The Other Guy
So we move from the Master to the disaster. From the guy who came to rescue us to the thing who got us to jump overboard in the beginning. As we go on, the reasons for this little side journey will become clear.
We have a record of his MO. We've posted them and discussed them a bit but let's get a little bit more discussion as we proceed.
This is how he got us the first time:
Ge 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, Is it so that God has said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden.
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.
4 And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die,
5 for God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food. and that it was pleasing to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make wise, she took of its fruit, and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
7 And the eyes of both of them were opened. And they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made girdles for themselves.
(MKJV)
A commentary not mentioned when we earlier touched on this passage, Patrick-Lowth-Whitby-Lowman:
Genesis 3:1 Ge 3:1
Eusebius observes (lib. 7 Praepar. Evang. cap. 9, 10), that Moses, having settled the great doctrines of the creation of the world, and the dignity of man, made in the image of God’ proceeds very wisely to instruct the Israelites, that there are none so happy, but, without due care and watchfulness, may become most miserable: there being (as his words are) a wicked demon at every man’s elbo, “envois, a hater of those that are good, and from the beginning a wily underminer of men’s salvation.”
Now this following immediately after the relation of the formation of Eve, hath made some fancy, that our very first parents fell the very same day they were made. And thus much, I think, must be supposed—that they did not continue very long in their happy state: for if they had persisted steadfastly in their duty for a considerable time, they would have acquired such a habit of well-doing, as would not have been so easily lost. But that they continued longer than a day, there are many circumstances to induce us to believe. For it required some time for Adam to be acquainted with all other creatures, and to impose names upon them: and there being none of them a meet help for him, he slept some time, till Eve had taken her beginning out of him. Whom, when he saw, he received, and owned her for his wife; and no doubt made more reflections upon God’s wisdom, power, and goodness, than are set down in this sacred story. They both also received a command from God, not to eat of one tree in the garden: into which, when they were brought, we cannot but think they walked about, and took such a view of it, as to be convinced, by the bountiful provision God had made - for them, they had no reason to complain of the small restraint he had laid upon them. All which could not be performed so speedily as some have imagined: for though God can do what he pleases in an instant, yet man cannot; and God himself did not in one day create the world. And, besides that, some time was necessary for transacting all these things; it is not likely the devil would immediately set upon Eve, as soon as the command was laid upon them; but rather let it be a little forgotten. And if the time be observed when he assaulted her, it will much confirm this opinion, which was in the absence of her husband; for that we cannot easily believe to have been upon the same day they were created. The extraordinary kindness they had one for the other, will scarce allow us to think it possible, they should be so soon separated. It is plain also, God “sanctified the seventh day” before their fall; which it is highly probable they spent in admiring and praising the almighty goodness.
[The serpent] Or, that serpent (as some think it should be translated) which the tempter made use of, as his instrument to deceive.
[Was more subtle] The whole species of serpents is noted by Aristotle (lib. 1. Histor. Animal, cap. 1) to be “extremely insidious; but this was extraordinarily wily. What sort it was is not here expressed: but all agree there is now none like it; the curse of God having degraded it. St. Basil in his Book of Paradise (p. 627) saith, it was not a frightful creature, as it is now, but mild and gentle: not crawling and winding about, in a terrible manner, upon the ground, “but lofty, and going upright upon its feet.” Several of the Jews have been of this opinion; and our famous Mr. Mede inclines to it. (Discourse 38 p. 291, &c.) But I take the conjecture of another very learned person, now a bishop of our church, to be far more probable: which I shall endeavor to strengthen. There were (and still are in the eastern and southern parts of the world) serpents having wings, and shining very brightly, like to fire. So we read Isa 14:29 of “a flying fiery serpent.” Which fiery serpents are called seraphims, in Nu 21:6,8, and termed fiery, not merely with respect to their venom, which made sore inflammations on the bodies of those who were bitten by them, but because they appeared shining like fire when they flew in the air,
Whence seraphim is the name also of the highest sort of angels (called the “angels of the presence,” Isa 6:2,6), who appeared, I suppose, in some such form with flaming wings. (For otherwise, I cannot think serpents would have been honored as sacred things in so many countries, as we find they anciently were, unless they had been the symbols of angels.
The devil, therefore, I conceive, made use of some serpent (but of a more surpassing brightness than any now extant), that he might resemble one of the most illustrious angels, who appeared sometimes in the like shape. Which moved Eve the more readily to hearken unto the voice of the serpent; taking it to be one of the heavenly seraphims, which she had seen sometime, in such a splendid form, attend upon the Divine glory, or majesty: for the angels always made a part of the Shechinah.
And thus, one would think, Tertullian understood this matter, when he said (in his book De Praescript. Haeret. Cap. 47), Istum fuisse serpentem, cui Eva, ut filio Dei, crediderat; “this was the serpent to whom Eve gave credit as to the Son of God.” Which, ‘if any one take to be the words of the heretics he is there speaking of; yet those are not which we find in his book against the Valentinians (cap. 2), where he saith the serpent was a primordio Divinae imaginis praedio, “an usurper of the Divine image from the beginning.” (See Dr. Tenison of Idolatry, p. 356.) ‘To which that passage in Epiphanius may be added, who mentions some heretics (who might have some truth among them) that said, the woman listened to the serpent, and “believed him,” or was persuaded by him, “as the Son of God.”(Haeres. 37. n. 25.) And, one would think. Rabbi Bechai had this notion in his mind, when he said (upon the 14th verse of this chapter), “This is the secret (or mystery, of the holy language), that a serpent is called Saraph, as an angel is called Saraph.” For which he quotes the forenamed place Nu 21:6, and then adds, The Scripture calls serpents seraphim, because they were toledoth hanacash hakadmoni, the offspring of this old serpent: understand this (so he concludes, as our Saviour speaks in another case, “Whoso readeth, let him understand”), as a matter of great concernment. Which can have no other meaning, I think, but this; that the devil, (whom St. John also calls the old serpent,” Re 12:9), in this serpent here spoken of, counterfeited a glorious seraphim, and thereby seduced Eve to give credit to him.
(I, meantime, am moved to point out that the serpent form may have been appropriate for Satan to abscond because it fit his own angelic form.)
However this be, it is most reasonable to suppose, it was some beautiful creature; by whom Eve thought an angel, who wished them well, discoursed with her: for she was not so simple as to think that beasts could speak; much less that they knew more of God’s mind than herself, Nor doth it seem at all credible to me, that she could have been otherways deceived, but by some creature which appeared so gloriously, that she took it for a heavenly minister; who, she thought, came to explain to them the meaning of the Divine command.
Yea, hath God said, This doth not look like the beginning of a discourse, but the conclusion: as the Jews themselves have observed. And it is not improbable, that the tempter, before he spake these words, represented himself as one of the heavenly court; who came, or was sent to congratulate the happiness that God bath bestowed upon them in paradise: which was so great, that he could not easily believe he had denied them any of the fruit of the garden.
He desired therefore to be satisfied from her own mouth, of the truth of what he pretended to have heard; or to know how they understood the command of God: for so these words may be translated, “Is it true indeed, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree. &c. Which is a very ancient interpretation, and more probable than theirs, who would have the Hebrew particles, aph ki, signify as much as ut ut: “Although God hath said, Ye shall not eat, notwithstanding, ye shall not die.” So they suppose he was going to add; but, before he had spoken the latter part of the sentence, Eve interrupted him, saying, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden.” This had been too gross, flatly to contradict what God had said; whereas, the beginning of the verse tells us, he went more subtly to work.
No. 1: Did God really say that? You need to understand that the battle for a literal six day creation story seems to be a battle against Satan for so many of my brothers and sisters. They feel that doubting the literal word "day" and thinking it to mean a span of time like an era is falling for the Devil's ploy in Eden. We see it again and again in Christian ranks, the sudden need to have this or that sentence be exact. In some cases it is in fact very vital. One group that calls itself Christian insists that Jesus has no deity, is an Angel and therefore translates the Book of John to say that Jesus was with God and was a god.
This is one of the most common verses of contention between the Jehovah's Witnesses and Christians. Their false assumption is that Jesus is not God in flesh but Michael the archangel who became a man. Therefore, since they deny that Jesus is divine, they have altered the Bible in John 1:1 so that Jesus is not divine in nature. The New World Translation has added the word "a" to the verse so it says, " . . . and the Word was a god." The correct translation of this verse is "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." This is how it is rendered in the NASB, NIV, KJV, NKJV, ASV, RSV, etc.
(A full discussion at: https://carm.org/john-1-1-word-was-god)
Or from another sect:
An examination of the textual apparatus reveals the possibility of a slightly different punctuation for verses 3b and 4a (All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made. That which has been made was life in him, and the life was the light of men.). This, however, has no bearing whatsoever on the changes introduced in the JST. There is no indication that anything from the original manuscripts has been left out of our text at these points and the reading restored by Smith is wholly unwarranted.
It does, however, reflect Joseph Smith’s personal theology concerning Jesus and the gospel. It appears that to Smith, it was the gospel that had a preeminent position. He rallied people around himself with the claim to have restored the gospel in these last days; that all churches were wrong, their creeds an abomination to God and their professors corrupt.1 It was the gospel of Mormonism that would save people, for it alone had restored the necessary ordinances that all other sects were missing.
While it is true that Jesus is often mentioned in LDS circles, he is not the Jesus of the Bible. This also is reflected in the JST. Jesus was procreated, the son of Elohim and a goddess mother, his spirit brother was Lucifer. He became a god by obeying the LDS ordinances, just as we can become gods if we do the same.2 I believe this is another reason for the interpolation and emphasis on “the gospel” found in John chapter one, verses one and four.
In both cases, the text is subverted and altered to reflect doctrines and theologies of cults which do not accept Christ as part of a Trinity or Godhead. In both cases the believer in these churches risks not actually knowing Jesus but knowing a diluted version. Or as seeing him as unknowable. Recall we said how important it was to know that Jesus was the Son of God, that his divinity was the only way He could have been an adequate sacrifice. If he is seen as merely Fallen Flesh alone, even Adamic First Flesh, that is still not enough. And it should be noted that idea never crosses the theologies of either of the cults mentioned so that our Savior would be mere mortal or worse angel who would have no idea what humanity was like after all.
This is one very clear reason why we have the dry dusty librarian functions of hermeneutics and people spending their lives learning Latin and Greek and Jewish languages. Learning to dissect verbs and adverbs, nouns and adjectives. Parsing the verses so we may, at this juncture, have so much real research at hand as to have full weaponry to present Satan with the answer. "Yes, God DID say that."
I can't imagine their studiousness nor the reward the Lord holds for them for their efforts to defend the faith at its very root. I sometimes kid about their efforts but compared to this small blog, they stand easily as titans
It was also why Wycliffe and hundreds of others with language skills came forward centuries ago to translate the Word into languages all could read, so that any doctrine could be questioned and analyzed by people everywhere and so that those with the gifting of knowledge from God could bring the truth to light, ministers and teachers, prophets and elders. Why Martin Luther pounded nails into his objections to doctrine, his 95 Theses, which he left on the Wittenberg Church door. Tyndale executed for his Bible translation into English. John Huss the Czech Priest whose objections to Catholic doctrines got him burned at the stake. All standing for the exactness of doctrine on the exact Word of God.
Notice that Satan also plays the trick of misquoting just to get the conversation started. He has to have a reply from humanity for it to begin. He has to begin a relationship in some way. He has that now with sin in our lives but he didn't have it then in Eden. Being in the form of the serpent, Eve could have told him to go away then. But she did reply. He had an open door to humanity since then.
Then, in verse 3, Eve becomes the Pharisee and adds to God's word. Compare:
Ge 2:17 but you shall not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
(MKJV)
3b: God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.
Either Adam added to it when telling her the warning or she did so herself. Either way, that little tidbit reminds us how we get about God's warnings. He tells us to not work on the Sabbath and we set out a ton of rules defining work. He tells us Gentiles may become saved and then the council of the Church added a dietary rule about strangled food. He tells us to avoid pornography and churches ban the internet or set up filters that won't let any biological information through.
We love our rules and His rules more than we love Him. Most of the time. And that, not the laws themselves, gets us into trouble most of the time. Our hearts get off the Person who loves us and on the way He tells jus will show Him love. It's easy to follow a rule. It's harder to love. Even in Eden. It was harder to love.
4 And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die,
Patrick, et al again:
Genesis 3:4 Ge 3:4
Ye shall not surely die: You are under a mistake: death will not be the certain consequence of your eating this fruit: for God is too good to inflict
such a heavy punishment for so small a fault.
Then we have the lie. The "father of lies" as Jesus called him. This is the most important lesson to learn about Satan: If a lie is involved, somewhere along the way, he's involved. It can be a public lie like "this person wiretapped my home" or a private lie, like "I want to murder that guy and then things will get better" but this and all lies and liars come from their father. All cause harm and are always used by us or by Satan to advance an agenda usually against God's wishes, always one to somehow advance ourselves which is the format for next lie.
But for the lies to work, Satan takes an element of truth. They didn't die immediately. Physically. They died immediately spiritually. Physical death came later. That fact let's us lie to ourselves every day that we are not going to die. That somehow there will always be an Earthly tomorrow. That let's us lie and cheat and steal, to become billionaires and take other people's promised government programs and benefits they have paid for over years away from them for our own worldly enhancement and say that we are doing God's work because we aren't facing Him tomorrow or the next instant.
Of course there's another element once discussed: Satan can't create anything. He couldn't create a world to live in once God tossed him out so he stole Earth. He couldn't create any idea of a government so he stole God's levels of administration and we have "powers and principalities". He couldn't even make up lies from whole clothe.
But those kind thoughts from Patrick really don't follow in the context of what comes next from Satan:
5 for God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
It seems vastly more likely that Satan's comment on not dying was made to set up his idea that God was withholding a great truth. "He lied about you not dying to keep you from a greater truth that I have right here..." Every spiritual charlatan starts there.
To be more accurate, I think it possible Satan actually believes part of this: that he can be like God by seducing followers. He has deceived himself into believing he can be God so he sells the lie to others. Worse, he sees his way to being God by sabotaging any plan God has, even if he can't understand it or see where it goes or even comprehend the mission of it. Some suggest he knows he's going to fail and end on the lake of fire and wants to take everyone he can with him, It may be that simple, but it also may be that he engages in magical thinking and follows the notion that he is in some sort of race and can seduce enough people away from God to change the plan or that God needs worship so if he takes enough worship away he will take God's power away. I have seen this lie in comic books and in New Age writing. He has never understood that God's power comes from who He is. That people truly worship God because of his love, not his power. In fact, it is when we become enamored of God's power that it becomes our god instead of Him. (More on that later when we discuss his attempted seduction of Jesus.)
But the line of seduction becomes clear; God's Word isn't true because God is hiding the secret that you will become like him if you get this secret knowledge that only comes by disobeying his rule. Remember
But now I wonder if that may touch on the message God has had for us all along. That only by Him living in us, inhabiting us by the Holy Spirit may we fulfill our destiny. Even with just one rule, even with everything set up perfectly around us, even with one clear job to do and all the rewards in the world for doing it, we failed. Eve did not have the Holy Spirit inside even though she walked with God every evening, even though she had all He gave here, making her not unlike the angels Satan seduced. Meaning all of god's creation is vulnerable because he loves us enough to let us be vulnerable instead of impregnable robots and only the Holy Spirit can keep us on track.
Even in Eden, we still thought we could do something else which we could choose and that would be as good as what God offered. We still are seduced by it if we don't have the Holy Spirit and if we refuse to follow Him. The Mormons, mentioned above, have all manner of good living ideas from a proper diet to clean living and still they think they will be like God AFTER death. They have a new law, a greater revelation and following God's law and theirs becomes the new god. This is not to say we don't all do this in some way when we aren't listening to the Spirit; we do. This is merely a blatant example of it.
We can also choose to follow our own longings and call them God's. We often want to impose his rules on others, those who are unsaved or lost or have chosen another god. When these serve social needs like a penalty for killing, we sympathize and join in. When they serve a social need to impose a 1950's ideal of living such as the mom at home fetching dad's hat as he goes off to work while we have allowed the economy to gut that idea, then no one should sympathize. Nostalgia for a "better time" can often interfere unless we realize that was a "better time" only for some and Christians should only wish to live in God's "time." Satan will always deceive as "the father of lies" and that deception will many times be subtle and misleading instead of a call for direct rebellion, though direct rebellion will usually result.
But he can refine his deception for even the saved. Even for the Savior.
Luke 4:1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness
2 forty days, being tempted by the Devil. And in those days He ate nothing. And they being ended, He afterward was hungry.
3 And the Devil said to Him, If you are the Son of God, speak to this stone that it might become bread.
4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God."
5 And the Devil, leading Him up into a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the Devil said to Him, All this power I will give you, and the glory of them; for it has been delivered to me. And I give it to whomever I will.
7 Therefore if you will worship me, all shall be yours.
8 And Jesus answered and said to him, Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve."
9 And he brought Him to Jerusalem and sat Him on a pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here.
10 For it is written, "He shall give His angels charge over You, to keep You;
11 and in their hands they shall bear You up, lest at any time You dash Your foot against a stone."
12 And Jesus answering said to him, It has been said, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God."
13 And when the Devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him for a time.
(MKJV)
Here we have the story of similar temptations but with striking differences.
1) Jesus is full of the Spirit. If you or I were heading into the wilderness, we might first have a hearty breakfast to be full of food. Then we would outfit, first with the best knife possible then with a gun, then with food and supplies. (With the knife you can always make some shelter and get some food with the gun you can also accomplish food with large prey but you run out of ammo eventually.) Jesus takes nothing but the clothes on his back.
2) It is the Spirit which leads him. Eve was attacked by the serpent when she wasn't walking with God. The Spirit is now in Jesus and leading him into trial. Jesus is not unsuspecting. He is following. He is actually trusting God.
This reinforces the idea that the Spirit was always the important part.
3) Jesus goes to weakness. I trust the Spirit to lead me to the refrigerator and the right stuff for a sandwich. Jesus trusts Him to lead Him to fast for days. And the Devil comes AFTER the fasting, when Jesus is physically weak, without any of the things God gave even for necessity let alone comfort, not about the apparent work of God, realizing that the work of God is yielding to God.
How often do I forget that? How often do you? Those "things of the world" come rolling in (right now I also have to get my tax forms done). How often do our desires distract us? Idols loom. Jesus had none of that.
Satan attacks physical weakness first.
3 And the Devil said to Him, If you are the Son of God, speak to this stone that it might become bread.
Two things:
First, "IF" you are the Son of God. I suspect there is a lot going on in that part of the sentence. Satan may not be sure. Jesus has the Holy Spirit and God has sent the Spirit to indwell Him, but Satan doesn't believe God. REMEMBER that. He lies himself so he can't believe anyone else, even God. A being who tells lies while intent on getting his ways (Mr, President) cannot believe others tell the truth, His lie is his reality. He has drawn others into his reality so it must be the REAL thing though he himself has built it on lies, He isn't sure this is Christ. Second, he faces a weakened Jesus and hopes to undermine His confidence in his identity even as he did with Eve. "Are you God? You are starving, you know. God's Son starving in the desert. That's as preposterous as him being born in a manger or making a living as a carpenter. All that sweating and those callouses. What a joke!"
then the follow up: "Prove it to me."
Prove it to me to take care of your own weakness as well. Ego, i doubt you are God's son, Prove it to me.
You can turn the stones into something to feed your body. And feed your ego,
His first thing: "Did God say...?" Becomes Jesus best defense, Complete defense.
4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God."
He knows who He is. He will declare it artfully and directly throughout His ministry. He is firmly locked into his identity as the Son of God, God himself in the flesh but subservient to God the Father.
John 5:16 And for this reason the Jews were turned against Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.
17 But his answer was: My Father is still working even now, and so I am working.
18 For this cause the Jews had an even greater desire to put Jesus to death, because not only did he not keep the Sabbath but he said God was his Father, so making himself equal with God.
19 So Jesus made answer and said, Truly I say to you, The Son is not able to do anything himself; he is able to do only what he sees the Father doing; whatever the Father does the Son does it in the same way.
20 For the Father has love for the Son and lets him see everything which he does: and he will let him see greater works than these so that you may be full of wonder.
(BBE)
He talks it and lives it, talked it AFTER He lived it in the wilderness, starving, facing the toughest foe the other side had to offer,
The Devil takes the tempting to the next level then. "Here's everything in the world, i won it in a card game in Vegas. You can have it all. Just worship me."
(I saw one health and wealth preacher say "He was going to get it anyway." As the reason Jesus resisted. So I guess we should pursue wealth offered by Satan because we won't get it all. Now that is a real faith ministry. For the sake of translation, that is sarcasm.)
One thing to emphasize: And I give it to whomever I will.
Please consider this when you see rich people. Please realize wealth is not always a gift of God. The pharisees lived by that myth and the money became their life. And the disciples believed it and were stunned by the way Christ ignored the person's outward appearance. For some it may well keep them from accepting Christ. Money is the root of much evil. And that will never stop a starving man from jumping at a sandwich offer. Only walking in the Spirit can keep a man from turning down the world.
"Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve."
Now HE can order Satan around because He's Christ. Pay attention. We can back him down only when we are walking with Christ. It's that thing where you're with your older brother and he kicks the bully away from you. Please remember: YOU ARE NOT THE OLDER BROTHER.
Jas 4:7 For this cause be ruled by God; but make war on the Evil One and he will be put to flight before you.
8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Make your hands clean, you evil-doers; put away deceit from your hearts, you false in mind.
(BBE)
As for him tempting you:
2Ti 2:22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
(KJV)
Jesus didn't exactly flee, but then He wasn't at full strength what with starving and all. And it was also God's will for Him to prove one more point.
9 And he brought Him to Jerusalem and sat Him on a pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here.
10 For it is written, "He shall give His angels charge over You, to keep You;
11 and in their hands they shall bear You up, lest at any time You dash Your foot against a stone."
Jerusalem. He loves the city; God founded the city:
Mt 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
(ASV)
The Temple. He loves God's house:
Mt 21:12 And Jesus entered into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of he money-changers, and the seats of them that sold the doves;
13 and he saith unto them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer: but ye make it a den of robbers.
(ASV)
"Don't just prove it to me, prove it to everyone. Take the glory you were meant to take right now!"
And that kind of sums it all up; "Take it now." It's kind of like a bad money ad: "You have kingdom coming but you need cash NOW!" Never mentions you don't get all the cash you REALLY deserve because of the interest charged on the buy out. The Lake of Fire sounds like really steep eternal interest.
But Jesus knows who He is. He doesn't need to claim it before others. He never came for a moment's glory but to glory God. He knows his enemy as well. he saw him tossed out of heaven and soon he'll have the privilege of being the bouncer himself or perhaps again, Doesn't really say of He did it the first time.
Keep in mind: God led his own Son into heavy temptation to prepare Him and as an example to us. I saw this happen in the life of a new Christian and I feel I failed him by not being there enough when he saw his life falling backward. If you face temptation. recall Satan seems to need to ask permission as implied in Job. Recall, too:
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it.
14 Wherefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
(ASV)
It is just readily apparent our Big Brother can take way more temptation than the rest of us. Recall, too:
Matt 4:11 Then the devil leaveth him; and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
He does leave. He even left Job alone. But the two followups are important.
Angels came and ministered. God sends comfort. He has THE Comforter living in us. He has prepped us. There are also still angels out there working for Him. There will be an end here or in Heaven and Heaven seems a place of even deeper comfort.
But while on Earth we remember this, too:
13 And when the Devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him for a time.
The Devil leaves but only "for a time." He popped up during the ministry, too.
Mt 16:22 And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall never be unto thee.
23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art a stumbling-block unto me: for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men.
(ASV)
Clearly this was one of the most evil suggestions ever offered to Jesus by any man, thus it was from the Devil. Peter was opposing the very purpose for which Jesus came into the world with reasons that would be appealing to Jesus as a temptation. This was the Devil putting forward this idea so why not look past Peter and label it for what it was.
Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word.
44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and standeth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof.
(ASV)
The Pharisees this time.
Lu 22:2 And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might put him to death; for they feared the people.
3 And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.
4 And he went away, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might deliver him unto them.
5 And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money.
6 And he consented, and sought opportunity to deliver him unto them in the absence of the multitude.
And then directly into the traitor.
He was there. He's still there deceiving the Fallen Flesh. Until the end. And, in the end, we'll get back to him.
So we move from the Master to the disaster. From the guy who came to rescue us to the thing who got us to jump overboard in the beginning. As we go on, the reasons for this little side journey will become clear.
We have a record of his MO. We've posted them and discussed them a bit but let's get a little bit more discussion as we proceed.
This is how he got us the first time:
Ge 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, Is it so that God has said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden.
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.
4 And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die,
5 for God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food. and that it was pleasing to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make wise, she took of its fruit, and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
7 And the eyes of both of them were opened. And they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made girdles for themselves.
(MKJV)
A commentary not mentioned when we earlier touched on this passage, Patrick-Lowth-Whitby-Lowman:
Genesis 3:1 Ge 3:1
Eusebius observes (lib. 7 Praepar. Evang. cap. 9, 10), that Moses, having settled the great doctrines of the creation of the world, and the dignity of man, made in the image of God’ proceeds very wisely to instruct the Israelites, that there are none so happy, but, without due care and watchfulness, may become most miserable: there being (as his words are) a wicked demon at every man’s elbo, “envois, a hater of those that are good, and from the beginning a wily underminer of men’s salvation.”
Now this following immediately after the relation of the formation of Eve, hath made some fancy, that our very first parents fell the very same day they were made. And thus much, I think, must be supposed—that they did not continue very long in their happy state: for if they had persisted steadfastly in their duty for a considerable time, they would have acquired such a habit of well-doing, as would not have been so easily lost. But that they continued longer than a day, there are many circumstances to induce us to believe. For it required some time for Adam to be acquainted with all other creatures, and to impose names upon them: and there being none of them a meet help for him, he slept some time, till Eve had taken her beginning out of him. Whom, when he saw, he received, and owned her for his wife; and no doubt made more reflections upon God’s wisdom, power, and goodness, than are set down in this sacred story. They both also received a command from God, not to eat of one tree in the garden: into which, when they were brought, we cannot but think they walked about, and took such a view of it, as to be convinced, by the bountiful provision God had made - for them, they had no reason to complain of the small restraint he had laid upon them. All which could not be performed so speedily as some have imagined: for though God can do what he pleases in an instant, yet man cannot; and God himself did not in one day create the world. And, besides that, some time was necessary for transacting all these things; it is not likely the devil would immediately set upon Eve, as soon as the command was laid upon them; but rather let it be a little forgotten. And if the time be observed when he assaulted her, it will much confirm this opinion, which was in the absence of her husband; for that we cannot easily believe to have been upon the same day they were created. The extraordinary kindness they had one for the other, will scarce allow us to think it possible, they should be so soon separated. It is plain also, God “sanctified the seventh day” before their fall; which it is highly probable they spent in admiring and praising the almighty goodness.
[The serpent] Or, that serpent (as some think it should be translated) which the tempter made use of, as his instrument to deceive.
[Was more subtle] The whole species of serpents is noted by Aristotle (lib. 1. Histor. Animal, cap. 1) to be “extremely insidious; but this was extraordinarily wily. What sort it was is not here expressed: but all agree there is now none like it; the curse of God having degraded it. St. Basil in his Book of Paradise (p. 627) saith, it was not a frightful creature, as it is now, but mild and gentle: not crawling and winding about, in a terrible manner, upon the ground, “but lofty, and going upright upon its feet.” Several of the Jews have been of this opinion; and our famous Mr. Mede inclines to it. (Discourse 38 p. 291, &c.) But I take the conjecture of another very learned person, now a bishop of our church, to be far more probable: which I shall endeavor to strengthen. There were (and still are in the eastern and southern parts of the world) serpents having wings, and shining very brightly, like to fire. So we read Isa 14:29 of “a flying fiery serpent.” Which fiery serpents are called seraphims, in Nu 21:6,8, and termed fiery, not merely with respect to their venom, which made sore inflammations on the bodies of those who were bitten by them, but because they appeared shining like fire when they flew in the air,
Whence seraphim is the name also of the highest sort of angels (called the “angels of the presence,” Isa 6:2,6), who appeared, I suppose, in some such form with flaming wings. (For otherwise, I cannot think serpents would have been honored as sacred things in so many countries, as we find they anciently were, unless they had been the symbols of angels.
The devil, therefore, I conceive, made use of some serpent (but of a more surpassing brightness than any now extant), that he might resemble one of the most illustrious angels, who appeared sometimes in the like shape. Which moved Eve the more readily to hearken unto the voice of the serpent; taking it to be one of the heavenly seraphims, which she had seen sometime, in such a splendid form, attend upon the Divine glory, or majesty: for the angels always made a part of the Shechinah.
And thus, one would think, Tertullian understood this matter, when he said (in his book De Praescript. Haeret. Cap. 47), Istum fuisse serpentem, cui Eva, ut filio Dei, crediderat; “this was the serpent to whom Eve gave credit as to the Son of God.” Which, ‘if any one take to be the words of the heretics he is there speaking of; yet those are not which we find in his book against the Valentinians (cap. 2), where he saith the serpent was a primordio Divinae imaginis praedio, “an usurper of the Divine image from the beginning.” (See Dr. Tenison of Idolatry, p. 356.) ‘To which that passage in Epiphanius may be added, who mentions some heretics (who might have some truth among them) that said, the woman listened to the serpent, and “believed him,” or was persuaded by him, “as the Son of God.”(Haeres. 37. n. 25.) And, one would think. Rabbi Bechai had this notion in his mind, when he said (upon the 14th verse of this chapter), “This is the secret (or mystery, of the holy language), that a serpent is called Saraph, as an angel is called Saraph.” For which he quotes the forenamed place Nu 21:6, and then adds, The Scripture calls serpents seraphim, because they were toledoth hanacash hakadmoni, the offspring of this old serpent: understand this (so he concludes, as our Saviour speaks in another case, “Whoso readeth, let him understand”), as a matter of great concernment. Which can have no other meaning, I think, but this; that the devil, (whom St. John also calls the old serpent,” Re 12:9), in this serpent here spoken of, counterfeited a glorious seraphim, and thereby seduced Eve to give credit to him.
(I, meantime, am moved to point out that the serpent form may have been appropriate for Satan to abscond because it fit his own angelic form.)
However this be, it is most reasonable to suppose, it was some beautiful creature; by whom Eve thought an angel, who wished them well, discoursed with her: for she was not so simple as to think that beasts could speak; much less that they knew more of God’s mind than herself, Nor doth it seem at all credible to me, that she could have been otherways deceived, but by some creature which appeared so gloriously, that she took it for a heavenly minister; who, she thought, came to explain to them the meaning of the Divine command.
Yea, hath God said, This doth not look like the beginning of a discourse, but the conclusion: as the Jews themselves have observed. And it is not improbable, that the tempter, before he spake these words, represented himself as one of the heavenly court; who came, or was sent to congratulate the happiness that God bath bestowed upon them in paradise: which was so great, that he could not easily believe he had denied them any of the fruit of the garden.
He desired therefore to be satisfied from her own mouth, of the truth of what he pretended to have heard; or to know how they understood the command of God: for so these words may be translated, “Is it true indeed, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree. &c. Which is a very ancient interpretation, and more probable than theirs, who would have the Hebrew particles, aph ki, signify as much as ut ut: “Although God hath said, Ye shall not eat, notwithstanding, ye shall not die.” So they suppose he was going to add; but, before he had spoken the latter part of the sentence, Eve interrupted him, saying, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden.” This had been too gross, flatly to contradict what God had said; whereas, the beginning of the verse tells us, he went more subtly to work.
No. 1: Did God really say that? You need to understand that the battle for a literal six day creation story seems to be a battle against Satan for so many of my brothers and sisters. They feel that doubting the literal word "day" and thinking it to mean a span of time like an era is falling for the Devil's ploy in Eden. We see it again and again in Christian ranks, the sudden need to have this or that sentence be exact. In some cases it is in fact very vital. One group that calls itself Christian insists that Jesus has no deity, is an Angel and therefore translates the Book of John to say that Jesus was with God and was a god.
In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. The New World Translation
This is one of the most common verses of contention between the Jehovah's Witnesses and Christians. Their false assumption is that Jesus is not God in flesh but Michael the archangel who became a man. Therefore, since they deny that Jesus is divine, they have altered the Bible in John 1:1 so that Jesus is not divine in nature. The New World Translation has added the word "a" to the verse so it says, " . . . and the Word was a god." The correct translation of this verse is "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." This is how it is rendered in the NASB, NIV, KJV, NKJV, ASV, RSV, etc.(A full discussion at: https://carm.org/john-1-1-word-was-god)
Or from another sect:
| King James Version | John 1:1 — In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:4 — In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
|
| Joseph Smith Translation | John 1:1 — In the beginning was the gospel preached through the Son. And the gospel was the word, and the word was with the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was of God.
John 1:4 — In him was the gospel, and the gospel was the life, and the life was the light of men.
|
It does, however, reflect Joseph Smith’s personal theology concerning Jesus and the gospel. It appears that to Smith, it was the gospel that had a preeminent position. He rallied people around himself with the claim to have restored the gospel in these last days; that all churches were wrong, their creeds an abomination to God and their professors corrupt.1 It was the gospel of Mormonism that would save people, for it alone had restored the necessary ordinances that all other sects were missing.
While it is true that Jesus is often mentioned in LDS circles, he is not the Jesus of the Bible. This also is reflected in the JST. Jesus was procreated, the son of Elohim and a goddess mother, his spirit brother was Lucifer. He became a god by obeying the LDS ordinances, just as we can become gods if we do the same.2 I believe this is another reason for the interpolation and emphasis on “the gospel” found in John chapter one, verses one and four.
In both cases, the text is subverted and altered to reflect doctrines and theologies of cults which do not accept Christ as part of a Trinity or Godhead. In both cases the believer in these churches risks not actually knowing Jesus but knowing a diluted version. Or as seeing him as unknowable. Recall we said how important it was to know that Jesus was the Son of God, that his divinity was the only way He could have been an adequate sacrifice. If he is seen as merely Fallen Flesh alone, even Adamic First Flesh, that is still not enough. And it should be noted that idea never crosses the theologies of either of the cults mentioned so that our Savior would be mere mortal or worse angel who would have no idea what humanity was like after all.
This is one very clear reason why we have the dry dusty librarian functions of hermeneutics and people spending their lives learning Latin and Greek and Jewish languages. Learning to dissect verbs and adverbs, nouns and adjectives. Parsing the verses so we may, at this juncture, have so much real research at hand as to have full weaponry to present Satan with the answer. "Yes, God DID say that."
I can't imagine their studiousness nor the reward the Lord holds for them for their efforts to defend the faith at its very root. I sometimes kid about their efforts but compared to this small blog, they stand easily as titans
It was also why Wycliffe and hundreds of others with language skills came forward centuries ago to translate the Word into languages all could read, so that any doctrine could be questioned and analyzed by people everywhere and so that those with the gifting of knowledge from God could bring the truth to light, ministers and teachers, prophets and elders. Why Martin Luther pounded nails into his objections to doctrine, his 95 Theses, which he left on the Wittenberg Church door. Tyndale executed for his Bible translation into English. John Huss the Czech Priest whose objections to Catholic doctrines got him burned at the stake. All standing for the exactness of doctrine on the exact Word of God.
Notice that Satan also plays the trick of misquoting just to get the conversation started. He has to have a reply from humanity for it to begin. He has to begin a relationship in some way. He has that now with sin in our lives but he didn't have it then in Eden. Being in the form of the serpent, Eve could have told him to go away then. But she did reply. He had an open door to humanity since then.
Then, in verse 3, Eve becomes the Pharisee and adds to God's word. Compare:
Ge 2:17 but you shall not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
(MKJV)
3b: God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.
Either Adam added to it when telling her the warning or she did so herself. Either way, that little tidbit reminds us how we get about God's warnings. He tells us to not work on the Sabbath and we set out a ton of rules defining work. He tells us Gentiles may become saved and then the council of the Church added a dietary rule about strangled food. He tells us to avoid pornography and churches ban the internet or set up filters that won't let any biological information through.
We love our rules and His rules more than we love Him. Most of the time. And that, not the laws themselves, gets us into trouble most of the time. Our hearts get off the Person who loves us and on the way He tells jus will show Him love. It's easy to follow a rule. It's harder to love. Even in Eden. It was harder to love.
4 And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die,
Patrick, et al again:
Genesis 3:4 Ge 3:4
Ye shall not surely die: You are under a mistake: death will not be the certain consequence of your eating this fruit: for God is too good to inflict
such a heavy punishment for so small a fault.
Then we have the lie. The "father of lies" as Jesus called him. This is the most important lesson to learn about Satan: If a lie is involved, somewhere along the way, he's involved. It can be a public lie like "this person wiretapped my home" or a private lie, like "I want to murder that guy and then things will get better" but this and all lies and liars come from their father. All cause harm and are always used by us or by Satan to advance an agenda usually against God's wishes, always one to somehow advance ourselves which is the format for next lie.
But for the lies to work, Satan takes an element of truth. They didn't die immediately. Physically. They died immediately spiritually. Physical death came later. That fact let's us lie to ourselves every day that we are not going to die. That somehow there will always be an Earthly tomorrow. That let's us lie and cheat and steal, to become billionaires and take other people's promised government programs and benefits they have paid for over years away from them for our own worldly enhancement and say that we are doing God's work because we aren't facing Him tomorrow or the next instant.
Of course there's another element once discussed: Satan can't create anything. He couldn't create a world to live in once God tossed him out so he stole Earth. He couldn't create any idea of a government so he stole God's levels of administration and we have "powers and principalities". He couldn't even make up lies from whole clothe.
But those kind thoughts from Patrick really don't follow in the context of what comes next from Satan:
5 for God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
It seems vastly more likely that Satan's comment on not dying was made to set up his idea that God was withholding a great truth. "He lied about you not dying to keep you from a greater truth that I have right here..." Every spiritual charlatan starts there.
To be more accurate, I think it possible Satan actually believes part of this: that he can be like God by seducing followers. He has deceived himself into believing he can be God so he sells the lie to others. Worse, he sees his way to being God by sabotaging any plan God has, even if he can't understand it or see where it goes or even comprehend the mission of it. Some suggest he knows he's going to fail and end on the lake of fire and wants to take everyone he can with him, It may be that simple, but it also may be that he engages in magical thinking and follows the notion that he is in some sort of race and can seduce enough people away from God to change the plan or that God needs worship so if he takes enough worship away he will take God's power away. I have seen this lie in comic books and in New Age writing. He has never understood that God's power comes from who He is. That people truly worship God because of his love, not his power. In fact, it is when we become enamored of God's power that it becomes our god instead of Him. (More on that later when we discuss his attempted seduction of Jesus.)
But the line of seduction becomes clear; God's Word isn't true because God is hiding the secret that you will become like him if you get this secret knowledge that only comes by disobeying his rule. Remember
But now I wonder if that may touch on the message God has had for us all along. That only by Him living in us, inhabiting us by the Holy Spirit may we fulfill our destiny. Even with just one rule, even with everything set up perfectly around us, even with one clear job to do and all the rewards in the world for doing it, we failed. Eve did not have the Holy Spirit inside even though she walked with God every evening, even though she had all He gave here, making her not unlike the angels Satan seduced. Meaning all of god's creation is vulnerable because he loves us enough to let us be vulnerable instead of impregnable robots and only the Holy Spirit can keep us on track.
Even in Eden, we still thought we could do something else which we could choose and that would be as good as what God offered. We still are seduced by it if we don't have the Holy Spirit and if we refuse to follow Him. The Mormons, mentioned above, have all manner of good living ideas from a proper diet to clean living and still they think they will be like God AFTER death. They have a new law, a greater revelation and following God's law and theirs becomes the new god. This is not to say we don't all do this in some way when we aren't listening to the Spirit; we do. This is merely a blatant example of it.
We can also choose to follow our own longings and call them God's. We often want to impose his rules on others, those who are unsaved or lost or have chosen another god. When these serve social needs like a penalty for killing, we sympathize and join in. When they serve a social need to impose a 1950's ideal of living such as the mom at home fetching dad's hat as he goes off to work while we have allowed the economy to gut that idea, then no one should sympathize. Nostalgia for a "better time" can often interfere unless we realize that was a "better time" only for some and Christians should only wish to live in God's "time." Satan will always deceive as "the father of lies" and that deception will many times be subtle and misleading instead of a call for direct rebellion, though direct rebellion will usually result.
But he can refine his deception for even the saved. Even for the Savior.
Luke 4:1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness
2 forty days, being tempted by the Devil. And in those days He ate nothing. And they being ended, He afterward was hungry.
3 And the Devil said to Him, If you are the Son of God, speak to this stone that it might become bread.
4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God."
5 And the Devil, leading Him up into a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the Devil said to Him, All this power I will give you, and the glory of them; for it has been delivered to me. And I give it to whomever I will.
7 Therefore if you will worship me, all shall be yours.
8 And Jesus answered and said to him, Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve."
9 And he brought Him to Jerusalem and sat Him on a pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here.
10 For it is written, "He shall give His angels charge over You, to keep You;
11 and in their hands they shall bear You up, lest at any time You dash Your foot against a stone."
12 And Jesus answering said to him, It has been said, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God."
13 And when the Devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him for a time.
(MKJV)
Here we have the story of similar temptations but with striking differences.
1) Jesus is full of the Spirit. If you or I were heading into the wilderness, we might first have a hearty breakfast to be full of food. Then we would outfit, first with the best knife possible then with a gun, then with food and supplies. (With the knife you can always make some shelter and get some food with the gun you can also accomplish food with large prey but you run out of ammo eventually.) Jesus takes nothing but the clothes on his back.
2) It is the Spirit which leads him. Eve was attacked by the serpent when she wasn't walking with God. The Spirit is now in Jesus and leading him into trial. Jesus is not unsuspecting. He is following. He is actually trusting God.
This reinforces the idea that the Spirit was always the important part.
3) Jesus goes to weakness. I trust the Spirit to lead me to the refrigerator and the right stuff for a sandwich. Jesus trusts Him to lead Him to fast for days. And the Devil comes AFTER the fasting, when Jesus is physically weak, without any of the things God gave even for necessity let alone comfort, not about the apparent work of God, realizing that the work of God is yielding to God.
How often do I forget that? How often do you? Those "things of the world" come rolling in (right now I also have to get my tax forms done). How often do our desires distract us? Idols loom. Jesus had none of that.
Satan attacks physical weakness first.
3 And the Devil said to Him, If you are the Son of God, speak to this stone that it might become bread.
Two things:
First, "IF" you are the Son of God. I suspect there is a lot going on in that part of the sentence. Satan may not be sure. Jesus has the Holy Spirit and God has sent the Spirit to indwell Him, but Satan doesn't believe God. REMEMBER that. He lies himself so he can't believe anyone else, even God. A being who tells lies while intent on getting his ways (Mr, President) cannot believe others tell the truth, His lie is his reality. He has drawn others into his reality so it must be the REAL thing though he himself has built it on lies, He isn't sure this is Christ. Second, he faces a weakened Jesus and hopes to undermine His confidence in his identity even as he did with Eve. "Are you God? You are starving, you know. God's Son starving in the desert. That's as preposterous as him being born in a manger or making a living as a carpenter. All that sweating and those callouses. What a joke!"
then the follow up: "Prove it to me."
Prove it to me to take care of your own weakness as well. Ego, i doubt you are God's son, Prove it to me.
You can turn the stones into something to feed your body. And feed your ego,
His first thing: "Did God say...?" Becomes Jesus best defense, Complete defense.
4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God."
He knows who He is. He will declare it artfully and directly throughout His ministry. He is firmly locked into his identity as the Son of God, God himself in the flesh but subservient to God the Father.
John 5:16 And for this reason the Jews were turned against Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.
17 But his answer was: My Father is still working even now, and so I am working.
18 For this cause the Jews had an even greater desire to put Jesus to death, because not only did he not keep the Sabbath but he said God was his Father, so making himself equal with God.
19 So Jesus made answer and said, Truly I say to you, The Son is not able to do anything himself; he is able to do only what he sees the Father doing; whatever the Father does the Son does it in the same way.
20 For the Father has love for the Son and lets him see everything which he does: and he will let him see greater works than these so that you may be full of wonder.
(BBE)
He talks it and lives it, talked it AFTER He lived it in the wilderness, starving, facing the toughest foe the other side had to offer,
The Devil takes the tempting to the next level then. "Here's everything in the world, i won it in a card game in Vegas. You can have it all. Just worship me."
(I saw one health and wealth preacher say "He was going to get it anyway." As the reason Jesus resisted. So I guess we should pursue wealth offered by Satan because we won't get it all. Now that is a real faith ministry. For the sake of translation, that is sarcasm.)
One thing to emphasize: And I give it to whomever I will.
Please consider this when you see rich people. Please realize wealth is not always a gift of God. The pharisees lived by that myth and the money became their life. And the disciples believed it and were stunned by the way Christ ignored the person's outward appearance. For some it may well keep them from accepting Christ. Money is the root of much evil. And that will never stop a starving man from jumping at a sandwich offer. Only walking in the Spirit can keep a man from turning down the world.
"Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve."
Now HE can order Satan around because He's Christ. Pay attention. We can back him down only when we are walking with Christ. It's that thing where you're with your older brother and he kicks the bully away from you. Please remember: YOU ARE NOT THE OLDER BROTHER.
Jas 4:7 For this cause be ruled by God; but make war on the Evil One and he will be put to flight before you.
8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Make your hands clean, you evil-doers; put away deceit from your hearts, you false in mind.
(BBE)
As for him tempting you:
2Ti 2:22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
(KJV)
Jesus didn't exactly flee, but then He wasn't at full strength what with starving and all. And it was also God's will for Him to prove one more point.
9 And he brought Him to Jerusalem and sat Him on a pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here.
10 For it is written, "He shall give His angels charge over You, to keep You;
11 and in their hands they shall bear You up, lest at any time You dash Your foot against a stone."
Jerusalem. He loves the city; God founded the city:
Mt 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
(ASV)
The Temple. He loves God's house:
Mt 21:12 And Jesus entered into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of he money-changers, and the seats of them that sold the doves;
13 and he saith unto them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer: but ye make it a den of robbers.
(ASV)
"Don't just prove it to me, prove it to everyone. Take the glory you were meant to take right now!"
And that kind of sums it all up; "Take it now." It's kind of like a bad money ad: "You have kingdom coming but you need cash NOW!" Never mentions you don't get all the cash you REALLY deserve because of the interest charged on the buy out. The Lake of Fire sounds like really steep eternal interest.
But Jesus knows who He is. He doesn't need to claim it before others. He never came for a moment's glory but to glory God. He knows his enemy as well. he saw him tossed out of heaven and soon he'll have the privilege of being the bouncer himself or perhaps again, Doesn't really say of He did it the first time.
Keep in mind: God led his own Son into heavy temptation to prepare Him and as an example to us. I saw this happen in the life of a new Christian and I feel I failed him by not being there enough when he saw his life falling backward. If you face temptation. recall Satan seems to need to ask permission as implied in Job. Recall, too:
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it.
14 Wherefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
(ASV)
It is just readily apparent our Big Brother can take way more temptation than the rest of us. Recall, too:
Matt 4:11 Then the devil leaveth him; and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
He does leave. He even left Job alone. But the two followups are important.
Angels came and ministered. God sends comfort. He has THE Comforter living in us. He has prepped us. There are also still angels out there working for Him. There will be an end here or in Heaven and Heaven seems a place of even deeper comfort.
But while on Earth we remember this, too:
13 And when the Devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him for a time.
The Devil leaves but only "for a time." He popped up during the ministry, too.
Mt 16:22 And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall never be unto thee.
23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art a stumbling-block unto me: for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men.
(ASV)
Clearly this was one of the most evil suggestions ever offered to Jesus by any man, thus it was from the Devil. Peter was opposing the very purpose for which Jesus came into the world with reasons that would be appealing to Jesus as a temptation. This was the Devil putting forward this idea so why not look past Peter and label it for what it was.
Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word.
44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and standeth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof.
(ASV)
The Pharisees this time.
Lu 22:2 And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might put him to death; for they feared the people.
3 And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.
4 And he went away, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might deliver him unto them.
5 And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money.
6 And he consented, and sought opportunity to deliver him unto them in the absence of the multitude.
And then directly into the traitor.
He was there. He's still there deceiving the Fallen Flesh. Until the end. And, in the end, we'll get back to him.
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