Matthew Chapter 4
Matthew chapter 4 verses 1-11 records Jesus being led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was tempted in 3 aspects by satan. Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus was in all points tempted as we are, yet He is without sin. The three temptations Jesus faced can be categorised into the 3 types of temptations – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, found in 1 John 2:16. These 3 types encompass the ways the world tempts us.
Although Jesus was in the flesh as we are, this passage reminds us to follow His example. From how He was victorious over the temptations of satan, we need to believe that if we remember the word of God, and live out His word in our lives, God’s words will overcome the weakness of our flesh and surpass our own will. Moreover, we are more blessed, because God has already given us His precious Holy Spirit. His spirit lives in us, strengthening us. Therefore, overcoming temptations is something that we can strive for.
From verse 12 onwards, the passage records that Jesus departed to Galilee, where He called the fishermen Simon, Andrew, James and John to be His disciples. This passage in Matthew records that they immediately followed Him, leaving their nets and their father (verse 20, 22). In Luke 5:1-11, it records that Simon had already listened to Jesus speaking to the multitudes. Afterwards, he listened to Jesus’ command to launch out into the deep and let down the nets for a catch, catching a great number of fish. From here we see that these disciples did not blindly follow Jesus. These disciples first listened to the word of life that Jesus was preaching, which is what started their faith. Then, they personally experienced the almighty power of Jesus, strengthening their knowledge and understanding of Jesus even more. After, when Jesus asked them to follow Him, to be fishers of men, their hearts were already full of zeal, and so they put down everything and followed the Lord. In our faith, we should not be like the people in that generation, who followed the crowds blindly to follow Jesus. Neither should we follow Jesus to reap rewards in this world. Instead, our faith must be rooted in His word, and experience His grace. Only then will our faith be unshakeable.
