2020.03.09 Hopewell @Home ▫ Matthew 4:1-11

Read Matthew 4:1–11

Questions from the Scripture text: Who led Jesus (Matthew 4:1)? To where? To have what happen? By whom? What had Jesus done (Matthew 4:2a), and what was His condition (verse 2b)? What did the devil question in Matthew 4:3? What did he tempt Christ to do? What did Jesus answer—what had God given Him (Matthew 4:4)? Where did the devil take Him in Matthew 4:5? What did he tempt Him to do (Matthew 4:6)? What did Jesus answer—what must we not do to God (Matthew 4:7)? Where did the devil take Him, and what did he show Him, in Matthew 4:8? What did he tempt Him to do (Matthew 4:9)? What did Jesus answer—Whom may we worship (Matthew 4:10)? What happened in Matthew 4:11?

Jesus is God’s Son with Whom He is well pleased. When the Lord was baptized into union with us in our repentance (Matthew 3:13-15), the Lord declared from heaven His love and pleasure in His Son.

The Lord makes this wonderful declaration to us too, who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christian baptism is not the baptism of John, but baptism into the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 19:1–5, Matthew 28:18–20).

Similar to how Jesus’s baptism declared His union to those who would believe in our sin and need of repentance, Christian baptism declares that, when we believe in Jesus, we are united to Him in the atonement of His death and new-life-power of His resurrection (cf. Romans 6:1-9).

So, when we read Matthew 4:1–11 in context, we read with great interest to see the perfect righteousness of the Son of God in whom we have been adopted. “If You are the Son of God,” says the devil. And Jesus’s perfect obedience declares that He absolutely IS the Son of God!

Matthew 4:1–11 shows that Son whom the Father loves and with Whom the Father is well pleased living out the love of His Father and behaving in a manner that is perfectly pleasing. And so, we can see not only what has been counted for us, but what we shall surely be like when He is done with us.

Shall we not rejoice in the love of Him who has so loved us? Let us seek to live however is well-pleasing to Him!

How does God come to be well-pleased with a believer? How then should they live? 

Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH459 “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less”