Preamble I would hate to disappoint us but despite having taught emphatically yesterday that every word in the verses of scripture is a deep study on its own and a powerful revelation if well analyzed to us by God, i also move to add that not every word has been given or fully expounded to us by God.
why?
if we persist in study, we will discover that the bible is not like a literature text written in common language to be easily understood and enjoyed but rather it is written in codes such that it requires decoding especially if the message will be understood.
having said these, let us proceed with our studies in Matthew 4vs4... if you did not read yesterday's study click here
Today
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. - Matthew 4vs4
In our word by word sequence we are supposed to continue to the next word "he" but since God has not revealed yet the full essence of that word, we will consider it in a phrase "he answered"
Study - Body
"He answered" - in modern day English and more precise to the context, "He answered means "He replied"
If Jesus had to answer, we will have to answer too. we will have to reply God, we will have to reply the devil, we will have to reply our superiors and peers, enemies and friends.
this means we must begin to prepare ourselves towards how to reply. In the earlier parts of the scriptures above the enemy was busy disturbing Christ with various irritating suggestions like "turn stone to bread and eat", he was frustrating him with personality challenging statements like"after-all, are you not the son of God?"
i expected that Christ would flare up and yell at him, i expected the bible to sound like "but Jesus shouted and said, or but Jesus Raised his voice and said ....."
but no, Jesus did not roar his response, he did not yell, he did not bark, he answered--
you too can give a simple answer, you can also control anger, you can learn how to reply people modestly, even those that try to frustrate you, even those that tell you annoying things, there is still a calm way to answer.
A calm answer is not a powerless answer, it is a Godly style.
you don't have to tear the scene apart to make your point... the word of God tells us this much!
Another possibility i was expecting in that scripture was that Jesus being the son of God would totally refuse to reply the devil, just like many of us who are too big to talk to certain sets of people, because they are lower than us in status.
Jesus was not proud, the devil of all people needed a conversation and he got polite words, and scriptural responses even fro the son of God. Many of us in Jesus' shoes would have simply called on one angel from heaven and said "hey, help me reply this little piece of shit called the devil and deal with him tremendously"
But one thing Jesus was trying to teach us too there asides humility and being able to listen to people far below our status is that every man will have to answer for himself.
"He (by himself) Answered" , we will not be able to hire a lawyer to answer for us on the last day, when we cause trouble and it gets to the hears of our superiors, we will have to answer (one man for himself).
Nobody will answer the question you created, nobody will solve the problems you were born to answer, nobody will end a trouble you start, you will have to answer (By yourself)your child will not answer God's call for you, Jesus answered by himself, you must answer by yourself.
There is a lot to say here, we could take a whole day linking in other scriptures to back up this phrase..
Just take this final note, that we need to work on our mode of communication and response, respect has to show in our tone when we answer our superiors, love has to show when we answer our enemies, care has to show when we answer the children, the word of God has to show when we reply the devil, and we have to be true when we answer God.
By and large, the last lesson, we must always have an answer! to every question, every situation and every problem, remember that we are born-solutions!
we Speak Life #TheAltar
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