uted Son of Joseph; he was the legal heir of Joseph and so the
promised Son of David because of the marriage of Joseph to Mary; but he
was not really the son of Joseph; he was the "only begotten Son" of God.

D. The Temptation Of Jesus. Ch. 4:1-13

1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan,
and was led in the Spirit in the wilderness 2 during forty days,
being tempted of the devil. And he did eat nothing in those days:
and when they were completed, he hungered. 3 And the devil said
unto him, If thou art the Son of God, command this stone that it
become bread. 4 And Jesus answered unto him, It is written, Man
shall not live by bread alone. 5 And he led him up, and showed him
all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil
said unto him, To thee will I give all this authority, and the
glory of them: for it hath been delivered unto me; and to
whomsoever I will I give it. 7 If thou therefore wilt worship
before me, it shall all be thine. 8 And Jesus answered and said
unto him, It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and
him only shalt thou serve. 9 And he led him to Jerusalem, and set
him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou art
the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 10 for it is
written,

He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, to guard thee:

11 and,

On their hands they shall bear thee up,
Lest haply thou dash thy foot against a stone.

12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not
make trial of the Lord thy God. 13 And when the devil had
completed every temptation, he departed from him for a season.

The temptation of Jesus was the last step in the preparation for his
public ministry, and for many of his followers the final discipline for
service consists in such a trial as results in a new determination to live
not for self but for God.

The time of the temptation was significant. It was just after Jesus had
been filled with the Holy Spirit and had been assured anew of his divine
sonship. Under the influence of the Spirit he was brought to the place of
trial, and the temptation consisted, in large part, of the suggestion to
use for selfish ends the divine powers of which he was conscious, and to
forget his filial relation to his Father. While God never tempts us, in
the sense of enticing us t