It Is Written

The first temptation of the devil to Jesus is an appeal to the lust of the flesh. The tempter came to Jesus and said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But Jesus answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (vv. 3-4).’” Satan challenged Jesus to prove his divinity by misusing God’s gift for his own gain. Though Satan’s temptation is not miraculously creating extravagant things, only bread, Jesus did not command the stones to become bread at the instigation of Satan. Jesus knows his primary motivation is not to honor God.

What Jesus said in response to Satan teaches us that every word that comes from God’s mouth is more valuable than bread. Our hunger is a representation of the desires of our flesh. Being the Son of God, Jesus is not immune to temptation. He resisted temptation as totally man, relying on the power and truth of God’s Word, so we can imitate and connect with him. He didn’t fight his struggle with a supernatural resource that wasn’t available to us. Instead, he displayed his greatest weapon, the word of God. Charles Spurgeon wrote in his commentary, “Out flashed the sword of the Spirit: our Lord will fight with no other weapon. He could have spoken new revelations, but chose to say, ‘It is written.’”

What God’s Word can you declare today over your situation? We can use God’s truth to effectively resist temptation and fight our battles, just as Jesus did. We are poorly armed in the fight against temptation if we are unaware of God’s truth.