9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw 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 you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” 12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” 13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
The third and last temptation of Jesus pertained to testing His trust in the Father; He was to throw Himself from the highest point of the temple to see if He would be delivered from the fall. It was a temptation to place Himself in needless peril to test God. This action would not be faith but presumption toward God, a doubt toward the wisdom of God.
4:9
Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If [assumed true] You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.
Satan brought Jesus to Jerusalem and to the highest point, asking Him to throw Himself down to test whether God would deliver Him from the fall. The location of this fall may have been the southeastern corner of the wall overlooking the Kidron Valley by 450 feet.
4:10
For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you,’
Satan misquoted Scripture to prove his point. He quoted from Psalm 91:11-12 to show that the Father would protect Him. Having been defeated by Jesus’ quotation of Scripture, he attempted to prove his point from Scripture. Psalm 91 promised to protect the Messiah. But Jesus did not act presumptuously on the Father’s will for His life; nothing would deter Him from God’s purpose in sending Him to and for humanity.
4:11
and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”
Satan’s argument was that the angels would save Jesus from the fall from the temple.
4:12
And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”
Jesus countered Satan’s misuse of Scripture by the assertion “You shall not test the LORD your God.” Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:16 in responding to the devil. This verse harks back to Israel’s testing of Jehovah (Ex 17:2-7). They wondered whether God would deliver them from the wilderness. It would have been presumptuous of Jesus, being unbelief masquerading as faith in God’s Word. The demand for miraculous protection is not faith.
We should remember that Deuteronomy 6 took place during an incident at Massah. Israel tested the Lord by doubting whether He was with them in the wilderness (Ex 17:7).
4:13
Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
The devil failed in his temptation of Christ and departed from Him. Jesus did what Adam was unable to do—reject temptation. The devil waited for an “opportune time” to attack Him again.
PRINCIPLE:
The devil can quote Scripture.
APPLICATION:
The devil still seeks support for his cause today by misusing Scripture. He twists Scripture to mislead people even with the Bible. When defeated by Scripture, he turns to Scripture to establish his arguments. Knowing Scripture is not enough; we must be careful to interpret it carefully.
