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| Chapter 4 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ Then was Jesus 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, He afterward hungered. 3 And when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." 4 But He answered and said, "It is written: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God’." 5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, and set Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and 6 said unto Him, "If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge concerning thee; and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone’." 7 Jesus said unto him, "It is written again: ‘Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God’." 8 Again, the devil took Him up onto an exceeding high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, 9 and said unto Him, "All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me." 10 Then said Jesus unto him, "Get thee hence, Satan! For it is written: ‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve’." 11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto Him. 12 ¶ Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, He departed into Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the seacoast in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, 15 "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: 16 the people who sat in darkness saw a great Light; and to them that sat in the region and shadow of death, Light has sprung up." 17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." 18 ¶ And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. 19 And He said unto them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." 20 And they straightway left their nets and followed Him. 21 And going on from thence He saw two other brethren, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in a boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. And He called them, 22 and they immediately left the boat and their father, and followed Him. 23 ¶ And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. 24 And His fame went throughout all Syria. And they brought unto Him all sick people who were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those who were possessed with devils, and those who were lunatic, and those who had the palsy; and He healed them. 25 And there followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and from Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. |
v1-11 The Temptation of Christ. Mark 1:12; Luke 4:1. The various tests were directed against the human nature of Jesus, a human has to eat, but as Jesus was a perfect joining of the divine and human natures then the outcome must be certain, because God cannot sin. Satan was defeated by a man in a human body. v1 Led of the Spirit is an indication of the submission of Jesus to the situation. Tempted by the devil. To be tried or tested to do evil. The Spirit was deliberately leading Jesus in order for this test time to take place. The Temptation of Jesus is to be compared and contrasted with the temptation of Adam when Man lost his place to Satan as lord of the earth. Adam did not have knowledge of good and evil until he disobeyed the commands of God. Genesis 1:26-28; Genesis 3:1-8. Jesus has now taken the place of Man and is being exposed to the plan of God to restore Man, the fallen race, back to God. Rom 8:19-23. See also:- 1) 2 Cor 4:16; "inner man" needs food. 2) 1 Peter 2:2 food the milk of the Word. 3-7 Satan wants Jesus to use His divine powers as a human, to act against the commands of God. The first two temptations were designed to prove that Jesus was the Son of God. Satan did not doubt that Jesus was the Son of God v6, he was using it as a test. Neither bread and hunger are sinful but we need to see that we need God as our source of "food," the response from Deuteronomy 8:3 shows the importance. v5-7 Taking Jesus up onto the roof of the temple, the pinnacle could have been the top of the porch, Satan uses scripture Psalm 91:11,12 to make Jesus prove God’s Word. "You shall not tempt the Lord your God." unauthorized action in putting God to the test is not faith but doubt. v8-11 The third temptation is an offer by Satan to give the world, which he stole from Adam, back to Jesus. Satan does control the earthly kingdoms, though there are limits which are set by God. 2 Cor 4:4. As Jesus was the Son of Man, Satan was offering to give back what he had stolen from Adam. However, Jesus had to give Satan the worship Satan wanted. If Jesus had worship Satan He would have accepted the lordship of the Devil. Satan was defeated by the use of God’s Word, just as any believer can do. v10 Satan does not want service, just Man to worship him, but whatever we worship we will serve. What are you worshiping? Is it truly God?. v11 Jesus is able to reject the temptations of Satan, who now departed, Jesus had only used the Word of God to defeat Satan, this power is open to all believers. v12 The Ministry of Jesus Christ starts. Matthew’s record covers four geographical area’s: Galilee, commencing Matthew 4:12ff; Perea, commencing Matthew 19:1ff, Judea, commencing Matthew 20:17ff, and Jerusalem, from Matthew 21:1ff. Matthew does not record the earlier Judean ministry recorded in the other Gospels but starts with Capernaum. v12-17 Jesus becomes resident of Capernaum. The imprisonment of John the Baptist is a signal for the ministry to begin. v13-16 Nazareth was not in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali so the move to Capernaum fulfilled, Isaiah 9:1,2. This area was more exposed to foreign influence, it had a mixed population and so had a low spiritual state, the darkness. v17 The message is the same as John the Baptist preached in Judea. v18-20 The Sea of Galilee - a lake in the Jordan valley, 680 feet below sea level, 7 miles wide and 14 miles long. Due to the surrounding hills and mountains the area is subject to sudden storms. The four Disciples called had probably met Jesus in Judea during the preaching of John The Baptist, compare John 1:32-49. Obviously their earlier meeting had a great affect on these men, v20 they straightway left and v22 they immediately left the boat and their father, reveals how much. The events of Luke 5:1-11 probably happened just before the call recorded by Matthew. v23-25 The early ministry involved teaching, preaching, and healing, as a result, the fame of Jesus spread. v24 The healing covered two forms, illnesses due to diseases and illnesses as a result of demonic influences, clearly separating the two problems. Syria probably referred to the area to the north of Galilee, Decapolis was a group of ten independent Greek cities to the east of Galilee and associated with Syria. Beyond Jordan is the Perea region. The message "the Gospel of the Kingdom," was the good news that the Messianic king was here and was about to set up His kingdom, Isaiah 35:3-6. |
Easy English Translation
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