing falsly, false accuser, slanderer. The second word The DIABOLOS always refers to Satan in the Bible.

We do not need to go 40 days without food to become hungry in a normal sense or degree. The forty days show that Jesus was severely hungry by the time he was tempted.

The tempter or tester is defined as the word tempted is in verse one and the one doing the tempting is the devil (Satan)

The validity of Christ's clame to being part of the God head is at stake here so Satan challenges Christ to prove his claim to being the Son of God.

There is no doubt with us as to his claim of being the Son of God, Satan didn't have any doubt either.

But Christ never used his divine paower or character on his own behalf. His purpose here on earth is to be an example for us. It would have been wrong for him to teach us self denial when we only had mortal human capabilities and he had supernatural powers he could fall back on if he needed to. And it would have been wrong to turn the stones into bread because it was an act proposed by the devil.

It is wrong in any way to cooperate with the devil in any act even if the act is right in itself.

Jesus shows his knowledge and respect for the inspired word by quoting Deuteronomy8:3 The physical food which supplies the physical body is not all that a human needs to be supported spiritually, Man needs the word of God in order to supply the soul.

Satan took Jesus with him up to a high place, a pinnacle, on the temple. It was high enough if a human fell from there he would probably die from the injuries. Jesus went willingly with Satan.

Satan omitted part of the verses he is quoting from Psalms 91:11 – 12, he omits “in all your ways.” “Ways” is from a GREEK word which means according to Strong: “a course of life or a mode of action.” Regardless of whether it is right or wrong, the context of each case determines whether it is right or wrong.

If we assume it is wrong for Christ to cast himself off of the temple to prove his divinity, then we can assume the angels would not of been under obligation to save Jesus life.

If we assume it would have been right for him to perform the action as the devil suggested then he had the assurance he had divine protection.

The word tempt is not the same as “tempt” in verse 1, this one is stronger and defined as “to prove, test, thoroughly tempt.”

Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16, it refers to a time (Exodus 17:2, 7) when the people complained and questioned whether the Lord was with them. It was trying (one of the definitions) God's patience to hear attacks against his power and goodness.

God is very patient, and infinitly merciful to his people who sincerely rely on him for help, even to the nth degree of indulgence for their unusual request. However he will not suffer being approached in the way of a challenge to see if he can and is willing to gratify their disrespectful desires, and this is the temptation Satan is putting before Jesus.

We cannot imagine a high mountain which would be able to show more than a few kingdoms, but Satan does have supernatural powers, and was able to show Jesus the great things of the kingdoms of the earth. He wanted Jesus to be tempted by the power and glory he could offer him. Satan is known as the God of the world. (Ephesians 2:2; John 12:31; John 14:30; John 16:11) He could offer Jesus any of the benefits of the earthly kingdoms.

In exchange for Jesus submission to Satan's will, Satan promised him the control and the glory of being the ruler of the world. However if he did worship Satan, then he would have sinned and this would have disqualified him to be the perfect sacrifice, he could not have shed his blood to wash away our sins, because he would then have been a sinner.

Jesus again uses the scriptures to rebuff the temptations of Satan. It is wrong for Jesus to worship and serve anyone other than God the father, and it is wrong for us as well.(Deuteronomy 6, Exodus 12, Exodus 34)

Satan is spelled the same in both Greek and English. Thayer says as a proper name it means “adversary” and when used figuratively in means “Satan-like man”. In this instance Jesus uses the proper name and identifies the devil as being his adversary. He told him to leave.

This account only states that Satan left Jesus alone, but (Luke 4:13) states he left “he departed from Him until an opportune time.” (Hebrews 2:17 – 18; Hebrews 4:15) indicate Jesus was subject to temptation through out his life on earth. He was tempted whenever the devil or his servants had the opportunity to try to get him to sin.

1 John 2:16 says that all sin is composed of “lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, and the pride of life.” Satan used these three on Eve in the garden with the “tree of knowledge of good and evil”. He tried to use them on Jesus. The tempation of changing the stone to bread was a temptation of lust of the flesh. The temptation of all the kingdoms of the world was lust of the eyes, and the idea of throwing himself off of the temple to prove that he was divine was a test of pride of life.

After failing to accomplish getting Jesus to sin, Satan went away to look for a more opportune time. Christ was then ministered to by the angels.