JESUS’ SECOND TEST – TEST GOD
Then the devil took Him to the Holy City and had Him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down….” Jesus answered him, “it is also written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Matthew 4:5-7.
The second test has a fairy-tale-like air about it. If the devil literally took Jesus to the highest point of the temple, how did He get up there? If it only happened in the spirit, what was the big deal? The Bible does not indicate how it happened. We must take the Word at face value.
The first test was painfully real to Jesus because His hunger, after a 40-day fast, would have driven Him to do anything within His power, and do it immediately, to satisfy His desperate need.
The strength of the second test would have depended on the strength of the mission that was on His mind. “How am I going to get the people to believe in me and my message?” One supernatural act that would have fulfilled the people’s expectation, might have been enough to convince the crowds in the temple that He was their Messiah. However, He did not want to be received because of a spectacular feat but because of an inner conviction that He was their Messiah.
Jesus did many miracles during His three-year ministry, but He was still rejected because He did not fit the image of Messiah in the minds of the people. They were looking for a Messiah who would make their lives more comfortable. They were okay with Him as long as He did stuff to relieve their misery, rather than self-denial and servanthood.
Jesus saw through the devil’s suggestion. God’s promises were not to be manipulated for His own ends. He could not force God to intervene miraculously to rescue Him. There could never be a shortcut to receiving the kingdom of God.
Jesus responded to this test immediately. He did not have to consider anything before He met the lies and countered them with truth. “The Message” puts His response very strongly. “Don’t you dare test the Lord your God.” He was indignant at the very thought of challenging God’s word. Satan was trying to lure Him into a standoff with God by using the word of God to pit His will against God’s will. If God had wanted Him to get the people’s attention by doing something spectacular, He would have told Him, but that is not the way He works.
Satan got it wrong, and Jesus was quick to put him in his place. This was non-negotiable. He refused to manipulate God. He would obey God’s word, no matter what it took to fulfil His mission.
We do not live to test God. We live to co-operate with God, to find out what He is doing and to fit in with Him. We do not know what we really want. Unlike Jesus, we often “trust God” to do what we want in ways that are manipulative and arrogant.