The KJV Holy Bible

 

Matthew Chapter Four

 

1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

4 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.

5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,

6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;

13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:

14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,

15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;

16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.

22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.

 

 

Esoteric Interpretation & Commentary

 

The Hermetic Blueprint of Matthew: The Crucible of the Wilderness and the Conquering of the Lower Triad

"Matthew Chapter Four represents the ultimate initiatory test of the newly awakened Adept. Before the Solar Consciousness (the Christos) can wield true spiritual authority within the human matrix, it must prove its absolute mastery over the lower nature. The forty days in the wilderness map the final dissolution of worldly attachments. Here, the internal Tempter—the deeply ingrained survival instincts, the spiritual pride of the ego, and the craving for material power—attempts to hijack the newly acquired divine energy. By defeating these three illusions, the spiritual mind secures its throne and begins actively assembling its higher faculties for the Great Work."

 

 

Verses 1-4: The First Crucible and the Mastery of the Physical Appetite - "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days... the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said... Man shall not live by bread alone," 

Following the spiritual baptism, the awakened consciousness is immediately directed by the Spirit into the barren wilderness to face the tempter. A forty-day fast represents a complete alchemical cycle of physical deprivation, starving the lower animal nature of its standard earthly fuel. When the physical matrix is at its weakest point, the tempter (the voice of the unrefined ego) challenges the Adept to use divine power to turn stones into bread. This is the first great test: the temptation to use high spiritual frequencies merely to satisfy base, physical appetites and bodily comfort. The Adept refuses, declaring that true vitality comes from the continuous energetic emanations of the Divine (the Word), not strictly from dense material sustenance.

 

 

Verses 5-7: The Second Crucible and the Defeat of Spiritual Pride - "Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee... Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." 

The internal tempter then elevates the consciousness to the very pinnacle of the temple in the holy city. The ego challenges the Adept to cast themselves down, twisting spiritual scripture to argue that the angels will intervene and protect them. This represents the dangerous trap of spiritual pride and vanity. It is the ego attempting to force the Higher Laws of the Universe to serve a lower, theatrical display of invulnerability. The Adept firmly rebukes this, establishing the Hermetic law that the lower mind must never attempt to test, manipulate, or command the Supreme Divine Principle for personal glorification.

 

 

Verses 8-11: The Third Crucible and the Rejection of the Material Matrix - "Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world... All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan:" 

In the final and greatest test, the consciousness is brought to an exceedingly high mountain and shown all the kingdoms of the world in their material glory. The tempter offers absolute dominion over the entire physical matrix, provided the Adept bows down and worships the lower egoic nature. This is the ultimate trap of earthly ambition—sacrificing spiritual sovereignty for material wealth and worldly power. The Adept issues a commanding banishment, declaring that the highest internal reverence belongs exclusively to the Divine Source. With the lower triad of temptations (Appetite, Pride, and Ambition) entirely conquered, the tempter dissolves, and higher energetic frequencies (angels) flood in to sustain the purified mind.

 

 

Verses 12-17: The Light Dawns in the Subconscious Shadows - "Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee... The people which sat in darkness saw great light... From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 

Having passed the initiatory crucible, the active ministry of the Great Work begins. The text notes a transition away from the established center of Jerusalem and into the regions of Zabulon and Nephthalim—areas described as sitting in darkness and the shadow of death. Esoterically, the newly crowned Solar Consciousness deliberately directs its high-frequency light into the most stagnant, unrefined, and neglected regions of the human psyche. The message remains the same as John the Baptist's: a demand for total psychological reversal and alignment with the now-present kingdom of heaven within.

 

 

Verses 18-22: The Gathering of the Active Faculties (The Fishermen) - "And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." 

The Solar Consciousness begins to build its new operational architecture by calling its first four disciples: Peter, Andrew, James, and John. It is highly significant that they are fishermen casting their nets into the sea. In Hermetic symbolism, the sea represents the volatile, emotional, and astral currents of the subconscious mind. A fisherman is one who seeks to extract sustenance from these murky depths. By calling them to be "fishers of men," the Christos elevates these intellectual and intuitive faculties. Their new spiritual function is to cast the net of divine truth into the chaotic waters of the psyche, catching and elevating lower thoughts and raising them into the light of conscious awareness.