Together, we have been learning so much about the twisted suggestions of the devil and the way out of those temptations Jesus has made for us. The past 3 episodes have taken us deeper into Luke 4 telling of Jesus’ time in the wilderness, facing these temptations and battling the enemy of your soul. It’s been so good, hasn’t it?
Now, Jesus tells us of one more specific temptation and shows us the way out.
Luke 4: 9-13, “Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect and guard you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’ Jesus responded, ‘The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.'”
Ohhhh, what is the devil trying to do … and what is Jesus trying to teach us?
The devil is smart. He’s constantly studying us to understand our defense, then turn that defense on us. You know the things that have worked for you before, then they no longer work for you but hurt you … yeah, that’s what he wants to do.
What had Jesus been using to battle the devil? Every time, he had responded to the temptation with God’s word. So, now the devil tries to use God’s word against Jesus. That’s what he’s doing when he says, “Jump off, Jesus. God’s word says he will protect you!”
Your enemy knows God’s word. He knows it better than you do. Honey, he was in the Heavenlies right beside God when this world was being created. How do I know? Well, in Job 38: 4&7, The Lord said, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? As the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy.” And among those angels was Lucifer, the angel said to be the most beautiful of all. He was named to be the ‘light bearer’, but he grew jealous of his Maker and wanted to be greater than him. Lucifer is the fallen angel, kicked out of Heaven, thrown down to the pits of hell where he schemes his attacks on this world. We call him Satan. This is the devil.
So, yes he knows God. He knows him intimately. He was there when the foundations of this world were set. He knows how everything works and his personal mission is to destroy it. He cannot defeat God’s word, but he can twist it!
His temptation to Jesus here is a twisting of God’s word. God’s word is Jesus’ weapon to fight the enemy, now that weapon is being twisted and pointed at Jesus. You can pluck a scripture out of the Bible and use it against anyone. You can take scripture out of context and do great damage. That’s a work of the devil. And that’s precisely what he’s doing to Jesus.
But Jesus knows when a scripture is being taken out of context … do you?
Back then, scripture was written on large scrolls of papyrus or parchment. One book of the Bible may take several scrolls. God’s people were taught to memorize his word … why … because they couldn’t walk around carrying all these scrolls with them for reference. Not to mention, most people were illiterate and couldn’t read for themselves. They had to go to the temple and have God’s word read to them, then try to memorize it for reference. Imagine how hard that was.
But we have all of God’s word in a single bound book we can take with us anywhere. Heck, we even have every translation and all the commentary in the world with us all the time on our phone. We have full access to God’s word all the time so we have no excuse. We can look it up. We can read not just one verse, but we can read the context to understand the true meaning. We can read commentary to help us understand better.
Is scripture being taken out of context and twisted to mean something it was never meant to … well, you have the book … use it!
This is what Jesus is showing us. God’s word is your weapon. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:17 that the word of God is our sword. This is how we fight our battles. But don’t you know the devil wants to take that sword and turn it on you? And he will if you don’t know how to use it!
I know sometimes it feels useless to put time into studying your Bible, but understand this time is your weapon training, your sword lessons. You’re learning how to hold your weapon. You’re learning how to swing your weapon. And you’re learning how to protect your weapon so your enemy doesn’t turn it and use it on you. The only way you learn is time and practice.
My sister, keep reading. Keep making that deposit of God’s living word in your soul. This is battle preparation. You have access to the full word of God, so look up that quoted scripture and read the full chapter. Research to understand the setting, the audience, the tradition and the intention. We have no excuse for allowing scripture to be twisted, you have the full thing available to you so easily.
Now, notice something else in this temptation of Jesus. When the devil says, “If you are the Son of God, jump off!”, the devil can’t make him do it, he can only suggest it.
The devil can’t make you do it … but he can suggest it! The devil has never made you do anything, because he doesn’t have that power. He simply can’t do that. But he is absolutely world-class at making suggestions. Oh yes, he plants twisted ideas, he plays in your desires, he stirs up your doubts, and he pokes at your wounds. He “suggests” total nonsense, appealing to your human wants and needs, then you either choose it or you don’t.
You can’t blame the devil, he’s just doing what he does. Here’s what I’ve figured out along the way … liars lie. You can get all upset and try to understand it, but in the end, it’s just what liars do, they lie. When a liar is talking, it’s your responsibility to know they’re lying. The devil is the father of lies. The best lie is a truth that has been twisted. It has a lot of truth to it, it’s just been twisted to still sound good but point you in the wrong direction.
Jesus knows to check the source of the suggestion. This suggestion to jump off the cliff is coming from Satan, so that’s a strong no. It’s hard for us to check the source sometimes, because honestly Satan doesn’t always show up the way we think he would. Movies portray the devil as some red faced angry dude with horns and a pitchfork. Hmmmm, actually, he is a beautiful angel with a twisted heart. Don’t forget that. He shows up quoting God’s word. He shows up offering bread when you’re hungry. He shows up offering power to change things.
But, my sister, you have the Spirit of God living within you. That Spirit knows the truth. That Spirit can undeniably recognize the source of any suggestion. Start listening to your Spirit. Jesus says in John 16:13, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.”
Lord, guide me to the truth. Don’t let me be deceived by the twisted suggestions of the enemy.
What has the devil been suggesting to you? Really, let’s identify that now.
Has he been suggesting you give up? Has he been suggesting you hide? Has he been suggesting you do it your way? Has he been suggesting you just settle?
Right now, as you seek the truth, God’s Spirit within you is confirming it all. You see the source now. That’s been the devil. He couldn’t make you do, but he could strongly suggest you do it. He could get in your head, twist your thoughts, play with your emotions, and hopefully cause you to choose his way.
Girl, you’re in a battle and it’s time to get out your weapon and fight. Use God’s word, the FULLNESS of his word. Read it. Deposit it into your soul. Open it up and receive your guidance and strength. Arm yourself to fight the twisted suggestions that have come to kill, steal and destroy.
One final thing on this story … notice the very end, verse 13, “When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity came.”
Now isn’t that interesting. When Satan sees he can’t win with you, he leaves, but he’s always looking for an opportunity to come back.
Satan’s resources are limited. He can’t be everywhere all the time like God can. He has to choose his target, and sometimes he chooses you. But, if you show him it’s a waste of his effort to mess around with you, then he will take his evil and go elsewhere. Make it real clear attacking you is a waste of his evil efforts. It won’t work. You will take every twisted suggestion and put it up against God’s truth. You will check the source and not be easily tricked. You won’t settle for the easy way being offered. You won’t play his stupid games to only win stupid prizes.
Make it really clear today is not Satan’s day to screw with you, and tomorrow isn’t either. Put your sword in your hand first thing every morning … girl, that’s your Bible!
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