Author: Bill Hall

Luke 4:7 “Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”

   Rather than gaining anything, Christ would have lost everything. To worship Satan is to give him power over you. The offer of so much power was empty because it meant only to be Satan’s stooge. Jesus knew this was a trick, and we should always keep His response before us.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the example of Christ. He is our Master, and He is the Master of Life. He shows us the way to live, and gives us the life we have. Oh how we love Him! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 4:6 “And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.”

   The offer made here was a legitimate one in that the devil did have the authority he displayed. However, the offer was a paltry sum in comparison to the entire universe. It was deceptive and tempting, both of which the devil is always good at. The point was to appeal to a desire for instant gratification. All of this authority, and more, was to come to the hand of Christ anyhow. But the devil offered this amount now. The bird in the hand is not really worth the two in the bush, however.

Heavenly Father, thank You for helping us to understand true value. There is value in Christ. He is what we want above all else. He is desirable. The thing to be the most coveted is a part in His kingdom, not rule in this world. We praise You Father for Christ! He is Your Perfect Son. May we bring Your glory to the forefront in all that we do! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 4:5 “Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.”

   There is not a high mountain from which every kingdom can be seen. Yet, the devil has power to do limited wonders. He showed off his greatness in a flashy show. This did not impress Christ, but would have been quite a spectacle I’m sure.

Heavenly Father, no matter what this world offers, Your truth is far greater. We cannot substitute anything for it. You have given us just what we need, and all else is worthless in comparison. Thank You! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 4:4 “But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written,`Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'”

   In other words, we must not put dependence on physical food over dependence on the Word of God. The devil had questioned God’s Word by saying ‘if’. The fact of the incarnation of Christ did not have to be proven in order to establish the veracity of the Word. Thus, we are to rely on Scripture above all else.

Heavenly Father, Your Word is precious to us! In it we find all we need for life and godliness. It will never be exhausted. By Your Spirit we continue to learn from it each day. We praise You for giving ti to us and how that You have protected it. Thank You! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 4:3 “And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

   The devil never accepts reality. Always it is a questioning of truth with him. He will not make any statement without some admixture of lie. And why? Lies are his tools, and even his own sad comfort. He has fooled himself into thinking he is wise because he rejects God’s truth. He here questions the identity of the Lord Jesus, hoping to produce a fleshly response.

Heavenly Father, we will live in Your truth. We know You are always true and faithful. You have no need to lie to anyone. You have nothing to fear from the truth. And, in Christ, neither do we. Thank You! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 4:2 “being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.”

   Adam and Eve were tempted once, and that is all it took for the devil’s schemes. Jesus endures here forty days of the devil doing his worst. Forty days without food is the maximum for even the hardiest of human beings. The devil still found occasion to tempt the Lord Jesus. Having failed through the forty days, he would not give up. But he had more than met his match in Christ. Shortly, this chance for him would come to an end.

Heavenly Father, we praise You for Jesus! Thank You so much for Him! He is our Lord, our Savior, our Master. Never shall we ever be able to praise You enough for Him. It is for His sake that we live and breathe and serve You every day. It is for His sake that we are persecuted, yet endure with joy. It is for His sake that the new world You shall make will be so wonderful. He is worthy! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 4:1 “Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,”

   This is one of many verses that help us to understand the operations of the Godhead. Though Jesus is the Eternal Son of God, He operates here by the leading and empowering of the Holy Spirit. This is not a contradiction to the Lordship of Chris, but a confirmation of it. It shows the cooperation of the Persons of the Trinity in the work that the Son had been given to do.

Heavenly Father, though we will not ever understand it all, we thank You for relating Your nature to us. It is so comforting to know the Comforter! And by Him we know and understand You and the Son. Your plan is worthy of our adoration. You are our praise all day long! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 3:38 ” the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”

   What does it mean here to say that Adam was the son of God? We are all the offspring of God in the sense that we are His created beings. But, like Adam, we are not the son of God in the way that Christ is. Adam was God’s son only in the sense that God created Him directly, without having progeny from others like the rest of us. But, Jesus is God’s only begotten Son. In other words, Jesus is of the same kind. We are created offspring, but we are only of similar kind. We are like God in some of our aspects, but we are not the same.

Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us life and breath. We are always Yours and will trust in You. We owe everything to You and will praise You for all that You are and do. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 3:37 “the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan,”

   I have always found it quite interesting that Methuselah was the son of Enoch. Enoch, of all the men in history, was one of the closest to the LORD. He walked with God and communed with Him to such an extent that God one day simply took him away from this earthly plain. It is then very appropriate for Methuselah to be his son. Methuselah means, ‘when he dies, there shall be an outpouring’ which refers to the flood. Though there is some debate on this meaning, and its significance, it is not debated that Methuselah died the year of the flood. Thus, there seems to be a significant tie between his age, the longest recorded, and the timing of the flood.

Heavenly Father, You do everything well, and in the right time. We know we can trust You to always know what is next. We will trust to the prophecy You have given us in Your Word. We know it is true, and that Jesus is coming back to this earth. We praise You for Your wisdom, mercy, and truth. You deserve the glory! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 3:36 “the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,”

   Semitic peoples were the descendants of Shem. Shem was one of just three men who were called upon to repopulate earth after the flood. Due to the Biblical record of this event and our three main ancestors, many have tried to support racism from the Biblical account. This effort is a practice in stupidity. Shem and his brothers were not different in race, that would be absurd. To suggest that some difference in kind among humanity has occurred since then is equally absurd. Indeed, the term ‘racism’ identifies only a belief, which is espoused by weak minds and hearts. There is really no such thing, as we are all of the same race.
   The Bible identifies for us tribes, peoples, tongues, and nations. These four words indicate political, cultural, geographical, and linguistic groupings. To make it say otherwise is to foist upon the text an imagined meaning.

Heavenly Father, thank You for creating humanity! Though we have done evil in Your sight, You have saved us. Your Son makes it possible for each of us to be Man as he was intended to be. We can once again live in communion with the God of Eternity. And we love You so much, dear Father! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.