The Third Temptation of Christ

And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle [gable] of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. (Luke 4:9-13)

The three temptations of Christ represent the three ways in which all people are tested.

We are tested concerning material survival and security (turn the stone into bread).

We are tested concerning sin and the lusts of the flesh (the kingdoms of the world).

We are tested concerning obedience (the pinnacle of the Temple).

The third test, that of the pinnacle, is a difficult experience for some of us. The devil brings us to Jerusalem for this test, to the arena of church activity. Although the three deaths and three resurrections of redemption are not experienced one-two-three like the grades in an elementary school, yet it is true that the pinnacle test is addressed to those who already have been saved and now are anxious to serve God.

It is believed that the pinnacle of the Temple was a wing or gable, on the southeast corner of the Temple, overlooking the Kidron Valley. There was a drop straight down of 450 feet or more. Jesus was placed on top of this gable. What a foolish and useless place to be! How ridiculous!

The Mosaic ordinances were being conducted beneath Him in the Temple according to the statutes He Himself, the Lord of Glory, had given Moses on Mount Sinai. What a contrast between Sinai and the pinnacle of the Temple! What a contrast when we are removed from the place of glorious revelation and brought into the prison of weakness and futility!

On top of the Temple, Christ could see the horizon, symbolizing the scope of God’s plan for the redemption of the earth and the needs of the people laboring in chains therein. In the Temple below Him were the priests observing sacraments and rituals the Lord Jesus understood better that anyone else, He being the Author and Fulfillment of them all. Yet He was sitting on the gable without the opportunity to do one thing. What a temptation!

The pinnacle: God’s prison of waiting. Before we can move on to God’s fullness we must have our pinnacle experience. We must be brought to the place of uselessness and emptiness. This comes after we have had the vision of the needs of the world and God’s plan to meet those needs, and also when we possess an understanding of what the Lord will accomplish in the Church.

Now that we understand to a certain extent what should be brought into being, and God’s anointing is on us, can the world, the devil or our own ambition or fears move us to action? Can we be tempted, cajoled, worried, frightened or otherwise pushed into "stepping out in faith on God’s Word" apart from the leading of the Holy Spirit?

Jesus was so obedient to God that He would be sitting there yet if the season of temptation had not come to a close. Are we that obedient? Will we remain perched on the pinnacle of futility until God brings us down?—until the angels minister to us?

There are times in our Christian experience when we must walk in faith; and then there are seasons when God says, "Wait!" It is not always clear to us what we should do, whether to wait or to take a step and observe what happens.

We must be cautious but not overly cautious. Each of our moves must be preceded by prayerful attention to the mind of the Spirit and also to the actual results of what we are doing. We must present our body a living sacrifice in order to prove the will of God.

Sometimes God moves extremely slowly, it seems. On other occasions He acts like a flash of lightning. Meanwhile the world, the adversary, and our own self-willed nature challenge us to do something, to come down from the cross.

The three temptations of Christ followed Him throughout His ministry just as they follow us throughout our ministry. Finally, as He hung on the cross, the ultimate pinnacle, the voice of temptation cried out to Him: "If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. Do something. If you are what you claim to be, demonstrate that fact now."

The Christian churches have never, to any great extent, faced and overcome the temptation of the pinnacle. That is because the motivation of each denomination is to "get to work and do something for the Kingdom of God."

The concept of being put in a place of helpless waiting on God for direction may be difficult to work with in an organizational framework. Yet, the only path to the fullness of fruitfulness and strength is by way of the pinnacle.

William Branham, a Baptist preacher with an outstanding gift of knowledge and of miracles and healings, was an excellent example of the Christian who endeavors to wait on the leading of the Holy Spirit. We heard Branham minister in Long Beach, California, in about 1950, and witnessed his sincere desire to follow God in every detail of ministry.

At that time he expressed his confusion publicly. He had a certain manner in which the Lord had led him to minister but he was being pressed by fellow ministers to form a healing line in order to accommodate more people. At the service we were in he did both. First, he ministered to a few people by the word of knowledge. The power of God was awesome. Then he formed a healing line which, to our personal knowledge, proved ineffective.

An incident occurred during a visit to Africa. The Spirit of the Lord forbade Branham to go to a certain town to minister, while the members of his party urged him to go to that town. The Spirit warned him he was to go to another place and rest. Branham, following the advice of his associates, went on to the town and became quite ill (described in Footprints in the Sands of Time, Jeffersonville, Indiana, Spoken Word Publications, 1975).

William Branham’s concern was that of the Christian who possesses a gift of God and then must avoid all pressure that would divert the will of the Spirit as to how and when to use the gift. People run to anyone who receives power from the Lord and attempt to persuade him or her to utilize the gift in some desirable or predictable fashion.

If someone today could multiply food by the power of the Spirit, can you imagine the social pressure that would be placed on him or her to use that power to relieve the suffering of mankind? What if God gave that gift and then forbade the use of it until some unknown future date? This is the pinnacle temptation.

We humans sometimes desire to use the Lord Jesus in a manner tailored to our own fancies. "Lord Jesus, send us a revival of the Spirit. Do not let anyone speak in tongues or be healed because we do not believe in that. Let us use You in the manner we think will be most acceptable to everyone and therefore of the greatest help in building Your Kingdom."

Isn’t this what the Lord hears every day?

God visited William Branham with one of the several extraordinary ministries that have so blessed the twentieth century. Dr. Henrietta Mears, Smith Wigglesworth of England, Kathryn Kuhlman, Watchman Nee of China—all were "Elijahs" and "Elishas," prophets of the end-time who announced the coming of the Kingdom of God. They were forerunners of the outpouring of the Spirit of God that is beginning to come upon the Body of Christ, the outpouring that will reveal the power of the Kingdom of God and call all people everywhere to repentance in preparation for the Day of the Lord that is at hand.

It may be difficult for the Christian denominations to understand that the gifts and callings of God are not given to meet the needs of the world. They are for the building of the Body of Christ and are to be used only under the precise guidance of the Spirit of God. They are not to be the means by which well-intentioned believers attempt to ease the pain of the world.

When the Body of Christ has come to God’s standard of maturity the Lord will return with His Body and bring justice to the nations. Meanwhile, to attempt to help the nations or to seek to gain their favor in the hope they will believe in Jesus will only prolong their misery.

We are not stating that Christians should not participate in works of charity that assist the poor and needy. What we are saying is that all Christian works, even works of charity, should be performed under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. If something is to be done we should look to the Lord for His wisdom and assistance.

In numerous instances, the people who are coming to the churches for deliverance are seeking to remove the judgment of God from themselves so they can continue to live their lives apart from God and His Christ. To deliver them is to go contrary to the purpose of God. Christians have often worked against the Spirit of God, and remain ignorant of this fact.

Are we willing to "wait on the pinnacle" as long as the Lord requires even though we may have the answer to the needs of the Church and the world? Or are we going to go forward in ministry before God’s timing and fall into the sewage of the Kidron Valley?

The death of the pinnacle, that of helplessness, futility, weakness, is a difficult test of the servant of the Lord. We may be just one step away from ministry in the power of the Spirit and everything in us may be leaping toward the freedom to move forward in the Lord.

Here we sit, the picture of absurdity.

Meanwhile, everyone who passes by is tempted to be scornful, to mock our inability to do anything of value. We can become quite frustrated as we wait on the Lord.

Christ Himself was willing to become nothing, to do nothing. He waited helplessly on God for all things. People attempted to make Him a king but He would not accept the position. He remained throughout His ministry on the pinnacle of helplessness, coming down to act only in the express timing of the Father.

There are moments when we must go ahead in faith. If we walk prayerfully and carefully in the Lord, one step at a time, we can move along in Christ. We are to proceed prayerfully and cautiously unless the Lord Himself urges us to greater speed—as He does on occasion.

At other times it appears every door closes. We are on the pinnacle. The temptation comes to do something—anything. "Jump off and God will meet you. This is what the Scripture teaches. Saw through the prison bars. You are supposed to be possessing the good land of milk and honey!"

When God shuts us up in prison we cannot come forth without breaking God’s Laws.

God had Abraham on a pinnacle concerning the birth of his heir. Abraham jumped off the pinnacle and Ishmael was the result. Ishmael, the wild man, always results from climbing down from the pinnacle before the Lord’s time.

How we die! What patience waiting on God requires! We are ground to powder as we wait up here on our futile perch. Will we remain here until Jesus comes? Yes we will unless the Spirit of God directs us to do otherwise.

We will be obedient even though the death is piercing. We must learn thoroughly that God’s work is to be done by God Himself and that He Himself must direct us in the use of our God-given abilities. The gift of the prophet is subject to the prophet. The prophet is subject to the Spirit of God.

Why would God waste time by giving someone gifts and then moving him into a place of futility? It is because God is more interested in the spiritual maturity and obedience of His servant than He is in his or her works. The manner in which we do things is more important than our success, in the present hour. God is developing sons who will walk in obedience, never being moved by personal ambition, by fear, or even by the obvious needs at hand.

We are not teaching we should be impractical or insensitive to the human needs around us. If someone is hungry or cold, and we have the means to provide the food or warmth, we are to do so. The Book of James instructs us to be charitable and practical. Good works of all kinds are an important aspect of the Christian discipleship. Rather, we are speaking here of the saint whom God has brought into "prison."

Joseph is a scriptural example of such helplessness. While Joseph was in prison the Word of the Lord tested him. When his hour came he was released and placed in a position of great authority over the land of Egypt. Through the obedient Joseph, the Lord brought deliverance to Egypt, to Israel, and to the other nations of the earth.

When Jesus’ hour came He was released from the pinnacle and brought into His ministry in the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit.

Later the Lord was released from another pinnacle—the cross. After paying the price of redemption for mankind He ascended to all authority in Heaven and on the earth.

The cross. The throne of God is reached only by way of the cross. The cross is death to our self—to our own way of behaving, our impulses, our timing, our own understanding, our eagerness to help God and people.

The world does not understand the cross. The cross is weakness, defeat, shame, disgrace. To Christians the cross is the power of God. But think of what Christ felt as He was hanging there! The cross is arrayed in light and glory until we ourselves are hanging there. Then the cross is seen as weakness, futility, shame, helplessness, pain, confusion.

There is no way to the fullness of God other than through the pinnacle (cross) experience. It is the devil who puts us on the pinnacle, but only in the deliberate will and timing of the Father.

God Himself studies our reactions on the pinnacle for He is creating sons in His image. He requires obedience in the inner parts of our personality. God’s way of creating obedience in us is by taking from us many relationships, things, and circumstances that we embrace, by delaying the gratification of our most fervent desires.

Sometimes physical pain, weariness, and discomfort are our portion. We are brought into situations we detest and are required to face such situations anew each morning for a season. Dread and fear may be the principal actors in the play and fill our future with gloom and seeming doom..

Such trials can be exceedingly unpleasant and we may lapse into bitterness and blaming people. If we will keep on praising God instead, trusting in His Word and giving Him glory for the relief we hope and believe will come our way in His time, jewels of patience, faith, courage, and obedience will be created in us.

We may groan in bondage for a season. Then the day breaks and we find ourselves in a larger place with God.

He knows! He knows! Christ Himself has been on that pinnacle. God is mindful of your willingness to suffer in His name. He who upholds the heavens and the earth and all who dwell therein will make certain you emerge in victory over all your enemies.

Your prison doors will open by God’s hand. There shall come an end. Just remember that—there shall come an end to your misery. If you die in the will of God you shall be raised in the will of God. The deeper your death of obedience the higher will be your ascension into the Glory of the Lord.

Keep your eyes on the reward ahead of you and you will be able, by the wisdom and strength God provides, to remain in the place where He has positioned you. If you are faithful in the lesser He will entrust you with the greater. Keep on looking to the Lord and you will take your place alongside the other saints who also have had to endure their pinnacles.

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