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It Is Written – Matthew 4
It Is Written – Matthew 4
The record of the temptation of Jesus at the beginning of His preaching shows Him stating repeatedly “it is written”… With such a quote from the Jewish bible of His day He withstood every temptation.
When you step back you can see that the temptations themselves had one common thread - will you trust and obey what God has said? This was where Adam and Eve failed. ‘Has God said”… was not so much a question of IF God said it but would they trust and obey. Jesus was faithful (Heb. 3:6). Here are some things we can see in this story of the temptation.
God revealed His will to man -
‘Man must live …by every word that comes from the mouth of God’ (4:4). YET - that very quote is of what was written. Such revealed word IS God’s word for man. God’s speaking TO the prophets was God speaking THROUGH the prophets TO the people (Heb. 1:1). It is said to be "The word of the Lord" 262 times (ESV Old Testament). It states: "Thus saith the Lord" 415 (KJ Old Testament). To them were given the ORACLES of God is stated: “the oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi (Mal. 1:1); or “the oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw” (Hab. 1:1). Hence Paul stated that the “Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God (Rom. 3:2).
This message was referred to as the ‘testimonies’, the ‘law’, the ‘commandments’, the ‘word’, the ‘precepts’, the ‘statutes’, the ‘ways’; yet all of these were said to be HIS. Thus the Hebrew writer sums up by saying: "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world" (Hebrews 1:1-2).
That revelation was written down -
I know that this is obvious, but it needs to be remembered. God's revelation was written down. God in fact commanded it to be written. "Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven”" (Exodus 17:14). Again we read: "And the LORD said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel”" (Exodus 34:27). Thus the Old Covenant came into lasting form as each prophet began writing down the things revealed unto him by the LORD.
That revelation was preserved -
Jesus read, studied, memorized from the copies then in existence. Jesus quotes from Genesis and equates it with what God said. "Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning… said…" (Matt. 19:4-5). Having spanned generations and gone through copy after copy, yet Jesus quotes it as accurate.
Jesus' confidence in such preservation is seen when He said that "not one jot or tittle pass until fulfilled" (Matt. 5:18). Isaiah had promised: "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever" (Isaiah 40:8). Note that this very promise was quoted and applied by Peter (1Pet. 1:24-25).
Many of the quotes of the NT come from the LXX - a translation of Hebrew into Greek - yet such translation is quoted as being what God revealed. Translation did not necessarily corrupt the message. WHILE it COULD, it NEED not… being WRITTEN it could be (and should be) checked and validated.
One could read and understand God’s word –
That Jesus expected the people to have both read and understood this revelation is clear from the many times that he asked: "Have you never read?" (cp. Matt. 12:3, 5; 19:4, 22:31; Mark 12:10, 26; Luke 6:3). When asked what one should do to have eternal life, He responded: "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" (Luke 10:26). He then responded to the answer given by stating: "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live" (Luke 10:28). Hence Paul’s statement that "…the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Ephesians 3:3–5).
One was to LIVE by such -
As Jesus finished the sermon on the Mount He said: "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). He affirmed that "everyone that does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother" (Matt. 12:50). He condemned the Pharisees NOT for doing the little things of law, but for NOT doing the greater things. In saying this He then affirmed that they should not leave the little things undo either! (Matt. 23:23). It is not 'either – or' in our obedience, we are not instructed to pick and choose which teachings we will do rather we are to live by EVERY word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. The Hebrew writer states concerning Jesus that "Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him," (Hebrews 5:8–9).
The good news is that God offers forgiveness when we fall short… but that is no excuse for not trying.
To know good and NOT DO = sin (Jam. 4:17). Such obedience is loving God (John 14:15).
Matthew 4:4 - "But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”"
Hugh DeLong
