Luke 4

Jesus is tempted and begins His ministry

Text	Comments
The temptation. Matt. 4:1-11; Mark 1:12, 13; Luke 4:1-13.
.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.	1 - Led by the Spirit Mark's words are stronger mr0112. Our Lord needed time in fasting and prayer for strength to face His awesome mission. Satan considered this to be his chance to bring Christ down when He was physically weak. Temptation was also part of the divine plan. Compare mt04.   3 - If thou be Jesus knew who He was. To doubt would have been to fall.   4 - It is written Following the example of Jesus, we too may live by "every word." Notice that we do not choose which words of God to listen to. We neither add nor subtract. Aside from Christ as revealed in the Bible, there are no channels of light. John recognized Christ as the Word. See the beginning of John 1.    The devil presents supposed light to us as to Christ. The DaVinci Code is false light. See the note at the bottom of this page.
.5  And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  6  And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. .7  If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. .8  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.   6 - All this Because Adam and Eve chose his way, Satan claimed the earth as his domain. Jesus would demonstrate that, in human flesh, it was possible to live without bowing to Satan at all. The universe would then know that Christ would be right in taking back sovereignty of this planet re1115. He will free us from sin and its results 2pe0104. On a temple pinnacle, v9.
.9  And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:  10  For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:  11  And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.  12  And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.  13  And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.	9 - Cast thyself down I am told that a Jewish tradition of the time said that the Messiah would come in this way. See on mt0406.   10 - Angels ... to keep thee This would have been presumption, not faith. The verse is about stumbling by mistake. Satan was an evil angel. Following his advice Jesus would have taken Himself out of the hands of the good angels. Satan Quoted ps09111. See note there.
The ministry in Galilee begins. Matt. 4:12; Mark 1:14; Luke 4:14, 15.
.14 ¶ And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.  15  And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.	Matthew and Mark explain that John the Baptist had just been sent to prison mt0412, mr0114.
Rejection at Nazareth.
.16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.  17  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias [Isaiah]. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, .18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,	16 - As his custom was ... sabbath Peter said that Jesus left us an example to be followed 1pe0221. Should we worship on the seventh-day Sabbath as He did? Neither He nor any other Bible writer has told us to observe any other day of worship. You may recall that Jesus healed on the Sabbath mt1201-13. and His disciples picked grain to eat on the Sabbath. These episodes, however, did not mean that the Sabbath was no longer a holy day. In fact, after picking grain on the Sabbath Jesus confirmed it as His day – the Lord's day – mr0227f. And that it was for all humanity — not just for Jews. If this idea is new to you, please pray for wisdom and see the page of links to explanations involving other passages.   18 - Spirit of the Lord is upon me Jesus' audience immediately understood Him to be applying the prophecy of Himself  is6101ff. They had, no doubt, heard of his baptism and the manifestation of the Spirit lu0321f. He stopped reading before the end of Isaiah's prophetic words about the day of vengeance. That time was and is still future when Jesus will return as king re1916.
.19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.	19 - .To preach ... He did not read the next words: "the day of vengeance of our God." The Jews placed great emphasis on vengeance as an expectation of what the Messiah would do. They wanted Rome's position in ruling the world. For them, salvation was a matter of nationality rather than personal submission to God ps07906. Vengeance would come with the second advent. They were responsible for the light revealed in the Old Testament.    Christ had come first to the house of Israel mt1524, lu0172, da0927.
.20  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.  21  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. .22  And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?	Closed the book Or "rolled up the scroll [of Isaiah]."    Sat down Preaching was done in a sitting position mt0501, mr0401, lu0503, jn0802. He had been standing as was expected for reading from the Torah. The message would be very short.   Fastened on him There must have been a sense of fearful awe from being in the divine presence. Such an aura would explain the reaction of the merchants when the temple was "cleansed." See on jn0215 and lu0248.   Began to say Luke apparently recorded only the sentence that brought the reaction. The people didn't like the idea that they were poor, brokenhearted, captives, blind following the words of Isaiah v18. Compare Lodicea re0318.   Joseph's son They knew Him and so certainly would not have considered Him to be the Messiah.
23  And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.  24  And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. .25  But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;  26  But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta [or"Zerepath], a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. .27  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.   23 - Ye will ... say ... Heal thyself He knew what they were thinking — that He should mind his own business and apply the captive and poor and blind advice v18 to Himself. How could He help them? Compare His experience on the cross mt2742. Opinions vary about what He meant.   23 - We have heard His life apparently had supernatural aspects before the beginning of His ministry following His baptism and wilderness fast. They wanted some entertainment but this was not in harmony with the nature of the truth He had come to illuminate.   24 - No prophet See jn0111.   25 - Elias Or "Elijah." For the 3½ years, see 1ki1801, ja0517. We find it also as a time of spiritual drought and persecution during the middle ages See where 1260 days is equivalent to 3½ years when the woman hid in the wilderness re1206. Also da0725.   26 - Unto none of them was Elias sent They weren't ready to listen. Jesus' audience just did not want to hear this. They considered themselves chosen and beyond such condemnation even though their ancestors had been the same way. Luke, who wrote primarily to the Gentiles lu0101. For the story about the widow see 1ki1708.   28 - Lepers See 2ki0501, 2ki0703.
.28  And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,  29  And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. .30  But he passing through the midst of them went his way,	When they heard They were certainly convicted of their need but, in pride, quickly hardened their hearts ro0807. Compare v18.   Wrath This was not the kind of sermon they wanted to approve is3010.   Brow of the hill Literally "eyebrow...." The Greek word indicates a projection or prominence.   Passing through We expect that angels protected Him ps09111 and closed the eyes of the people to his escape 2ki0617.   Why was Jesus protected here? His "hour was not yet come" jn0730. He would be protected again. jn0744, jn1031.
Move to Capernaum. Luke 4:31; Matt. 4:13-17; Mark 1:14, 15.
31 ¶ And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. .32  And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power. .33  And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice,  34  Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.  34 "Ah! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." (RSV) .35  And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.  36  And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.  37  And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about.   31 - Capernaum See Galilee map, north edge. He literally "came down" from 1144 ft. above seal level (349 m.) to 685 ft. (209 m.) below. It was a walk of about 20 miles (32 km.).   32 - Astonished Compare other instances when the people were amazed mt0728, mt1354, mr0602. He spoke with power, exousia, or "authority."   34 - Let us alone Greek ea which KJV translators apparently considered to be an imperative form of eao, "to let." It probably should be translated as in the RSV (above).   35 - Hold thy peace ... come out The evil spirit was to be quiet as well as come out. As we see with the demoniacs (those possessed by evil spirits), the spirits recognized the authority of Christ. He was their commander when they were pure angels in heaven from where He had to evict them lu0832, re1207b.
Healing Peter's mother-in-law and others. Mark 1:29-34; Luke 4:38-41; Matt. 8:14-17.
.38  And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon's house. And Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her.  39  And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them. 40  Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. .41  And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.   He arose From where He had been sitting while speaking to the people.   See  mr0129 for the fullest account of the healing.   Rebuking ... suffered [allowed] them Their statement was true. See comment on v35 above. Permitting them to continue would have shown them to be His followers leading to the conclusion that He was a servant of their master, Satan. His stopping their speech made it clear that He did not accept what appeared to be adoration from them.
Probably the first Galilean Tour. Mark 1:35-39; Luke 4:42-44; Matt. 4:23-25.
42  And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them.  43  And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent.  44  And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee.	Stayed him They tried to hold Him back from going.   Other cities A reminder to us to reach out to people in darkness rather than feeling secure in our society of fellow believers mt2819.   Preached in ... Galilee Bible scholars call this His "Galilean Tour."

Basing our faith on all the words of God as mentioned in verse 4 above we must reject speculation that contradicts the Scriptures. The DaVinci Code is an example of wild ideas that intrigue minds. Others will arise. We must, each one, build our house on the rock, Christ Jesus, see Matt. 7:21. This particular deception assumes that Mary Magdalene had an affair with Jesus and proceeds to say who the resulting children were. It is slander against Christ and the Father. Reading the story or watching a movie about such fiction may be an opening for the prince of darkness to tempt us to doubt the Bible. See Isa. 8:20 . Read at least the first part of this chapter and note comments. May God bless and direct us. Heaven is real !

The central themes of the book are that Jesus married Mary of Magdala, had children by her and that Jesus' physical bloodline continued in France. These are fictitious. According to evangelist Mark Finley," the ideas raised by the book have prompted a worldwide discussion, one which [all] need to be aware of and capitalize on as a witnessing opportunity."

"The DaVinci Code is a suspense-filled, spine tingling read that blends fiction with fiction. "Although author Dan Brown claims it is 'historical fiction,' there is very little solid history in it." However, he adds, "the novel and movie provide Christians everywhere an opportunity to show the contrast between the eternal Word of God and the living Christ and the superficiality of an imaginary story."

Evangelist Finley notes that one of the book's more exotic claims—that a secret "Priory of Sion," or Zion, was founded 900 years ago and that parchments housed at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris reveal that its membership included many leading figures of literature, art and science, has been heartily disproved by two secular media outlets: CBS News' 60 Minutes and the BBC. Before he died, the one who established the "Priority of Sion" admitted under oath that his claims were untrue.

"Brown claims Constantine formulated the New Testament canon with the church in the fourth century," Finley adds. "The overwhelming historical evidence is that the New Testament writings were considered as authoritative by believers as early as the second century," before the time of Constantine.

Finley also notes a claim by novelist Dan Brown that "the church voted on the [truthfulness of the] divinity of Christ at the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D., and that it was a close vote. The truth is, it was a vote of 360 [accepting Christ's divinity] to 2, [so] it was hardly close at all."

"The essence of Brown's argument is, you can't have confidence in the Bible, and also see Jesus as merely a good man," Finley says. "For Christians, however, the Bible is divinely inspired and Jesus is the Son of God."