In
respect of the next two temptations, reflection on the events that took place
in the Garden of Eden provide some understanding to the strategy of the Devil.
In the Garden, God, in the person
of the pre-incarnate Christ, cast down the serpent, “… On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All
the days of your life.” (Gen. 3:14). This not only demonstrated
His power over Satan, it symbolically
re-enforced the truth that this most powerful of fallen angels was, and
ever would be, the ‘cast down’ one.
Similarly,
Moses, who in Israel’s eyes was their first Messiah, in preparation for the exodus from Egypt,
re-enacted this same scene by casting down the serpent-rod, re-affirming the
continuing power and authority of God over Satan. This was the prelude to the
defeat of Satan’s instrument
Pharaoh, whose tiara of authority carried a
representation of a serpent.
The ministry of the ‘seed of the woman’ (Gen.3:15), Jesus, must demonstrate this same power and
authority, and climax in the prophesied ‘bruising’ of the serpent’s head.
However, this enemy is no weak vessel.
He has position and power and is a consummate
tactician with an overall strategy that can be summed up in a phrase, deception
with a view to destruction’. It had always been his ‘modus operandi’. Jesus
referred to the element of deception when He said to the Jews, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do … When he speaks a lie,
he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar
and the father of it” (John
8:44). We are warned of the “wiles of the devil” (Eph.6:11). His followers are “deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself
into an angel of light” (2
Cor.11:13,14). Deception, beguilement, bluff and subterfuge and even
camouflage are used by the Devil to accomplish his evil purposes.
However, deception was simply a means to
destruction. Not only is he the father
of lies but also a “murderer
from the beginning” (John 8:44). He is the
Adversary, “a roaring
lion” who goes about “seeking whom he may devour”
(1 Pet.5:8). It was this deceiver, in the ‘one to one’,
‘face to face’ confrontation with the
incarnate God, who attempted to cloud
the issue and misdirect the Messiah into taking the position of the one ‘cast
down’. Satan took Jesus up a very high mountain, showed Him all the splendour
of the kingdoms of the world, and said, “All these
things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me” (Matt.4:8,9;
Luke 4:5,6). It was inevitable that Satan would couch this temptation in terms
that reflected the cause of his own downfall - personal ambition running
counter to the will of God. Here, he tries to recover all lost ground with one
throw of the dice. What he had failed to
do when he was the mighty, covering cherub, he tried to accomplish when the God
that defeated him there was clothed in flesh. Jesus, weak with hunger, with
limited resources refused the offer and put His finger on the crux of
the matter: “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall
serve” (Matt.4:10).
Jesus rejected the offer of
kingdoms, power and glory; and later reminded His followers that, “the kingdom, and the
power and the glory” (Matt.6:13) eternally belong
to the Father.
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