#090 "Then the Devil Left Him: Jesus Wins the Wilderness"

“Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.” (Matthew 4:11)

In this episode, host Kate walks through Matthew 4:11, where the wilderness temptation comes to its decisive end: the devil leaves, angels minister, and Jesus stands victorious.

But this moment isn’t just the conclusion of a confrontation—it’s a revelation.

Here, we see Jesus as the true and better Son who withstands every temptation, refuses every shortcut, and remains perfectly faithful to the Father. Where humanity has failed, Christ stands firm. Where Satan presses hardest, Jesus does not waver. And in His victory, the power and authority of the enemy are exposed for what they truly are—limited, defeated, and subject to the will of God.

This episode is for anyone who feels the weight of temptation, the pull toward compromise, or the exhaustion of trying to stand firm. Not because it offers a better strategy—but because it fixes our eyes on the Victor.

Listeners will walk away with a deeper understanding of: What Jesus’ victory in the wilderness actually accomplished, Why the enemy must flee at the command of Christ, How God ministers to His people in the aftermath of trial, and why knowing Christ as victorious changes everything about how we face the battles in front of us. 

Because it's not about how we fight, but knowing the One who's already won the fight on our behalf.

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The Armor (Next Study-4/6/26)
Into the Wilderness (Current Study)
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Transcript

Welcome To Abidable Podcast

Kate 0:00

Hey guys, this is Kate from Abidible.com, and you're listening to the Abidible Podcast. I'm just a regular wife and mom who's had my life transformed by learning to study the Bible on my own. If I can, you can. On this show, I help you know and love God more by abiding in him through his word yourself. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. That's Matthew 4.11. We're here. We made it to the end. This is Jesus Victory Lap. And I just want to talk to you today. I don't have a script. I'm not going to edit this episode. I just want to go through the process of looking at this verse, sort of how I do when I'm doing it by myself, when I'm prepping for the podcast or when I'm prepping for our in-person study. I I think I've mentioned that to you guys before, uh, that we locally here have been going. A small group of us have been going through this study, and it has been really transformative for all of us. And the conversations and questions, um, you know, being able to have some feedback on what I'm teaching and what I'm studying has been really encouraging. And today we get to take a look at the best side of Satan. There's no good side to him, but if there's going to be any side we have to see, it's the one we want to see of him fleeing. It's the back of him, leaving us, having to withdraw because we have started stood firm in Christ, in his word, um, and in the authority that he's given us over the enemy. And that all comes, you know, we're gonna talk about us and our authority over these attacks based on what Christ has done. But I want to really just take the time, the appropriate time that we need to take today to worship and celebrate what Christ accomplishes in the wilderness on our behalf. You know, uh, I think one of the things that we have to be so careful to do in studying a passage like this where we are unmasking and disarming and dethroning Satan, you know, pulling back uh the mask to see who he really is and to study his strategies and to see what a deceiver and liar he is and how he uses scripture against us out of context, uh, misquoting it, misapplying it, and how he comes for identity and how he comes in states of weakness to try to give us that which we need by short, taking the shortcut, bypassing the Father, going outside of God's will. Like we've been talking about all these strategies, which are very important for us to talk about, um, because I think I mean, I don't know if you relate to this, but there are days when I'm so tired from the battle that I just would prefer to be an ostrich and stick my head in the sand and pretend that it's not raging and that it's not happening, and it would be so much easier to just uh I sort of talked about this in my in our Abidible Plus group today. I was sharing about the pain that I'm in physically that is unrelenting and um the last 24 hours with a headache that feels like a vice is being tightened on my head and my neck, and how we really I mean, let's let's be honest with each other as Christians that this is hard. Life is hard, and the battle rages on. And what I want us to be so careful of is not taking the appropriate time that we need to in all that we're talking about, but especially today, and focusing on Christ the victor and what he accomplished and what that means then for us on these war-torn, battle-ridden, exhausting days that we are living through. I don't know what you're facing, but I know you're tired. Like, I don't know any sister in Christ, I mean, brother in Christ, like the church is just going through it. We are going through it. There's, you know, the global things that are happening, uh, you know what they are. And there are, you know, relational things that are happening, even as a result of and as tied to the global things, um, and all kinds of fear and worry about the future, about security and safety and finances, and things that like I don't know, I'm only 43. I'm a baby. That's not what my son says. But things that I've never had to worry about before. And I, you know, talk to my parents who are in their late 70s, things that they've never, I mean, the Cold War, okay. Wait, am I saying the right war? I promised I wouldn't edit this. When was the Cold War? Is that the right war? Oh man, you guys, I study Bible history. Uh uh, oh, well, that was a very long period of time. What what was it when like they like the Cuban Missile Crisis and that whole thing? Yeah, that was like when they were in elementary school because I remember them talking about having to hide under desks and stuff. So um, you know, nothing is new under the sun, and our our generation isn't necessarily special unless we're the ones when Christ is going to come back, uh, which is possible. It's always possible. It's been possible since the day he left, right? But um, it's jacked. Things are jacked. And then on top of that, you have um on top of the global stuff and the relational stuff, then you just have life trying to do your nine to five or trying to homeschool the kids or trying to prioritize your marriage and your babies and your friendships and your health and um health is a whole nother thing. A lot of us have health things going on with with ourselves or with someone we love that we're worried about, that we're praying for. Um, I mean, the ladies alone, like in my group, and they would be okay with me sharing this. I wouldn't share any names, but like we all like rolled into the house yesterday morning, Saturday morning. Yes, I'm editing and recording this one day before it goes live. That's the kind of week it's been. But yesterday morning, um, they we all just rolled in. It was rough. I felt like my heart was gonna explode out of my body. I was feeling so anxious. We were we were talking about um verse 10 and begone Satan and worship God alone. So my teaching uh portion was heavily focused on idols, the history of idols with Israel, and then tying that into modern day idols and the things that we struggle with. And it was like ugly crying. It was uh it was so so heading into that, people people were ugly crying. So he heading into that, what I'm trying to say is that it just felt like a real battle. Like I didn't sleep well. I felt anxious, I had a really just garbage week all week, health-wise and otherwise, and then um woke up early to finish preparing and just was feeling that like massive, like you're on the brink of a panic attack, anxiety, you know, heading into just going to be with these ladies to talk about Matthew 410 and uh nauseous, like just that pit in your stomach feeling. And then um, you know, got there and was so wound up, I could feel my pulse in my jugular, like I could feel it like pulsing out of my neck. So I had to have um my mom and my one friend that was there and my dad, we just stopped and prayed. Anyway, it was uh everybody was coming through the door having had either a very wonky morning, dogs sick, pooping all over the house. Ever had that happen? Um, food that was, you know, woke up early to make food for the whole group and uh it fell apart and couldn't even be brought because it didn't cook up the way it was supposed to. Uh massive physical pain, a rough week with um some infertility testing and news. Um absolute are you talking to me? My Brody, who are you talking to? Stop. We're podcasting, Brody. That's maybe the first time you guys have heard him. Can you hear him whining in the background? Uh lots of stuff. So, so in addition to the infertility stuff, um, some ladies that are really struggling with singleness and waiting on the Lord and feeling like just tears, sharing, I feel like it doesn't matter to anyone to know that I am okay. Like I'm so by myself, I come home from work, I you know, eat alone, go to sleep alone, like I'm lonely, and having that hit extra hard this week, and then huge changes for um an adoption situation, a very complicated adoption situation uh that's gonna impact the entire family for one of the ladies. Um I mean, and then and then just feeling completely enslaved to social media, TV, checking out, and not sitting with God, and then feeling guilty about that, so then not coming back into his presence. Like there's just a lot going on for all of us, and I'm saying all that because I get to be in a room with them, and so I hear what's going on with them, but I don't get to always hear unless you reach out and tell me, which you are always welcome to do because I love to be praying for you. And the email is very easy to remember. Hello at abidable.com. I don't know what's going on with you, you know, those of you that are listening, uh, but I know that temptation is a part of our everyday life. And so what we are finishing doing here in this study, and we're gonna review next week. We have one more episode to review everything, but so I don't want to do too much of a review, but but we are looking at Christ, our champion king, who has been tempted in every way. So he has experienced all the brokenness that that is a part of uh being a citizen of planet Earth and handled that temptation perfectly, yes, as a model for us. Yes, we look at this and we say, wow, he fasted to demonstrate that what he hungered for most was God, that what he what he cared about, what he loved, what he prioritized was God his father. Yes, that's that was a model he set for us. He modeled for us what it is to go to the word, to know the word, to have the word hidden in our heart, so that it is a tool at the ready, at our ready to use against Satan. Yes. And all the things that he did, that was a model for us. But I know myself and you know yourself, and you know we want to be growing in maturity, we want to be growing in our ability to love God first and most and and prioritize him first and most by fasting from things that that maybe are idols for us. Yes. We want to know scripture and hide it in our heart and have it at the ready. We want to be able to tell Satan, be gone, and that we worship God alone. That is our desire. We want to be growing in that. I want to be, you know, a year from now, I want to be handling temptation better than I'm handling it now. And now I I am handling it better, praise God, by the power of his Holy Spirit than I did a year ago. I want to be progressing, but I know myself and you know yourself. And we we we stink, man. We are so forgetful, and that's the point of the Bible. The point of the Bible is to show who we are. I mean, we see it in all the story. We see it especially in Israel, and as it relates, you know, Israel, that's what Jesus continues to go back to Deuteronomy, which is the book of remembrance. It's Moses' story of their deliverance. It's what he what God did when he heard them crying out in their bondage, in their slavery in Egypt. It's what God did to set them free, to deliver them out of that bondage, all the the works and the miracles and the wonders that he performed so that he could demonstrate to them so that you may know that I am the Lord. Uh, and then he called them into covenant faithfulness through the law, and they kept saying, We will obey, like we just finished as a family, Joshua. And it's like, you know, God let me find it. I hope you guys are okay with episodes like this. Sometimes it's it happens every you those of you that have been listening long enough, you know that it happens every series, that there's one where it's just like the Lord, I can't like sit and write it. The Lord just like speak. Um this is the end of Joshua 20 chapter 21. Um it says, not one, so this is Joshua 21, 45, not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed. All came to pass. And then this is the end of Joshua. Like he's saying, you know, choose this day, like the Lord has set before you choose this day who you will serve, him or the gods of the of the nations around you. And then listen to this. You know, Joshua says, as for me and my house we will serve the the Lord. Then the people answered, Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed, and the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land, therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God. And Joshua's like, Uh, are you sure? Because, like, if you're saying this before him, he's gonna hold you to it. And they're like, No, but we will serve the Lord. And he said, Are you sure? You're witness against yourselves that you've chosen the Lord to and they said, We are witnesses. And the people said to Joshua, the Lord our God, we will serve, and his voice we will obey. Hurrah! Like, and and then judge you flip the page to judges, and it's like, it's not even been five minutes, and everybody did what was right in their own eyes, and they all worshipped all different gods, and then we got the kings, and it's just one disaster after another, and it's been one disaster after another ever since Moses led them out of the promised land. And it's like, I can relate to that. I'm not Joshua, I am Israel. You're not Joshua, you are Israel. Our hearts are fickle and forgetful, and that's the story of the Bible over and over again. We see, you know, not a single perfect character until we get to our perfect conquering king. And so the the the big victory lap today. Oh, I didn't take my ibuprofen. Hello, I got it before. Well, now this is really awkward because I'm gonna have to stop in the middle of the podcast. This is getting real real, but I can't keep podcasting. I need to take my excuse me, pardon me. I'm not even gonna edit that out because that's real life. That's real life, homie. I am Israel. I need, I need this Jesus in the wilderness, and I am so stinking encouraged to have made it to verse 11. So, what I want to do, and then I'm gonna go through like what I looked at and what I studied, and hopefully you did too if you're studying along with me. But let's recap by just reading the passage to remember where we came from and then where we have arrived here at verse 11. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, and after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But he answered him, No, but he answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If you are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bury you up lest you strike your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. Okay, so when we look at our translation comparison, very similar. Uh, the ones that I look at, the four that I always look at are New King James Version, New International Version, Christian Standard Bible, and the New American Standard Bible. Those are the four that I typically look at. And they were all very similar, just uh a little bit of a difference, and they ministered to him versus they attended to him or they began to serve him. That word was a little bit different in each one, but otherwise very similar translations here for verse 11. When we look at the word for left, uh that Satan left him, the devil left him. There's nothing, I mean, to be let alone. Um oh, this is what to leave one by not taking him as a companion. It's like I I think I said it sometimes the trick, the tricky thing for me between podcasting and leading the study is sometimes I can't remember what I talked about where, but somewhere, maybe on here, I talked about Satan being like, um, you know, he what was the word? He uh he was had an alliance, you know, with with God the Father. So why couldn't he switch and have an alliance with Satan, you know, over the nations, over the kingdoms of the world? And so it's like this idea of Satan being so arrogant, you know, it worked for him, it's worked for him a lot. It worked for him in heaven when he took a third of the angels with him, it worked for him in the garden when he turned God's crescendo of creation, mankind, humanity, Adam and Eve, against their father, their creator in rebellion. And it's worked for him a ton since then. So he's so arrogant, you know, he knows Jesus is the Son of God, but like he was hoping that he would maybe make a companion of Jesus and that together they would mutiny, you know, that they would rebel against God the Father. And so I like this definition to leave one by not taking him as a companion. Like, there's no way that Jesus was ever going to entertain the idea of forming any sort of alliance with Satan, let alone falling down to worship him, to worship Satan as Father, as God instead of God his father, who he loves. Like, do you not see in this study how much the son loves the father? Like he says, I came, uh, I forget where it is, but somewhere in the Bible, like he came to destroy the works of the devil, but uh, I think it was a cross-reference for this one. Do you think I cannot appeal to my father? Um I thought it was a cross-reference for this one, but he was just talking about yeah, it was it was maybe something else I was cross-referencing, something else I was reading, but that the idea of that you know, that they would know that I love the father. You know, Jesus is like, I came that they would know the father, and uh everything that I do, I do like to do the father's will is my food. I love him so much, I trust him so much, I want to do his plan, and and I I do all that. It's all motivated by love, like this perfect unified relationship from before the start of time, like from all eternity past, perfect unity, perfect love, for perfect fellowship between the Father, Son, and Spirit. And so you just see this demonstrated like he loved us, and we were part of, you know, a massive part, the world, his love for the world, Jesus' love for the world was a massive part of his motivation in coming and in enduring the wilderness and walking all the way to the cross and conquering Satan's sin and death in his resurrection. But he loved the Father, you know, it's just beautiful. And like that's for me. I'm like, okay, my takeaway is yeah, he fasted, yeah, he prayed, yeah, he uh knew scripture, but all of that was motivate, motivated by love for the father. It's just really beautiful, really beautiful to see. So yeah, no way he's not gonna be his companion. So I like that he left. I thought it was cool, like behold. This is a word that we see um oftentimes in scripture. So I I did a little bit like more of a, you know, I know that it's like an exclamation point, like pay attention. If you don't know that, that's what it means. Like when it's saying behold, it's a word that we don't use anymore. Um, but we should, we should bring it back. Behold. Uh, it is just to get your attention kind of word, but it means like see. But I thought this was interesting. The part of speech is is second. No, I'm not a grammar pro here, so I had to look it up, but it says second person singular imperative middle voice. Like, you know what that is, right? Like you were just talking about that over coffee with your friend. You're like, you know, the second person singular imperative middle voice.

unknown 23:36

What?

Angels Ministering To Jesus

Angel Scriptures And Encouragement

Commentary On A Finished Fight

When "Be Gone" Feels Ignored

Two Surrenders Satan Or Christ

Share Support And Next Steps

Prayer And Worship Response

Memory Verse Practice

Kate 23:36

So of course I had to look that up. And it says in ancient Greek, this is a command directed at one person, you in this case, to perform an action upon themselves for their own benefit, self-affected action. So it's to us, like to us, the reader, it's calling us to perform an action upon them for our own benefit. So, like, pay attention, this is for you. That's what Matthew's saying. Pay attention, this is important, this is for you. And what he's about to say, like the devil left him, he's already gone. But Matthew's like, pay attention, this is for you to affect you for your own benefit. What comes next? He says, Angels came and were ministering to him. Behold, angels came and were ministering to him. And so that root word for behold is a verb, just means to see, perceive with the eyes, senses, notice, discern, discover, pay attention, observe, inspect, examine, look at, behold. And then it can also mean to know, get knowledge of, and understand. So this is this is how Matthew ends the story. Remember that this is like an autobiographical, like um passing on of a story that Matthew had to have heard from Jesus because Jesus was alone in the wilderness with the devil. And so Jesus has relayed this story to his disciples, and Matthew is writing it down, not as an eyewitness, but as a one-step down game of telephone. Jesus told him what happened, and Matthew's writing it down, and this is how Matthew ends the story, and the same with Luke and same with Mark. All three accounts mention the fact that angels came and were ministering to him. Let me make sure that's true, because I know Mark, you know, the the same story, in case you hadn't looked at it, it's Mark. I mentioned this before already in the podcast. Um, but Mark's is the shortest. He only dedicates two verses. It's Mark 1, 12 through 13. Yeah, and he does end with the angels who are ministering to him. And then Luke's version uh is in Luke 4. Interestingly enough, in case you hadn't noticed, he has the temptations in a different order. Uh, the temple is the final, the third, the pinnacle of the temple is the third temptation in his version. But um does he say you should not put the Lord your guy and when the devil had ended every no, okay, so Luke does not say that angels came and were ministering to him. Um, he does say when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. And that opportune time is when um he enters Judas and works along with the Pharisees to begin the process of Jesus sentencing and crucifixion. Okay, so that's the opportune time that Luke is referencing. Now again, do I need to say this? I don't want to get on too much of a tangent, but remember that when you have uh different accounts of the same story, just because he didn't mention angels, that doesn't discount the fact that Matthew and Mark did. It's just that his version, if you talk to three people who see or or hear about some account from the same person, they're each going to, and this is what you want, right? If it's all exactly the same, then it has been doctored. It has been um, what's the word I'm looking for? You know, premeditated or um probably potentially made up. But the fact that we have each man hearing the story from Jesus and then writing their own version of it and not comparing notes um is a good thing. So uh Matthew really wants us to pay attention to this. He's saying, Behold, okay, so listen, pay attention, wise up, sit up. Angels came and were ministering to him. So I thought that was important to highlight that he says, Behold. And then this word for angels is a messenger, uh, envoy, one who is sent an angel, a messenger from God uh to bring tidings. And this word has two parts to it, and one of the parts is the same word used in Matthew 4.10, be gone, go, um, when he's talking about Satan, because that that is also made up of two words, and so there's this word in both go and angels that means like to lead um and to go. And so in this case, you know, Jesus is telling Satan to go, and the word used with that is a preposition mean meaning under. So like go away, you are under my authority, you are beneath me, you have to leave. And now this word angels, like to go to lead, to be sent, it they're coming from God. So Jesus has sent away Satan, and God is now sending angels to minister to his son. Angels are used, this word angel is used 166 times in the Greek, so 176 times in the Greek. Um, and in the Hebrew, it's used 213 times. So it's for a total of like nearly 400 times, 389 times angels are mentioned in the Bible. So we're gonna talk a little bit about them today through our cross-references and commentary. But it says that they came. I'm still on word study real quick. It came and they came, angels, plural, not one, angels came and were ministering to him. And this word um came just means to come, to draw near to, to approach, visit. And I thought this was interesting. One of the possible definitions uh or figuratively worship or assent to, and that that idea of assenting to uh like a figure of authority in the Bible is agreement with, submission to. So, like, I think as I've been reading this and and like knowing this was coming and then studying it like initially today, I was thinking like, what does that mean that they're ministering to him? They came and were ministering to him. And this word minister, the first time that we're introduced to the concept of ministering to the Lord, because these angels are ministering to the Lord, right? So the first time that we're introduced to the concept of ministering to God, I think I wrote it maybe last week. I don't know, but it's in um Deuteronomy and it's talking about, I'm pretty sure it's in Deuteronomy, it's talking about uh the Levi the Levites, the priest ministering to God. Is it Deuteronomy? I feel like I have 10 8 in my mind, but who knows if that's right. Ah, it is okay. At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord to stand before the Lord to minister to him and to bless in his name to this day. Like we know, like, okay, um, like God, like when you think of, and let me just ask you this. I mean, if you didn't study, when when you think of the word minister, what do you think? Like, what do you think we're talking about here that the angels ministered to God? I thought, you know, okay, they're like giving him water, they're giving him food, they're like healing any parts of his cracked, dry skin that are hurting because he's been in the dry desert and heat, sunburned, like for 40 days. He's probably, you know, dehydrated to some extent, certainly malnourished. Um, but also like spiritually, emotionally, mentally, does he need to be ministered to? Like he's just duked it out with the flipping devil. Like he needs some ministry, like he needs to be taken care of, I think is what I thought. Like his needs are being met, he's being served, being taken care of. And all of those are are parts of it to be a servant, attendant to, serve, wait upon, to supply food and necessities of life, to relieve one's necessities, to provide, take care of, distribute the things necessary to sustain life, to attend to anything that may serve another's interest. And so I think, you know, I would imagine all of those things that they are rushing to his side. And there's some really beautiful commentary coming up about the picture of these angels so eager to get to Jesus' side. Um, but I think the picture is more than that. I think what's happening here is significantly more than that. And the idea that we can, the Levites, the priests, were able to minister to the Lord and to bless his name. And that we are, as Christians, called a royal priesthood. And part of that also is that we are meant to minister to the Lord. That idea is an idea of worship. Like, I just picture, don't you? Like, don't you just like they're not Jesus is gonna be okay because he's Jesus, like, and they're gonna meet his physical needs and all that. They're gonna I would assume that they're gonna give him food and water and what he needs. But I also think what's gonna happen first is that they're just gonna like holy, holy, holy, like they're just gonna worship. Like there's gonna be a jam session, worship session for their conquering king for this duel that has been foretold in Genesis 3 for centuries. The thing that we have been waiting to see happen has just happened. These angels are rejoicing and they are worshiping, and they are calling him King of Kings and Lord of Lords and bowing down in worship to the one true God who just defeated Satan, you know, who just caused the devil to have to flee. And uh, I love that. I love that picture of the angels worshiping and that they love to worship. We we see that picture now. We can cross over into our our cross references here, Revelation 5, 11 through 12, and multiple times, you know, we we we see what the angels are doing. Then I looked and heard around the throne and the living creatures. Then I looked and heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, and the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. Like what song were they singing to him for having endured and come out victorious in the wilderness? Like there was a worship session going on for sure. And we should follow suit. There should be this story ought to, when we realize that he did this for us, and had he given in to temptation, had he surrendered and believed the lie that his father wasn't good and turned the stones into bread, had he taken the shortcut and thrown himself off the temple to prove to the Jews, look at these angels lifting him up. Oh, it's the Messiah who will come quickly to the temple. There he is. He can get the throne, he can get the crown without the cross. And had he bowed down to take the kingdoms of the world and their glory in worship of Satan, we would not be saved. He would not have been able to offer us salvation. There would be no sinless, spotless lamb, there would be no shedding of blood for the remission of sins, and we would still be dead in our sins. We would have no hope of eternal life or salvation or the grace that comes through faith. None of that would have been possible. So when we understand the significance of what Jesus did, what he had to do, and what he did so well in the wilderness, our response should be worship too. We should be singing with the angels. We should be ministering to God with the angels for what he accomplished on our behalf. It's beautiful. It is so beautiful to see his victory here. So that cross-reference is Revelation. Um let me see if there's any others. I mentioned that he departed until an opportune time from Luke, that same version, uh, or his version of the story. I will no longer talk much with you for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim. Oh, here it is. I found it. It was right here when I was trying to say why Jesus does what he does. This is Matthew, just kidding. John 14, 30 to 31A. I will no longer talk much with you for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. So he has no claim on me. I will be I I have been victorious over him and I will ultimately you know he he he will be thrown into the he and his demons will be thrown into the lake of fire forever, and I will be victorious over him. He will bruise my heel and I will crush his head. And we talked about that last week. You know, all the enemies of God will be put under him. There'll be a footstool. And then uh obviously he will command his angels concerning you. That was Psalm 91, that's another cross-reference. That what Satan, remember, Satan tried to twist that um and then this on the cross, he says, Jesus, do you think that I cannot appeal to my father and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? So angels, like they are messengers of God sent by God to minister, to bring tidings. And Jesus says, if I wanted to, I could call on my father, and right now he would send 12 legions of angels. The Roman legion was like 6,000 soldiers. So 12 legions would be, and he says, more than 12 legions of angels, he would send me my father, would send me uh that's over 72,000 angels, like that, if Jesus had asked for it. And then there appeared to him an angel. Yeah, in the garden. See, this is I want I didn't want to do that out of order, but they were out of order just because of the order of the books. But before the cross, um, we're told in Luke 22, 43, while Jesus is in the garden praying and sweating blood, asking for the cup to pass because dang, he knows what's coming. It says, and there appeared to him an angel from heaven strengthening him. And then we see again, I mean, we see angels announcing his birth to the shepherds, remember that. But there's also after his crucifixion, he's been laid in the grave. This is Matthew 28, 2 through 5, and behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him, guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. Like that's always the common theme. Like when angels appear in the Bible, the first thing they say is, Do not be afraid. So they must be like awesome looking beings, because every time that's a human being sees them, they have to say, It's okay, don't be afraid. So, gosh, like, is it not encouraging? Uh-oh. I lost my spot because I was looking up Deuteronomy 10, 8. Um, this, this is uh Spurgeon, yeah. That that as there is a world of wicked, malicious spirits that fight against Christ in his church and all particular believers, so there is a world of holy, blessed spirits, the angels, engaged and employed for them. Like that's so cool and so encouraging. We're not meant to worship angels, they worship Jesus. If we look to an angel and fall down and worship them, that happens in the Bible too, right? People fall down to worship them and they say, get up. It happened with John in Revelation. The angel says, get up, and I'm just, I'm just a servant of God like you. Do not worship me, worship Christ. So we look to an angel and they say, look to Christ. Like we don't worship them, but like we've been talking about the devil, angel of light, his demons, mess, they they masquerade as messengers of righteousness. But there is a genuine article class of spiritual beings who love and worship and serve at the Father's pleasure and go where he says to go and do what he says to do. And part of what Hebrews 1.14 tells us is that they are ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation. That's us. They are sent to minister to us. And so what we see happening to Jesus, that he is being ministered to by angels after his temptation, that also is what happens to us. That also is the father's heart and what he does. That that I mean, be encouraged by that fact that whatever you are facing, that the father sends angels to minister to you in that temptation. So that was some of the really good, beautiful stuff from the cross-referencing. I always love to hear what stands out to you guys. So certainly share with me if there was a cross-reference that you loved. Um, and we'll we'll wrap up here with commentary because ooh, is it good? The commentary is really good. And I'll just read some of it and share a few more thoughts, and then that'll be the episode today, you guys. That'll just be us chilling as if you were here sitting with me in my office and we were going through this, or if you were in our local study and we were just talking through things together. So I'll start with David Guzick. He said, uh, then the devil left him means that Jesus won. Means that Jesus won. Gosh. I like do you not need to know right now, whatever you're facing, that you have a victorious savior. I do. And it's good to be we know it, but it's good to be reminded that he won. He won because this is guzik, because he recognized Satan's mode of attack, lies and deception. Primarily, Satan is a deceiver, and for those who live in light of the cross, deception is his only tool because demonic powers were disarmed at the cross of their real weapons and power. Gosh, that's Colossians 2.15. You guys know Colossians 2.15. I'm gonna read it to you in case you don't because it's one of my favorite chapters. That was for my Kentucky friends. You're welcome. I'll be here all week. Okay, come here, come here, Colossians. There you are. Yeah, this is victory. And you who were dead in your trust trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed at the cross, he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. Their weapons of sin and death, he took them away. He put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. Satan has just been put to open shame. Dude, this is George Whitfield. Listen to how he explains this. Hell, we may suppose, like the Philistines of old, was confounded and gave a horrible groan when they saw their great Goliath, in whom they had so long trusted, thus shamefully and totally defeated in no less than three pitched battles. Do I need to read that again? I'm gonna read it again. Let me go back a little bit. And now the battle is over. The important combat is ended. Jesus has let me go back. When they do these like old English halfs and thous and thighs, he leaveth him. It's hard. But you know, behold. Okay. This is George Whitfield. And now the battle is over. The important combat is ended. Jesus hath won the field. Satan is routed and totally put to flight. Then, when the devil found that Jesus could withstand even the golden bait, the lust of the eye and pride of life in the two last, as well as the lust of the flesh in the first temptation, despairing of the least success and quite stunned with that all-powerful get thee hence Satan, he leaveth him. Hell, we might suppose, like the Philistines of old, was confounded and gave a horrible groan when they saw their great Goliath, in whom they had so long trusted, thus shamefully and totally defeated in no less than three pitched battles. The first Adam was attacked but once and was conquered. The first Adam was attacked but once and was conquered. But the second Adam, though thus repeatedly assaulted, comes off without the least sin, not only conqueror, but more than conqueror. Man. Get fired up. You need to you need to get fired up, you know. Like I need to get fired up. We need to be reminded of what Jesus did here. Thank you not. So that's like hell and Satan and his like his demons. They're all just like a horrible groan. Their great Goliath was just like put to shame. Like it wasn't a tie, it wasn't even a contest. He is walking away completely defeated. How embarrassing. So that's hell and Satan and his demons. But think about the joy in heaven. This is what he says, Whitfield. Think you not that there was joy, joy unspeakable in heaven upon this glorious occasion? Think you not that the angels, those sons of God, and the multitude of the heavenly host who shouted so loud at our Lord's birth, did not repeat, if possible, with yet greater ecstasy, that heavenly anthem, Glory be to God in the highest. And then it talks about like, where were they when Jesus was enduring this temptation? And so here's a thought for a while they were only spectators. Orders, we may suppose, being issued out that they should only wait around, but not relieve their praying, fasting, tempted Lord. But now the restraint is removed. Satan departs, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him. They came to administer to his bodily necessities and to congratulate him upon the glorious and complete victory which he had gained. Some of them, it may be, had done this kind of office. And then it talks about like Elijah and ministering to Elijah for his victory and meeting his needs out in the wilderness. Uh, and just says, His father sends him bread from heaven, and by this lets him know that notwithstanding the horrid temptations with which he had been attacked, he is his own beloved son, and with whom he was well pleased. And then it talks about us. Yeah, so here, okay, this is a good application. It keeps going. And there was joy in heaven. Was there joy what? And was there joy in heaven on this happy occasion? What equal, and if possible, what infinitely greater joy ought there to be among the children of God here on earth? For we should do well to remember that our blessed Lord in this great fight with and conquest over the dragon acted as a public person, as a federal head of his mystical body, the church, even the common representative of all believers, we may therefore from this blessed passage gather strong consolations. And here it is, since by our Lord's conquest over Satan, we are thereby assured of our own, and in the meanwhile can apply to him as a compassionate high priest who was in all things tempted as we are, that he might experimentally be enabled to help us, succor us, succor, succor. These words, listen, that he would be able to help us when we are tempted. Uh is there anything else I want to read here? I mean, it just talks about enduring, like how we can then endure, you know, was our Lord not treated thus? Um, my mom was saying at the end of our study on Saturday, she went to Hebrews 12, which was such a good sort of encouragement. Because you grow weary, right? Like we grow weary. I grow weary. I I'm I'm real weary of this pain in my body. I thought the surgery was gonna fix me. It helped with some stuff, but some stuff feels like it's gotten worse. Um and like, yeah, do not grow weary. Let me read this. So this is she she was quoting Hebrews 12. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. And how do we do that? Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross and also endured the wilderness, right? Despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners and Satan in the wilderness, right, such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted in your struggle against sin. Uh, no, weary or faint-hearted, period. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. Jesus, in every way, like in everything that we face and everything that we have to endure, he has gone before us, handled it perfectly, and then strengthens us in our fight and in our battle. And I think like uh I'm gonna pull up the post that I made in Abidible Plus just to share a part of that. Um but I also wanted to read this while I look that up. Um, this is Spurgeon. The same similar idea that I was just reading from Whitfield, you know that they they'd been waiting, the angels were waiting to come and minister to Jesus. Um, they were holding off because it was Jesus' thing to endure, and probably because they had orders to hold off. But Spurgeon says these holy beings might not come upon the scene while the battle was being fought, lest they should seem to divide the honors of the day. But when the duel was ended, they hastened to bring food for the body and comfort for the mind of the champion king. Like that, that's their champion. Like they came and worshiped. That was part of the ministry for sure. Um so let me let me transition to a thought that I had that I think is an important one that might be coming up for you. We we're celebrating Jesus. We know that we we should know we forget the battle belongs to the Lord and that we are to be still and that he fights for us. And we're gonna be picking up this theme starting April 6th with our next study on the armor Ephesians 6, 10 through 20, where we understand, like Paul tells us this is a command to be fully dressed for battle so that we can stand firm, so that we can be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. That's gonna be our next study, very practical study about being dressed with the full armor of God, not missing any pieces of that armor. Um, but I think we might read something, I mean, I did. We might read something like this and be like, okay, Jesus says, be gone Satan in verse 10 and in verse 11 it says, then the devil left him. And there are a lot of times in my life, saith me, and maybe thinketh you, look at me. Did I do good? Was that good old English? Uh, where we feel like we're saying that we're trying to come against the devil, and he's just not relenting. The temptation is not letting up, things are not getting better, maybe they're getting worse. And I was talking to some of the ladies in the group about that this week because I knew I was going to be teaching on 411 for the podcast and then next weekend with the ladies. And so I want to share this. This is what I wrote in Abidible Plus. I want to share this post that I made because I think you might be able to identify with it. I also this is like um a concern I have, I think, in all that we've been talking about. Like the idea, if you go go back to me talking about um summarizing C. S. Lewis screw tape letters and that he comes, that Satan comes at us always and always, like all these insidious deceptions and lies and temptations that he puts before us because he's always trying to take us out. And we're we're we're tired and we're exasperated. And uh the temptation, I think, for me, maybe for you, is to despair of all this, like to be talking this much about the battle and be like, crap, I wish, excuse me, pardon me, some of you don't like that word. Darn it, gersh, darn it. I didn't, I would have liked to not know so much about this. But I I think it was better when I was ignorant. So here's here's what I posted today in Abitable Plus. I said, most days my pain is a seven or eight, some days it's ten plus. In the process of trying to get better through PT, I've pulled my groin and pinched a new nerve in my shoulder. It's as if my spine is on fire and everything connected is in understandable rebellion. I tried to switch my mattress yesterday and that turned into a migraine-like level 10 unbearable headache that had me up all night and greeted me with the same unwavering intensity this morning. I've got ice on it and we'll need to make some calls this week to doctors again. I'm exhausted. The pain wears you down. What in your life is wearing you down? Yesterday morning, after our women's group wrapped up, a few ladies stuck around, and as I usually do, I started asking them questions. I like to prep podcasts and studies this way. It helps so much to run things, run things by others, to hear them process out loud. So this was my question. I said in 410, we say, we see Jesus say, be gone Satan, and in 4.11 it says, Then the devil left him. But it doesn't always work like that in real life, does it? At least not for me. Sometimes I pray that, be gone Satan, or I rebuke you in Jesus' name, and it literally feels like nothing changes. So I asked them, What do you do with that? And the newest believer in the group who has the most tender heart for Jesus and always cries whenever she talks about him, said, rinse and repeat. And by that she meant like, keep trying, keep asking, keep battling it, keep saying it. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. She's facing a heartbreaking personal trial right now as a new Christian sister, and yet that was her thought. Just keep knocking. And we processed it together a little more. The five of us stood there talking first about context. We have to remember, right, that Jesus hadn't just started battling with Satan. To some degree, it had been going on for a while in the wilderness, at least through all of the three temptations, if not for the entire 40 days. Mark's version seems to indicate the temptation lasted the whole 40 days. And in Luke's gospel, we see that though the devil left Jesus at the end of the wilderness temptation, he would be back to attack again. And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. That's Luke 4.13. So while we see that the devil had to obey Jesus' command to depart, it was in the context of an ongoing drawn-out battle. And not only would he be back to attack again, what we know is that the battle didn't just start in the wilderness. Jesus has been battling the devil since the garden. Well, since heaven, actually. Now, the ongoing nature of this battle, as your eyes are open to its reality, can do one of two things. It can make you so exhausted that you one, surrender to Satan, or two, surrender to Christ. In scenario one, you throw up the white flag and stop fighting. You let the devil have his way and you believe what he wants you to believe about yourself, your circumstances, others, and worst of all, God. Waving the white flag feels like it will bring the battle to some kind of end. This is a lie. Surrendering to Satan brings death and misery because it drives a wedge between you and your father. Satan is not an ally. He never delivers on his promises. If the battle has gone quiet, it's only because he's tricked you into believing you've been delivered from it. Being drawn away from God is not deliverance. It's demonic bondage. Scenario two still has you frantically waving the white flag, but this surrender is to Christ. It's an exhausted acknowledgement that you cannot take one more step on your own. Your eyes have been open to the battle that rages around you, and you do not want to spend one more minute on the battlefield in your own strength. You realize that the only way through this is in the power and might of the only one who has ever defeated the devil. All this battle talk is meant to drive us to despair, not permanently, but to despair in our own strength. My biggest prayer for this Into the Wilderness series, whether you've actually been doing it or just following along here in the group or here on the podcast, is for you to arrive at a place where you truly say, I cannot do this on my own. I don't want to try and do this on my own for one more minute. Frantically wave your flag of surrender in Christ's direction. It is his joy and passion to take on the fight on your behalf. He is seated at the right hand of the Father right now, interceding for you and for me, saying, Be gone, Satan, on our behalf again and again and again. He's got our six till the day we die. Do not surrender to Satan by tapping out of the fight. Your exhaustion is not meant to make you give up. It's meant to drive you to the feet of your warrior king. It is God who fights the battle. Wave your flag, join him in the fight in his strength, and then and only then will you be able to rinse and repeat. I cannot wait for the armor. I cannot wait to learn word by word what it means to be fully dressed for battle in the full armor of God. I cannot wait, come what may, with my body and my pain and my circumstances, to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might and to stand firm. What I really want is to cross that heavenly finish line on my hands and knees, bloodied and bruised, having shared in the sufferings of my Savior, having been poured out like a drink offering, having kept the faith, having fought the good fight, and having finished the race. Do not surrender to Satan. Fight. I challenge you to take your exhaustion, to take your understanding of the battle, the fact that it rages on, and wave your white flag of surrender and stop trying to pretend that if you sit back and sit out and tap out, that you're better off. You're not, you are in demonic bondage, and there is a wedge being driven between you and your father, battling against Satan in the battle, staying in the fight, in the power and strength of Christ, protected by what we're going to talk about, the armor, fully protected by the armor of God, is where you are commanded to be. It's where you're commanded to be. You know, the email that I sent out, I was sharing about the armor, and I talked at the end about what Jesus has to say. Um, you know, scripture never offers avoidance as an option. Jesus didn't die so we could tap out. He died and rose again so that we could stand, so that we could be, as Romans says, more than conquerors through him who loved us, so that we could be strong, not in ourselves, but in the Lord and in the strength of his might. And all throughout the New Testament, the call is the same, right? Stand firm, resist, endure, overcome. And again and again in Revelation, Jesus promises blessings to the one who conquers, to the one who overcomes, not to the one who escapes the fight, to the one who remains in the fight with him. So the battle rages on, the attacks will continue, but let that fact and let your exhaustion drive you again and again to Christ. And I'm gonna close with this quote from Spurgeon Be more prayerful every time the devil is more active, he will soon give it up if he finds that his attacks drive you to Christ. And that's it for this episode. If you know someone who would be blessed, I'm laughing because it's like a very awkward transition. Cue the music. Boom. If you know someone who would be blessed by what you just heard, please share the Abidible Podcast with them. Keep spreading the word so we can make much of the word. Drop us a review, tell us what you love and what you're learning. Check out the link to learn more about partnering with us by buying us a coffee one time, by joining our Abidible Plus women's membership community on Facebook for 10 bucks a month, or by becoming a monthly supporter. For those of you following along in the workbook, go ahead and keep working or start working on that final recap for this series. You can find it on pages 60 to 62. Ideally, you would have this summary and review section done before you listen to the final episode in this series, number 91. I didn't realize. I just thought of that. Psalm 91. He will command his angels concerning you. What a perfect number to end this series on. God, you're so cool. Uh, in that episode, next one, 91, we will go back through and summarize all of our learning from Matthew 4, 1 through 11. And that is how we move our learning into long-term memory. I hope you will join me for that episode. So I'll pray for us and then close us out with our memory work for verse 11. Jesus, we worship you as the conquering king, as our victorious second Adam, who endured more than we will ever face, who went toe-to-toe, eye to eye with the devil and sent him away with his stupid tail between his legs, embarrassed and defeated. And we, along with the angels, sing holy, holy, holy, and glory to God in the highest. We bow down and we worship you with an understanding of what your victory means to us. Had you not been victorious, we would not have relationship with you. We would not be made right with you. There would be no cross, no shedding of blood, no remission of sins, no pure spotless lamb, no salvation, no resurrection, and no salvation, and no eternity with you. Our finite minds cannot even begin to comprehend what you secured for us by enduring this wilderness. It was it was not yet the cross. That was your final work, that's where it was finished and completed. But boy, this was significant. And you modeled for us what it looks like to love the Father more than anything, and how to love the Word of God and to wield the Word of God as the sword of the Spirit against the lies and deceptions and manipulations and temptations of the enemy. You modeled all of that for us, and we're so grateful. And Jesus, as you mature us and as you grow us, we desire to endure temptation more and more like you. We want to be moving and growing forward. But Lord, we also confess that we are weak and we are forgetful and we are stubborn and our hearts are fickle, and we are surrounded by a culture that tries from every direction to put idols before us, to tempt us, to take the shortcut, to believe that you aren't good. And so we can't wait on you and on your provision. We have to take it. Into our own hands, see it, take it, eat it. Just like the lie in the garden, that we can just handle it, go after it, get it on our own instead of waiting on you and on your will. We confess that we are tempted by uh power and control, like the kingdoms and the glory in in our own world. That looks different in to each one of us in a different way, but but we we have a need um that turns into a desire, and we go and we we try to fill that with something Satan offers. And Lord, we take the bait still, we still um are deceived, and so we repent for all the ways, even right now, that we are not worshiping you wholeheartedly. And the ask, Lord, is that the more we get to know you, the more that we study and talk and learn about who you are, that our love for you would grow. That's the natural outcome. The more we know you, the more we love you. It's a natural result of abiding in you, especially through your word. And in that way, I ask that you would make us like Jesus, that we would love you so much, God, that we would be so overflowing with love for you, that obedience would come as a natural result. And that we would have the desire to align ourselves with you, to surrender ourselves with you, even when we're exhausted, even when things are broken, that we wouldn't surrender to Satan in the fight, but that we would wave the flag to you and that that we would be comforted by the fact that you have already conquered on our behalf, that you have already completed and accomplished um perfect living on our behalf. And thank you that when the Father looks at us, he sees your perfect record, Jesus, of righteousness. It's hard to comprehend. It's it's too good to be true, as one of the ladies praying in our group said. It's too good to be true, and yet it is true. And so we praise you, our conquering king, for the victory that you accomplished in the wilderness. And we can't wait next week to just do a final victory lap as we review all that we've learned. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's close by doing our memory work together. I'm going to repeat Matthew 4 11 five times. Say it out loud with me or quietly to yourself. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. Matthew 4 11. Remember, you are able to abide in the Bible. We'll see you next time. Until then, let's abide.