JESUS’ THIRD TEST – WHO WILL YOU WORSHIP?

Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”  Jesus said to him, “Away from me Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’” Matthew 4:8, 9

The atmosphere of the third test is significant. The first two tests were subtle. Satan came with goads and hints. They were as much a test of who Jesus was as of what He could do.  The idea was, “Try out your power. Since you are the Son of God, if you really are, just turn on the power to prove it. You don’t need to trust God. You can do it!”

The third test is the evidence that the devil had lost the battle. There was no strategy in it. Satan blurted out his real intention with no subtlety at all. This is just the way a bully would act. It was all out in the open. He offered Jesus a trade-off, all the kingdoms of the world for the acknowledgement that Satan is “lord”. How subtle was that?

Again, embedded in this test was the core lie – Satan is lord – and Jesus did not fall for it. Satan wanted to prove his lordship by claiming and acting on his right to hand over to Jesus the authority to rule all the earthly kingdoms. But Jesus knew that was a lie. God gave the authority over the earth to man (Psalm 115:16)under Himself. Satan stole man’s allegiance so that he could rule through man. Jesus was assigned to win back man’s loyalty by paying the debt for man’s foolish choice and unmasking Satan as the usurper. There was no way that He would accept that authority as a gift from the devil. He would get back man’s allegiance by a fair fight and by exposing the devil for who he really is.

Jesus was committed to proving that God’s way is the best way to live. It may have seemed like weakness but, in actual fact, it was more powerful than Satan’s way of manipulation, deception and force. Jesus chose the way of love – submitting Himself unconditionally to the Father’s love and demonstrating that love by revealing that the Father’s kingdom – righteousness, peace, joy and power – was functioning on the earth through His life.

Jesus resolutely stood His ground against some very subtle manipulation by the devil. God’s Word was so entwined in His mind that He could not entertain the idea of acting contrary to what God had said. As a human being He had trusted the word of the Father and come out tops. And the proof?  When the dust settled, only one was left standing. Satan left and Jesus was declared the winner. How do we know that? God sent angels to take care of all His need!