In Matthew 4, after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, Jesus is hungry and the devil comes and tempts Him to turn a stone into bread. Jesus rebukes him, in verse 4, saying “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Jesus was actually quoting scripture from Deuteronomy 8:3, reminding the devil that we are to obey God, and trust in Him—that God is actually our answer when it comes to satisfying the needs of the flesh.
The truth is, bread contains carbohydrates that our body needs for energy. And after a 40 day fast, bread would be a welcomed delight for almost anyone. But Jesus was reminding us that life goes far beyond the physical. He is referring to the needs we all have as a whole—body, soul, and spirit.
When God created Adam, we’re told that He actually breathed life into his nostrils. It was the breath of God that brought life. And since our life comes from the Lord, it takes more than just food, to sustain it. Like Jesus said, we need the Word of God because His words are spirit and life.
Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for a purpose. As I looked closer at this section of scripture, I realized there were more correlations to Deuteronomy 8 than just the verse that Jesus had quoted.
In Deuteronomy 8, it talks about the Israelites who were led into the desert for 40 years. And there was a purpose for them as well. It was to humble them, it was to test their hearts to see if they would obey, and it was preparing them to enter the Promised Land. And now Jesus, thousands of years later, was led into the desert for 40 days to open the door for all of us to enter the Promised Land. There in the desert, Jesus was tested. And He endured and overcame the enemy, fulfilling what the Israelites could not—which prepared Him to become our perfect redeemer. Jesus redeems our lives fully…body, soul, and spirit.
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