Daily Devotional For Saturday, August 10, 2024

Congratulations. You made it to Saturday and I pray you are able to catch your breath, rest, relax and take it easy. Yesterday we left off with the first temptation Jesus experienced in the wilderness. Today, I want us to look at the second temptation Jesus faced in the wilderness. So read Matthew 4:5-6 below:

“Then the devil took Him to the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple (6) and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, throw Yourself down, for it is written, `‘He will command His angels concerning you,’ and ‘on their hands they will bear You up,  lest You strike Your foot against a stone’” (ESV).

Having succeeded in defeating the devil in his first temptation to Jesus, he thought if appealing to hunger won’t work, maybe appealing to His ego will work. Ego has sunk many people in life, even Christian people. Remember the PTL Scandal in 1987 or the Jimmy Swaggart Scandal in 1988? There have been many since then. I remember growing up and my grandmother used to say to me, “Don’t get too big for your britches boy!” Can anyone relate to that? If so, we can start our own small group for support! Ha!

This was no easy task. Jesus did not use the transporter to get Himself from the wilderness to the pinnacle of the Temple. He had to walk about 32 miles to get there. We know from a Jewish historian by the name of Josephus that the distance from the pinnacle or portico of the Temple to the valley below is some 450 feet. We know from the earliest writings that James the Apostle, who was Jesus’ half-brother, a disciple and the writer of the Book of James, was martyred by being thrown from that portico to his death some 450 feet down. 

In Jesus’ first temptation, the need already existed that the devil attempted to use against Jesus. In this second temptation, a need had to be created. The devil is shrewd and manipulative. Since Jesus used Scripture to refute him and overcome the first temptation, the devil decided to play the same game and use Scripture against Jesus to tempt Him. The devil quoted from Psalm 91:11-12, “For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. (12) On their hands they will bear You up, lest you strike Your foot against a stone” (ESV).

The devil thought he had backed Jesus into a corner by using Scripture against Him. Pastor and author John MacArthur says this is what the devil said to Jesus:

 “You claim to be God’s Son and You claim to trust His Word,” satan was saying. “If so, why don’t You demonstrate Your sonship and prove the truth of God’s Word by putting Him to a test—a scriptural test? If You won’t use Your own divine power to help Yourself, let your Father use His divine power to help You. If You won’t act independently of the Father, let the Father act. Give Your Father a chance to fulfill the Scripture I just quoted to You” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 93).

For Jesus to have followed satan’s suggestion would have been, in the eyes of many Jews, sure proof of His Messiahship. New Testament scholar William Barclay writes this:

“On the top of the roof of the Temple itself, there was a stance where every morning a priest stood with a trumpet in his hands, waiting for the first flush of the dawn across the hills of Hebron. At the first dawn light, he sounded the trumpet to tell everyone that the hour of morning sacrifice had come. Why should Jesus not stand there, and leap down right into the Temple court, and amaze people into following him? Had not Malachi said: ‘The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple’ (Malachi 3:1)?

This was the very method that the false Messiahs who were continually arising promised. Theudas had led the people out, and had promised with a word to split the waters of Jordan in two. The famous Egyptian pretender (Acts 21:38) had promised that with a word he would lay flat the walls of Jerusalem. Simon Magus, so it is said, had promised to fly through the air, and had perished in the attempt. These pretenders had offered sensational acts which they could not perform. Jesus could perform anything he promised. Why should he not do it?

There were two good reasons why Jesus should not adopt that course of action. First, those who seek to attract people to them by the offer of sensational acts have adopted a way in which there is literally no future. The reason is simple. To retain their power, they must produce greater and greater spectacles. Wonders are apt to be short-lived. This year’s sensation is next year’s commonplace. A gospel founded on sensation-mongering is doomed to failure. Second, that is not the way to use the power of God. ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test,’ said Jesus (cf. Deuteronomy 6:16). He meant this: there is no good in seeing how far you can go with God; there is no good in putting yourself deliberately into a threatening situation, and doing it quite recklessly and needlessly, and then expecting God to rescue you from it.

God expects us to take risks in order to be true to Him, but he does not expect us to take risks to enhance our own prestige. The very faith which is dependent on signs and wonder is not faith. If faith cannot believe without sensational actions, it is not really faith; it is doubt looking for proof and looking in the wrong place. God’s rescuing power is not something to be played and experimented with; it is something to be quietly trusted in everyday life. Jesus refused the way of the sensational because He knew that it was the way to failure—it still is—and because to long for something sensational is not to trust but to distrust God” (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series, “Matthew,” Vol. 1, pp. 79-80).

Now to help us understand exactly what the devil in his shrewdness was doing, pastor and author Chuck Swindoll writes this:

“The text thus indicates that the promise of protection was related to accidents that would occur in the course of a person’s normal comings and goings—not to intentional, attention-grabbing stunts that put oneself in danger. If Jesus had done this, it would have been quite the spectacle … but completely contrary to God’s plan and outside Scripture’s intended promise of protection. It would have put God Himself to the test. So Jesus again responded to satan with the Word of God: “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’ ” (Matt. 4:7, quoting Deut. 6:16). This quote comes from Moses’ farewell address to the nation of Israel, warning them against their habit of trying the patience and providential care of the Lord God. I wonder, though, whether Jesus’ words might have been a sort of double entendre. Perhaps Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:16 as a sharp rebuke to satan himself, indicating that, in tempting Jesus, the devil was putting the Lord God to the test!” (Source: Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament, “Matthew 1-15,”  Vol. 1A, pp. 67-68).

The pinnacle of the Temple was the highest point in Jerusalem. From the portico on top, Jesus could see Jerusalem and the countryside for miles. It seems the devil wanted to tempt Jesus to fulfill Malachi 3:1, “Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies” (NLT). 

New Testament scholar Bruce Baron writes this:

“In Jesus’ day, people believed this prophecy would prove the Messiah had come and who specifically was the Messiah. This temptation was not so much about Jesus proving He was the Messiah, though some of it was, but it was more about convincing Jesus to put God the Father to the test. satan was quoting Scripture out of context, making it sound as though God protects even through sin, removing the natural consequences of sinful acts. Neither jumping from the roof in a public display or jumping in order to test God’s promises would have been part of God’s will for Jesus. In context, the psalm promises God’s protection for those who, while being in His will and serving Him, find themselves in danger. It does not promise protection for artificially created crises in which Christians call to God in order to test His love and care” (Source: Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible, “Matthew,” p. 61).

Jesus saw this temptation for what it was. Jesus said this to the devil in Matthew 4:7, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’” (ESV). Jesus refuted the devil with Scripture from Deuteronomy 6:16. Jesus could have jumped from the temple; God could have sent angels to bring Him safely to the ground. But Jesus knew three truths: this was outside of the Father’s will for His life, second, that this was a sinful approach to test God; and three, this was not the Father’s will and purpose for His life. Jesus said this in John 6:38, “For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent Me, not to do My own will” (NLT).

Questions To Consider

1. Again, the devil knew shrewdly how to appeal to Jesus. Based on the prophecy in Micah 3:1 that Jews believed referred to the Messiah, the devil used Scripture against Jesus. What does this tell you about how he might do this with you?
2. We do love a show and sensationalism. Circuses, air shows, and even so-called “faith-healers” utilize this phenomenon to attract and keep the crowds. Jesus refused to play this game. His robe symbolically said to the devil, “I don’t play.” Why do you think some Christians love pastors who use and play the game of sensationalism? Does this appeal to you? Why or why not?
3. The devil used Scripture out of context to tempt Jesus. What does this tell you about how much you personally need to know the Scripture and the context of passages? You do not have to be a bible scholar, just a student of the Word. How should you do this?
4. Have you ever or known someone to put God to the test? What were the results?

Scripture To Meditate On: 1 Corinthians 10:9, “We should not tempt the Lord [try His patience, become a trial to Him, critically appraise Him, and exploit His goodness] as some of them did—and were killed by poisonous serpents” (AMP).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, please forgive me when I have either intentionally or unintentionally put You to the test. Scripture is clear in every reference that this is not only sinful but could be physically and spiritually dangerous. Lord, I do not need a show of proof or something sensationalized to belief. Hebrews 11:6 says this, `Without faith it is impossible to please God’.” I want to please You with faith, not fabrication. I love You Jesus. I ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love You Southside!--Pastor Kelly