Bible Story Lessons

Jesus returned from being baptised in the River Jordan and was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.  While He was there, Jesus prayed and ate no food for forty days.  Afterwards He was hungry and weak and then the devil came and tempted Him.

Do you know what it means to be tempted?  It means to be asked by somebody to do things you know are wrong, or want to do them.

How was Jesus tempted?  The devil came to Him and said, "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."  He tried to tempt Jesus to do things Himself, rather than trust His Father, God.  But, Jesus answered, "It is written, 'Man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

Then the devil took Him to Jerusalem to stand on the highest point of the temple.  "If you are the Son of God," he said, "Throw yourself down.  For it is written, 'He will command His angels to guard and care for you, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone'."  But, Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not test the Lord your God'."

Lastly, the devil took Him up into a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their riches.  "All this I will give to you," he said, "If you will bow down and worship me."  Jesus answered, "Get away from Me, Satan!  For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only'."  And then the devil left Him, and angels came and helped Him.

Jesus knew that it was wrong for Him to use the power of God to make bread out of stones in order to satisfy His hunger.  Why did Jesus know that this was wrong?  Well, the power of God was upon Jesus to let Him to do wonderful things for other people, but it would have been wrong for Him to use that power for Himself.  Jesus was determined to do His Father's will, and so He refused.

This is a very important lesson which all boys and girls need to learn - that we must always obey God!  Jesus did, and He never sinned or did anything wrong, not even when the devil tempted Him.  He always obeyed and pleased God in all He did and said!

We want to be like Jesus, don't we?  Yes, and to do that we have to say, "No!" when we want to do wrong and disobey God.  That's why we need to learn memory verses so that we can know how to act when we are tempted to do wrong.

God bless!