What did Jesus say to Satan in the desert?

The answer: "Jesus said to him, It is again written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God" (Deut. 6:16).

III. "Again the devil takes Him to a very high mountain, and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and says to Him, All these things will I give Thee, if, falling down, thou wilt do me homage. Then Jesus says 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" (Deut. 6:13).

Before we pass to the next chapter, it would be well to observe for a moment the second answer of our Lord — "Ye shalt not tempt Jehovah your God." What was meant by this? Not any ordinary fleshly sin on our part, as many suppose. Tempting God was to doubt Him, as many, all of us, are apt to do. Satan took advantage of the scripture that said that He should not dash His foot against a stone. He quotes accordingly Psalm 91, intimating to Jesus that, if He were the Son of God, all He had to do was to throw Himself from the pinnacle of the temple; and all must endorse His claims. Was not this a positive promise? God would "give his angels charge concerning him;" and what a fine proof it would be that He was the true Messiah, if He threw Himself down from such a height, and withal the angels preserved Him! But Satan as usual tampered with the plain written word, alike with its letter and its spirit; for after "to keep thee" he omitted "in all thy ways." This he tried to conceal from One, all whose ways were obedience, venturing to insinuate what a noble demonstration of His Messiahship it would be. And what was the Lord's answer? "Thou shalt not tempt Jehovah thy God." The true Israelite does not require to put God to the test. If you suspect a rogue is in your employment, you may test him by marking a piece of money to see whether he steals or not: am I then going to mark something for God to see whether He will keep His word or not? I know God will do it; I do not require to put Him to the proof. This is the meaning of it, and such is precisely the path of duty. He that believes may calmly confide in God under all circumstances. His Father will take care of him. Is not this in wonderful harmony with the rest, following on the confession of the one true God of Israel?

In the second temptation the world's kingdoms were set before His eyes, with all the power and pomp and splendour of them, which dazzle and fascinate men, and for which they will sell their souls and deny their God. And these kingdoms all belonged to Jesus, but God's way, and the only way by which He could secure them in everlasting righteousness was by suffering and death. "You shall have them," said the tempter, "by an easy way. I will give them to you if you will but 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, He could trust God to put all things beneath His feet when the due time came, but that time was not yet. His eyes were upon God, and He met the temptation with an uncompromising answer, "It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve."

The third temptation was the offer to the Lord of all the glory of the world if He would do homage to Satan. In this he is discovered as Satan. Christ shows that God only is to be worshipped, and bids Satan to depart. All the kingdoms of the earth will be Christ's in God's own time, for which the Lord is waiting. With man, how many have, alas! paid homage to Satan in some way for scraps of worldly glory or earthly possessions!

It will be noticed that the Lord in answering Satan (in each case with 'It is written') quoted from the Book of Deuteronomy, a book in which Israel is contemplated as on the point of entering the land of promise. The same weapon is for the use of the Christian, and is called 'the sword of the Spirit:' it is also said, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." In Luke's Gospel the temptations are arranged in their moral order, the second temptation in Matthew being the last in Luke.

What circumstances they were in which He was tested! "He had fasted forty days and forty nights, and was afterward an hungered." Satan suggests that He should prove His Sonship by helping Himself to bread. "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." But if He had stooped to become a man, man's place was to obey, not to command. Satan seeks to turn Him from obedience. Mark the subtlety of the way he works; for it is often in this very way we are taken off our guard, and the enemy of our souls gets a footing. There was nothing positively evil in what he presents to the Lord. Too often we are drawn away by positive evil, but not always or ordinarily. It is rather by his presenting something of which it cannot be said that there is any harm in it. Let us be warned. Wherein could be the harm of turning stones into bread if one needed it and had the power? It was not possible that the Lord Jesus could entertain such a question. The moment we do Satan has gained his point. It is to give up the ground of obedience. How does the Lord Jesus meet it? "It is written" [note! always "It is written": "by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer"], Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

The Lord rebuts the worldly temptations by insisting, according to the written Word, on worshipping the Lord God and serving only Him. Homage to Satan is incompatible with the service of God.

Lastly comes the religious trial. "And he led him to, Jerusalem,84 and set him on the edge of the temple,85 and said to him, If thou be Son of God, cast thyself down hence, for it is written, He shall give charge to his angels concerning thee to keep thee; and on their hands they shall bear thee up, lest in any wise thou strike thy foot against a stone. (Ps. 91:11f). And Jesus answering said to him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt [the] LORD thy God" (verses 9-12) (Deut. 6:16). Here the devil would separate the way from the end, omitting this part of the psalm which he cites. The Lord replies with the saying in Scripture, "Thou shalt not tempt the LORD thy God." To trust Him and count on His gracious ways is not to tempt. The Israelites tempted Jehovah by questioning whether He was in their midst or not; they ought to have reckoned on His presence, and succour, and care. Jesus did not need to prove the faithfulness of God to His own Word; He was sure of it and counted on it. He knew that Jehovah would give His angels charge over Him, and this not outside, but to keep Him in all His ways. Thus foiled in his misuse of Scripture, as everywhere else, the enemy could do no more then. "And the devil having completed every temptation, departed from him for a time."86 Jesus, the Son of God, was victorious, and this in obedience, by the right use of the written Word of God.

There are characteristic differences in the way the temptation is presented. Matthew gives the historic order, and the full sequel. Satan first sought to turn Him from the only true place of man — namely, obedience to and dependence upon God. Baffled at both these points by the perfection with which the Lord kept His place in both, he presented the world to the Lord, offering Him all the kingdoms of it and the glory of them if He would only worship him. Then it is, when the tempter has come out in his full character as claiming divine worship, that the Lord says: "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve."

This is of unspeakable moment for us, beloved reader. It is as though our Lord Christ had said to the adversary, "Whether I am the Son of God or not, is not now the question, but how man is to live, and the answer to this question is only to be found in holy scripture; and it is to be found there as clear as a sunbeam, quite irrespective of all questions respecting me. Whoever I am, the scripture is the same, "Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord."

88 And, in these days of slighting the word, it is good for the heart to remark how He answers. A single text of the word, of the scripture, suffices for the fidelity and the almightiness of the Lord, for the wisdom of the Son of God; a single text suffices to reduce to silence the devil who wished to lead Him astray. The Son of God remains in His position of man, the servant; and the word of God directs, is the opening of, His ways. "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God." What a beautiful and perfect example! Not a movement of His heart toward any other thing than the authority of His God, of whom He had made Himself servant. The word of God issues from the mouth of God - the words issued from His mouth, blessed be His name, direct to man. Christ maintains Himself in the place of man. Man shall not live by bread alone. The word is the source of His conduct; He lives by it. It is His directory doubtless; but it is also what puts His will in movement: without it He does nothing. He is come to do the will of God. The words which proceed out of His mouth declare this will and put in movement the soul of man the servant. Such is the obedience of Christ. The devil can do nothing there; he is silent.

To cast Himself from the pinnacle, even when Scripture seemed to provide for such a contingency, would have been a mere tempting of God, and would not have been a step in what are called in the psalm from which Satan quotes His ways. Those ways were ways of dependence; this would have been one of presumption. The man of dependence does not tempt God. Such was Jesus, and again the enemy is foiled. But not yet hopeless of conquest, he takes the Lord to a high mountain, and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, saying, “All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me!” “Worship me.” That was the aim of the enemy. “All these things” for unfaithfulness to God! “It is written,” said the Lord, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” Here the foe showed his hand. He sought the worship that is due to God alone. The perfect Man, again quoting the Scriptures, gave the final stroke, saying as well, “Get thee hence, Satan.” “Then the devil leaves Him.” He is defeated by One who had assumed manhood, and who used no other weapon than the word of God.