Temptation (Part 2)

Lesson Text: Matthew 4:1-14 

The second temptation of Jesus is found in verses 5 - 8. The devil brought Jesus to Jerusalem and took Him on the very top of a temple and told Him to jump since He was the Son of God. Then Satan goes a step further than the he did with the first temptation. He attempts to use the scripture just as Jesus did. Satan quotes Psalms 91:11-12. He even starts off by using the same line as Jesus just has: "It is written." However, Satan doesn't just quote the Bible, he misquotes it. This passage in Psalms is about trusting in God, but Satan turns it around on Jesus and tries to make it be about testing God. Jesus, of course, knows His scripture, too, and knows that Satan has misquoted the Bible. He uses Deuteronomy 6:16 to refute Satan's misrepresentation. 

Jesus again uses the children of Israel to make the point to Satan. In Exodus 17:1-7, the children of Israel are traveling through the wilderness and they are without water. They go to Moses and ask for water, and Moses says that by asking for water they are tempting God. The children of Israel were ready to stone Moses because they thought they were going to die in the wilderness without any water. Moses, by the power of God, ends up striking the rock, and water came out for the people to drink.  

Jesus uses this reasoning of not tempting God, as illustrated in Deuteronomy 6:16 (which referred to Exodus 17), as to why He would not jump off of the pinnacle of the temple of Jerusalem.