”The devil led
him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If
you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from
here” (Luke 4:9).
Jesus
saw in the temptation of Satan not a desire to confirm the truthfulness of
God’s Word but a conniving intention to use God’s Word in a way that went
against…
Satan
gave away his intention right at the start of his temptation, “If you are the
Son of God…”
His
intent to deceive was clear: he knew very well who Jesus was.
”What do you
want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you
are–the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24).
The evil spirit is acknowledging Jesus: the Holy One of God. Could it be that
the evil spirit knew who Jesus was but their “boss” didn’t? Certainly not!
For
Jesus, the main thing wasn’t knowing the Scripture and using it no matter
how…for Him the main thing was knowing God and trusting Him.
The
Bible is the Book of people who trusted God…or God acting in wonderful ways in
the life of His people to bring about His everlasting Kingdom. Jesus, as the
Word of God incarnate was ready to take His place in God’s story of redeeming
the fallen world…the whole creation.
Now,
Jesus throwing Himself from the Temple’s rooftop to attract God’s miraculous
intervention would have made Him in an instant a great stunt actor of the time.
People would crowd Jerusalem and the Temple courts to witness the great
performance.
“Let
us go to Jerusalem to see Jesus throwing Himself from the Temple’s rooftop. We
could collect some angel feathers this time…like the Joneses.”
He
would have been invited to perform before Caesar in Rome.
Jesus
did not come to become famous in any earthly way.
He came to fulfil the Scriptures: to save sinners and to bring about God’s everlasting kingdom.