Episode 2318 - Lesson 9 - Wednesday Feb. 26: If you worship me

Satan’s quest to usurp God’s throne is also revealed in the temptation narratives found in Matthew 4 and Luke 4. In the striking encounter between Jesus and the tempter, much is revealed about the nature of the conflict. Here we see the reality of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, but played out in stark and graphic terms.Read Matthew 4:1–11. How is the reality of the great controversy between Christ and Satan revealed here?The Spirit had “led” Jesus into the wilderness for the express purpose that Jesus was “to be tempted by the devil” (Matt. 4:1, NKJV). And before facing this encounter, Jesus fasted for forty days. So when the devil came, he tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread, playing on Jesus’ extreme hunger. But Jesus countered this temptation with Scripture, and Satan’s ploy failed.Then, in an attempt to get Jesus to act presumptuously, the devil tempted Jesus to throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple. Satan twisted Scripture to suggest that if Jesus were truly the Son of God, angels would protect Him. But with Scripture read rightly, Jesus again counters the temptation.The third temptation clearly reveals just what the devil is trying to accomplish. He wants Jesus to worship him. Satan attempts to usurp the worship that is due to God alone.And to do so, he shows Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” and then claims: “ ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me’ ” (Matt. 4:8, 9, NKJV). Indeed, in Luke 4:6, a text that parallels Matthew, the devil claims: “ ‘All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish’ ” (Luke 4:6, NKJV).Once again, Jesus counters the temptation with Scripture, and again Satan fails.In all three cases, Jesus used Scripture to defend against the enemy’s attacks.Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wicked­ness in the heavenly places” (NKJV). Though we shouldn’t live in fear, why must we always remember the reality of the struggle going on around us?