A Message From God - Reading PlanSample

Start with prayer, asking God to meet and speak to you. Then watch the film clip below.

Now read Matthew 4:1-11, stopping to think and pray about anything that strikes you.

This is a dramatic and extraordinary moment at the start of Jesus’ ministry, as he clashes with Satan in the desert. His victory here prefigures his victory at the cross, as he chooses to reject the Devil’s schemes and temptations and instead stay true to God and his word.

But how? With the whole arsenal of heaven at his disposal, what does Jesus do? He uses the Bible. He responds to each temptation, “it is written” and quotes from the Old Testament.

As in the verses in the film, we see how amazing Jesus thought the Bible is. These aren’t dusty old texts that Jesus memorised because he had to, but passages that had come alive to him and that he uses to guide his life.There must be something pretty special and powerful here!

Jesus’ first answer shows us why. He quotes from Deuteronomy 8:3,“man shall not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” The Bible is God’s Word – it comes ‘from the mouth of God,’ and that makes it worth reading and listening to.

That also means it has authority. Each time Jesus says “it is written…” as he quotes it. He sees it as completely true and authoritative, and knows the Devil has no answer or comebacks.

That doesn’t stop Satan from trying to twist it to his own advantage – which is a warning to us that scripture can bemisused. He quotes his verse out of context, taking a line from a Psalm about trusting and obeying God and twisting it to encourage Jesus to do the opposite. We can usually avoid the same mistake by reading and checking the context around any verse. If we’re unsure though, Jesus demonstrates another great principle – to understand each part of the Bible in light of the rest of it. He simply quotes another verse to show how the Devil is wrong.

Finally, Jesus shows that it’s not enough just to listen to what God says – we also need to act on it. We aren’t supposed to just read and study scripture, but also to “live by” it – which is exactly what Jesus is doing in this passage!