Gospel of Matthew Chapter 4 Vs. 6

 The Temptation of Jesus

Matthew 4:6 “And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in [their] hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.”

for it is... Note that Satan also quoted Scripture (Psalm 91:11-12) – but utterly twisted its meaning, employing a passage about trusting God to justify testing Him. A misquotation of Psm. 91:11-12. And this time the Devil quoted Scripture (out of context), in order to get Him to sin and ultimately to shake His faith in the Word.

If thou be... In verse 6 here, the devil again asked whether Jesus is the Son of God. He even went so far as to quote a Scripture to get Jesus to tempt God the Father as noted above.

So many times today the enemy will come to us, using passages from the Scripture to make us believe that we are not of God. The devil never changes. It is the same devil, and the same tactics.

Satan was saying, in essence, “Why don’t You do what the people are expecting and make some marvelous display? After all, the Scripture says His angels will protect You and You won’t even hurt a foot as You come down.” Satan may have thought if Jesus could quote Scripture to him, he could quote it too. However, he purposely did not quote Psm. 91:11-12 accurately. He left out an important phrase, “in all Your ways.” According to the psalmist, a person is protected only when he is following the Lord’s will. For Jesus to cast Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple in some dramatic display to accommodate Himself to the people’s thinking would not have been God’s will.

Book of Joel Chapter 3 Vs. 11

 The Lord Judges the Nations

Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. Joel 3:11

Assemble yourselves, and... From different parts into one place:

come, all ye... Anti-Christian nations, Mohammed or the Catholic Church: Which latter, especially, are sometimes called Heathen and Gentiles, because of the Heathenish rites introduced into their worship (Psalm 10:16). From all parts, to the valley of Jehoshaphat or Armageddon (Rev. 16:14). This is spoken ironically to them, to use their utmost endeavors to get most powerful armies against the people of God, which would be of no avail, but issue in their own destruction.

and gather yourselves... Be ye gathered; or gather yourselves together, as the Targum and Kimchi. Get together in a body, muster up all the forces you can collect together.

Jarchi, from Menachem, by the change of a letter, renders it, make ye haste. Don't lose time in preparing for this battle; get men, and arms for them, as fast as you can. Be as expeditious as possible.

Or it may signify what should be done by the providence of God, bringing such large numbers of them together to their own ruin.

thither cause thy... Which is a prayer of the prophet, or of God's people, to God, that he would send down his mighty ones, the angels that excel in strength, and destroy this great army thus gathered together. As an angel in one night destroyed the army of Sennacherib.

So Kimchi and Aben Ezra interpret it of angels, and many other interpreters. But perhaps it may be better to understand it of Christian princes and their forces, those armies clothed in white, and riding on white horses, in token of victory; with Christ at the head of them (Revelation 19:14) as well as the angels of God.

Who may be said to be caused to "come down"; because, being assembled shall go down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, where their enemies are gathered together, and discomfit them.

The Targum is, "there the Lord shall, break the strength of their strong ones."

They are rushing to their doom. The mighty ones could come to battle, but they are no match for God. God, Himself, fights for Israel.

And they are assemble for battle (Joel 3:11; cf. Zec. 12:9). The Lord is urged to bring down His warriors.

Gospel of Matthew Chapter 4 Vs. 5

The Temptation of Jesus

 

Matthew 4:5 “Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,”

pinnacle of the... This was probably a roof with a portico at the southeast corner of the temple complex, where a massive retaining wall reached from a level well above the temple mount, deep into the Kidron Valley. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, this was a drop of nearly 450 feet.

The second test by Satan appealed to personal display or popularity. This test built on the first, for if He is the Son of God and the Messiah, nothing could harm Him. Satan took Him to… the highest point of the temple. Whether this was actual or simply a vision cannot be determined dogmatically. Here Satan made a subtle suggestion to Jesus as the Messiah. In effect he was reminding Jesus of Malachi’s prophecy (Mal. 3:1), which had led to a common belief among the Jews that Messiah would suddenly appear in the sky, coming down to His temple.

Book of Joel Chapter 3 Vs. 10

The Lord Judges the Nations

 

Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Joel 3:10

Beat your plowshares... Prepare for war, let all the enemies of God and of his people join together. Let them even call all the tillers of the ground to their assistance, instead of laboring in the field. Let every peasant become a soldier.

and your pruninghooks... Let them turn their agricultural implements into offensive weapons, so that the weak, being well armed, may confidently say, I am strong. Yet, when thus collected and armed, Jehovah will bring down thy mighty ones; for so the clause (in Joel 3:11), should be rendered.

This is the opposite of beat your swords into plowshares. They are to prepare for the great battle. This war would be so great, that all the farmers and husbandmen would have to fight too.

The nations are to beat their farming implements into weapons (Joel 3:10; contrast Isa. 2:4; Mic. 4:3) and assemble for battle (Joel 3:11; cf. Zec. 12:9).

Gospel of Matthew Chapter 4 Vs. 4

 The Temptation of Jesus

Matthew 4:4 “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

It is written,... First words of Christ since His anointing. There were at least two sets of three temptations: the first three in Luke 4:1-13, after which Satan left Christ "for a season"; the last three in Mat. 4:1-11, after which Satan was dismissed by Christ, never to present like temptations again.

Man shall not... These are the methods God used to humble and test Israel: hunger, thirst, lack of supplies, and other chastening. This part of the verse was quoted by Christ in His great victory over Satan (Mat. 4:4; Luke 4:4).

Jesus set an example for us with this answer. He said, “It is written.” Our answer, when the devil or our lusts tempt us, should be, “It is written”.

The victory in each aspect of the temptation is related to Jesus’ use of Scripture. “It is written”: First, He quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 above, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” The source of bread is more important that the bread itself.

Later, Jesus would say, “I have meat to eat that ye know not of” (John 4:32). His source of strength was obedience to the Father’s will and He would not even work a miracle to avoid personal suffering when such suffering was a part of God’s purpose for Him.

We are instructed to eat the Word of God. Our source of help in every situation is to have the Word of God so engraved in our inner being, that we will be able to draw our strength from the Word.

In each of these verses above, God is telling us that it is our responsibility to prepare for the battles we will face. It is, also, our responsibility to stand head to head with the devil in combat. We must stand and fight by Christ's strength, if we are to win over the devil.

Our weapons are not physical, they are spiritual. It is important to prepare and be ready. Our day of combat through Christ is here. The church is being shaken. All who have not prepared will fall to the devil.

There must be no compromise of the Word of God. We must make it even more important to consume the Word of God, than to eat physical food. A more important source of sustenance than food, it nurtures our spiritual needs in a way that benefits us eternally, rather than merely providing temporal relief from physical hunger.

We cannot win battles with the devil in our own power and might. We must fight the devil with the Word of God and in the name of Jesus the Christ.

Jesus therefore quoted Deut. 8:3, which affirms that man does not live on bread alone, but by God’s Word. It is better to obey God’s Word than to satisfy human desires. The fact that Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy showed that He recognized the inerrant authority of that book, one often criticized by scholars.

Book of Joel Chapter 3 Vs. 9

The Lord Judges the Nations

 

Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Joel 3:9

Proclaim ye this...In Joel 3:9-12 we have reference to the preparation for war in fulfillment of Joel 3:2; Zec. 14:2; Rev. 19:19. This decree of God, concerning the deliverance of his church; and the destruction of their enemies. Which is to be proclaimed among them, to the terror of them, and the comfort of God's people, encouraging them to the battle, since they might be sure of victory.

For the prophet here returns to give an account of the armies to be gathered together, and to be destroyed in the valley of Jehoshaphat, as appears (from Joel 3:12). And to this end heralds are here ordered to make proclamation of war throughout the nations, and to gather them to the battle of Almighty God.

Whether seriously, or ironically, may be considered; what follows seems to be spoken in the latter way, to the enemies of the church. Though they may be interpreted as spoken seriously to the people of God themselves.

Prepare war, wake... Get all things ready for it, men and arms.

the mighty men... Generals, captains, and other officers, men of strength and courage. Let them arouse from the sleep and lethargy in which they are, and get themselves in a readiness for war, and put themselves at the head of their troops.

let all the... The Gentiles here, would be speaking of the unbelieving world. Whatever their rights were before they went to war is what is spoken of here. The Hebrews had prayer and made sacrifices to God before war.

Revelation 16:16 "And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon."

A Call to War: Judgment Is Described

In this section the judgment of the nations is described. It contains three sub-units: (a) a call to the participants (the nations and the Lord) to assemble their forces (Joel 3:9-11), (b) a statement by the Lord (Joel 3:12-13), and (c) a description of the battle site (Joel 3:14-16).

Gospel of Matthew Chapter 4 Vs. 3

The Temptation of Jesus

 

Matthew 4:3 “And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”

And when the... Notice in verse 3, the devil approached Jesus with a question, as he did Eve. “If thou be the Son of God.” He was trying to plant a doubt in Jesus’ mind that He was the Son of God.

If thou be... The conditional “if” carries the meaning of “since” in this context. There was no doubt in Satan’s mind who Jesus was; but Satan’s design was to get Him to violate the plan of God and employ the divine power that He had set aside in His humiliation (Phil. 2:7).

The first test pertained to the matter of sonship. Satan assumed that if He were the Son, perhaps He could be persuaded to act independently of the Father. Satan’s test was subtle for since He is the Son of God, He has the power to turn the stones all around Him into bread. But that was not the will of His Father for Him. The Father’s will was for Him to be hungry in the desert with no food. To submit to Satan’s suggestion and satisfy His hunger would have been contrary to God’s will.