The Word, Stone & Bread

Most of us have studied the temptation of Christ found in Matthew 4 several times. Today I find it incredibly enlightening when I play close attention to the first temptation.

"If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Satan tempts in verse 3.

Now I must confess. If this had been me, I'd have been tempted to do this about day three. I'm not a happy hungry person (just ask Hubby). If I hadn't eaten by day forty, I surely would have licked those dirty rocks several times.

But not Jesus. He succinctly and directly answers Satan. "It is written. Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." Jesus directly quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3.

Now let me share what I find incredible about this scene.

The old sneaky snake aka Satan is trying to tempt Jesus by appealing to His human hunger need. But Satan forgot a few important facts.

• According to John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Jesus, the Son of God, is the Word as He quotes the Word to that pesky, crafty deceiver. Satan looked the Word in the eye and questioned His knowledge of the scripture. The Word.
• According to 1 Peter2:4, "As you come to Him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him…". Old Satan is talking about average, everyday stones to the living Stone. A chosen and precious cornerstone laid in Zion by the Father. The living Stone.
• According to John 6:33, "For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world," and verse, 35, "Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never go thirsty.'" Satan enticed the bread of life with average, stone-turned-into-bread. That's crazy!  The bread of life. 

Satan provoked and mocked the hungry Son of God with stones and bread while all along he's actually talking to the Word, the living Stone and the Bread of Life.

So how important is it for us to know the Bible and understand scripture? I'm glad you asked.

In each of the three temptations, Jesus wields His "…sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." (Eph. 6:17)  He beats the evil Deceiver by quoting the Word. And to this day, that's one of our greatest weapons against temptation, hopelessness, and confusion.

I like to visualize that when I open my Bible, I'm sharpening my Sword of the Spirit skills. The Sword is always there, ready and willing to be used, but I must polish my skills by reading and learning the Word of God.

Jesus gave us that example in the wilderness. Since He drew the sword and won, and His victory is given to us in the Word, then it must be important for us to know.

The question is…What will we do now that we know?

Have you had any epiphanies lately? Has Scripture revealed a fresh insight to you recently? Let's share our journey and savor some fresh hope. God bless!!

By the grace of God and perpetual spiritual and emotional renovation, Tammy Van Gils writes and blogs about Hope for the Everblooming Life at Tammyvangils.com. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers Association and Word Word Weavers International. Visit her on Facebook  and Twitter.