Living Stones – Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Also written
Luke 4:10,11
For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’
Just to be very clear at the outset, the words quoted above from Luke 4:10-11 were spoken by Satan. These words were taken from the legendary encounter that Jesus had with Satan after he had fasted in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights. Satan was quoting, accurately I might add, from Psalm 91:11,12. And, he was quoting this to Jesus.
The story is recorded by Matthew in 4:1-11, by Mark in 1:12-13 and also by Luke in 4:1-13. Matthew and Mark have a similar sequence to the temptations put to Jesus by Satan, but Luke had a different order.
According to Luke, the first temptation was the well know one pushing Jesus to turn stone into bread. I say well know even though the writers and producers of ‘We Are the World’ got it famously wrong in their song for famine victims in 1985. Jesus decidedly did not turn the stones into bread as Satan urged him to do. He famously quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” Luke 4:4.
In Luke’s sequence, the second and less known temptation is high up on the mountain from where they could see all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. The mechanics of that we would not try to comprehend, clearly, some of this is taking place in the realm of the spirit. But again Jesus resorts to scripture to address Satan’s urgings. Here is how that went, “the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”” Luke 4:6,7 Jesus in return said, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” Luke 4:8
Look, Satan is not a stupid fellow and he learns fast. He very quickly gets that Jesus is rooted in the scripture and there is no way you’re going to get him to do something that is not on the books. One of the challenges all over the world today are off the book transactions. Corruption is rampant and in some societies, like the one where I live in Guyana, corruption is so endemic that it seems to be the normal way of life. Many in every agency or department, government and private sector are willing to do some transaction off the books for personal gain.
Satan, figuring out that Jesus is a by-the-book man, decides to change tact and come at Him by the book. If he couldn’t get Him off the book, then he had to work the book, he had to find just the right place in the book to trap Him, he had to twist the book, and he had to misapply the book.
There are so many versions and perversions of the scriptures out there today. So many preachers on TV, online, on your phone that it is often hard to tell who is accurate and who is not. There is a prophet at every special service and conference and there are cults that are going mainstream. This is not a new development this is old school. After all, Satan tried it on Jesus.
Luke records, as the third temptation, Satan’s challenge to Jesus that He throw Himself down. This temptation takes place in Jerusalem and Satan and Jesus are on the pinnacle of the temple. What a thing, Satan on the temple! Satan came to Jerusalem, took Jesus to, of all places, the pinnacle of the temple and gave Him a challenge. But he didn’t stop there, he went for the book and quotes from Psalm 91.
Satan tells Jesus, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” And this is a true and accurate word that he speaks to Jesus from the scriptures.
Jesus once said to the Pharisees, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.” John 5:39. That means that Satan was right, the words of Psalm 91 covered Jesus and so, as far as Satan was concerned he had Jesus cornered.
There are things that we have been taught in and about the word. For example, Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15 that he should study in order that he would properly handle the word of truth. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” The suggestion here is that the word of truth could be misused.
Often people read something and go off to form a doctrine without the benefit of “the whole counsel of the word of God.” Acts 20:27. Some indeed “preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely…” Philippians 1:16.
This is where Satan was. He was using the word, the book, not sincerely but for selfish gain. Jesus was not shaken by his false application of the word. Jesus demonstrated how scripture should be handled, and how to use the whole counsel of God in determining what a passage means and what you should do. It was indeed written as Satan said, but it was also written that ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’
Think on these things:
- Have you ever used the scripture to counter any temptation you faced?
- Are there any temptations that you are facing now for which you need to find direction or comfort in the bible?
- Are you confident in your ability to properly handle the word of God?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would lean on the whole counsel of God as we study the scriptures.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex
