Matthew 4

1 – 2

Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Jesus ate nothing for 40 days and nights. After this, he was very hungry.

Sometimes we cannot explain it but we know that God is leading us to do something. God will always give you two or three witnesses from the Bible or from strong Christians to confirm where He is leading you. Sometimes He is leading us into the desert where we do not want to go. It is best to bow our heads and quietly trust Him even in the desert. Jesus was tested with every evil thing that we have been tempted with. Hebrews 4:15

3 – 4

The devil came to Jesus to tempt him. The devil said, “Since you are the Son of God, tell these rocks to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written in the Scriptures, ‘A person does not live only by eating bread. But a person lives by everything the Lord says.’”

The devil knows that Jesus is the Son of God. He wants Jesus to show off His power. Jesus cared more about feeding others than His own needs.

5 – 6

Then the devil led Jesus to the holy city of Jerusalem. He put Jesus on a very high place of the Temple. The devil said, “Since you are the Son of God, jump off.

It is written in the Scriptures, He has put his angels in charge of you. They will catch you with their hands. And you will not hit your foot on a rock.

This Psalm goes on to talk about God protecting us in all things we face in daily life. It is not telling us to do something to test God. The devil is an expert in giving us only a piece of a Bible verse and twisting it to say what he wants. Pay attention! Psalm 91:12

7. Jesus answered him, “It also says in the Scriptures, ‘Do not test the Lord your God.’”

Jesus answers each attack with Scripture. We need to have Scripture ready to use when we are attacked or we will fall into a pit. Even if you do not understand everything you read just keep reading the Word and God will begin to open your mind to understand and you will have the same power of the Word growing inside of you. James 4:7

8 – 10

Then the devil led Jesus to the top of a very high mountain. He showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and all the great things that are in those kingdoms. The devil said, “If you will bow down and worship me, I will give you all these things.”

Jesus said to the devil, “Go away from me, Satan! It is written in the Scriptures, ‘You must worship the Lord your God. Serve only him!’”

When Adam and Eve ate the fruit they were giving control of the things of the world to the devil. At the end of the world Jesus will take control again. The devil is telling Jesus that there is another way to save the world.

11. So the devil left Jesus. And then some angels came to Jesus and helped him.

The devil came back many times to make trouble for Jesus. The devil does the same to us. Telling us lies is the only weapon he has. If we fill ourselves with the truth of God’s Word we will know when a lie is being told to us. Matthew shows us that Jesus told the devil to leave. We can do this also. James 4:7, John 14:30

12 – 16

Jesus heard that John had been put in prison. So Jesus went back to Galilee. He left Nazareth and went and lived in Capernaum, a town near Lake Galilee. Capernaum is in the area near Zebulun and Naphtali.

Jesus did this to make true what the prophet Isaiah said:Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali are on the way to the sea. They are along the Jordan River.

This is Galilee where the non-Jewish people live. These people who live in darkness will see a great light. They live in a place that is very dark. But a light will shine on them.”

It is the same with us. We bring the light of Jesus with us! People can tell that there is something different about us. All that we can tell them is that we believed the Gospel and it was like a light came on and we are not the same as we were before. We can beg them to ask the Lord to do the same for them. Isaiah 9:1-2

17. From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Change your hearts and lives, because the kingdom of heaven is coming soon.”

At this time the only thing the people could understand was that Jesus came to show them God’s kingdom. A kingdom has a king and a king tells his people how he wants them to live. This means that in God’s kingdom people live differently than the way the world lives.

18 – 20

Jesus was walking by Lake Galilee. He saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and Peter’s brother Andrew. The brothers were fishermen, and they were fishing in the lake with a net. Jesus said, “Come follow me. I will make you fishermen for men.” Right then Peter and Andrew left their nets and followed him.

When there is something bad in the water, sometimes men will catch fish so they can take them to a safe place. Men who catch fish know that some fish are not interested in one kind of food, but they want another food.

We want to rescue men from the bad things that they are drowning in. Sometimes we talk with them about the things that they are interested in so that they will listen to what Jesus says about their lives.

21 – 22

Jesus continued walking by Lake Galilee. He saw two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets to catch fish. Jesus told them to come with him. At once they left the boat and their father, and they followed Jesus.
These men heard about Jesus before this. They were asking God to show them what to do with Jesus. When they had the chance to follow Jesus they took it!

23 – 25

Jesus went everywhere in Galilee. He taught in the synagogues and preached the Gospel of the kingdom of heaven. And he healed all the people’s diseases and sicknesses. The news about Jesus spread all over Syria, and people brought all the sick to him.

These sick people were suffering from different kinds of diseases and pain. Some were suffering very great pain, some had demons, some were epileptics, and some were paralyzed. Jesus healed all of them. Many people followed him. They came from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, Judea, and the land across the Jordan River.

The language here shows that some of these people were tortured by these things. Fear brings torture in your mind (1 John 4:18). Only Jesus can send fears away from us.