On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast (03/16/21), Hank resumes teaching through the Bible, picking up with Matthew chapter 4. Chapter 4 of St. Matthew’s Gospel brings us to the ultimate spiritual battle. Jesus was alone and hungry, and Satan was poised and ready to strike. Jesus had fasted 40 days and 40 nights. Being hungry, Jesus was in a state of vulnerability. Moreover, he was in the very wilderness in which the Israelites had been tempted and had proven disloyal to the will of God. Sensing vulnerability, the tempter seized upon the physical hunger of our Lord. Jesus might well have responded by unveiling his divine glory, but he didn’t. He took up “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17 NIV). As Jesus armed himself with the sword of the Spirit, so must we. Armed with the puny sword of reason, we stand impotent before an archfiend who has studied us thoroughly and is intimately acquainted with all of our vulnerabilities. Armed with the sword of the Spirit, however, we are a terror to Satan and can stand strong in the face of his fiercest temptations. It is absurd to think of being a Christian without the knowledge of God’s Word and the skill to use it in spiritual warfare.

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