Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’
Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. | Matthew 4:1–11
Do you remember the name of the first man God made? Do you remember the name of the first woman? You know that Adam and Eve lived in a beautiful garden. Everything around them was beautiful, and they were very happy, until the day they disobeyed God.
Why did they disobey God?
God has an enemy. Satan is God’s enemy. He hates God. Satan tempted Adam and Eve. He made them sin against God. He was glad when they disobeyed God.
When Jesus came to earth, Satan tried to make Him disobey God, too. The Bible tells us how Satan tempted Jesus. Satan took Jesus to a wilderness, a wild lonely place. He tried for forty days to make Jesus disobey God. It was hard for Jesus to say “No” to Satan all the time.
At last, one beautiful day, Satan took Jesus up on a very high hill. They could see far, all around. Satan showed Jesus all the big cities of the world, the palaces of gold and silver, the kings and princes, and the big armies.
“This is all mine,” Satan said. “But I will give it all to You if You will just kneel down and worship me.”
Jesus said, “Go away, Satan! The Bible says we must worship only the Lord our God.”
Jesus would not do what Satan wanted. Jesus would not disobey God. Jesus loved God the Father. He obeyed God. Every day, from morning till night, He obeyed God. He never did anything wrong. Even when He was a little boy, He was never naughty. And He obeyed God even by going to the cross to die for us.
Adam and Eve disobeyed God. You remember the story. They did what they wanted to do, not what God had told them to do. And we, oh, so many, many times, we do what we want to do, instead of doing God’s will. But Jesus obeyed all the time. He said to his Father, “Not my will, but thine, be done.”
Jesus was obedient, to make up for all our disobedience. He had to be obedient to be our Saviour. And now, if we love Jesus, we will try harder than ever to be obedient. We will try to do everything God wants us to do. We want to do His will.
Sometimes it may be hard to do God’s will. But He will help us. He helped Jesus, too. When Satan was gone, He sent angels to comfort Jesus.
Something to Talk About
- How did Jesus show that He put God first?
- Did He obey because He wanted to?
- Do we really obey if we do not really want to?
Memory Verse
He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. | Philippians 2:8