Continued from yesterday…
We are talking about Jesus and the Devil speaking to each other. Do not forget this truth. Do not ignore this truth. Do not regulate it to a story that is unimportant in the grand scheme of things.
The battle between God and Evil is on center stage in this encounter. Yes, I said 'God' not 'good and evil' because God is love and it really is a battle between 'love and evil', not just good. This battle between God and Evil is portrayed here in reality as Jesus- the only ever God-man, and the Devil, the Father of Lies, Satan himself - talk with each other and it is something we need to study.
Yesterday I expounded on the first words Satan spoke to Jesus in the wilderness tempting him to sin... and Jesus' response. Today I pick up with the second temptation.
Mat 4:5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple…
Stop. Let's examine this closely. 'Then the devil took Jesus…'
Now, I've seen this scene portrayed in movies and usually it's in some fantasy style of invisibility and flying, or instantaneous transporting of the two but unseen to all, not real flesh and blood on Jesus' part.
How Satan 'took' Jesus to Jerusalem and put him on the uppermost part of the temple, I don't know. No person knows, we can only speculate. Are those movie depictions true? I don't know, they could be.
The facts of the matter are … Jesus allowed himself to be taken. Satan exerted power over Jesus's location. The Devil was able to take the God-man all the way from the wilderness to the temple mount in Jerusalem. Did it have to be instantaneous transportation? It sure sounds like it. Perhaps God allowed the Devil to use his spirit powers (former angel remember) to supernaturally whisk him away.
Remember we serve a God who parted a sea, a God who unleashed a worldwide flood, a God who had manna (food) rain down from heaven, a God who created mankind from the dust of the ground, a God who took flesh and blood Elijah physically up into heaven so that he was seen by another ascending. Spirit power is real. Angels have powers, and therefore demons have powers. Satan has power to wield as allowed by God and this time he was allowed to take Jesus to Jerusalem supernaturally with that power. They didn't walk there, it didn't take days and days for them to get there- they were there.
Jesus standing upon the highest point of the temple with the Devil and he hears the next temptation-
Mat 4:6 …And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God
Here we go again, Satan questioning Jesus' Sonship to God.
Have you ever done that? Maybe not. It's more likely you may have questioned God's authority. Do you recall ever uttering the words, "If you're real God…"
I personally have known people who have outright told me they do not believe in God, end of story. There was no arguing with them. They once believed God, they were raised to believe God, and yet after a string of hardships and a slew of prayers that went completely unanswered in the way they wanted them to be, they determined based on God's inactivity on their behalf that he didn't even exist. A lot of people witness horrors and choose not to believe in a God that allows that and therefore they don't believe in God's Son's existence. Then there are many people who believe in a God, but don't believe he ever had a son.
Satan questioning Jesus' sonship isn't all that surprising. He was going to great lengths to coerce Jesus into revealing whether or not He was God's son. If he were then he'd have no problem at all proving it by doing the things he said.
Put to the test aren't people supposed to prove their claims? If I claimed to be a long jumper and someone asked me to prove it by jumping, shouldn't I do it to prove it to them? I should if I cared, or if it mattered whether or not they believed me. If I didn't care what they thought of me, believed of me, then their going away calling me a liar, and not believing in me wouldn't matter.
Jesus knew that Satan was trying to goad him into selfishly proving himself.
We don't have to prove to anyone, not a single person our beliefs by doing things they tell us will prove to them we are speaking truth. Our beliefs have to go far beyond a selfish desire to look good in an unbeliever's eyes.
However…
1Pe_3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear
We are to give an answer for the hope that is in us to those who ask.
Was Satan asking Jesus the reason for his hope? No.
Satan wanted to trip Jesus up by turning his mind upon proving himself, exalting himself, defending himself. Jesus wasn't about to do that… his defense was God's word alone, not in anything he could do.
Satan said…
'… cast thyself down'
Jump. He told Jesus to jump from the highest point of the temple to the ground far below. Jump. Commit an act that would instantly kill a man, but if you're not just a man, but a God-man, then jump you won't die. God will protect you if you are really his son. In fact if you don't have the power to protect yourself then your Father will use his angels to carry you so that you don't even stub a toe against a single stone in the pavement below. Go on… do it. Prove that you are who you are claiming to be.
'…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.'
Did you see that! Did you catch that?! Satan used… 'IT IS WRITTEN'!
Where is it written? In the Scriptures-
Psa 91:11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
Psa 91:12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Now, before we get all ouuu and ahhhh, Satan knows Scripture, yes, he can use Scripture when it suits him, but he never uses it in the power of God. Many people, many, many, many people warp God's words to make it say what they want it to say, they don't study meanings of words, they don't comparing scripture with scripture, they do not have the Holy Spirit guiding them. They add things, they take away things, they pervert God's holy words. Satan is doing that here.
Compare verses from God's word, to Satan's version of God's word.
Satan said... Matt. 4:6 '…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.'
God says… Psa 91:11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
Psa 91:12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
He shall give his angels charge over (Satan says- concerning) thee. ( Satan omits completely the following words- TO KEEP THEE IN ALL THY WAYS). In their hands they shall bear thee up (Satan says- they shall bear thee up in their hands) lest thou dash thy foot against a stone (Satan says- lest at any time thou dash they foot against a stone.)
Does he REALLY think Jesus doesn't know God's exact words? And why did Satan leave out altogether- 'to keep thee in all thy ways'? Those words would have reinforced that God was going to protect in everything. Perhaps Satan didn't want that on the table, he just wanted Jesus to hear that he wouldn't let his foot be dashed on a stone as they stared down at the stones of the temple floor below. Satan was trying to manipulate God's word as so many today do. He also said, 'lest at any time' God's word says, 'lest thou dash thy foot….' God's word doesn't say- 'at any time' implying that God would never ever let Jesus' foot be dashed against a stone. Implying that Jesus could safely jump and not get hurt at all whatsoever, and he could do it as often as he wanted to because God would protect him all the time.
Just saying the words - It is written, doesn't mean Satan or anyone is quoting scripture rightly. We have to take what ANYONE tells us is Scripture and STUDY it, and by studying, I don't mean simply reading it and leaving it there. You take things in context, you take things by comparing them with others of the same thing throughout the Bible, you study. you rightly divide the word of truth-
2Ti_2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
'Rightly dividing the word of truth' that definitely tells us we are to study deeply. We truly do not want to be ashamed with it comes to our Bible Study. We are studying… 'to shew thyself approved unto God'.
2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Returning to our study- Jesus replies to Satan-
Mat 4:7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again..
Jesus didn't jump because Satan misquoted Scripture. Jesus spoke to the Devil yet again.
Jesus told him … IT IS WRITTEN… AGAIN…. Jesus used the word 'again'. The first time Jesus said, It is written, producing the sword of the Spirit of the Word of God to use against the enemy. The second time Jesus said… it is written AGAIN. Jesus wielded that spiritual sword of God's word once more. He didn't come up with a new method of putting the Devil off, to prove to him that he should just leave him alone. He used the same method as the first time he was tempted by Satan. If you didn't think the first It is written was powerful enough to dissuade Satan, what about the second, It is written?
'…Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.'
Wasn't that what Satan was doing? Tempting God? Saying God will save Jesus, and Jesus had to prove that he would. Prove to me these things. Prove to me you are God's son for real. Show me. Prove yourself.
Jesus simply says, as he stands there upon the highest temple point - 'You shouldn't tempt the Lord thy God.'
He's telling him, you should know better than to try and get God to do your will. We are to do God's will, not the other way around.
Telling God that He should do what we want, saying our prayers and becoming furious when God doesn't answer them the way we want him to, is telling God we don't want his will to be done, we want ours to be done.
Satan wanted his will to be done as he tempted Jesus. You don't prove God is God by putting him to the test, that's not how God reveals his love to us.
Again, God offers us ETERNITY, while we grovel here in the temporary refusing to accept the sufferings of this temporary time, blinding our eyes to time eternal.
God help us all!
To be continued.
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