Matthew · chapter 4 of 28
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Matthew 4 tells how the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness, where the devil tempts him three times and Jesus answers with Scripture. Jesus then settles in Capernaum, preaches that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, calls Peter, Andrew, James and John to follow him, and travels through Galilee teaching and healing crowds.
After his baptism, where the Father declared him his beloved Son, Jesus is tested before he begins his ministry. Matthew 4 shows the obedient Son succeeding where Israel failed in the wilderness, and then introduces the first steps of his work: his message, his first disciples and the signs of the kingdom.
The Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he is hungry. The tempter suggests he turn the stones into bread, and Jesus answers with the words of Deuteronomy that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Next the devil takes him to the pinnacle of the temple and urges him to throw himself down, quoting a psalm about angels; Jesus replies that it is also written that one must not put the Lord God to the test.
In the third temptation the devil takes him to a very high mountain, shows him the kingdoms of the world and their glory and offers them to him if Jesus will bow down and worship him. Jesus sends him away and quotes Scripture: you shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only. The devil leaves him, and angels come and serve him.
When Jesus hears that John has been arrested, he withdraws to Galilee and settles in Capernaum by the sea. Matthew sees there the fulfillment of Isaiah: the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. From then on Jesus preaches that people should repent because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Walking by the Sea of Galilee, he calls the fishermen Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, and then James and John, the sons of Zebedee; they leave their nets, their boat and, in the case of the second pair, their father, and follow him. Jesus goes throughout Galilee teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing diseases, and his fame spreads; crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and beyond the Jordan follow him.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Jesus refuses to turn stones into bread and recalls that a person lives not by bread alone but by every word of God. He trusts the Father and depends on his word instead of solving his hunger on his own.
Jesus rejects the kingdoms of the world in exchange for worshiping the devil and answers that only the Lord is to be worshiped and served. He chooses the path of obedience and the cross over the shortcut of power.
Jesus begins his preaching with the same call as John: repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom arrives in the person of the king himself, and it asks for a change of direction.
Jesus calls Peter and Andrew to follow him and promises to make them fishers of men. Discipleship begins with following Jesus, and he himself transforms the work and the lives of those who respond.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: The Spirit, so that he would be tempted by the devil. — Matthew 4:1
Answer: Forty days and forty nights. — Matthew 4:2
Answer: He said it is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. — Matthew 4:3-4
Answer: All the kingdoms of the world and their glory, if Jesus would bow down and worship him. — Matthew 4:8-9
Answer: In Capernaum by the sea; he preached that people should repent because the kingdom of heaven was at hand. — Matthew 4:13-17
Answer: Simon Peter and Andrew, and then James and John; to the first two he promised to make them fishers of men. — Matthew 4:18-22
The temptations of Jesus touch points that touch us too: solving our needs by shortcuts, testing God instead of trusting him, and seeking power or success without passing through obedience. Jesus answers each time with Scripture, and in a class or small group you can ask which passages we know by heart for those hours of testing.
The call of the fishermen reminds us that following Jesus is a response, not a project of our own. Ask what nets you have to leave or what habit you need to change in order to truly follow him, and whom you are inviting to walk with him.
Matthew 4 closes with Jesus traveling through Galilee, teaching and healing while crowds follow him. In chapter 5 he goes up a mountain, sits down with his disciples and begins the Sermon on the Mount, where he describes how citizens of the kingdom live.
Matthew shows that Jesus was led by the Spirit into this test. As the Son, he faced in forty days what Israel faced in forty years and obeyed where they failed. The letter to the Hebrews adds that because he was tempted in every way, he can help those who are tempted.
The devil quoted a psalm about the protection of angels to present his proposal as biblical. Jesus does not dispute the psalm but balances it with another text from Deuteronomy: trusting God is not forcing him to prove his care. It is a warning that isolated verses are not enough; they must be read in context.
Jesus uses the trade of Peter and Andrew as an image of their new task: gathering people into the kingdom of God by proclaiming the gospel. The emphasis is that Jesus is the one who sends and equips them; they only have to follow him.