Satan tempts Jesus

Matthew 4:1-11

4:1Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.2And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.3Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”4But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”5Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple,6and 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.’ ” 7Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’ ”8Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.9And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”10Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”11Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

Luke 4:1-13 (NKJV) 4:1Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,2being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.3And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”4But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”5Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.6And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.7“Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”8And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”9Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.10“For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you,’ 11“and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” 12And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’ ”13Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

I am sure that I’m not the first one to notice this, but Satan’s temptations of Jesus seem to relate to Jesus’s offices of prophet, priest, and king.

Turning stones into bread sounds like something that would happen in a prophet’s life. Elijah was fed by ravens, and then stayed with a widow who was miraculously granted to have a jar of never ending oil and a bin of never ending flour (1 Kings 17). Also, Moses had the miracle of “turning things into other things” with the staff that turned into a snake when he tossed it to the ground. In each of the previous cases, God had directed Moses and Elijah prior to the miracles. Satan, however, was trying to get Jesus to perform a prophet-style miracle without God’s direction.

The second temptation (or third, in Luke’s account) having to do with Jesus’s office as priest is more tenuous. It involved the Temple, which is relevant, I think. This temptation could have taken place on the great and high mountain of the “kingdoms of the world” temptation, except that the Temple was a public place, which had eyewitnesses. I wonder if people saw Jesus and Satan standing atop the temple. In any case, Satan was trying to get Jesus to force God’s hand, and twisted Scripture to do it. Bible commentators suggest that Jesus’s surviving the fall from the pinnacle of the temple would have gotten him instant acclaim as the Messiah. That may be so, but I speculate that Satan took Jesus to this precarious place and, basically, said, “There’s only one way off, but don’t worry, God promised to keep you safe.” Jesus countered with a proper application of Scripture, as with the first temptation. In addition, had Jesus jumped and died from the fall, then He would not have been crucified for our sins, and He could not have them been our High Priest. Satan is the father of lies, and would have been delighted to see Jesus die in violation of prophecy (Psalm 22). Also, Jesus’s dead body would have desecrated the temple, a violation of Jesus’s priestly office. Even if Jesus survived the fall, that would have left Satan standing on top of the temple, symbolically showing Satan was over God.

The third temptation is more obvious. Jesus is (not “was”, not “will be”) King of kings and Lord of lords. He didn’t need Satan’s offer in the first place. This was probably a last ditch effort by Satan, who figured he had already failed. Had Jesus (the Son of God) worshipped Satan, then I reckon all reality would have imploded on itself. In any case, Satan was offering Jesus the chance to by pass the cross. I speculate that there may have been another motive. By taking the kingship off all the governments of the world, Jesus may have had to give up His right to be King of Israel, which would have disqualified Him from being the promised Messiah.