5 Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You’; and ‘On their hands they will bear You up, So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’ ” 7 Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 8 Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; 9 and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’ ”

Having lost the first volley, Satan attempts twice more to knock Jesus off His stride of following the Spirit’s lead. Again the Tempter predicates his challenge on the question of Jesus being the Son of God. Ironically, the Father had just affirmed that relationship with great pride at Jesus’ baptism (Matt 3:17) and He would do it again later on what we call the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt 17:5). Satan accedes to it only for the sake of argument.

The first temptation, turning stone into bread, challenged Jesus’ bottom line. Will He abandon trusting His Father and walking by the Spirit’s guidance, or will He act independently in order to supernaturally meet His own need?

The second temptation questions God’s faithfulness. Satan suggests a simple test that Jesus could use to prove the Father would really protect Him from harm, as Psalm 91:11-12 promised. Yet Jesus did not need to prove His Father’s promise. He again responds with Scripture, that one ought not tempt God. While it is true that the devil should not have been tempting the Son of God, the real import of the temptation is that Satan was trying to get Jesus to tempt (in the sense of ‘test”) His Father. But our impeccable Lord was not about to show the same disrespect for His Father that Satan was showing to the Son.

The final temptation was designed to test Jesus’ allegiance. The arch-enemy of God was putting all his cards on the table, so to speak—unabashedly. He was betting it all on the possibility of attaining what he has wanted from the first, “… you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, … I will make myself like the Most High’ ” (Isaiah 14:13–14). To this blatant rebellion, Jesus simply commands the would-be usurper to “Be gone,” for only God is to be worshiped. No one can ever be greater.

O Lord, help me not be influenced to live independently of You, questioning the faithfulness of Your word or exalting things as more valuable than You.