This is an excerpt taken from a study in the Book of Hebrews 4:13 – Part ii – The Eyes of the Lord and the Eyes of Man. To read the complete article clink on the following link: The Eyes
  The world, the flesh, and the devil want our eyes on their food, and if you are in doubt concerning their food, read the epistles of Paul, and you will not be in doubt very long, for he opens your eyes to the wickedness of the things of the world. Anything that excites the world cannot be good for the child of God. Remember what excited Eve, it was her own interpretation of what she saw that led to the fall of man. We must guard against the world, the flesh, and the devil, and remember that word ‘flesh’ applies to what we carry around every day. We also have the devil, he is active in every place, he has traveled and is traveling throughout the four corners of this earth.
The Doubt Attack
  In Matthew, Chapter 4, Satan tempts the Lord Jesus. The first temptation is to bring doubt, If thou be the Son of God? The tempter tried doubt, and so today, with every child of God the first attack is always doubt. Does this sound familiar? Was not Genesis 3:6 to cause doubt in the heart and soul of Eve concerning what God had declared? I repeat what I wrote earlier, remember what the Lord purchased with His own blood, He will never sell back to the world, to the flesh, or to the devil. We are bought with a price, the precious blood of Christ; therefore, we must glorify God in our body, and cast out all doubt and fear for joy and gladness (or grace and truth). Satan in his deception not only uses doubt, but he is very willful. We are told that he travels to and fro through the whole earth seeking whom he may devour.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:(1 Peter 5:8)
Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. (1 Peter 5:9)
But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. (1 Peter 5:10)
  Likewise, the devil tried to usurp the Lord’s will in Matthew, Chapter 4. As he tempted the woman, he also tried to tempt the Lord Jesus. The devil did not ask the Lord Jesus, but with his perverted being tried to tempt, or command the Son of God. But God cannot be tempted.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:Â (James 1:13)
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. (James 1:14)
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (James 1:15)
  Notice the similarity between Genesis 3:6, and Matthew 4:4. The command of the devil was for the Son of God to turn stones into bread. This was very similar to the tree that was good for food, and to make one wise. Eve’s answer should have been the same as the answer of the Lord Jesus, for man truly does not live by bread alone; for it is by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God that man lives. Eve, as well as Adam, had listened to the words that proceeded out of the mouth of God, and by obedience to those words they would live, and by disobedience they would surely die. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? (Genesis 3:11) In the answer of the Lord to Satan, He took away the power of the world, the flesh, and the devil. By His answer He completely dissolved the temptation of Satan by the word of God.
The Number Four
   In Matthew 4:4, we have a biblical principle in the spiritual truth of the number 4. The number 4 is the number of the world: north, south, east and west; the four corners of the world. We also have the four corners of spiritual deception. In Psalm 24, we have the world, and they that dwell therein: meaning man. (Psalm 24:1) The earth [is] the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. This gives us our fourth element of spiritual temptation. First, we have the world, then we have secondly, man; thirdly, the flesh; and fourthly, the devil. In the Book of the Revelation, we have the number 4 as a symbol of God’s message to the whole world: the four beasts. It is God’s message to every realm of the world. In Revelation, Chapter 6, we have the number 4 in judgment to the world in the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
© Copyright 2017, Michael Haigh
Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.
All Scripture references are from the King James Bible. (KJV)