Jesus Did Right What We Got Wrong

Read Matthew 4:1-11

      Jesus answered the devil’s temptations with Scripture, as has been observed many times.  Scripture hidden in the heart is a great defense against temptation and sin (Psalm 119:11), and Jesus used it well. 

      But notice that Jesus’ first quotation of Scripture is from Deuteronomy 8, where Moses tells the people that their forty years in the wilderness was to test and humble them, that they might “know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3).

      Israel was tested in the wilderness for forty years; Messiah for forty days.  Israel’s history prefigures Jesus’ life.  But Jesus will pass his test, and can save all who were weak and halting in their faith and obedience in their own time of testing, called life.