Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth
him on a pinnacle of the temple,
Satan transported Jesus, when He was tempting Him this second time, to
Jerusalem and set Jesus at the highest point of the temple.
6 And
saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is
written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their
hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a
stone.
Notice what Satan does. He tells Jesus to prove that He is the Son of
God by jumping off the temple, why? Because Satan knows very well that
Scripture says that God has angles that He will dispatch to project His Son
until Jesus lays down His life for the whole world and if Christ jumps then He
is acting of His own will and not the will of His Father.
Remember that Satan is not ignorant of the Word of God. As a matter of
fact he probably knows it better than you and he is very skilled at deceiving
by twisting its meaning. Satan even comes as with the appearance of being an
angel of light (messenger of God). The Scripture does not say that Satan
sometimes does this, but that he does this.
For such are false apostles, deceitful
workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14 And
no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15 Therefore
it is no great thing if his
ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end
shall be according to their works.
2 Cor 11:13-15 (KJV)
7 Jesus
said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Jesus responds to Satan again with Scripture, again holding fast to the
true meaning of God’s Word. Like Jesus, we should not presume to hold God to
His promises in order to prove ourselves to others—that is tempting the Lord.
For example, praying fervently for a sick member of our church is not a bad
thing, but if we attempt to pray for healing or perform a miracle through God’s
power just so that our identity as Christians will be confirmed before someone
else, we are probably tempting God. Now, I am not saying God is not tempted
(enticed) to sin but that we provoke Him. Let’s look at a definition and some
Scripture to clarify this:
Webster’s 1828 defines tempt as to encite to something wrong by presenting
arguments that are plausible or convincing, in Scripture, to try ; to prove ;
to put on trial for proof.
Ye shall not tempt the Lord
your God….
Deut
6:16 (KJV)
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: 14 But
every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then
when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished,
bringeth forth death. 16 Do not err, my beloved brethren. 17 Every
good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father
of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 18 Of
his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of
firstfruits of his creatures.
James
1:13-18 (KJV)
Matt 4:5-7 (KJV)
