Matthew Henry Commentary Matthew 4

Concerning Christ's temptation, observe that immediately after He was declared to be the Son of God and the Savior of the world, He was tempted. Great privileges and special tokens of Divine favor will not secure anyone from being tempted. But if the Holy Spirit witnesses to our being adopted as children of God, that will answer all the suggestions of the evil spirit.

Christ was directed to the combat. If we presume upon our own strength and tempt the devil to tempt us, we provoke God to leave us to ourselves. Others are tempted when drawn aside of their own lust, and enticed (James 1:14); but our Lord Jesus had no corrupt nature; therefore, He was tempted only by the devil. In the temptation of Christ, it appears that our enemy is subtle, spiteful, and very daring; but he can be resisted.

It is a comfort to us that Christ suffered, being tempted; for in this way it appears that our temptations, if not yielded to, are not sins—they are afflictions only. Satan aimed in all his temptations to bring Christ to sin against God.

1. He tempted Him to despair of His Father's goodness and to distrust His Father's care concerning Him.

   It is one of the wiles of Satan to take advantage of our outward condition; and those who are brought into straits need to double their guard.

   Christ answered all the temptations of Satan with, It is written; to set us an example, He appealed to what was written in the Scriptures.

   This method we must take when at any time we are tempted to sin. Let us learn not to take any wrong courses for our supply, when our wants are ever so pressing: in some way or another, the Lord will provide.

2. Satan tempted Christ to presume upon His Father's power and protection in a point of safety.

   Nor are any extremes more dangerous than despair and presumption, especially in the affairs of our souls. Satan has no objection to holy places as the scene of his assaults. Let us not, in any place, be off our watch. The holy city is the place where he does, with the greatest advantage, tempt men to pride and presumption.

   All high places are slippery places; advancements in the world make a man a mark for Satan to shoot his fiery darts at. Is Satan so well versed in Scripture as to be able to quote it readily? He is indeed.

   It is possible for a man to have his head full of Scripture notions and his mouth full of Scripture expressions, while his heart is full of bitter enmity to God and to all goodness. Satan misquoted the words. If we go out of our way—out of the way of our duty—we forfeit the promise and put ourselves out of God's protection.

   This passage, Deuteronomy 8:3, worked against the tempter; therefore, he left out part. This promise is firm and stands good. But shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? No.

3. Satan tempted Christ to idolatry with the offer of the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

   The glory of the world is the most charming temptation to the unthinking and unwary; by that, men are most easily imposed upon. Christ was tempted to worship Satan. He rejected the proposal with abhorrence: Get thee hence, Satan! Some temptations are openly wicked; and they are not merely to be opposed but rejected at once.

   It is good to be quick and firm in resisting temptation. If we resist the devil, he will flee from us. But the soul that deliberates is almost overcome. We find but few who can decidedly reject such baits as Satan offers; yet what is a man profited if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Christ was helped after the temptation, for His encouragement to go on in His undertaking, and for our encouragement to trust in Him.

For as He knew by experience what it was to suffer, being tempted, so He knew what it was to be helped, being tempted.

Therefore, we may expect not only that He will feel for His tempted people, but that He will come to them with seasonable relief.

It is just for God to take the gospel and the means of grace from those who disregard them and thrust them away. Christ will not stay long where he is not welcome.

Those who are without Christ are in the dark. They were sitting in this condition, a contented posture; they chose it rather than light; they were willingly ignorant.

When the gospel comes, light comes; when it comes to any place, when it comes to any soul, it makes day there. Light discovers and directs; so does the gospel.

The doctrine of repentance is right gospel doctrine. Not only the austere John Baptist, but the gracious Jesus, preached repentance. There is still the same reason to do so. The kingdom of heaven was not considered to have fully come until the pouring out of the Holy Spirit after Christ's ascension.

When Christ began to preach, he began to gather disciples, who would be hearers and afterward preachers of his doctrine, who would be witnesses of his miracles and afterward testify concerning them. He did not go to Herod's court, nor to Jerusalem among the chief priests and the elders, but to the Sea of Galilee, among the fishermen. The same power that called Peter and Andrew could have worked upon Annas and Caiaphas, for with God nothing is impossible.

But Christ chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. Diligence in an honest calling is pleasing to Christ, and it is no hindrance to a holy life. Idle people are more open to the temptations of Satan than to the calls of God. It is a happy and hopeful thing to see children careful of their parents, and dutiful.

When Christ comes, it is good to be found doing. Am I in Christ? is a very necessary question to ask ourselves; and, next to that, Am I in my calling? They had followed Christ before, as common disciples (John 1:37); now they must leave their calling. Those who would follow Christ rightly must, at his command, leave all things to follow him, must be ready to part with them.

This instance of the power of the Lord Jesus encourages us to depend on his grace. He speaks, and it is done.

Wherever Christ went, He confirmed His Divine mission by miracles, which were emblems of the healing power of His doctrine and the influences of the Spirit that accompanied it.

We do not now find the Savior's miraculous healing power in our bodies; but if we are cured by medicine, the praise is equally His.

Three general words are used here. He healed every sickness or disease; none was too bad, none too hard, for Christ to heal with a word.

Three diseases are named: paralysis, which is the greatest weakness of the body; severe mental affliction, which is the greatest malady of the mind; and demonic possession, which is the greatest misery and calamity for both.

Yet Christ healed all these, and by thus curing bodily diseases, He showed that His great errand into the world was to cure spiritual maladies.

Sin is the sickness, disease, and torment of the soul: Christ came to take away sin and so to heal the soul.