Man Doesn’t Live
What does it take to live? The common answer would be food, shelter, clothing, health care, and finances.
When Israel was brought out of four hundred years of slavery in Egypt and was in the wilderness, they needed to eat. God supplied them with manna from heaven. Then Moses told them that God humbled them and let them hunger and then fed them with manna, something their fathers had never known about or experienced, to show them that men do not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. (Deuteronomy 8:3)
There is life in what God speaks to His children. Real life comes from His word. We know this must be true because when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He quoted this word.
Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”
Why didn’t Jesus just say, “Leave me alone, Satan?” Jesus did His warfare with Satan in each temptation by quoting what God has already spoken in His word.
The enemy picked up on this and started quoting the word to Jesus in an attempt to trick Him. However, Jesus quoted the correct word to refute the twisting of Scripture that Satan was attempting to use against Him. Satan tempted Jesus with three primary temptations.
Prove you’re the Son of God by turning stones into bread.
Prove You’re the Son of God by sacrificing yourself and testing the promise of angels bearing you up.
Gain Your inheritance much quicker by worshipping me.
Basically, Jesus overcame the three foundational temptations that fuel all other temptations.
1John 2:16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
Jesus did not cave into identity confusion or deception because He stood on the word of God with understanding and proper application. When believers neglect to be immersed in the word of God for their lives, they risk being unprepared to stand on it in moments when it is most needed. Being filled with truth correctly revealed and understood prepares believers for any crisis that comes up and seeks to catch them off guard and tempt them to put their confidence in their flesh or the wisdom of this world as opposed to what God has said and is now saying about it. Never forget that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Never forget, “It is written.”
