eason 4 Podcast 30 “The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 4 & Luke Ch 4: The Temptations of Christ.” Pt II

Season 4 Podcast 30 “The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 4 & Luke Ch 4: The Temptations of Christ.” Pt IIIn Podcast 25 we examined the first temptation of Christ in the wilderness. In this podcast we shall examine the second and third temptations of Christ in the wilderness. If you have not down loaded Podcast 25, may we invite you to do so. Though the two podcasts are self-contained, Podcast 25 does offer some useful background information. TEMPTATION TWOMATTHEW5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. LUKE9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: 11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Again, Satan is mocking Christ.“If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down.”“If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence.”Temptation Two symbolizes the spiritual kingdom. It is ironic, of course, that Satan is promising something that he doesn’t have to give, and that Christ already has. Christ will be forever known as KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. But it is the same lie that Satan promises all of us. Satan uses religion to achieve his ends. Many people have used the power of religion to control the conscience of man. Satan wants us to worship him. Notice that Satan freely quotes Scriptures.“For it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.”“10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: 11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” Solomon’s temple, or the temple of Jerusalem symbolizes the power of God on earth. It is the center of worship for all Jews. We must accept that this moment in the life of the Savior is Real, that Satan really took Christ upon the highest part of the temple. If he had thrown himself off the temple in front of thousands of onlookers and been miraculously saved, all the Jews of Jerusalem would have worshiped him as the Messiah. That is the kind of miracle even the Pharisees were looking for, something spectacular to impress the Romans.  It was perhaps the only act Christ could have done to persuade them to worship him for they all looked for the return of the Messiah at the temple. The second temptation addresses the act of using religion to gain power over people, and that is not the role of Christ’s true church.  Satan is offering Jesus power though priestcraft. That was not Christ’s way. When he healed people, he often cautioned them not to tell anyone who did it. He never used his miracles to show off or to increase his power.  Miracles became a witness of Christ only to true believers and those who believed in the ancient prophets. All miracles can be explained away through natural means.  Without the Holy Ghost no miracle has the power of conversion.