Not by Bread Alone

Whereas Adam rejected God’s warning and ate from the tree, Jesus lived not by bread alone but by every word proceeding from the mouth of God. Today, Sinclair Ferguson unpacks the meaning of Christ’s first wilderness temptation.

Welcome to Things Unseen, and if you’ve been listening this week, you’ll know we’ve been talking about the temptations of Jesus. And one of the things we’ve seen is that the Evangelists’ purpose in describing them is not to set Jesus before us simply as an example. In fact, they’re telling us that Jesus, in a sense, is returning to the scene of Adam’s failure. But now, He’s not in a garden surrounded by animals who meekly accept the names He gives them because He’s their king; no, He’s in the wilderness, and Mark tells us He’s with wild animals (1:13). He’s in a fallen world, and He’s been led there by the divine strategist, the Holy Spirit. He’s entered enemy-occupied territory, and He’s going to win back dominion.

And Jesus is confronted with three temptations. They’re described in detail by both Matthew and Luke. But I’m sure as you’ve read them, you’ve probably noticed that the order is different in these two gospels. There’s a reason for that, and I think we’ll come to it, but we don’t need to come to it today because both Matthew and Luke tell us that the first temptation was, “If You are the Son of God, command the stones You see here to become bread” (Matt. 4:3; Luke 4:3).

Now, there’s no doubt that was the first temptation, and you don’t need to be a rocket scientist, or a technical theologian for that matter, to work it out. Jesus has been fasting. He’s no doubt weak. He’s hungry. So, Satan says to Him, “So Jesus, if you are the Son of God, do a miracle and feed Yourself.”

Now, those words, “If you are the Son of God,” could mean one of two things, couldn’t they? They could mean: “If it is really true You’re God’s son, then You would be able to do this. I’ll challenge You. I’ll bet You can’t.” Or, it could mean: “Since it’s true that You are God’s son, well, You shouldn’t be starving. Your Father wouldn’t want that, would He? So Jesus, what harm would there be in turning these stones into bread?” Well, Jesus knew He was God’s Son, and Satan obviously knew it too. So, I’m personally inclined to the second view here. And if that’s the case, then notice several features about this temptation that are actually reminiscent of Satan’s temptation in the garden of Eden.

The first is, he’s using a similar technique. To get Eve to transgress, he said: “You know, God’s really mean. Did He really say you couldn’t have any of this gorgeous fruit of these trees?” And now he says to Jesus: “Look, Jesus, you’re God’s Son. You have all this power. Your Father has led you here by the Spirit, and He’s not giving you any food. Don’t you think that’s mean? Turn these stones into bread.”

Now later, Jesus turned a few loaves and fishes into food for thousands. So, what could possibly be wrong with turning a few stones into a few bread rolls for one person, especially since He’s the Son of God? Surely it was okay to stave off His hunger, otherwise He was in danger of dying. But there’s a great gulf fixed between these two things. Jesus fed the multitude because of their need and because He loved them. But here in the wilderness, He recognized that Satan was tempting Him to be diverted from His Father’s will, to doubt His goodness, and to take matters into His own hands. And I think that’s why He replied, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). That was exactly what Adam and Eve failed to do. But this man—the second man and the last Adam—He was going to resist when the tempter said to Him what he had first said to Eve and to Adam: “Why don’t you just eat?”

It’s wonderful that Jesus lived not by bread alone but by every word from God’s mouth because, as I say, the mistake Adam and Eve made was to live according to the fruit of the tree and not according to the words that came from God’s mouth. What Jesus did here is expressed in a verse in the hymn “Praise to the Holiest in the Height.” I wonder if you know it:

O wisest love! that flesh and blood That did in Adam fail, Should strive afresh against the foe, Should strive and should prevail.

I wonder if that morning, when Jesus woke from whatever sleep He’d been able to have, I wonder if He remembered the words that we were thinking about the other week:

Morning by morning . . .  he awakens my ear . . . The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward. (Isa. 50:4–5)

That’s certainly what happened in these wilderness temptations. What a strong Savior the Lord Jesus is. He is the victorious second man. That’s actually why he is also called the last Adam, because nobody now will ever need to do what He did for us. Hallelujah, what a Savior.