Anchor My Faith

Temptation 2: Throw Yourself Down

Scripture: Matthew 4:7; Luke 4:9-11

The first temptation is over and the stones are still stones and not bread, but there are two temptations yet to go: “And [the devil] took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here”” (Luke 4:9 ESV). We don’t know how, but in some way the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, which is probably the southeast corner of the temple area, the top of which was some 300 feet above the floor of the Kidron Valley. There the devil said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God.” The devil knew he was the Son of God, but was using this as a ploy to challenge Jesus to demonstrate his power by jumping off the pinnacle and being saved from harm, for the devil said, “for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”’ (Luke 4:10 – 11 ESV).

The devil was quoting from Psalm 91:11 – 12 (ESV): “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.” The devil left out the important phrase “in all your ways” and in so doing he blatantly misused the verse. The verse implies that Jesus or anyone else is not to put themselves in a place of danger and challenge God to protect them. Jesus recognizes this and responds to the devil from Scripture: “Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”’ (Matthew 4:7 ESV). Again Jesus responds from Deuteronomy, using the first half of Deuteronomy 6:16.

As I thought about this temptation I thought about the possibility of God calling and placing us in a dangerous situation. If we know God wants us in a dangerous place to do work for him then he will guard us in all our ways while we do the work. We see this happening in areas of severe persecution where Christians are sharing their faith and ministering to people and God is keeping them alive. There are excellent examples of this reported in the book “Standing in the Fire” by Tom Doyle; a book worth your time to read. 

This ends the second temptation, but the devil is not finished: “And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will” (Luke 4:5 – 6 ESV). We will discuss this temptation in our next lesson.

Prayer

Father, we have another example of Jesus using Scripture as protection against temptation. A temptation that plagues us today is expressed in 1 John 2:15 – 17 (ESV): “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” Father, we need to grow in our love for the Lord and the Scriptures and desire things like the fruit of the Spirit. We need to store up treasures in heaven, not things here on earth; things we may have not used or worn in years.