"It Is Written"

In the confrontation between the Lord and the devil (Matthew 4:1-11), it is interesting to observe the devil as the master of deception. See how he uses the simple prepositional word “If” in each of his tempting statements to the Lord:

1) “If You are the Son of God….” (Matthew 4:3,6)..
2) “If You will fall down and worship me….”(Matthew 4:9).

The implication is that the devil knew that Christ was God’s Son, but wanted to see if the Lord’s ego could be swayed to unlawfully test God (cf. James 1:13-14), by tempting Him to turn stones into bread, to jump off the temple, and to accept the devil‘s offer to bow down and worship him.

Unlike Eve (Genesis 3:4-6), the Lord could see through the devil’s deception, and frames His replies to the devil‘s misapplication of Scripture (Matthew 4:6), by quoting and making correct application of other related passages of Scripture (Deuteronomy 8:3; Deuteronomy 6:16; Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 10:20).

Note that the Lord prefaces every response to the devil with, “It is written” (Matthew 4:4,7,10). The Lord knows that false teachers (like the devil), can easily pervert the meaning of the Scriptures, by only quoting certain Scriptures, and then misapplying them — not including the totality of Scripture in their teaching and presentation (Psalm 139:17; cf. Psalm 119:160).

Because the devil knows that many “religious” people are not familiar enough with the Scriptures to refute the false teacher, he can sway them to do almost any ungodly and unauthorized thing he desires them to do. But it’s a different story with Christians who study their Bibles.

Note the following possible scenarios, noting highlighted words:

False teacher to the Christian: “Ah, you don’t have to attend every church assembly.”
The Christian: “It is written” — “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” (Hebrews 10:25).

False teacher to the Christian: “Ah, you don’t have to obey the elders — they don’t have any authority over you.”
The Christian: “It is written” — “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls” (Hebrews 13:17).

False teacher to the Christian: “Ah, one little alcoholic drink won’t hurt you.”
The Christian: “It is written“ — “Wine is a mocker, Intoxicating drink arouses brawling, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1; cf. Proverbs 31:4-5).

Beloved, as God’s children, let’s give diligence to "study" the Scriptures daily (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV; Acts 17:11), so that we can successfully overcome any false teacher that the devil throws in our path (1 John 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:21), by saying to him, “It is written.”

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets