Hank Hanegraaff, host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast, reads Matthew 4:1–11. 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. “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread,” he hissed. 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). Next, Satan transported Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down.’ For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus could have routed Satan with 12 legions of angels, but he didn’t. He took up the sword of the Spirit. In desperation, the devil took the Lord to the summit of a high mountain and showed him the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’” The Lord of the universe could have blinded the devil with the brilliance of his intellect, but he didn’t. He took up the sword of the Spirit. As Jesus armed himself with “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” so must we.
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