Sermon Central
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A Word About Bread And Stones:
Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Jul 18, 2024 (message contributor)
Text: Luke 4:1-4, KJV: 1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. 3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. 4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
The history
The Lord Jesus had only recently been baptized in the Jordan River (see Luke 3) and was now led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. While here Jesus didn’t eat anything for the whole 40 days He had been there and, now, perhaps logically, He was hungry. After all, let’s remember that He was fully human and needed to eat, drink, sleep, and do all the normal things humans do. He should know: He is the Creator of all things (Colossians 1:16-17)!
There is no record Jesus took anything physical or material along with Him when He entered the wilderness. So now He is hungry, and the question now comes, what is He going to do?
The humor
Enters now Satan, the tempter. Well, he is other things, too, but now he came to put Jesus to the test. And the first thing the devil suggests is, because You are hungry, and I know You have all the power of Deity, well, then, You can simply command this stone (and I think the devil pointed at one in particular) become bread!
The word “if” in verse 3 is sort of misleading. The devil never doubted Jesus was and is the Son of God and that Jesus is also God the Son (Psalm 2). It’s more like saying, In view of the fact that You are the Son of God—all of that to make or, maybe, suggest Jesus take care of His own needs. Of course, Jesus flat out rejected this “offer”, trusting in the Father, not Himself (implied).
Besides, I’ve read that some of the stones in Israel are round enough and almost look like Kaiser rolls or extra-large hamburger buns. One traveler, according to Dr. A. T. Robertson, called those stones “Elijah’s melons”!
And I have a recent experience: one evening after returning from church services, I stopped by a convenience store to see if they had any sandwiches remaining. They did, and to make this short, the bun was almost rock-hard. My wife tried softening the bun and, to her credit, she made it edible, but I might have broken my teeth at first! That was almost like making stones out of the bread of that sandwich!
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)
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