and says to him, All these things will I give thee if, falling down, thou wilt do me homage.
On a high mountain, with the world's kingdoms spread out below Him, Jesus hears the boldest of the three temptations. Everything is offered, on one condition — and that condition forces the tempter to say out loud what he has wanted all along.
Up to now the tempter has worked by suggestion, even quoting Scripture. One writer notes what happened when he named his price:
The Lord knew very well who it was that was tempting Him. But He does not say so until the devil fully shows himself by saying, "If you will fall down and worship me." Then He calls him Satan. "Devil" means the accuser, "Satan" the adversary. The Lord in no way refuses the testing.
The word "worship" here is not about a religious ceremony. It is about who gets credited as the giver:
That was false, and yet true. It was false as to title, but true as to fact; for Satan had gained this through man's sin. As to title, he had none at all. Satan had no right to give glory to anyone. But by his craft he led man to depart from God. He attacked the first Adam and defeated him. He now takes advantage of this victory over man, and here sets himself up as the usurper. "I have all this," he says, "and I give it to whomever I will. If you will own me as the giver" — that is what worship means here — "if you will take it from me, all shall be yours."
The kingdoms were to be His anyway. What Satan offered was not the prize but a shortcut to it:
The enemy failed to deceive that obedient heart, even by hiding himself behind the use of the word of God. So he shows himself in his true character. Now he tempts the Lord a third time: to spare Himself all the sufferings that awaited Him. He does this by showing Him the inheritance of the Son of Man on earth. It would be His once He had reached it — but only by all those paths the Father had marked out for Him, paths that were hard, yet necessary to the Father's glory. All would be His now, if He would acknowledge Satan by worshipping him, the god of this world. The kings of the earth have in fact done this for only a part of these things. How often men have done it for some trifling vanity! But Satan offered Him the whole.
What decided the matter was not the size of the offer but the hand holding it out:
Fallen man would like the gift and would long after the gift. The more glory it had, the more it would attract him. But the Lord Jesus — the perfect Man — thought of the giver. He thought of who it was that offered it. His heart was in perfect tune with the heart of God. So He says, "You shall worship the Lord your God." He would not take an empire or a kingdom from anyone else. He would not take glory, pleasure, or honour from Satan. That is what the poor world is doing right now. Satan comes with his glittering bait, and men swallow it eagerly.
One writer turns the same offer toward us:
Let us be warned: if anything in this world is held out to us as a prize to chase after, it is certainly of Satan. God cannot offer us anything in a world that has completely cast out the Son of God. We are heirs of it with Christ. When He takes possession it will be soon enough for hearts that love Him to possess it. He will never separate us from Himself. When He takes the inheritance of all things in heaven and earth we shall take it with Him. Now He calls us into the lowly path of His rejection. He gives us His obedience, His dependence and His absolute refusal of the world, to be our pattern in it.
He won without one stroke of divine power:
Perhaps nowhere does the perfection of manhood shine so brightly as in the temptation. For Satan to fight against Godhead would be folly. But here is a Man — one who was hungry too, and who in His conflict used no means beyond the reach of anyone. He simply quoted the written word of God, and that was enough. Here was a Man perfectly governed by the Word, and for such a one Satan was no match. The strong man was bound by the stronger.
- The bait — the kingdoms and their glory, offered as a shortcut so the Lord could "spare Himself all the sufferings that awaited Him."
- The price — one act of worship, meaning: own Satan as the giver. He had no title to give, only what he had gained through man's sin.
- The mask — the demand for worship is what unmasked him; only then does the Lord name him Satan.
- The refusal — the perfect Man weighed the Giver, not the gift, and would take glory from no hand but God's.
- The inheritance — refused from Satan's hand, it comes in God's own time. Those who walk the lowly path now will take it with Christ then.
Then says Jesus to him, Get thee away, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt do homage to [the] Lord thy God, and him alone shalt thou serve.
The third attack drops all disguise. The tempter shows Jesus the world's kingdoms and asks for worship in exchange. Jesus answers with a command and a line of Scripture. Together they settle who owns worship, and on whose terms the kingdoms will be His.
Twice Jesus had answered without sending the tempter away. What changed was the demand itself.
Satan first tried to turn Him from the only true place of man — obedience to God and dependence on Him. The Lord kept that place perfectly, and Satan was baffled at both points. So he set the world before the Lord. He offered Him all its kingdoms and their glory, if He would only worship him. Now the tempter had come out in his full character, claiming divine worship for himself. That is when the Lord says: "Be gone, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.'"
The wording matters. Jesus later says something similar to Peter, but not the same thing.
The Lord did call Peter Satan. But He did not say, "Be gone," as He did to the enemy himself (Matthew 4:10). He said, "Get behind me." … It is well worth seeing how the Lord deals with the flesh in a believer who, out of kindness, claims a higher grace than the Spirit. We may and should treat it as Satan's work, as the Lord did in Peter.
The kingdoms were already His. What was wrong was the hand that offered them, and the hour.
These kingdoms all belonged to Jesus. But God's way — the only way He could secure them in everlasting righteousness — was suffering and death. "You shall have them," said the tempter, "by an easy way. I will give them to you if you will only worship me. Acknowledge me as greater than yourself and God. Take them from my hand, and all shall be yours." But those glittering kingdoms had no attraction in that hour for the holy One of God. He would not take them from any hand but God's hand.
Refusing meant choosing the longer road on purpose.
He refused it. He did not take that short and easy cut to glory. He took the hard road that lay through death and resurrection — "Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory?" (Luke 24:26).
All three answers come from one book, and the choice was deliberate.
Deuteronomy tells of obedience. So the One who had come to be obedient — obedient even to death, the death of the cross — went to that book of obedience. He used it to show how He submitted to His Father's will, and to defeat Satan by it.
That same book is in our hands.
Notice that the Lord answered Satan each time with "It is written," quoting from the book of Deuteronomy. That book shows Israel about to enter the promised land. The Christian has the same weapon, and it is called "the sword of the Spirit." Scripture also says, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
Jesus answered from the place He had Himself taken.
The Lord Jesus had taken "the form of a servant." In that place He glorified God to the fullest, for He was Jehovah's Beloved Servant, and the prophets of Israel gave full witness to Him.
The other side of that is simple:
Bowing to Satan cannot be combined with serving God.
The same trade is still on offer today.
All the kingdoms of the earth will be Christ's in God's own time, and the Lord is waiting for that. Yet how many people, sad to say, have bowed to Satan in some way for scraps of worldly glory or property!
Trench goes further, and gives a test:
Let us be warned: as surely as anything in this world is presented to us as an object to be pursued, it is of Satan. … Now He calls us into the lowly path of His rejection, and gives us His obedience, His dependence, and His absolute refusal of the world, to be our pattern in it.
Jesus met every attack with the Word alone, and the enemy was left with nothing.
So Satan was utterly powerless. He could not advance a single step. Defeated at every point, he had to withdraw, baffled and beaten. And he is as powerless today as he was then, when met in the same way. He cannot touch an obedient, dependent man.
- Claim — The devil asks for what belongs to God alone. The moment he demands worship, Jesus stops answering and orders him out.
- Cost — The kingdoms were already His, but only by way of suffering and death; He would take them from no hand but God's.
- Weapon — Every reply comes from Deuteronomy, the book of obedience. That same word is the sword in our hands.
- Wholeness — Worship and service go together. No one can bow to Satan and serve God.
- Conquest — The enemy retires beaten. He stays powerless against anyone who meets him the same way: obedient and dependent.