The Tempter

In Matthew 4:1-25, we read about Christ’s confrontation with the devil. Mt 4:1 said Jesus was “to be tempted of the devil.” Mt 4:3 called the devil “the tempter.” Because Christ was immensely hungry after forty days of fasting, Satan tried to tempt Him into “turning stones into bread.”

The devil appeared in the form of a serpent, in Eden, and successfully seduced Eve through temptation (Gen. 3:1-6). Gen 3:1 there reveals how the devil tempts people into disobedience and sin. It says, “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.” The serpent, the devil, deceived Eve by tempting her with the beauty of the tree of which God had forbidden her to eat. He made captivity look attractive.

Temptation never comes from God. James 1:13-15 says, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.”

Temptation always originates from “the tempter,” working on the lusts of people. The devil recognizes exactly where human nature is vulnerable, where people can be “enticed” so that “sin is conceived,” making death the final result (Rom. 6:23). Remember, the devil is a killer, seeking to murder those he deceives and tempts into sin. He kills through deceit and the pulls of temptation. Ephesians 6:11 warns of the “wiles of the devil,” while Revelation 2:24 warns of the “depths of Satan”! II Corinthians 2:11 warns not to be “ignorant of his devices.” Christians are constantly on guard for his schemes.

The full picture of exactly how the devil has captured the entire world should now be clear. But II Timothy 2:24-26 speaks of those who “recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken CAPTIVE by him to do his will.” These verses reveal that sin opens the door to capture. II Tim 2:25 speaks of God “giving them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” as the key to deliverance from captivity.

After repenting of doing the devil’s will, Christians seek and practice doing God’s will for the rest of their lives.

God’s Purpose

The following summary, under the subhead “At the Foundation of the World,” comes from Herbert W. Armstrong’s booklet A WORLD HELD CAPTIVE:

“Upon Adam’s sin, God closed off the tree of life, until the second Adam, Jesus Christ, should pay the ransom price.

“There cannot be a law without a penalty. The penalty of human sin is DEATH. At this very foundation of the world, it was determined that Jesus Christ, as the ‘Lamb of God,’ should be slain in payment of the penalty for all human sin (Rev. 13:8), effective upon repentance and faith. It was also determined by God at that time that all Adam’s children should die (Heb. 9:27), but as in Adam all must die, so in Christ the same ALL shall be made alive by a resurrection from the dead to be judged (I Cor. 15:22).

“But still, none could ever be born of God until God’s holy and perfect spiritual character had been instilled within, by individual choice and proof by performance.

“God set apart a 7,000-year period to complete His original SUPREME PURPOSE of reproducing Himself through man. It was a masterminded MASTER PLAN for working out the PURPOSE here below.

“For almost 6,000 years a civilization has developed, which we call the world. But it has been a world held captive. To this day Satan is still on that throne.

“Meanwhile Satan has worked IN all humans. He has injected into the world enormous EVILS. Jesus the second Adam came to start an entire new WORLD OF GOD through the Church.”

Next Part "CHAPTER THREE

Back to A World in Captivity

Back to By David C. Pack