Matthew 4
1Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 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.
The wilderness is most probably the Judean dessert. Regarding the leading of the Holy Spirit, the way Matthew puts it, is consequent to what the whole Bible tells us about the gentleness of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was led into this wilderness to be have His faith tried. God also can use Satan to try us. This does not mean that every temptation is from God. What Satan wanted is to tempt Jesus to sin in order for Jesus to disobey God. The Scriptures said about Jesus that He is without sin, so it is obvious that Satan tried to tempt Him in order to make Him disobey His Father.
To fast is good, but it must be done with the proper knowledge. There have been some cases known of people who came out of a fast too quickly and died. The body needs adjustment after going many days without food. If you want to fast get a proper doctor to check you out and see if you are fit to do so. Always start a small fast and build it up. In this way your body can also adjust to fasting. Fasting and prayer is a powerful combination.
From verse 3 we see that Satan acknowledges right away that Jesus is indeed the Son of God. He tries to tempt him because he knew that after such a long fast he was indeed very hunger. Jesus answer is a quotation from Deuteronomy 8:3. Jesus usually quoted the book of Deuteronomy.
5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 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. 7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
We may assume that he took him literally into Jerusalem and set Him literally on a pinnacle of the temple. Verse 6: Satan is misquoting Ps 91. He left out the phrase:” in all your ways “(Ps 91:11).
8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
Here we see that Satan is the king of the world. He is telling Jesus that he will make Him king of this world if Jesus acknowledges him. Jesus again quotes Deuteronomy, this time 6:13. We should always focus and obey God alone.
12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: 14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; 16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. 17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. 21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. 22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
Fishers of men in verse 19 means to bring people unto faith in Christ and thus into salvation.
23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. 24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. 25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and fromDecapolis, and fromJerusalem, and fromJudaea, and from beyond Jordan.
It is a big riddle to me why many churches today and thus why many believers still do not believe in demons, seeing that Jesus delivered people from these demons! How much evidence do we need? Many a disease is being caused by demons, but this does not mean that every disease is demonic.