LESSON: PSALM 34:1-10

Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him. Matthew 4:11

Finally, the angels came to Him and ministered to Him. This must have taken place in a bodily manner. They appeared as bodily ministrants and brought Him food and drink and ministered to His needs at the table and in all other ways. They rendered external services to His body.

The devil, His tempter, without a doubt also appeared in a bodily form, perhaps also as an angel. For he must have been something higher than a human being to place Him on a pinnacle of the temple and to show Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment. That the devil was something higher than a man is also apparent in his offer of all the kingdoms of the world and the suggestion that Christ should worship him. He certainly did not appear here in his true colors, for when he wants to lie and deceive, he tries to look beautiful. St. Paul says that he “disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).

What we read in the Gospel is for our comfort. We should learn that, where one devil assails us, many angels can minister to us. If we fight manfully and resist the devil, God will not let us suffer want. He will send His angels to minister to us, and at times they can even serve us as our bakers, butlers, and cooks and help us in our every need. This was not written for Christ’s sake; He did not need this. If the angels ministered to Him, they can also minister to us.

SL.XI.544,27
AE 76,374

PRAYER: Lord God, our heavenly Father, send your holy angels to us that, by their ministrations, we may be protected from all harm and danger and ever rest in your grace, in and through our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

LESSON: JAMES 4:5-10

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Matthew 4:8,9

The third temptation is concerned with temporal honor and power.

Those who fall away from the faith for the sake of honor and power are victims of this temptation. They want to enjoy nothing but good days here on earth and believe only as far as honor and glory will permit. To this class belong also the heretics, who cause sects and factions among Christians so that they may go their way before the world and float about in honor.

You can place this third temptation on the right-hand side and the first one on the left-hand side. The first temptation concerns misfortune, which stirs up anger, impatience, and unbelief in us; the third and last is a temptation of good fortune, in which one is urged to seek pleasure, honor, joy, and everything exalted.

The second, middle temptation is altogether spiritual and concerns itself with freakish pranks and error to mislead us in our understanding and to draw us away from faith.

SL.XI.542,23
AE 76,373

PRAYER: Lord, preserve us by the power of your Word against all the ragings and ravings of our old evil foe, Satan, and all his machinations, in the name of Jesus our Savior. Amen.

LESSON: EPHESIANS 6:10-17

Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” Matthew 4:7

The devil’s second temptation is quite different from the first one but quite similar to it in its absurdity.

Here the devil teaches us to tempt God, just as he urged Christ to throw Himself from a pinnacle of the temple. This was quite unnecessary in any case, because there would probably have been a good set of stairs available on which He could have climbed down. That the devil here tried to induce Christ to a temptation of God is quite clear from Christ’s reply.

Wherever the devil comes upon a heart that trusts God in the hour of want and need, he quickly abandons concerns for bodily welfare and greed and makes his assault from quite a different angle. “If you want to be all spiritual and trusting,” he says, “I’ll give you some help.” He proceeds to come at you from another direction: he tries to get you to put your faith into something that God has not commanded you to believe and does not want you to believe.

It may be that God has supplied your house with bread, as He does annually throughout the whole world, and you refuse to make use of it, making want and need for yourself, declaring, “We are to put our faith in God. I will not eat the bread but wait till God sends me bread from heaven.” That would be tempting God. For He does not tell you that you must still hope for what you already have and keep on working for it. How can you hope for something you already have?

SL.XI.539,17-18
AE 76,370-71

PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, our old evil foe, the devil, was cunning enough and brazen enough to attack even your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. When he tempts us into unbelief and wrong beliefs, you have shown in our Son’s example how to overcome the devil’s temptations. Grant us your grace and strength to do this in the name of Jesus. Amen.