In the third temptation
of Jesus, recorded in Matthew 4, "the devil taketh Him unto an exceeding
high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the
glory of them; and he said unto Him, `All these things will I give thee,
if thou wilt fall down and worship me' "
(Matt.
4:8, 9). Satan
sought to get Jesus to worship him. If ever the bald-faced audacity of
Satan was ever manifested, it was then. The very idea of supreme Deity
worshiping Satan is mind boggling. If Jesus had seen fit to fall down
and worship Satan, then surely we who are far less in power could do no
less than to follow His example. As I said, the consequences of such an
action would have shaken the foundations of reason itself.
What was the appeal of
this temptation? God had promised Jesus the "obedience of the peoples"
(Gen.
49:10); "the
nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for
thy possession"
(Psa.
2:8). For Jesus to
follow God's way to the throne on the "holy hill of Zion" led to the
cross. It was the hard way, the sacrificial way. Satan's way was easy.
All Jesus had to do was to fall down and worship him. If He had done
that, being who He was, Deity would have been divided. Deity would have
submitted to an inferior being's power. The scheme of redemption would
have been completely thwarted.
Jesus answered Satan,
"Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, 'Thou shaft worship the Lord
thy God, and Him only shaft thou serve"' (Matt. 4:10). For the third
time Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy
(6:13).
Moses warned the people that when they went into the land, they were not
to follow after the idols. One may make a god out of anything. Satan
wanted to exchange himself for God and let Jesus worship him, but Jesus
refused. "Thou shaft worship the Lord thy God and Him only shaft thou
serve."
It will be profitable to
look at a few reasons why Jesus was perfect. They are exemplified in the
temptation accounts. We blame sin on our human bodies, but Jesus had a
human body and did not sin. Sin comes from the heart. It is the heart
which allows the desires of the body to become lust. Surely the divine
nature of Jesus is the ultimate explanation of His complete, lifelong
perfection. There are, however, two things which we may study with great
benefit. One reason why Jesus never sinned is that He was not ignorant.
He knew everything that was right. Many times we sin because we do not
know. We have not studied and learned. The more we know of God's way the
better we wilt be able to walk in it. Another reason why Jesus never
sinned is that He always did what He knew was right. How often do we get
to the end of a day and say, "I should have done this or that," and did
not do it? We can improve our service to God without learning anything
else if we will immediately begin to do more of what we already know we
should do. We can then further improve by studying the scriptures more
diligently. Let us be imitators of Christ and "resist the devil and he
will flee from you"
(Jas.
4:7).
Other Articles by Bob
Waldron
The
Temptation (Part 1)
Buy the Truth and Sell It Not
The
Jewel of Consistency