This encounter is critical to the ultimate clarification of Jesus’ ministry. This was Satan’s attempt to make Jesus renounce His mission. Satan’s preface statement, “Since You are the Son of God,” is significant because it helps us to know that the doubt of who Jesus is rests only with us, not with Satan (James 2:19).
This first temptation—to turn the stones to bread—follows the pattern of miraculous provision, like Moses. This temptation arose out of a normal, natural need—out of His basic humanity. There was nothing wrong or deviant that caused His temptation, but simply that He was a human being.
Temptations come to us in the same way. The devil was saying to Jesus, “God doesn’t really care for You. If He did, He would not leave You in a wilderness without food for 40 days and nights. This is not an indication of real love. So why don’t You act upon Your innate powers of deity and turn these stones into bread?”
Satan’s suggestion is that God is either too busy, too unconcerned, or too removed to take care of Jesus. There is a subtle pressure here for Jesus to act on His own, independent of the Divine Parent. Satan’s attempt is to undo the priority of life and make the physical life the most important thing.
Jesus’ response reminds us that our deepest need is not the physical—it never was and never will be. Immediately He comes back to a proper estimation and understanding of the nature of man. Satan’s work is always to twist and distort things and make them look different than they are; to twist our perspective so that we see life out of proportion. Jesus is saying that it is better to die of hunger in a wilderness in right relationship with God, than to satisfy that hunger at the cost of that relationship.
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