Text: Matthew 4:5-7– “ Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
The account in Matthew covers the three main areas that we face in our temptations – physical, mental, and spiritual. These will correlate to the Temptation in the Garden to Adam and Eve. John tells us about this in 1 John 2:16 – “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” These three things are the three temptations of Christ. Adam and Eve faced them in the garden and failed. We are going to see that He faced them and won.
As we study the three temptations, we are viewing them as three rounds in this battle. We looked at Round One yesterday, and today we move into Round Two. So, we start with the Temptation.
The devil takes Him to a high point on the Temple. Possibly what was called the summit, high and bristled with golden spikes. Or possibly what was referred to Herod’s royal portico overlooking the ravine of Kedron at the valley of Hinnom – Josephus said one could not look to the bottom. Gehenna is a picture in Scripture of Hell.
Here we find something interesting – the Devil quoting Scripture. Not
surprising – his task is to take us off course. He can become an “angel of
light” to distract us. But, we must be careful, for when he does – it is always
a twisted scripture.
· Genesis 3: 1 – “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
·
Here, he edits it. Look at what the
Psalmist really says -
· Psalm 91: 10 -12 - If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”
Catch this – “If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent.” This promise in the Psalm is conditional upon trusting God, not your own self.
Satan is challenging Jesus to presume upon God. Even today, many
so-called preachers of the Word take things out of context and develop a
totally new gospel. The Devil was suggesting that Jesus could arrive at great
popularity by performing this visible miracle. People would follow Him because
of this and not the cross. Save Yourself from the agonies of Hell – the
suffering needed to secure Salvation by doing this. Boy am I glad He didn’t
listen. The Cross is where my salvation was paid for.
So, once again we look at the Triumph. As before, Jesus goes back to the Scriptures and uses them correctly.
· Deuteronomy 6:16 – “Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah.”
From the behavior of the unbelieving nation, the place received the names Massah and Meribah, "temptation and murmuring," that this sin of the people might never be forgotten.
The Biblical text states that the Israelites argued with Moses about the lack of water, with Moses rebuking the Israelites for testing Yahweh, hence the name Massah, which means testing.
We are not to presume upon God – we can only accept what He gives to us.
We need to trust God, not presume upon Him.
Jesus triumphed over mental temptations.
But, as we know, Satan doesn’t give up – he now moves into the Round
Three in our study tomorrow.
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