Sunday, February 01, 2009

Scripture Reflection 001

Reflecting on Satan’s ways of trying to deceive Jesus as seen in Matthew 4:1-11

Welcome Sunday School class to Thursday Thinking! I normally post something on Thursdays here, but I’m changing that up a bit for this discussion about the Devil and C.S. Lewis. I hope you find encouragement here to get into the Word and reflect upon it deeply. You know as well as I do how rewarding that can be! If you are unsure about what to do here, I have provided some guidance below. You can try and answer a set of questions, or you can take your time and do one question a day, or just one question period. this post will be up until next Sunday. Next Monday there will be a new post related to next week’s lesson. I hope you enjoy this as much as I’m going to!

Guidance for studying Matthew 4:1-11

1. Read through Matthew 4:1-11 here or in your own Bible and try and write down the different ways in which Satan tempts Jesus. What are they? What does this tell us about Satan’s methods of attack?

2. How does Jesus defend Himself against Satan’s attacks? Were you surprised at all in regards to the book of the Old Testament Jesus uses here? What does this tell us? How does this help us know what to do when we are under attack?

3. What do we learn about Satan and his character in all of this? What type of character does he possess?

4. Why do you think Satan used scripture when he was tempting Jesus? What does this tell us about him?

5. Why would Satan tempt Jesus to turn rocks into bread? What’s wrong with Jesus doing that? What is behind Satan’s schemes?

10 comments:

A member from class said...

Verse 4 is the key to victory over Satan.

A member from class said...

Satan tempted Jesus to show himself to be god by turning stones to bread. satin will hit us,like he hit Jesus at at our weakest point. He new that Jesus was hungry from fasting, that's why he attact him with that.
In the second temptation has a two fold lesson It makes us realize that satan knows the scriptures well,and he will twist the truth just enough to use it as a web. The secound lesson here, is to show us that we are not to abuse Gods protection. If we abuse our gaurdion angles, God will lift his his hand of protection from us. Jesus new that he would fail in his mission if he did that That's way we don't walk out into oncomming trafic just because we have a gaurdion angel.

Tim Sheets said...

Dick, I liked what you said about Satan attacking us at our weakest point. That is what he was trying to do with Jesus in the first temptation. Jesus had been fasting from food and I'm sure he was starving. Satan shows up and tempts him to make some food. He attacks Jesus at his physical point of need first. Kind of interesting, don't you think?

A member from class said...

sWOW! We need to be on our guard every moment. satan knows our weakest points and will use them against us to gain control over us. Just further evidence of how we need to put on the full armor of God to be able to resist falling into the temptations of the"evil one" .

PS: As I proclaim computer illiteracy, I don't know what HTML tags are.

PPS: Thanks, Tim. I think I am really going to enjoy this study. Can hardly wait until the next assignment.

A member from class said...

Tim that last comment was from Sharon

A member from class said...

Most of us in this class,only had cloths pins to play with when we were growing up. Therefore we are computer illiterate. Please for give us. Dick

A member from class said...

2/2/2009 6 am
Matthew 4:1-11

Satan Jesus,US AND TEMPTTATION. A pathway to hell.


Satan tempted Jesus, to show himself to be God by turning stones to bread. satin will hit us,like he hit Jesus at at our weakest point. He new that Jesus was hungry from fasting, that's why he attact him with that.
The second temptation has a two fold lesson. It makes us realize that satan knows the scriptures well,and he will twist the truth just enough to use it as a web. The lesson here, is to show us that we are not to abuse Gods protection. If we abuse our gaurdion angles, God will lift his his hand of protection from us. Jesus new that he would fail in his mission if he did that That's way we don't walk out into oncomming trafic just because we have a gaurdion angel. Dick B.

Tim Sheets said...

Was it guardian angels that helped Jesus through His temptation with Satan or was it something else?

How does Hebrews 2:17-18 relate to this?

A member from class said...

Hebrews 2:17-18
Christ had to partake in humanity in order to be tempted. ( John MacArthur commentaries).. He had to be made human in order to be tempted. Being the only one who did not succome to temptation.he was made hight prist in his humaness. [He was/is] already God.
The best way I can describe his being made propitiation ,is to invission it this way. Suppose a man walked out in front of a moving bus, and another man pushed him out of the way,knowing that he would be hit by the bus instead. That's propitiation! That is ultiment MERCY. Dick B

Tim Sheets said...

So, it looks like Jesus could stand up to Satan's temptations. Was this a special one time thing, or was it a preview of things to come in the lives of His followers after Pentecost?