Matthew 4:8 - And showed Him all the kingdoms of the world

4:8

We now come to the third temptation. The first one used bodily needs, ie food; the second one focused on Christ’s identity; the third one focuses us on His mission. Notice that none of these things were sinful in themselves. Jesus was hungry, knowing who we are is important, and Jesus is Lord and He would be given all power and authority in heaven and on earth. The sin lay in the response to these that the devil was urging Jesus to make. With food it was elevating its importance. We do have material and physical needs, but the word of God is more important than them all. We can take encouragement from this if today we are faced with some seemingly insurmountable problem relating to material needs. It might be health, it might be financial. It is not to say that these things don’t matter, they do, but we should give first priority to the Word of God. We do not need to doubt our identity in Christ. We are saved, we are adopted as children into God’s family. And His purpose for our lives will be fulfilled, but this will happen according to God’s purposes and ways.