Sermon Tone Analysis

The Setting

Our theme for this weekend centres around the mountain passages of Matthew’s gospel.

This isn’t a topical study of mountains (that might have been too similar to the subject matter of last year’s MSW); it is more of a book study of Matthew’s gospel with an additional topical focus on mountains.

Hopefully, you have all had chance to read through Matthew’s gospel at least once.

The guide circulated in advance highlighted the seven mountain scenes that feature structurally in Matthew’s narrative and we are going to look at the three principal ones in our talks.

In your discussion time, you are free to discuss any of the mountain passages, of course.

Our focus throughout will be firmly on the Lord Jesus.

We want to see how God’s word communicates the loveliness of the Messenger on the mountains of Judea and to understand the meaning of the “good news” he brought.

In seeking to do so, we will need to investigate the structural and theological significance of Matthew’s use of mountains (noting that it is a motif more common in his gospel account than in the other Synoptics).

For now, we are going to launch right into the first of the mountain scenes and save our overview of Matthew’s gospel for later.

However, before we can properly understand what we’re calling the Mountain of Temptation (in Mt 4:8), we do need to back up a little and consider its setting in Matthew’s gospel.

Sonship Theme

In particular, we need to be alive to the theme of sonship, which is a significant theme in Matthew’s gospel (where the Greek word υἱός - son - is used 89 times) and of special importance to our passage.

In fact, this theme can be traced right back to the beginning of the gospel, where Matthew introduces the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham (Mt 1:1).

Twice in our passage, the title Son of God is used (Mt 4:3, 6).

This connects our passage with the previous pericope in chapter 3, at the close of which a voice from heaven has declared, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17), at Jesus’ baptism.

For a moment, I want you to suspend your connection of that title to the second person of the Godhead, the divine Son of God.

We need to dig a little further back to develop a fuller understanding of Matthew’s use of this title.

The secret to Matthew’s understanding is in Matthew 2:14-15.

There Matthew records the escape to Egypt of Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus, recalling that they did not return until it was safe to do so following Herod’s death.

Amazingly, Matthew interprets their return from Egypt as a fulfilment of Hosea 11:1, a text which is a clear reference to the Exodus.

God, speaking through the prophet Hosea, described Israel as his child, his son.

Indeed, this echoed the language employed by God when he commanded Moses to speak to Pharaoh (Ex 4:22, 23) saying “Israel is my firstborn son.... Let my son go, so he may worship me.”

This special relationship which Israel enjoyed with God, in which he was like a father to them, lies behind Matthew’s use of the title Son of God.

In applying the title to Jesus, Matthew sees him standing in the place of the nation of Israel.

What we start to see emerging, through Matthew’s carefully arranged gospel narrative, is a recapitulation of the history of national Israel in the events of Jesus’ life:

Jesus’ return from Egypt ~ the Exodus

Jesus’ baptism ~ Israel’s baptism in the Red Sea

Jesus led into the wilderness (Mt 4:1) ~ Israel led into the wilderness

Jesus tempted for forty days and forty nights (Mt 4:2) ~ Israel wandered for forty years; also Moses (as a type of the Lord) on Sinai for forty days and forty nights (Ex 34:28) to receive the tablets of the law

Jesus’ crossing back over the Jordan (Mt 4:15-16) ~ Israel crossing the Jordan to take the Promised Land

Calling 12 disciples ~ Israel’s 12 tribes

So, both the temptation narrative’s place after the baptism narrative and (as we will see next) its structure are purposeful.

God declared Jesus to be his Son at his baptism and we have seen how Matthew links this title to God’s covenant love for his people, Israel.

In our passage, the devil is going to test Jesus’ belief in God’s declaration.

The scene is perfectly poised: how will this Son of God respond under intense testing?

The fact that the three portions of Scripture that Jesus quotes are from Deuteronomy adds to the connection with Israel we have already observed.

In fact, our passage seems to allude strongly to Deuteronomy 8:2-5.

God led Israel into the wilderness to humble and test his son, in order to know what was in his heart.

In just the same way, we see that it was the Spirit of God who led Jesus into the wilderness that the motivation of his heart might be proved in just the same way.

How would the newly-declared Son of God fare?

Let’s look now at the detail of our passage.

The Structure

The content of our passage is well-known: three temptations, each rebuffed by the Lord in the power of the Spirit and involving quotation from the word of God.

Three escalating temptations

As we consider the structure of the temptation narrative, we notice that the intensity and tension escalates from the first to the third temptation.

In the first two temptations, Satan subtly tests Jesus’ understanding of his sonship with the repeated phrase “if you are the Son of God”.

1.

If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread

Jesus’ response to Satan’s first temptation in Matthew 4:4 alludes to Deuteronomy 8:3.

It recalls the events of Exodus 16 when, less than two months after they had come out of Egypt, the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron on account of their hunger.

The “every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” in Deuteronomy 8:3 that man is supposed to live by is God’s promise of provision.

God promised to provide for Israel with manna, rained down from heaven.

But God regulated the gathering of the manna - they were only to gather enough for each day - thereby testing their reliance on his word (Ex 16:4).

Israel failed the test.

They tried to keep the manna overnight and it rotted just as God had said.

Some went in search of manna on the Sabbath and found none; they should have taken a double portion on the sixth day, just as God had said.

Jesus’ experience in the wilderness was like that of the Israelites.

It was a place of solitude and scarcity.

Satan hoped that the Son of God may have felt abandoned by his Father and tempted to provide for his own needs just like the Israelites were tempted to provide for their own needs.

But Jesus, unlike the Israelites, resisted temptation and fully relied on his Father.

Jesus did not seek to provide for himself apart from his Father.

He relied on his Father’s promise of provision.

2. If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down

Jesus’ response to the second temptation in Matthew 4:7 alludes to Deuteronomy 6:16.

The command not to put the Lord to the test was given through Moses to Israel in order that they might prosper in the Promised Land.

Moses recalls the events of Exodus 17.

There we read about how Israel tested the Lord at Rephidim (later called Massah (testing) and Meribah (quarelling)) on account of their lack of water, demanding that they be given water to drink (Ex 17:2) and asking “Is the Lord among us or not?” (Ex 17:7).

God was committed to their prosperity and had already given them plentiful evidence of that fact.

In setting up the second temptation, the devil quotes, in Matthew 4:6 from Psalm 91:11-12.

We notice that Psalm 91 applies to the person “who dwells in the shelter of the Most High”.

That definitely applied to Jesus during his life on earth, but what does not apply is the devil’s application of the Psalm.

Here’s an example of how Scripture, once removed from its context, can be made to mean something it was never intended to mean!

Satan was encouraging Jesus to brashly force God’s protective hand as Israel had done at Rephidim.

When we look at the passage that Satan quotes in its context, we see that the Psalm was written to encourage God’s people to rely on his protection, not to demand or test it.

God is a refuge from the difficulties and dangers that can befall his people as a result of living in a sin-cursed world.

The implication of this truth is not to fear.

The implication is not to test God’s protection and care.

Once again, Jesus, unlike Israel, passed the test.

Jesus relied fully on his Father’s protection and did not seek to force his Father’s hand to save him.

3. Bow down and worship me

At this point, let’s pause to notice the escalation.

The first temptation tested whether Jesus would trust his Father for his sustenance and took place in the wilderness with no one around.

The second temptation ups the intensity: would Jesus trust his Father’s presence and protection at the temple, the place that symbolised God’s presence with the nation of Israel?

For the third temptation, the devil takes him to a very high mountain and all the nations of the world are now in view!

The escalation in geography mirrors the escalation in intensity of the temptation.

In this third test, the devil questions Jesus’ devotion to his Father and trust in his Father’s promise of future glory.

By the way, Satan’s offering Jesus all the kingdoms of the world (Mt 4:8–9) was not idle and exaggerated boasting.

Satan actually is the ruler of this domain.

These kingdoms lie within his power, although they are not rightfully his and one day will be fully delivered from that control which he now exercises as a usurper.

Furthermore, God had already promised all of these things to his Son as an inheritance.

The issue with this third temptation, then, is whether the Son of God will wait on the Father’s timing.

R.T. France puts it like this: “the more subtle suggestions of the first two proposals are succeeded by a blatant challenge to God’s authority when the devil ‘drops his disguise’ and the central issue is brought into the open.…

The devil is trying to drive a wedge between the newly-declared Son and his Father.”

Will Jesus worship the devil in order to get what the devil offers him, or will he continue in his relationship of dependence on the Father?

Jesus’ response to the third temptation, in Matthew 4:10 alludes to Deuteronomy 6:13.

The context, as before, is a series of regulations which were given to Israel in order that they might prosper in the land of promise.

Israel was not to follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around them, because the Lord God is a jealous God whose anger would burn against them and who would destroy them from the face of the land.

Acknowledging the Lord as the only God was the only way to live and to prosper in the land.

It is worth noting that the passage from which the Lord’s quotations are taken commences with the Shema (Dt 6:4-5).

This single-minded devotion to the Lord was the definition of sonship for Israel and is what God intended to test during their wanderings in the wilderness.