The Second Temptation of Christ

And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Luke 4:5-8)

The three temptations of Christ are the three ways in which every son of God is tested. Each of us is tested in the area of putting God first instead of being occupied primarily with physical survival (the test of bread); in the area of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (the test of sin); and in the area of willful behavior (the test of self-will).

The first test has to do with our animal survival instincts.

The second test has to do with the worship of Satan.

The third test has to do with our identity as a self-centered personality.

Christ was tempted throughout His ministry in these three ways. We are tempted throughout our Christian lives in the same three ways. One difference is that Christ was not born with a sinful nature. The Divine Nature of Christ, employing the words of Scripture, rejected each of the three offers of Satan.

We, on the other hand, were born with a sinful nature. Yet we can become conquerors by the Word of God, the Virtue of Christ, and the guidance and enablement of the Holy Spirit in each of the three areas of temptation.

Do not be surprised if you come into temptation after much seeking of the Lord because it is the Holy Spirit who leads us into the wilderness. Do not become alarmed if there is much satanic activity in connection with your trials because it is Satan who tempts us. Every son of God must be tested in each of the three ways.

We are concerned at this point in our book with the issue of the conquering of sin, which is the second of the three trials of Christ as recorded in the Book of Luke.

And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. (Luke 4:5)

God tempts no man. It was the devil who took Christ up into a high mountain, representing the places of prestige, of fame, of vainglory, of living according to the lusts and impulses of our adamic nature.

What a tempting contrast this was to the drab surroundings of the bleak wilderness of temptation! Satan always sets the stage for the particular test, attacking us when we are the most vulnerable. This temptation was designed to be particularly inviting to Christ who is a King by His Nature and by inheritance.

How Christ was shown all the kingdoms of the world in such a brief time must be explained in the supernatural realm. It is important for us to remember that our tests originate in the realm of spirits, therefore we ought not to be blaming people or physical circumstances for our problems. People are not the cause of our pain. They merely are the tools the Lord uses to shape us.

The kingdoms of the world (and no doubt these were the worldly kingdoms of all time) speak of unlimited riches, of being surfeited with food and drink, of harems, of dancing girls, of power to move armies and launch navies, of subservience from other people, of freedom to make decisions and alter one's circumstances at will, and of fame.

All the lust, glory, riches, fame, power, and other delights that can be imagined by the mind of man were presented as a gift to Christ when He was in the depth of His pain and deprivation. What would you have done? Where would we be if Christ had accepted? What will happen to the people who are depending on you if you accept Satan's offers?

Of course, Satan cannot give Christ or you or me anything at all, except temporarily in order to fulfill God's will. The Scripture states that God alone exalts one person and abases another. The temptation of Christ was a seductive lie.

And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. (Luke 4:6)

The kingdoms of the world are not evil, for we understand from the Scripture that the Day is coming in which the kingdoms of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. If the kingdoms of the world were inherently evil God would not give them to Christ as His inheritance.

The evil of the kingdoms of the world is the sin and rebellion against God that Satan has introduced into them.

What a wonderful thought it is that our Lord Jesus Christ some day will receive what rightfully is His! It is true also of us that Satan, after discerning the deepest desires of our heart, the desires that spring from what God has put in us and that will enable us to gain the inheritance for which we were predestined by the Lord, attempts to persuade us to take a shortcut.

In order to take an easier path to our inheritance we must disobey God. The question is, will we be faithful to God or will we esteem the fulfilling of our own desires to be more important than pleasing God?

The evil found in the kingdoms of the world follows three broad trends: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. From these three flow adultery, fornication, impurity, indecency, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousy, anger, intrigue, party loyalty, gossip, slander, selfish ambition, envy, drunkenness, debauchery, lying, and stealing.

If you will study the activities of the highest levels of government among the nations of the earth you will discover that the above list is an accurate description of what is taking place.

The desire to rule the kingdoms of the earth is not evil in itself because Christ holds out authority over the nations as a reward to those who overcome.

The child who wants to grow up and achieve his desires usually is admired for his ambition. The problem lies in the manner in which we go about getting what we want. If our desires are in God and we are perfectly willing to leave the achievement in His hands, all is well. If we are ready to gratify our desires by any means, without regard for God's will for us or for how we harm other people, we are heading toward sin and death.

There is a tendency in human beings to want to be free to take from the world the things that appeal to them, that they covet. There comes to us a false sense of power when we decide to cast off the rule of God in Christ and take what we want when we want it, to go where we wish in our own time, to be we want to be according to what pleases us.

Satan utilizes this tendency in mankind and promises us pleasure and glory if we will forget about God's way of restraint and launch out freely to satisfy our heart's cravings.

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. (Psalms 2:2,3)

God's response to those who want to break his bands and cast away His cords is to laugh in derision. We humans are but dust of the ground. Satan tempts us into a false sense of power, giving us the feeling that we are the master of our own fate and are free to make decisions according to our own pleasure.

"Eat, drink, and be merry," the worldly man cries, "for we live today and die tomorrow."

God says to such a man, "Foolish one, this moment your soul will be required of you."

In His marvelous love, God Almighty offers to us the true freedom that comes only from loving obedience to His Son, Christ. We all are slaves to sin until our acceptance of the lordship of Christ makes us free indeed.

There is no power or freedom for us apart from entrance into union with the Person and will of Christ. The seeming freedom to gratify our desires, that Satan offers, is a delusion, a snare—a horrible pit filled with harrowing grief and eternal remorse.

We strive to satiate the lusts of our flesh, the lust of our eyes, and the pride of life that are in us.

Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. (James 4:2,3)

Many evil works spring from men who lust after positions of power over other men. Wasn't this the ruling motive that caused the priests and Pharisees to be blind to their Christ and to demand His murder?

The lying, stealing, lusting, and murdering that take place in the high places of government are a reflection of the activities in the kingdom of Satan.

If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. (Luke 4:7)

There never has been a greater abomination in the history of the world than that of Satan standing before the Word of God, Satan's Creator, and seeking worship from that Living Word. Can you imagine?

Yet the same type of abomination, though on a lesser scale, happens to you and me each day of our lives. God has promised us we will be coheirs with the Living Word. Can we remember that fact when Satan stands before us and invites our worship?

Satan, a cherub, demands worship of every creature. From our point of view, such presumption and boldness may seem laughable. Yet we need to remain watchful while we are laughing. Satan's methods of obtaining our worship are surprisingly effective.

There is this about evil spirits and people who are moved by them: they know no limits of boldness and perversity. Sometimes they win because of the audacity of their demands.

The righteous need to be careful of this because the righteous are trusting and sheep-like in their approach to spiritual warfare. Evil personalities possess a fierce drive toward gratification and dominion. Paul speaks more than once of those who come in and make profit from the unsuspecting believers. By pleasant words and flowery speeches they deceive the lambs. Their goal is to fatten their own stomachs.

It may give us more of a desire to lead the overcoming life if we realize that whenever we sin we are worshiping the devil. We are not claiming that everyone who sins is devil-possessed, filled with demons or is supposed to have demons cast from him, although sometimes this is the case.

Nevertheless it is true that sin has its origin in the devil; also that we believers have sin dwelling in our flesh and the sin needs to be driven out by the Spirit of the Lord.

Whether or not we refer to the sin dwelling in our flesh as demons is unimportant. The fact is, the sin is dwelling in us (even though we have received Christ as our Savior) and needs to be judged and removed from us. The Lake of Fire has authority over all sin; and as long as the sin is in us the Lake of Fire has authority over that part of us.

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. . . . (I John 3:8)

If the Spirit of God brings to our attention that we are engaging in some lustful action, word, or imagination, and we refuse to allow Christ to forgive and cleanse us, what are we saying? Are we not saying that we choose Satan over God?

The believers of today are arrogant, stating that "no Christian can have a demon." The issue is not whether a believer can have a demon but how he or she is behaving. In their arrogance they are blind to their own behavior. If we are seeking to avenge ourselves the spirit of murder is in us. No murderer has eternal life! Numerous Christians are filled with murder, revenge, jealousy, bitterness, envy, lust, sorcery. But they arrogantly state, "No Christian can have a demon." What is the purpose of fastening on doctrine when the Christians are practicing sin? They are blind leading the blind.

If God has directed us to do something, and we keep on refusing so we may gratify lusts that (according to I John 3:8) have their origin in the devil, are we not then servants of Satan?

Doesn't the Scripture state that he who commits sin is the servant of sin? Can we be a servant of sin and not be the servant of the devil?

The demand of Satan for worship is not so incredible after all. When we Christians continue with our gossiping, evil speaking, lust, fornication, lying, stealing, murderous rages, envying, personal ambition, conniving, sectarian loyalties, carousing, and so forth we are yielding to Satan's demand for worship.

Let us refuse Satan's demand for worship. Let us cease, by the wisdom and enabling power of the Spirit of God, the evil practices, words, and thoughts with which we are occupied. We can stop sinning by the power of Christ.

Let us now look at the complete text of I John 3:8:

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifest, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (I John 3:8)

Christ was revealed in order to destroy the works of the devil. One of the first works of the devil that must be destroyed is the sinning that keeps Christians from worshiping God.

God is worshiped when we do the things that please Him. Satan is worshiped when we do the things that please him. To whom, then, will we offer our service of worship: God or Satan?

Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (I John 3:9)

If we are practicing sin we are not serving God or worshiping God. This does not mean a Christian should give up in despair and go back into the world because the Holy Spirit or the Scripture has reproved him concerning sin in his life. Nor does it mean that the sinning believer never has been born again.

What it does mean, however, is that sin is of Satan, not of God. As long as we practice sin, no matter how firmly we profess to be a Christian, we are not serving God in the specific behavior but are serving the devil. We can be delivered from this bondage if we will turn to the Lord.

In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. (I John 3:10)

The children of God are those who resist the devil and practice righteousness. This we can do provided we walk carefully in the Holy Spirit, laying hold on the grace that is in Christ.

Satan promises us power and glory if we will worship him. All we will receive is remorse, grief, broken health, the destruction of those who were trusting in us, early physical death, eternal separation from God, and everlasting residence in the Lake of Fire.

Only God is able to give us true power and true glory. He has promised us both power and glory if we will lay hold on the grace of God to the point of overcoming the world, our flesh, and the accuser.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Luke 4:8)

When we are approached and it is suggested to us that we worship and serve Satan by disobeying the Holy Spirit and the Scripture, no matter what area of lust, of personal advantage, of covetousness, of murder, or of sorcery may be involved, there only is one answer: "Get behind me, Satan for I am a servant of Christ. I choose to serve Him and to resist the deeds, words, motives, and imaginations that the Word of God declares to be rebellion against God."

If Adam and Eve had resisted Satan in this manner, think of the agony that would have been spared the peoples of the earth!

So it is with us. Our decisions for righteousness are the source of deliverance and blessing for multitudes of people—some yet unborn. If we decide to yield to Satan, our decision becomes the source of agony and death for many people. He who is not for Christ is against Him. He who gathers not with Christ, scatters. There is no middle course.

Christ was tested in the area of survival, in the area of Satan worship, and in the area of self-will. The third temptation, that of self-will, may prove to be difficult for some of us. We will discuss the third temptation later in our study.

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