Command This Stone to be Made Bread - Luke 4:3

Luke the physician shared how Jesus, “full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered”, and in chapter four and verse three of his book Luke shared how the devil said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone” where we read:

And the devil said unto him, If you are the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

The verse reads, “And the devil said unto him, If you are the Son of God, ...” Luke began with the words, “and the devil” or “and the slanderer, false accuser, calumniator Satan” “said unto him” which means “uttered, declared and proclaimed to Jesus”, “if you are the Son of God” or “whether, since and because you, Jesus, exist as the posterity and offspring of the Godhead bodily and trinity which is comprised of God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit”. Luke shared how “Satan” began to speak to Jesus with the supposition and condition that He was “supposedly” God's Son.

The verse goes on to say, “... command this stone that it be made bread.” Luke continued with the words, “command this stone” which means “bring word, speak to and bid that the small rock before Jesus” “that it be made bread or “that the small rock would become food composed of flour mixed with water and backed”. Luke shared how “Satan” directed Jesus to “order” a small rock that was before Him to become “bread” for food.

When we meditate upon Luke's words in this verse, we see the first “temptation” that “Satan” presented to Jesus. Because Jesus was “fasting” for “forty days”, He was hungry, and “bread” would have appealed to the satisfaction of His flesh. This is known as “the lust of the flesh”, and Satan continues to tempt people in this area today. Satisfying “fleshly desires” has caused people to sin since the “Garden of Eden” where Eve “saw that the tree was good for food” (See Genesis 3:6). Jesus came to overcome “sin”, and as He responds to “Satan's” “temptation”, we shall see how He triumphed over the devil to continue as the Messiah and “Savior and Lord” of the world.

Next time Luke shares how Jesus answered, “It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".