The First Assault
W. Landels, D. D. Luke 4:3 And the devil said to him, If you be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. I. THE SATANIC SUGGESTION. TO have complied with it would have been a violation of what, on reflection, appeared to Jesus to be the Father's will. II. THE REPLY OF OUR LORD — "It is written, man shall not live," &c. This reply — 1. Disposes most effectually of all the arguments which are commonly urged in defence of modern excesses. 2. Points to man's higher nature as his distinguishing possession. 3. Teaches that man is not dependent on bread or material sustenance even for his lower life, but on the sustaining Word of God. (W. Landels, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. WEB: The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."