quoting Deuteronomy to the devil

And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Luke 4:12

Jesus handled temptation by centering in the firm authority of the Word of God. Specifically, for each temptation the devil brought to Jesus, the Son of God answered with quotations from the book of Deuteronomy. He simply stood on the firm truth of God’s Word. In that way the Word of God rebuked the devil’s attempts as God asserted His authority just by speaking!

Jesus is God. He could have simply told the devil to shut up! But instead, Jesus left us an example in His humanity so that we too can successfully battle Satan and turn away from temptation. We too must lean into the firm truth of scripture. We too should let God rebuke the tempter. We too should learn scripture by heart so that we have power that we turn to in order to thwart temptation with truth.

And in the example of Jesus we find power. We anchor in God’s revealed truth. We are strengthened with scriptural support. We will win by the Word of God. We can fight temptation by trusting truth! In this we have power, hope, and victory over sin.

Oh, and as a bonus, listen to Quoting Deuteronomy to the Devil by Rich Mullins.