Luke 4:1 ¶ And Jesus being
full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness, 2 Being forty days tempted
of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended,
he afterward hungered. 3 And the devil
said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made
bread. 4 And Jesus answered him, saying,
It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of
God. 5 And the devil, taking him up into
an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of
time. 6 And 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. 7
If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 8 And 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. 9 And 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: 10 For it is
written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: 11 And in their
hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a
stone. 12 And Jesus answering said unto
him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 13 And when the devil had ended all the
temptation, he departed from him for a season.
We’ve already discussed
that the person of the Holy Ghost is the very mind of God. Here, the Holy Ghost
is referred to in His person and in His activity. Ghost and Spirit are used
in the same sentence referring to the same individual. As Spirit is a reference
to the actions of the mind of God it is sometimes referred to as it while the Holy Ghost is always
referred to as he.
Here is another verse
where the two words are used synonymously
1Corinthians 12:3 Wherefore
I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
Here, we have the Holy
Ghost referred to as he.
John 14:26 But the
Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and
bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
And here where the
Spirit is referred to as it.
Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
The one sin, possible
only while Christ walked the earth, that no Jew could be forgiven of, was
ascribing the work of the Holy Ghost as from Satan rather than God.
Mark 3:22 ¶ And the scribes
which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of
the devils casteth he out devils. 23 And
he called them unto him, and
said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself,
that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a
house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be
divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. 27
No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except
he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house. 28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be
forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall
blaspheme: 29 But he that shall
blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of
eternal damnation: 30 Because they said,
He hath an unclean spirit.
An important point must
be made about verse 2. To tempt is to
test or try.
Revelation 3:10 Because
thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all
the world, to try them that
dwell upon the earth.
When Satan tempts one,
tests one, the ultimate goal is to make them fall. God never tempts anyone of
His people for the purpose of making them stumble as it says in James.
James 1:13 Let no man say
when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither
tempteth he any man:
God tempted Abraham but
knew that Abraham’s faith would keep him from disobeying.
Genesis 22:1 And it came to
pass after these things, that God did tempt
Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
Hebrews 11:17 By faith
Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the
promises offered up his only begotten son,
A temptation then is
not merely a matter of whether you looked too long at the magazine rack at the
airport but a test of your faith, a trial. Only who is it from; the Devil,
Satan, to make you fall or God to prove your position in Him, if only to yourself?
Job’s entire ordeal can be called a temptation. Early Christians were sometimes
faced with a demand that they reject Christ or die. This is also a tremendous
temptation, an assault on one’s faith, belief in God, and trust in God as can
be an illness or pressure from the world. Noteworthy scripture on temptations
include;
Luke 11:4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every
one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us
from evil.
1Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is
common to man: but God is
faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but
will with the temptation also
make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he
shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love
him.
Satan wishes to have
Jesus take the Crown before the Cross and subvert His mission as Saviour of the
world. He uses His human hunger to begin demanding that He turn stones to bread
but Jesus answers with Scripture.
Deuteronomy 8:3 And he
humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou
knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that
man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
Then, Satan tempts Him
with power and the glory of the kingdoms of the world. God has given those over
to Satan and the lowest of men rule over nations through him as the god of this
world system (2Corinthians 4:4). He demands worship.
Daniel 4:17 This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and
the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know
that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it
the basest of men.
One day Jesus will
seize these kingdoms.
Revelation 11:15 And the
seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The
kingdoms of this world are become the
kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and
ever.
Christ replies with
Biblical truth.
Deuteronomy 6:13 Thou shalt
fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
Deuteronomy 10:20 Thou
shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou
cleave, and swear by his name.
Satan then tries to
tempt Him with presuming on God, to his sense of self-preservation and tries to
create a sense of needing to prove at this time His relationship with God the
Father. He quotes:
Psalm 91:11 For he shall
give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot
against a stone.
Jesus replies by
alluding to this Scripture.
Deuteronomy 6:16 Ye shall
not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
In these things, Satan
tempted Christ with the lust of the flesh regarding hunger [see Deuteronomy
12:15 for lust and hunger], the lust of the eyes regarding power and glory of
man’s kingdom, and the pride of life with the temptation to display His
supernatural power.
These are types of the
temptation that disobedience to God put in the hearts and minds, the spirits,
of Adam and Eve.
Genesis 3:6 And when the
woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that
it was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree to be desired to make one
wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her
husband with her; and he did eat.
It is what the
Christian must face and oppose to truly love and serve God.
1John 2:15 Love not the
world, neither the things that are
in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
On a note of personal
opinion I think these passages teach us that it is inconsistent with being a
Christian to be constantly employed with seeking to satisfy our physical
desires, to seek political power for self-glorification, or to presume on God’s
mercy and love for us.
Satan, who understood
the prophecies concerning the Messiah in the Old Testament certainly better
than the Jews or us, having failed in his desire to subvert Christ’s mission,
leaves Him.
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