The Temptation of Jesus Christ – Part II

Matthew 4:5-7

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: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

The devil took Jesus to the Holy City and set Him on a pinnacle of the temple and said, “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down”. Also the devil quotes the scripture from Psalm 91:11-12 that says, “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” The devil knew that Jesus is a God of the Word and hence quoted the scriptures to tempt Him. Look here too he starts with saying, “If thou be the Son of God...” The devil is trying its very best to raise a doubt in Jesus’ heart about the Word spoken by the Lord God that Jesus is the Son of God in whom the Lord God delights greatly. The enemy tempts us on and on; he doesn’t try once and let you go our way; he will try many times and every time he comes our way, we should be ready with the whole armor of God so we can win the spiritual battle against the enemy. Ephesians 6:12 clearly says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Let us remember that our war is against all this evil forces. Unless we are fully armored, we cannot win this great battle. We need to be decked with truth, righteousness, gospel of peace, faith, salvation, Spirit of God and the Word of God (Ephesians 6:14-17) to win this deadly battle against the enemy. We should not only be prepared for the battle but we should also go for the battle with all these wonderful weaponry on us, in us and around us!

Lord Jesus Christ quoted from Deuteronomy 6:16: “Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.” Massah means testing. Israelites chided with Moses when they did not have water to drink in the wilderness and they tempted the Lord their God saying “Is the Lord among us?” as it says in Exodus 17:7. When Israelites journeyed from Egypt to the Promised Land, they passed through the wilderness; they complained against Moses and tempted the Lord many times. When we are in our wilderness i.e. undergoing a trial in our life, are we complaining and tempting the Lord or do we trust Him to get us through? Unlike the Israelites, the Lord Jesus immediately recognized that the devil was tempting Him by asking Him to cast Himself down. Let us also recognize the enemy when it comes to us in a cunning way by using Bible verses. We should seek the Lord’s wisdom at all times; otherwise it is easy to get trapped by the enemy. In our trials let us praise and worship the Lord and glorify Him so that the enemy flees away from us.

While what the enemy quoted from Psalm 91 is true, we should not take His promise to tempt the Lord. Yes, He will charge His angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways but we should not take this promise to put ourselves in the way of the enemy. Let us seek the Lord and His strength; Let us seek His face evermore (Psalm 105:4). Without His strength, we are sure to get carried away by the enemy’s glamorous temptations. They look glamorous on the outside, but what is inside is sure to lead us to damnation. May the Lord provide us with His strength to resist the enemy!

Next: The Temptation of Jesus Christ – Part III