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8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." 10 Then 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.'" 11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. ~ Matthew 4:8-11
Today, we return to our study of Matthew 4 where we find the Lord Jesus in the middle of a shakedown at the hands of the devil. This shakedown took place on the heels of the baptism of the Lord Jesus. The point of this shakedown at the hands of the devil was to try to rob the Lord Jesus of the blessing that the Father in heaven had just granted Him at His baptism. You'll remember the words of the Father, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Any time the Lord richly blesses us, we should never be surprised that the enemy will be promptly poised to try to steal that blessing from us. The devil usually tries to accomplish this by tempting us to worship him indirectly by worshipping ourselves.
In v.8 of today's passage we read, "Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory."
The temptation of the Lord Jesus at the hands of the devil had three parts and at the end of each, the Lord Jesus shut down the devil by citing Scripture in its proper context. Still determined to hold onto his kingdom, "the devil took the Lord Jesus up upon a mountain." Throughout the Bible, mountains are synonymous with a large but centralized group of people. Since Matthew wrote this account to a Jewish audience, this mountain is typological of the gentile nations of the world. The word translated "world" clearly reveals that it refers to the people of the world. So here, the devil tempted the Lord Jesus with the nations which were brought before Him in that instant. As a result, the Lord Jesus was given the chance to exalt Himself and be exalted by the nations without having to go through the intense and immense pain of the cross.
In v.9 of today's passage we read, "And he said to Him, 'All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.'"
The word "kingdom" in the previous verse is the word from which we get our English word "economies." The devil offered the economies of this world to the Lord Jesus in exchange for His worship. The devil appealed to the potential greed that he wrongfully thought was in the Lord Jesus. Since the devil had arrested authority over this world from Adam in the Garden of Eden, he had the right to pass on the authority of those things to whomever he wished. In bowing to the devil, the Lord Jesus would have sinned against His Father. Therefore, if it had happened this way, God Himself would have failed to conquer sin and death on the behalf of sinful man.
The fall of man in the Garden of Eden brought about the knowledge of good and evil, and thus the need of man to have a personal relationship with God was initiated. Death came through Adam’s rebellion, paradise was lost, and man has continued in a fallen world since then. Once man gained the knowledge of good and evil, it was a must that he have a personal relationship with God in order to avoid the deceit of the devil. Since the Lord Jesus whipped the devil in every possible way, we can now know God and His wisdom. When God created man and allowed him to be approached by the devil in the Garden of Eden, He knew that allowing man to fall was the best path to a personal and an eternal relationship with Himself. In sending the Lord Jesus to earth, a right relationship with God has now been restored for those humble enough to seek Him.
In v.10 of today's passage we read, "Then 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.'"
The Lord Jesus had been tempted three times. Through each temptation the devil had a goal of getting the Lord Jesus to sin. Through the first two temptations the devil tried to get the Lord Jesus to question His Father's provision and protection respectively. Through the third temptation the devil's goal was to get the Lord Jesus to question His Father's promises. But, the Lord Jesus resisted the temptations, prevailing where Adam had failed.
After His victory over the devil, the Lord Jesus instructed Satan to leave Him. This is, incidentally, the first use of the word "Satan" in the New Testament. It is derived from the Hebrew word which means adversary. Along with His dismissal of Satan, the Lord Jesus again quoted Scripture. He, yet again, relied on the words of God to defend Himself against the temptations levied against Him. This time, the Lord quoted Deuteronomy 6:13.
In v.11 of today's passage we read, "Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him."
The Lord Jesus commanded Satan to depart from Him, and he did. Even though the devil had been defeated, he was not destroyed. Once the devil departed, the angels came and ministered to the Lord Jesus. This is the first use of the verb "ministered" in the Bible. All this gives us great assurance that our God is always with us and He will never leave us alone. In the middle of all our trials we can be assured that He is forever with us, even though we may have the most difficulty seeing Him, we can be assured that He is with us.
The early Native Americans had a unique practice of training their young braves. On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday, after learning hunting, scouting, and fishing skills, he was put to one final test. He was placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night seemingly alone. Until then, he had never been away from the security of His father. But on this night, he was blindfolded and taken several miles away. When he took off the blindfold, he was in the middle of a thick woods and he was terrified! Every time a twig snapped, he visualized a wild animal ready to pounce on him. After what seemed like an eternity, dawn broke and the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around, the boy saw flowers, trees, and the outline of the path. Then, to his utter astonishment, he beheld the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow. It was his father. He had been there all night long seemingly by himself. This is the point behind our long dark nights we know to be our trials, to be convinced that no matter how dark the night our Father in heaven is with us. This in turn trains us to learn to see God with our hearts rather than just our eyes.
