Lessons from the temptations of Jesus (3)

Luke 4:9-13

⁹The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. ¹⁰For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; ¹¹they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"

¹²Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

¹³When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Satan's third temptation was aimed at inciting Jesus to use God's power for a sensational but useless display. He knew God's word well too and quoted Ps 91:11-12 (Luke 4:10-11). He misinterpret those words and challenged Jesus to prove God's worth.

Very often we are also tempted in the same manner. When we are in need, while we say we want to trust God for His timely supply of grace to meet that need, we are tempted to "blackmail" Him with His own words.

There is a major difference between claiming God's promises and using His words for our own benefit. When we claim God's promises, we must leave it to His timing for the fulfillment. We must know that He is faithful and in His time, He makes all things beautiful.

When we insist on receiving the answer right away and pray, "this is what your word says and therefore it must come true for me, right away!", we are blackmailing Him.

The Lord showed the penultimate answer to this kind of temptation - "Do not put the Lord your God to the test". This is a demonstration of true faith - we know what our God can do for us but we do not need for Him to prove it. Satan left Jesus after those words. He must also leave us if we employ the same defense against him.

There is one more important verse to consider - v13 which records that Satan left Jesus until an opportune time (NIV). The other versions record this verse as follows:

The Message -".... The Devil retreated temporarily, lying in wait for another opportunity. "

Amplified - "...he [temporarily] left Him [that is, stood off from Him] until another more opportune and favorable time."

NLT - "...he left him until the next opportunity came."

NKJV - "Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time."

That opportune time happened in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night that Jesus was betrayed. But praise God that Jesus won and Satan lost!

So, do remember that even as we overcome the temptations that Satan throw at us, it does not mean that there will be no more temptations in the future.

I would like to conclude this sharing with the words from Oswald Chambers from his devotional article, "Beware of the Least Likely Temptation" :-

"Beware of thinking that the areas of your life where you have experienced victory in the past are now the least likely to cause you to stumble and fall. We are apt to say, “It is not at all likely that having been through the greatest crisis of my life I would now turn back to the things of the world.” Do not try to predict where the temptation will come; it is the least likely thing that is the real danger. It is in the aftermath of a great spiritual event that the least likely things begin to have an effect".

Dear beloved, let us remember that Jesus has won and Satan has lost. Let's put on the armor of God daily as we live for Him so that we may withstand all the fiery darts that the Devil may throw at us and we will come out victorious, by the power and grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

God bless.

Steven