1994 issue 9 - sermon on luke 4:1-13 - the tempter in the temptation of jesus - counsel of chalcedon
Post on 03-Jun-2018
221 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
-
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 9 - Sermon on Luke 4:1-13 - The Tempter in the Temptation of Jesus - Counsel of Chalcedon
1/6
'O Jt.e
'O .empt.er itt
tlr.e
'O .eri:tphttimt
nf W.ezuz
A
he Reality of Satan
1 he Historicity of the
Temptation and the Non-
Physical Nature
of
Satan
The temptation of jesus
in
the
wilderness by Satan has two
characteristics:
historicity
and
objectivity. Itreally took place. Some
have been doubtful at this point
because of their
failure to distin
guish
objectivity
and physicalness,
ma
terialness,
corporealness).
Satan is a real,
personal, created
being, but he isnot
physical with skin
and bones. This
factinno way takes
away
from
the
historicity or the
objectivity of the
temptation. An
encounter
between persons,
especially in the supersensual world,
can be perfectly objective without
necessarily entering into the sphere
of the corporeally perceptible. -
The reduction of all this
to
the rubric
of superstition or phychological
derangement is certainly not in
accordance with the mind of the
evangelists.
Anyone
who desires to
dissociate Jesus from all these and
other supernatural phenomena,
must do so
on
the basis of a prior
theological or philosophical
premises ... -Vos, pg. 331-332.
2. The Personality of Satan
The New Testament presents
Satan, not as a symbol or an
impersonal force, or as the 'dark
side' of the universe, but
as
a living,
created PERSON, who 'cannot be
rationalized
away
as a pre-scientific
myth or literary personification. He
moves, I Peter 5:8, works, Eph.2:2,
knows, Rev. 12:12, speaks,
Mat.
4:3,
plots,
II Cor.
2:11, desires,
Lk.
22:31,
disputes, jude 9, deceives, II
Cor.
11:3, feels emotion,
Rev.
12:12; I
Tim. 3:6; jam.2:19, tempts, I Thes.
3:5, makes promises, Mat.4:9, sins, I
jn. 3:8, and engages in many other
activities of a personal nature. Of
course Satan is more than Simply a
person, according
to
Paul in
II Cor.
6:15.
He
is
a worthless and lawless
person, the personal representative
of darkness and unrighteousness. -
He
represents nothing constructive,
profitable, or good. Finally,
II Cor.
6:15 portrays Satan as in utter
opposition to the person of Chtist
and everything
He
went into the
wilderness to be tempted by the devil,
who made an all-out assault upon
the divine approval jesus had
received at His baptism as well
as
presuming
authority
over the
kingdoms of the world, Mat.4:1-11.
Satan endeavored
to
induce Jesus
to
betray
His
calling, submit
to
the
4 T THE COUNSEL
of
Chalcedon T December, 1994
kingdom
of
darkness, and thus to
abandon the establishment of God's
kingdom. Satan was fighting for his
life, just as jesus persevered in the
face
of the devilish onslaught in
order
to
redeem, reclaim, andremake
the lives of His elect people. The
confrontation
in
the wilderness was
a deadly serious battle between two
kingdoms, and Chris t won that battle
where both Satan and Adam had
failed - not through autonomous
power,
but
through complete
obedience to the
will ofGod
lnaddition
to
shOwing us the
principle defeat
of
Satan, this
account also
reveals Satan's
character
as
the
bitter antagonist
to God's Anoin
ted and the
Messiah's con
gregation. He
expresses this
antagonism by
working in
INDIVIDUALS,
Eph.2:2,
both
BODY, Lk. 13:16, and
MIND,
Lk.
22:3, by working through the
NATURAL
WORLD,
Lk. 8:23f; Mk
9:25, by
working
in SOCIAL
BEHAVIOR,
Lk.8:27
and
RELATIONS,
II
Cor. 2:5-11, by
wotkingin
INTELLECTUALmattets,
I Tim. 4:1, byworkinginPOLITICAL
affairs, Rev.12-13, and by working
in RELIGIOUS affairs, whether
in
FALSE
sects,
II
Cor. ll:14f
orin
the
TRUE way-by
distorting,
Gal.
4:8f
and competing with, Mat. 13:39, the
preaching of the gospel. There is no
facet of ife which Satanw ll avoid in
his project of hindering Christ's
kingdom. - Greg Bahnsen, The
Journal ofChristian Reconstruction
-
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 9 - Sermon on Luke 4:1-13 - The Tempter in the Temptation of Jesus - Counsel of Chalcedon
2/6
Vol.
I, No.2, Winter, 1974, The
Person, Work, and Present Status of
Satan, pg. 12f.
However whenever we think of
.
Sa tan, we must think of him
as
finite,
created being, not as a being equal to.
God
in
any sense. He is NOT
omniscient,
omnipotent or
omnipresent. He
is
under the control,
restraint, and direction of the Mighty
Sovereign of the universe, Rev.9:1 ,
5, Who also has him bound in
chains ,
since the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, Pet.
2:4; Jude 6.
In
fact, he has been
rendered powerless by the death of
Christ so that
he
will
not
be an
insurmountable obstacle deceiving
the nations
in
the way of Christ's
invinCibly triumphant conquest of
the nations
with the
gospel,
Heb.2:14. ''Thework ofdemons (and
of Satan) must be viewed constantly
in terms
of
the chains that now
restrain them. - Bahnsen, pg.l7.
3 The Designation of Satan
as
the Devil by Luhe
In the temptation account, Luke
refers to Satan as the Devil, Lk 4:2,
as
does Matthew, Mt. 4:1, while Mark
refers tohim
as
Satan, Mk 1:13.
In
fact, the Bible gives him several
descriptive
names:
Beliar, the
worthless one, Cor.
6:15,
Apollyon or Abaddon, the
destroyer, Rev.9, Beelzebul, the
dung-god or the lord of he flies,
Lk
11:15, the prince of this world or
the god of this age, I.e., the leader of
a destroyed humanity,
of
a kingdom
of
unethical darkness and spiritual
death, In. 12:31, Cor. 4:4, the
crushed serpent, Gen.3:15,
Rev.12:11, Rev.20:lf, the shackled
dragon,
Rev.
20:1.
Satan means our adversary, I
Pet.5:8. This one name summarizes
the work ofSatan in the world. Satan
is the opponent of Christ and the
Church, who does his utmost to
present opposition to the people of
God. -Bahnsen, pg.30.
We must alwayskeep in
mind the
fact that whatever Satan does
in
opposing God's people he can only
do it at the permission of God, (
Bahnsen),
Who
causes all things to
work together for good for His
people, Rom. 8:28. Although Satan
tries to destroy the work of God
in
the believer and in the earth, I
Thes.3:5, I Tim. 5:15, 3:6f, the
Sovereign Christ uses his destructive
work to further His own purposes,
Cor. 12:7, I Tim. 3:6, Jam.4:6f,
Heb.12:10, I Cor. 5:5 , 13.
Luke describes Satan as the
devil, who is the ruler of the
demons, Lk.11:15. There are many
demons (daimonia)
but
only one
devil (diabolos), who is the king
overtheswarm from the abyss,
Rev.
9: 11. Diabolos has the basic sense
of separation, opponent, accuser,
repudiator, liar.
Just as
Christ is the
Head of the church, so Satan is the
evil leader of the demornc host, who
has an army of wicked, unclean,
demons
under
his command, Mat.
8:28, 1O:I,Mk.5:2f,9:20,Act.19:15,
(although the devilandallhis demons
are under the sovereign rule of God).
As
the ruler of demons, Satan
surpasses them all In authority,
wickedness, and power.
The Biblical strategy against the
destructive work ofSatan is threefold:
(1). RESIST THEDEVIL WITH THE
WORD OF GOD, as did Jesus in the
wilderness, James 4:7, and
he
will
fleefromyou; (2). USETHESHIELD
OF FAITH IN CHRIST AND IN HIS
WORD, Eph. 6:11-12, 16, and you
will quench all the firy missiles that
Satan hurls at you; and (3).
PRAY
Mat.6:13, and God will deliver you
from d'le evil one.
B
The Goal of Satan in the
Temptation ofJesus
1 The Tactics
of
Satan
a. The Three-Pronged
Attach
of
Satan
The first time
we
hearSa tanspeak
in the Bible is
in
the temptation of
Eve and Adam, when SATAN TRIES
TO MAKE GOD LOOK LIKE A
FOOL BEFORE MAN, Genesis 3.
The second time we hear
him
speak
is
in the
court of heaven seeking
divine permisSionto temptJob, when
SATAN TRIES TO MAKE MAN
LOOKLIKEAFOOL BEFORE GOD,
Job
1.
The last time we hear Satan's
voice
in
the Bible is when
he
tempts
the God-Man,
and
SATAN IS
MADE
A FOOL OF, and silenced, Luke 4:1f.
b The Reasoned-Out
Plan
of
Satan
The Biblical Satan is a creature
who seeks to be god and is fully
aware of the existence of God, Jam.
2:19. His program is a reasoned one:
FIRST,
man
is to
be
his own
god,
determining good and evil for
himself, Gen.3:5. SECOND, man
should
be
freed from all testing
and
judgements
and
given cradle to grave
security. If man needs bread, the
stones
should be made bread,
Mat.4:3. THIRD, faith should be
totally unnecessary; man
should
be
able towalkby Sight
and
Godshould
prove all things for man's benefit,
Mat.4:6. FOURTH, righmess is
an
attribute of the creature, and the
creature should be worshipped and
served rather than God, Mat. 4:8-9.
- Rushdoony,
The ournal of
Christian Reconstruction,VoL I,
No.2, Winter, 1974, Power from
Below, pg.9.
December, 1994 TH COUNSEL of h a l ~ d o n 5
-
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 9 - Sermon on Luke 4:1-13 - The Tempter in the Temptation of Jesus - Counsel of Chalcedon
3/6
c
The Objective
ofSatan s Plan
Satan
has
rightly
been
called 'the
ape of
God';
his
plan is a parody
of
God's
plan, and
his standard is
in
essence an antistandard, a negation,
not a new creation. In rebelhon
against God, Satan decided to create
his own
heaven
and
earth out
of
th
e
materials of God's
creation. His
program thus involved enlistingman
as an ally, but an ally
kingdom in the earth, Mat. 12 :28.
Satan was determined to break this
God of a hero, Isa.9:6, this Divine
Champion. He
had
conquered the
first Adam,
now in
the wilderness
he
would
conquer the Last Adam once
and
for all.
3. The Satanic Assault onJesus
Messianic Status and Jesus
Necessary Phase of Humiliation
These assaults of Satan
on
Jesus
A
The Order of the
Temptations Accord-ing t Luke
The order of emptations inLuke's
account
is
different from
that
of
Matthew. Matthew's order
is: (1). f
you are the Son of God,
command
that these stones become bread. (2).
If you are the Son of God,
throw
Yourself down (3). All these things
will I give You, ifYou fall
down
and
worship me. Luke reverses (2)
and
(3).
Is
this
a
real
who would have to
be
remade in order to
participate in
Satan's
plan
of
action
.
His
approach to Adam and
Eve
was thus
an
acted
proclamation
which
in
effect declared 'I
will
remake
man;
in
my
own image I will
remake him.'
History
thus
is
the
development
and
warfare of
two
contending
concepts
of
man, two differing
liThe
Lord s
Christ went
into the
wilderness
to
crush
Satan, to
rob
him
o his property, to
destroy his
power, and
to establish is own
kingdom in the
earth.
contradiction between
Matthew
and
Luke,
or
does Luke haveaspecific
point
he
wants to make?
FIRST,
Matthew's
account
is
obviously
CHRONOLOGICALLY
arranged . Notice the
adverbs
in
Matthew 4:
I-
l l : Then
..
and
after .. then .. then ...
again
. ..
then .
Matthew
is
relatingwhat
occurred
first, what
concepts of creation.
-
In
Revelation, Satan is called 'the great
dragon, the ancient
serpent,'
Rev.12:9;20:2-3, 10.These
and
other
terms all underscore
the
essential
negation
ofSatan's role. This
work
of
negation
has
as its goal, however, a
new creation in Satan's image, a new
world order without
God
and with
only a humaniry made into gods. -
Rushdoony,RevoltAgainstMaturity,
pg.61.
. 2. The Goal ofJesus and
th Goal of Satan in the
Temptation in the Wilderness
The Lord's Christ
went
into the
wilderness to crushSatan, Gen. 3:15,
to rob him
of his property, Mat.
12
:
29, to
destroy his
power
, Heb .
2:14, and to establish His own
are aimed
at discrediting
Jesus'
Messianicstatus of he Divine-human
Saviorof he world, into
which
office
He
had
just
been
publicly
inaugurated
at
His baptism. In two
temptations,Jesus is confrontedwith
the phrase,
if
you are the Son of
God ...
In
the third temptation, He
is requested
by
Satan to surrender
His Messianic status to Satanhimself.
However,
it is not th
e Messiah but
Satan that is discredited. But,
in th
meanwhile, the
Messiah suffers
hUmiliation
in
the wilderness
by
allOwing Himself
to
experience this
degrading set of temptations and
human
limitations, e.g.
hunger,
thirst, physical exhaustion.
V.
The Three Tempt
ations ofJesus
6 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon f December, 199+
followed, what came
next,
and how
it was concluded.
Luke's
account
is not
arranged
chronologically,
nor
does
he
claim
to
do
so. He mentions
the
three
temptations
but
does not indicateby
even a Singleword that theyoccurred
in thatparticular time sequence. Any
mention ofa possibleclashorconflict
between Matthew and Luke
is
therefore
unreasonable.
Hendrikson
SECOND,Lukearrangesthethree
temptations
in
such a way that they
climax
in the
Temple.
His
arrangementis based on
the order
of
places where each temptation takes
place. He moves FROM DESERT TO
MOUNTAINTO TEMPLE This is in
accordance
with
Luke's Temple
Motif, as we have mentioned before.
-
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 9 - Sermon on Luke 4:1-13 - The Tempter in the Temptation of Jesus - Counsel of Chalcedon
4/6
The Birth Narratives are arranged
so
as to have their climax in the Temple,
2:41-52; and the Passion Narratives
and the conclusion of the Gospel
as
well climax in the Temple, 24:53.
jesus Christ is jehovah coming
to
His Temple to cleanse it and
to
exalt
it
in the Church.
B.
The Three Temptations and
Jesus'Response to Them
1.
(lK.4:2)
The Condition of
Jesus During the Temptations
.
Jar
forty
days
while
tempted
by
the
devil.
And
He
ate nothing
during
those days;
and
when
they had
ended
He
became hungry.
And
the
devil said
to
Him ...
jesus was severely tempted by
Satan throughout the forty days He
spent in the wilderness. The Greek
participle, translated, "while
tempted
..
, is a present participle
indicating persistence of the
temptations for the entire forty days.
His conflict with Satan was of such
intensity that it demands the total
consecration of all
His
attention and
energies to
such
a degree that ,
although He had been fasting, (doing
without food), for the whole time,
Mat.4:2, i twas
only
at
the end of the
time that He began to be conscious
of His hunger.
"The sense of physical need had
been supplanted, (superceded),
throughout by the violence of the
spiritual
conflict.
Exhaustion
followed upon this long period of
wrestling and fasting, and it was
now, at the end of theforty days, that
the enemy
came with
his
overwhelming attacks. When the Son
of Man had been physically and
spiritually exhausted
to
the utmost,
the conflict with the Evil One reached
its climax.-What a contrast this
forms with Adam, who
fell
although
he was living at that time under the
most favorable circumstances "
Geldenhuys
throughout the "wilderness" of His
time
of humiliation,
can He
be
persuaded to trust in Himselfand in
His own miraculous abilities as the
Son of
God?
f He
can
be
so
2. The Prindple of Interpretation
of These
Temptations
persuaded, Satan wins, and God's
The words and intent of the devil
people lose.
in his series of temptations are best
understood
in
the light of jesus'
answers to them from the Word of
God. "The meaning of the answer
supplies the meaning of the Satanic
suggestion. And besides this, since
the words of the answers were taken
from Scripture, and we may again
safely assume thatjesus seized upon
the real meaning and intent of the
Scripture passages, we can infer from
a
COITect
contextual exegesis of these
what their point
is,
what
consequently the point of Jesus'
answer was, and what, behind the
latter, the point in Satan's suggestion
was. -Vos, pg.336
3. (lK. 4:3-4)
The
FiTst
Temptation: Don't Trust God,
Tntst
Self. Avoid Humiliation,
o
Straight To Exaltation
a. The Temptation of the Devil
Satan focuses his temptation on
Christ's faith in God, on
His
inner
submission to God's Word, and
to
God's redemptive plan in their
totality, because that
faith
submission would be the basis of the
eternal salvation of God's people.
That faith had
to
be squelched and
that submission broken. Can Jesus
be persuaded to avoid the humiliation
required of Him to save His people
from their sins and act immediately
sa "the Son if God" in all His exalted
glory? Will He be
willing
to
escape
the pain and deprivation of His
humiliated state to enjoy the
pleasures and provisions of
exaltation? Instead of depending
upon God alone
to
provide for Him
b.
he
Resistance
of
the Christ
Jesus repels this temptation
unconditionally
by
quoting the
Bible:
"It is written, 'Man shall not live
on
bread alone.''' This is a quotation
from Deuteronomy 8:3. Fromjesus '
response we learn three things:
(1.)
How to Handle Temptation
The way in which Jesus resisted
temptation
is
the way Christians are
to
resist temptation. "Three times we
see Him foiling and baffling the great
enemy who assaulted Him. He does
not yield a hair's breadth to him. He
does
not
give
him
a moment's
advantage. Three times we see Him
using the same weapon, in reply to
His temptations: 'tl,e sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God,'
Eph.
6:
17. He who was 'full of the
Holy Spirit,' was yet not ashamed to
make the Holy Scripture His weapon
of defence, and His rule of action.
"Let us learn from this single fact,
if we learn nothing else from this
wondrous history, thehighauthortty
of the Bible, and the immense value
of a knowledge ofi ts contents. Let us
read it, search into it, pray over it,
diligently, perseveringly, unweiredly.
Let us strive to be so thoroughly
acquainted with its pages, that its
text may abide
in our
memories, and
stand ready
at
our right hand in the
day of need. Let us be able to appeal
from every perversion and false
interpretation ofits meaning, to those
thousand plain passages, which are
written
as
it were with a sunbeam.
The Bible is indeed a sword,
but
we
December, 1994 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon t 7
-
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 9 - Sermon on Luke 4:1-13 - The Tempter in the Temptation of Jesus - Counsel of Chalcedon
5/6
must takeheed that
we
know it well,
if we would use
it
with effect. -].
C.
Ryle, Luke, Vol. III, pg.1l2.
2.) WhatJesus Thought o
the
Old Testament
maIlllerofawrittenauthority,carrtes the meaning of the text in the same
with it the impUcation that th appeal way which it applied to the Israelites
is
made to the indefectible authority of old. Regardless of how severe 'the
of the Scriptures of God, which in all wilderness experience' may be,
their parts and in every one of their Jehovah will supply nourishment to
declarations are clothed with the H' S H d'
dt
H' lt
Jesus begins His BibUcalquotation
IS
on,as e
1 0 ISpeOp e l
with the pbrase, Itis written, which authOrityofGod .Hirnself. -Warfield, supernatural maIllla, without the
He
does
not
only
in
verse 4,
but
also pgs. 239- 40.
natural
process. He had
been
inverse
8,with
a synonymous phrase (3.)
Whatthe True brought
by the Spirit into this
in verse 12 - It is said ..
.
In the Point o
the Text is
situation, where God expected Him
perfect tense, this
r---------------------
o
hunger. Notice the
phrasemearIS, Itstands occurrence of the
permanently and
I*very man s life depends
words 'to prove' and
authoritativelywritten.
'to humble'
in the
Luke uses
this
phrase upon God, not upon man context of Deuter
more frequently than E h' d onomy. And the
any of the other Gospel
veryt ng Uepen
S
upon
probation
(temp-
writers, Lk. 2:23, 3:4,
God s
authoritative
Word.
tation) consisted
in
4:4,8, 10, 17, 7:22, 7, placingbeforeHimthe
10:26,
19:46, 22:37, Therefore
Jesus will not
necessity
of
exercising
24:46. These phrases, implicit trust
in
God
it is said, and it is
be perturbed by His hun- as
the
One
able to
written,
imply that
sustain
His life
what
is
thus said or
gey
He will persist
in notwithstanding the
written is ofDiVine and ' G d I protracted fast. The
final authority. Jesus
trust ng n a,one. 'word
proceeding
usedsuchpbr3.ses often. from the mouth
of
It
stands written
God'
refers
to the
involves the
~ d d u c t i o n
Csugges-
Jesus resisted Satan's first assault miracle-working
word
of omni-
tion),
of
an authority which rises by quoting aportion of Deuteronomy potence,themerewordrequiringno
immeasurably above all legislative 8:3, which reads
in
full, And He natural means. - Vos, pg. 336-37.
authority. - B.B. Warfield, The humbledyou and let
you be hungry,
and Nothing would have been wrong
Inspiration and Authority
o
the fed you with
manna which
you
did not aboutjesus supplying Himself
With
Bible,
pg. 239. hnow,
nor
did your fathers know, that foodbya mirade,
but n this
instance,
Thesignificanceofitstandswritten He might make
you
understand
that the act would mean
DISTRUST
OF
is
perhaps most manifest where
it) man
does not live
l ry
bread alone, but HIS
FATHERIN
HEA
YEN.
AndJesus
stmds alone as the bare adduction of man
lives
l ry everything that proceeds did NOT entertain the suggestion,
authority without indication of any out of the mouth of the LORD. Every the doubt for one moment.
kind
whence the citation
is
derived, man's life depends
upon God,
not
(Lk. 4:4,
8,10;
7:27; 19:46; 20:17; uponman.Everythingdependsupon
22:37). -
When
a N.T writer says, God's authoritative Word. Therefore
'ltiswritten,'therecanarisenodoubt Jesus will not be perturbed by His
where
what he
thus adduces as hunger, He will persist
in
trusting
in
possessing absolute authority over God alone. The point ofjesus' word
the thought and consciences of men is not to draw a contrast between
is to be found written. The Simple
physical
food and spiritual
adducttonin this solemn and decisive sustenance. He applies to Himself
8 THE COUNSEL
of
Chalcedon
December,
199-4
The first temptation resembles
that of our first parents
in
Eden. It
deals with food and uses food to
awaken distrust of God and of God's
Word. What succeeded in Eden, in
the land of plenty, failed
in
the
destitute desert. What succeeded in
the case ofAdam and Eve who were
well-fed failed
in
the case of Jesus
-
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 9 - Sermon on Luke 4:1-13 - The Tempter in the Temptation of Jesus - Counsel of Chalcedon
6/6
who
was in
great
hunger.
The
temptation assailed Jesus from
His
human
side; He smote it down,
not
with His Deity, but as a man, with
His trust in God and
in
God's Word. "
- Lenski
4. Lk.4:5-8) The Second
T
empmtion: Worship
Satan Not God
a.
The
Circumstances
o the
Temptation
J e u
permitted the
devil to lead
Him
up
into a
mountain and
to "show Him
all
the
kingdoms of
the world,
(the inhabited
earth , in a
moment
of time." Luke places this
temptation second, in contrast to
Matthew, and follows the order of
places: desert, mountain, Temple.
Was this panorama of the world's
kingdoms a mental image or vision
in
Jesus' mind implanted there by
the devil? Many good Bible scholars
would say that it was merely a mental
picture. However, d1ere are several
reasons whywe must disagree: (1).
If
the view of the world's kingdoms
was mental only, why go up into a
literal
or
mental mountain to see
them? (2). The plain sense of the
words seem
to
imply something other
than
a mentalimage. 3). IfSatan can
project thoughts and images into the
mind ofjesus Christ and can "make
Jesus think that He was where He
actually was not, the mind of Jesus
would be utterly helpless under the
will of Satan. - Only from the
outside, by the words which Satan
spoke audibly, could he present
thoughts
to
the mind of Jesus; and
these lying thoughts Jesus instantly
rejected." - Lenski
On this high mountain, the devil
"showed" (EDEIXEN) Jesus the
world's kingdOlns. Matthew's verb,
"showed," is in the present tense,
4:8. Luke's
w
0 r d ,
EDEIXEN,
does
not
mean
that
Satan flashed
the thought
of he world's
kingdoms,
( H E
OIDJMENE ,
and
their
great weald1
into the
mind
of
Jesus. "Showed" means "showed to
the eyes ofjesus" and "in a moment
of time" means 'Just one instant, a
split second." "This phrase should
not be
regarded symbolically with
reference to the transient nature
of
all these kingdoms, their authority,
and glory, flashing brillial\dy for a
second and then as quickly being
gone again. Before the very eyes
of
Jesus as Helooked out over
tl1e
world,
(the
inhabited
earth), from
that
mountain top the prince ofd1isworld,
by his occult power, flashed
out
in
an instant a view of the mighty realm
he (ostensibly) ruled. How this was
done, and why the view lasted only
so long, none will ever say." - Lenski
b.
The Temptation o the Devil
Now comes the temptation:
I
will give You all this domain and its
glory; for it has been handed over to
me, and I give it to whomever I wish.
ThereforeifYou worship (bow down)
before me, it shall all be Yours."
1.)
The Satanic
Lie
Wim this temptation, Satan shows
his true colors. He is a liar and
deceiver, aspiring after
d1e
power
and glOlY tha t belong only
to
the
Living God. The presupposition
of
Satan's offer to Jesus is a flagrant lie.
The sovereignty and magnificence
of
nations
of
the inhabited earth have
not
been
handed
over
to
Satan to
give to whomever he wishes The
contrary is true: the Triune God is
the absolute sovereign of all
men and
nations and He gives their
power
and
wealth
to whomsoever He
pleases. Jesus,
not
Satan,
is
"me ruler
of the kings
of
the earth,"
Rev.
1:5.
Jesus, not Satan, is "the King
of
kings
and Lord oflords," Rev. 19:16. "The
earth
is
the
LORD'S, and all it
contains, the world, and those who
dwell in i t, Psa. 24:1. "Let the
name
of God
be
blessed forever
and
ever,
for wisdom and power belong to
Him. And it is He who changes the
times
and
the epochs; He removes
kings
and
establishes kings .. , Dan.
2:20-21. It was Jesus, not Satan,
Who said,
All
uthority
in he ven nd
on e rth has
been
giv n t
M
"
Mat. 28:18.
December,
1994
THE COUNSEL
of
Chalcedon 9
top related