Luke 4:1-131And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. 3And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. 4And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 5And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 8And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 9And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 10For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: 11And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 12And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 13And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. (Luke 4:1‑13)
After the Holy Spirit had come upon the Lord Jesus, it is told that Satan spoke to tempt Jesus to obey him. It was in the lonely land near the Jordan river, and Jesus had eaten no food there, and was hungry. Satan said to Him, “If thou be the Son of God, command this stone to be made bread.”
Those words were from the Old Testament, and it was from those scriptures He answered each time.
Satan could not deny Jesus’ answer, and he tried another way to persuade Jesus to obey him; he said all the nations of the world were his, and he would give their glory and role to Jesus, if He would worship him.
That also was doubting that Jesus was the Son of God, Who should be worshiped; and the nations were not Satan’s to promise. Jesus answered him again with words of God,
Satan tried once more to cause Jesus to obey him, and said that “if” Jesus were the Son of God, He should throw Himself down from a high point of the Temple, because it was written that God would give His angels charge over Him, to keep Him, lest He dash His foot against a stone.
Those words were from Psalms 91, so Satan knew scripture, but used it in an evil way; for the words were not given that the Holy One should do as Satan wanted. The answer of Jesus was, as before, from God’s written words to men:
Satan then went away, he found he could not tempt Jesus to do his way; he showed his awful pride and hatred that he could try to tempt the One he knew to be the Son of God to obey him; his promises were false; he knew the written words of God, and used them for evil to try to bring harm to Jesus. Yet his fear was shown, for he went away.
In all the tempting, Jesus did no miracle, but showed His trust in God as a humble, perfect man; He showed that God was the authority over all, and proved the power of His words in the scriptures.
Some persons try to believe there is no Satan, yet he is written of in many parts of the Bible as a most wicked being, or spirit, not seen by men, but able to suggest to the mind what is evil and false, especially to have them doubt that God’s words are true.
ML 11/19/1944