Matthew 4

Jesus went from His baptism into the wilderness where He fasted 40 days and 40 nights. A couple of thoughts here. Nobody can go 40 days without eating, so Jesus was either miraculously sustained, or He was on a limited fast. Not all fasts are complete abstentions. In the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, they “fast” during the day, but eat at night. So something like that might have been involved in what Jesus did.

Regardless, after the 40 days, the Matthew says He was hungry (v. 2), and the devil came and tempted Him—three times. Notice the first two times, the old Serpent said, “If you be the Son of God…,” obviously trying to create doubt in Jesus regarding His own identity. Not shockingly, Christ wasn’t fooled. During the second temptation, Satan quotes Scripture against Jesus. He misuses it, of course, but it’s a sobering thought to realize that Satan knows the Scriptures, maybe better than anyone but God. And he obviously has his ministers on earth who are deceiving many today through their “handling the Word of God deceitfully” (II Corinthians 4:2). Perhaps the most frightening Scripture in the Bible is II Corinthians 11:14-15, where Paul writes, “And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.” Satan looks like an angel, folks, he doesn’t appear as a serpent or some kind of terrifying demon. And unless we know what to look for, in him and his transformed “ministers of righteousness,” he can dupe us straight into hell.

Jesus responds to each temptation with an “It is written….” The Word of God is here to help us overcome sin. But again, we must know that Word in order to recognize sin and have the strength to resist it. The Lord defeated Satan and “angels came and ministered to Him” (v. 11).

Jesus then went into Galilee and “dwelt in Capernaum,” which Matthew tells us was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy (Isaiah 9:1-2). Capernaum was located on the sea coast of Galilee, on the border of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali; hence, the quote from Isaiah. Verse 17 says His Galilean ministry then began. I find it interesting that Matthew’s first recorded preaching word out of Jesus’ mouth was “repent,” not “love.”

He calls His first four apostles, Peter, Andrew, James, and John—all of whom were fishermen—in verses 18-22: “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately did so. This “immediacy” might sound a little strange to us, until we put all the gospels together and realize from John’s narrative that the four fishermen had known Jesus for at least a year. So, there apparently is about that much time between Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness and His calling of these apostles. None of the gospel writers tell a full biography of Christ, of course. They only tell what is necessary to accomplish their—the Holy Spirit’s—purposes. These gospels are not a full accounting of Jesus’ life; they are written “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name,” (John 20:31). There is enough evidence recorded in these four books to convince the “honest and good heart” (Luke 8:15) that He was, indeed, the Son of God. If men won’t believe on the basis of the evidence provided in the gospels, they wouldn’t believe if more proof were forthcoming.

Matthew then concludes chapter 4 with a general statement of Jesus’ preaching, healing, and following. Even though He apparently limited His activities at this time to Galilee (v. 23), His fame spread all over the region and He attracted people “from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan,” (v. 25).