Matthew 4:1-11

Jesus was a tempted Savior Matthew 4:1-11: At this point Jesus began His preaching ministry as described in Isaiah 61:1. "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Before this, however, Jesus had to deal with the Devil. The Devil is the tempter. "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." (Matthew 4:1) The tempter came when Jesus was weak with forty days of fasting. (Matthew 4:2) The tempter used doubt and deception to tempt Jesus and Jesus used scripture to resist him. (Matthew 4:3-11)

Three times Satan tempted and three times Jesus answered with Scripture. His reply was "It is written." How Christians handle temptation shows both the reality and depth of their faith. Satan learned that as long as one stands on the word of God he can resist temptation. Satan even used scripture or in this case misused scripture to try to cast doubt in Jesus' mind. (Psalms 91:11-12)