Wednesday
Evening Bible Study
July 26, 2000
Introduction
As Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit, He was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness where He fasted for forty days was tempted by Satan.
The first temptation was to turn stones into bread.
As we saw last week, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with turning
stones into bread.
We saw from the nature of Jesus’ response that the real temptation was to
get Jesus to look to physical things like food for the source of His life
instead of looking to God. Jesus’
response was from Deuteronomy
(Deu 8:3 KJV) And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to
hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy
fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread
only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man
live.
:5-8 The Second Temptation
:5 And the devil, taking him up
into an high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a
moment of time.
taking him up – anago – to
lead up, to lead or bring into a higher place
high – hupselos – high,
lofty
mountain – oros – a
mountain
showed – deiknuo – to
show, expose to the eyes; metaph. to
give evidence or proof of a thing; to show by words or teach
world – oikoumene – the
inhabited earth; the whole inhabited earth, the world; the inhabitants of the
earth, men; the universe, the world
moment – stigme – an
instant (i.e. a moment) of time
time – chronos – time
either long or short
Somehow, Satan gave Jesus an incredible multi-media presentation of all the
kingdoms of the inhabited world. He
probably saw Caesar sitting on his throne in Rome, as well as all the other
rulers of the world.
:6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the
glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give
it.
power – exousia – power of
choice, liberty of doing as one pleases; the ability or strength with which one
is endued, which he either possesses or exercises; the power of authority
(influence) and of right (privilege); the power of rule or government (the
power of him whose will and commands must be submitted to by others and obeyed)
is delivered – paradidomi –
to give into the hands (of another); to give over into (one’s) power or use; to
deliver to one something to keep, use, take care of, manage; to deliver up one
to custody, to be judged, condemned, punished, scourged, tormented, put to
death; to deliver up treacherously; to permit, allow
I will – thelo – to will,
have in mind, intend; to be resolved or determined, to purpose; to desire, to
wish
Note: Jesus doesn’t dispute
these claims of Satan.
Satan has great power.
Joh 14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for
the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
2Co 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
It seems that Satan was handed over the rule of the planet when Adam and
Eve sinned.
The Bible says,
(Rom 6:16 KJV) Know ye not, that to whom ye yield
yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of
sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
When Adam and Eve sinned by obeying Satan’s temptation in
the garden, it’s possible that they were handing Satan the authority over the
planet, which had been given to them to take care of.
This is why Paul writes,
(Eph 2:2
KJV) Wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power
of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
So, in a sense, Satan is the ruler of planet earth, at least as much as God
allows him to be.
Though Jesus will refuse Satan’s offer, there will be another who won’t
refuse.
(Rev
13:1-2 KJV) And I stood upon the sand
of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten
horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
{2} And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the
feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him
his power, and his seat, and great authority.
The antichrist will be on the scene soon, and Satan will
give him authority and power.
:7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.
worship – proskuneo – to
kiss the hand to (towards) one, in token of reverence; among the Orientals,
esp. the Persians, to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the
forehead as an expression of profound reverence; in the NT by kneeling or
prostration to do homage (to one) or make obeisance, whether in order to
express respect or to make supplication
(before) me – enopion – in
the presence of, before. Literally,
“worship in the presence of me”.
Satan wanted Jesus to worship him, right there in his presence.
Jesus was the Messiah. He was the
one who came to fulfill the ancient prophecies concerning the Messiah.
(Isa 60:1-3 KJV) Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the
glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. {2} For, behold, the darkness shall cover
the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee,
and his glory shall be seen upon thee. {3} And the Gentiles shall come to thy light,
and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
He was the one who was destined to become King of the World.
But in God’s plan, before Jesus would be ruler of the world, He would have
to suffer.
(Isa 53:3-7 KJV) He is despised and rejected of men; a man of
sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him;
he was despised, and we esteemed him not. {4} Surely he hath borne our griefs,
and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted. {5} But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for
our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his
stripes we are healed. {6} All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned
every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
{7} He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is
brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,
so he openeth not his mouth.
What was Satan doing?
He was tempting Jesus to take a shortcut.
He was offering to give Jesus the title as King of the World, but
without having to suffer for our sins.
Lesson
Watch out for the shortcuts.
Personally, I like to take shortcuts.
I’m always looking for a quicker way through the grocery store, or a
quicker route to work. But sometimes
you can get into trouble by taking shortcuts.
David was tempted to take a shortcut.
As a young boy, he had been anointed by the prophet Samuel to be the next
king over Israel. He had a right to the
throne. But there was a problem. There already was a king on the throne, and
he wasn’t about to hand the keys over to David. King Saul eventually became jealous of David and tried to put
David to death. David ended up fleeing
for his life.
At one point, Saul went into a cave to rest, and it happened to be the same
cave that David and his men had been hiding in.
(1 Sam
24:4-7 KJV) And the men of David
said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will
deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall
seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe
privily. {5} And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him,
because he had cut off Saul's skirt. {6} And he said unto his men, The LORD
forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD'S anointed, to
stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD. {7}
So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise
against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.
David had the chance to take things into his own hands,
but he wouldn’t. He could have taken a
shortcut, but he didn’t.
David had a bad boss.
His boss was even trying to kill him.
Yet David remained loyal to his boss in that he didn’t try to kill him
or take his place. David waited for the
Lord to take care of his boss. In the
end, Saul was killed by the Philistines, and David became king without being
guilty of murder.
Absalom was tempted to take a shortcut, and he took it.
After having killed his brother Amnon, Absalom was the next in line to
become king of Israel, at least as far as order of birth was concerned. It seemed he became impatient, waiting for
his father David to die, or to pass the kingdom to him.
(2 Sam
15:1-6 KJV) And it came to pass
after this, that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run
before him. {2} And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the
gate: and it was so, that when any man that had a controversy came to the king
for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city art thou?
And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. {3} And Absalom
said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right; but there is no man deputed
of the king to hear thee. {4} Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge
in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me,
and I would do him justice! {5} And it was so, that when any man came nigh to
him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took him, and kissed him.
{6} And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for
judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
As a result, Absalom set himself to be the next king of
Israel, and tried to take the kingdom away from his father David. He brought about a huge civil war, dividing
the nation. In the end, he was killed
and David remained King of Israel.
When it comes to gaining “position” or “power”, you can choose to follow
the example of David, or you can choose to follow the example of Absalom. Choose David.
Jesus chose NOT to take the shortcut.
If He had chosen Satan’s shortcut, what would that have meant for us?
Jesus would have been our king, but we would all still end up in hell
because no one would have paid for our sins.
Aren’t you glad that Jesus didn’t take the shortcut?
:8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it
is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Get thee – hupago – to
lead under, bring under; to withdraw one’s self, to go away, depart
behind – opiso – back,
behind, after, afterwards; of place: things that are behind
Thou shalt worship – proskuneo
– to kiss the hand to (towards) one, in token of reverence; among the
Orientals, esp. the Persians, to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with
the forehead as an expression of profound reverence; in the NT by kneeling or
prostration to do homage (to one) or make obeisance, whether in order to
express respect or to make supplication
When Satan uses the word proskuneo, Jesus picks up on it and uses it
back against him, quoting a Scripture that has the proper use of proskuneo.
only – monos – alone
(without a companion), forsaken, destitute of help, alone, only, merely
shalt thou serve – latreuo –
to serve for hire; in the NT, to render religious service or homage, to
worship; to perform sacred services, to offer gifts, to worship God in the
observance of the rites instituted for his worship; of priests, to officiate,
to discharge the sacred office
Jesus quotes,
(Deu 6:13 KJV) Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve
him, and shalt swear by his name.
(Deu 10:20 KJV) Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt
thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.
There is only One to whom we should offer worship.