Luk 4:9-12 | KingComments | STEP | For his third attempt to bring down the Lord Jesus, the devil leads him to the temple in Jerusalem. He lets himself be taken to the pinnacle of the temple. The devil proposes Him to throw Himself down. Again he precedes this proposal with the challenging words “if You are the Son of God”. He says: ‘If you really are, prove it.’ To reinforce his temptation, the devil now quotes something from God’s Word himself. He says that if the Lord is indeed the Son of God, He can throw himself down, for He then may rely on the protective support of the angels of God ( ). Is not He the object of the worship of the angels? If He would go into this, He would also gain the fame of the people on the temple square. They would certainly accept Him as the Messiah. This temptation is in reality a temptation to self-exaltation in the things God has given. But with the Lord Jesus there is no seeking of Himself. He knows the Word too. He knows that the same psalm speaks of dwelling in the shelter of the Most High ( ). That is the place He occupies, and so there is no thought with Him of tempting God. It is not necessary for Him to test God to see if what He has said is true. In addition, the devil is always selective in his quotations from the Bible. The devil knows the Bible well. He quotes from it ( ). We can be sure, however, that he always distorts verses or only partly quotes them when he quotes something from the Bible. Here he deliberately omits the words “to guard you in all your ways”. The devil does not speak of “your ways”, that are the ways of the Lord, Yahweh , for the Lord Jesus goes His way in obedience to Him. The nature of the third temptation is to make Him doubt the faithfulness of God. It is a test if God will do what He said in His Word. In the answer He gives, which again comes from Scripture and again from the book of Deuteronomy, His complete trust in God appears ( ). Israel has tested God at Rafidim ( ). They did want to know whether God was with them or not, although the evidence had proved so abundant. The Lord withstands the temptation with the verse from Scripture that warns against tempting the Lord His God. We offend God if we don’t trust Him on His Word, no matter how the circumstances may seem to indicate that God cannot be trusted.

‏ Luke 4:9-12

Third Temptation

For his third attempt to bring down the Lord Jesus, the devil leads him to the temple in Jerusalem. He lets himself be taken to the pinnacle of the temple. The devil proposes Him to throw Himself down. Again he precedes this proposal with the challenging words “if You are the Son of God”. He says: ‘If you really are, prove it.’

To reinforce his temptation, the devil now quotes something from God’s Word himself. He says that if the Lord is indeed the Son of God, He can throw himself down, for He then may rely on the protective support of the angels of God (Psa 91:11). Is not He the object of the worship of the angels? If He would go into this, He would also gain the fame of the people on the temple square. They would certainly accept Him as the Messiah.

This temptation is in reality a temptation to self-exaltation in the things God has given. But with the Lord Jesus there is no seeking of Himself. He knows the Word too. He knows that the same psalm speaks of dwelling in the shelter of the Most High (Psa 91:1). That is the place He occupies, and so there is no thought with Him of tempting God. It is not necessary for Him to test God to see if what He has said is true.

In addition, the devil is always selective in his quotations from the Bible. The devil knows the Bible well. He quotes from it (Psa 91:11). We can be sure, however, that he always distorts verses or only partly quotes them when he quotes something from the Bible. Here he deliberately omits the words “to guard you in all your ways”. The devil does not speak of “your ways”, that are the ways of the Lord, Yahweh, for the Lord Jesus goes His way in obedience to Him.

The nature of the third temptation is to make Him doubt the faithfulness of God. It is a test if God will do what He said in His Word. In the answer He gives, which again comes from Scripture and again from the book of Deuteronomy, His complete trust in God appears (Deu 6:16). Israel has tested God at Rafidim (Exo 17:1 ; 7). They did want to know whether God was with them or not, although the evidence had proved so abundant. The Lord withstands the temptation with the verse from Scripture that warns against tempting the Lord His God. We offend God if we don’t trust Him on His Word, no matter how the circumstances may seem to indicate that God cannot be trusted.