Topic 5: The word of God is the Bread of Life
Pastor Maselo Mosomane
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:1-4
The bible tells us that after baptism Jesus was lead into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights. At the end of this long fast, hunger returned and He was hungry. Just at that point when hunger returned, the tempter showed up. “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread” and eat; said the tempter.
Is this not true in our lives today? The tempter who is Satan will always show up in time of need. Satan is patient; he has no problem waiting until your time of weakness provides him with an ample opportunity to strike. He does not strike when you are at your pick; no, he waits until all your strength is sapped. For forty days he waited for Jesus – he waited for His strength to leave Him and when that happened he wasted no time.
Listen to what Jesus said to him in response to His temptation. “It is written, ‘man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 8:3 where the nation of Israel was in the wilderness for forty year. They were not staying there, no; they were passing by – they were going through the wilderness. Though they were a farming nation, there was no time to settle and farm and grow their own food.
Look at the parallel between the two incidents; Israel was in the wilderness for forty years and was hungered. Jesus was also in the wilderness for forty days and was hungered. But Israel murmured and complained against Moses demanding that he provide them with food. Jesus was in the same situation and He did not complain. When the tempter saw that He was not complaining, he was surprised. I mean he used the same trick in the Garden of Eden and it worked. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” Genesis 3:6. He repeated it with the children of Israel in the wilderness and it still yielded good results – they murmured. “Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, ‘Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger’” Exodus 16:2-3.
But when he tried the same trick (the food and hunger trick) on Jesus he got different results. Jesus did not succumb. “Who is this one who is making my job so difficult?” Satan said; I suppose. Here’s Satan’s modus operandi; meet him when he needs help and provide him with one; it does not matter whether it contradicts the word of God or not; as long as it will help meet his need.
What was the temptation? When Satan saw that Jesus was hungry but not complaining, he suggested to Him that He test His power by turning stones into bread. First; he wanted Jesus to question His deity. He wanted Him to say; ‘I am God; alright. But can God be hungry? Hence the question; “if you are the Son of God.” In other word; Satan was saying, ‘have your facts straight; test your power before you embarrassed yourself in public. Second; he wanted Jesus to abuse His power and act on foreign orders. Satan knew that Jesus had the power to do what he suggested Him to do. But the clincher was not weather He had power to do that or not; the clincher was to have Jesus act upon the tempter’s word. He did this with Adam and Even and he won; but not this time. Jesus kept on acting upon the word of God; “It is written.” The statement “it is written” refers to the word of God.
Jesus teaches us something here. One; every temptation leveled against us is meant to discredit the word of God. God said in Deuteronomy that man shall not live by bread alone. Here the tempter recommends that Jesus should go against the written word; instead of living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, he should live by stones - dust. If you are not careful the devil will make you eat stones. Stones are formed from the earth; they are compounded and compressed dust. Don’t forget what God said to the serpent in Genesis 3:14; “you shall eat dust all the days of your life. Who’s diet is dust? How many are already feeding on dust?
Two; like food to the body, the word of God is food to our spirits. Everything depends on where it comes from for nourishment. Bodies are from the soil and they depend on the soil to grow their food. Everything that feeds the body comes from the soil. Likewise; everything that feeds the spirit must come from God for the spirit of man comes from God. God speaks and the human spirit feeds. The more He speaks, the more the human spirit feeds. He cannot stop speaking for in the day that He stops the human spirit will die. This is also true; in the day that the human spirit stops feeding on the word of God, he will die.
This is what Jesus said that day in the wilderness. Man shall not live by bread alone. Anyone who lives by bread alone is not alive – he has ceased to live. For a human being to live, two things are necessary; food for the body and the word of God for the spirit. Food keeps the body alive while the word of God keeps the spirit alive.
If you neglect the word of God you are starving your spirit. How many human spirits are suffering malnutrition today? Those who overlook the importance of the word of God as food grow weak day by day. Children who are not properly fed grow big heads, swollen tummies and thin legs and arms. Is this not true with those who are not feeding their spirits as it should be? They have big head – they argue all the time claiming to be wise yet their legs are not strong enough to walk the talk. Their arms are not strong enough to do what they claim to know. Their tummies are always constipated with their so-called knowledge and they keep on swelling, they need spiritual alkaline. Where do you get that? From the sincere milk of the word – of course.
The word of God is food indeed. Those who feed on it develop and grow strong. I did not know what I am sharing with you today until I received Jesus as my personal Savior and Lord. I was just like any other person going my own way minding my own business. But since that day I gave my life to Jesus I started craving for the word of God. There was so much hunger in my spirit I would spend my whole lunch time reading the word. For the first time; behold the word of God was talking to me. It was no longer just a book like any other body; it was no longer a church book; it became food for my spirit. I remember very well one of the verses that jumped out of the pages of the bible and stuck into my heart. Matthew 5:6; “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.”
I hungered and thirsted for the word of God and He filled me. I know I am not full enough but thank God I am overflowing. The greatest desire of my heart is to keep on overflowing and teach the word. I feel myself with the word daily. This keeps my cup running over. Thank God for the word of God, without which we can do nothing. If we stop feeding we will grow weaker and weaker every day. But those who feed upon the word will grow strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Their strength will be renewed day by day.
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