4:3
The Holy Spirit has led Jesus into the wilderness, now the tempter comes. So we see who is “in charge” here. It is the Holy Spirit, and it is Jesus who had prepared Himself for battle. We need to understand this pattern if we are to have a right view of life. And we need to be always ready, just as Jesus was ready. Then whatever happens we will be prepared to cope with it. That doesn’t mean the battles will be easy or struggle-free, but we will be ready to win.
“If you are the Son of God ...” The devil casts doubt on Jesus’ identity, and then seeks to use that doubt to get Jesus to do something wrong. He will do the same with us, sowing insecurity, and then getting us to act wrongly out of that insecurity. Jesus, of course, would have been hungry.
4:4
Jesus responds with the first of the Deuteronomic quotes, this one from Deut 8:3. It is relevant that Deuteronomy is the time when Moses prepared the Israelites for entering the promised land. Jesus was going to lead God’s people into the true promised land. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”. It is God's word above all that sustains us. We all need to remember that, and we all need to live by that.
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