Why Would Satan Promise Jesus the world, when He Already owns it
So I was in church on Sunday for the first time in four months (Lol, blame it on the pandemic) and I would really like to share with you the little I learnt from the sermon.
You would agree with me as a Christian, that there are scriptures and passages from the bible that are quite difficult to fanthom, some of which are better left as mysteries. One of these is the temptation of Jesus Christ by Satan.
This can be found in the four Gospel books but I will be making use of the book of Luke (King James Version).
The first Temptation (Luke 4: 2-4)
And the devil said to Him “If you’re the son of God, command this stone to become bread”
But Jesus answered him saying “It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God”
The Second Temptation (Luke 4: 5-8)
Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
And the devil said to him “All this authority I will give you and their glory, for this has been delivered to me and I give it to whoever I wish. Therefore, if you will worship before me, all will be yours”
And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind me Satan! For it is written that you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve”
The Third Temptation (Luke 4: 9-12)
Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to Him “If you’re the son of God, throw yourself down from here.
“For it is written: ‘He shall give his angels charge over you to keep you, and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone “
And Jesus answered and said to him “It has been said that you shall not tempt the Lord your God”.
Why Would Satan Ever Think Of The Second Temptation?
Firstly, we would all say it was pointless for the devil to tempt Jesus Christ who is God himself and therefore omnipotent; but all these are part of God’s plan as the verses before these above revealed that after fasting for forty days in the wilderness, He (Jesus) was led by the spirit to be tempted by the devil.
However, my major concern is the second temptation which has left me with this question: “Why would Satan promise to give Jesus the riches of the world when they already belong to him (Jesus)?
My answer is this:
The world and all that is in it belongs to God, for he created all things in the beginning. After creation, He gave man dominion and authority over all these things. Now, everytime we sin we are slowly loosing this authority and giving Satan power over us and over what we have power over. SIN stands for Satan In Nature; and ever since man ate the forbidden fruit, the world has been full of sin. This is what gave the devil the guts to make the statement:
“All this authority I will give you and their glory, for this has been delivered to me and I give it to whoever I wish. Therefore, if you will worship before me, all will be yours”
Yes, the world belongs to God and gave us control over it; but we choose to glorify the devil and that made him feel the world actually belongs to him.
Let us live a sin-free life and pray that God should help us overcome all temptations. Amen!
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