Why Did God Allow the Devil to Tempt Jesus, and What is its Ramification to Us?
Unbeknownst even to most Theologians is its serious consequence should Jesus succumb to the test
Here, we’ll unscroll the Scriptures in order to understand God’s purpose why He arranged this event to expose the devil’s motive, and discern its most serious ramification.
Jesus being declared as the Son of God
When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and he (John the Baptist) saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16–17)
The Gospels according to Matthew and Luke record that after being baptized, God the Creator declared to all that Jesus is His Son. But before He could begin His ministry, the Spirit of God led Him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
There the devil challenged Jesus three times by casting doubts over His position as the Son of God. Three tests were drilled into His faith, culminating on the most crucial, whom He would worship and serve (Matthew 4:8–10 & Luke 4:5–8).
Tempted Three Times
Matthew’s gospel narrates the event in chapter 4 verses 1–11 in this way:
Jesus was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. There, He had fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward, He became hungry.
First Temptation (verses 3–4)
Then the tempter (the devil) came to Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
But He answered and said, “It is written,
‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” (Deuteronomy 8:3)
Second Temptation (verses 5–7)
Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:
‘For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ (Psalms 91:11–12)
Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” (Deut. 6:16)
Third Temptation (verses 8–11)
Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”
In response, Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written,
‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ” (cf. Deut. 6:13 & 13:4)
Then the devil left Him, and angels came and ministered to Him.
After rebuking Satan’s offer by securing Himself with His Father’s words, Jesus overcame the crucial test of His faith.
The Devil Claiming All Authority Over All The Earth
Now, focusing on that third temptation, Luke’s Gospel narrates in Chapter 4:5–8:
5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 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 whomever I wish.
7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”
8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
It is crucial to note in verse 6, the devil claimed that all authority over all the kingdoms of the world belongs to him for it “has been delivered or given to him.” Therefore he can give it to whomever he wishes. In this particular case, he offered to give it to Jesus, the Son of God if Jesus will worship him (verse 7).
Was this claim true or false?
God, the Creator is the Possessor of the Heavens, the Earth, and its Fullness
In Genesis 14:18–19 after Abraham rescued his nephew Lot from the hands of four kings, Melchizedek king of Salem appeared to him bringing bread and wine. He was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed Abraham and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth…”
Further on in Exodus 9:29, Moses highlighted this truth to Pharaoh, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord; the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s.”
After delivering Israel from Egypt, God instructed Moses to tell the people, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.” (Exodus 19:5)
Fast forward to nearly forty years in the wilderness and the first generation completely perished save Joshua, Caleb, and himself, Moses impressed upon the people, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it.” (Deuteronomy 10:12–14)
The great King David acknowledged this in Psalms 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.”
How could Satan then say to Jesus, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; FOR THIS HAS BEEN DELIVERED TO ME, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”
In order to understand the devil’s statement, we must go back to the place and time of the very first temptation recorded in the Scriptures.
After Creating Man, God Gave Man Authority and Dominion Over All the Earth
In the article “Why God Created Mankind Male and Female, Only” I briefly laid out the purpose of God’s creation of man.
The Heavens (or the universe) were created for the earth’s habitation. The Earth was created to be the habitat for man. Plants, animals, and everything on earth were brought forth to support man’s physical existence. Then Man was made to be a vessel of God’s life for the very expression of God’s person.
In the 1st chapter of Genesis, verses 26–28 we read God’s intention in creating man.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
In the above three verses from the Scriptures, God’s desire and intention for man are clearly laid out in three respects. These are also proclaimed and commanded in the New Testament Bible and prophesied to be fulfilled in Christ (verse references below).
First — Man was Created to be the Image of the Invisible God (Genesis 1:26; Colossians 1:15 & 3:10)
Second — God Gave Man Authority to Exercise God’s Dominion Over Other Living Creatures and Over All the Earth (Genesis 1:26; Isaiah 61:6; Revelations 1:6, 5:10 & 20:6)
Third — God Commissioned Man to Multiply and Fill the Earth with His Image and Glory (Genesis 1:28; Matthew 28:19–20)
The First Encounter of Man and the Devil (the Serpent)
After Man was made, God gave him authority over all the earth and a commission to do God’s will. God then planted a garden and placed man in the midst of it with a specific command leading to either sustain life or bring death.
Genesis 2:15–18 says, Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; BUT of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
Verse 21 continues, And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept, and He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
In this garden, man would meet his tempter, the serpent.
Genesis chapter 3 tells us of the encounter where man succumbed to the serpent's (devil’s) temptation.
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’ ”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 BUT of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
As God is true, and the devil the father of lies, man’s disobedience to God’s command ushered him to his fall which would end in death.
With that, Adam and his wife found themselves naked in shame, guilty in sin, hiding from the face of God.
17 Then to Adam, He (God) said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:
“Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of itall the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.
"In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread; Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”
— therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man, and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Man Succumbing to the Devil’s Wile Handed Himself Over to the Control of Satan.
As Paul, the apostle states in Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned — “
By giving in to the devil’s temptation by going against God’s will, man lost three things.
First, The blessing of eternal life and instead received the curse of death.
Second, The loving presence of God, God’s provision as well as God’s protection. He was banished from the place which God has prepared for him.
Third, Although God gave dominion to man to rule over all the earth, he lost the power to reign the moment he submitted himself to the serpent’s will.
So as the man gave himself to Satan’s rule, so was his earthly possession and authority given over to the devil to plunder, a principle which Jesus confirmed in Mark 3:27, “No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.”
Therefore, Satan, the devil could tell the Son of God when he tempted Him in the wilderness, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; FOR THIS HAS BEEN DELIVERED TO ME, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”
That was of course a lie because in the eyes of God that authority still lies with man to whom He gave it. God cannot recognize the devil’s claim since He never gave it to him.
As Adam was in the garden, Jesus was in the Wilderness
In that moment of testing, Jesus was in the same situation as the first man Adam was in the garden. Will Jesus accept the devil’s deception? Of course not, for He only believes His Father’s words. So He responded with God’s word “For it is written:”
“Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.”
Rather than aligning Himself with the devil, Jesus secured His position with God. So the devil left Him, and angels came and ministered to Him.
Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all (Luke 4:14–15).
Now, what would happen if Jesus took the bait of the devil as Adam did?
The Ramification Should Jesus Succumbed to the Devil’s Temptation
While the first man Adam had the authority over all the earth but lost it to Satan. The last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), Jesus who is the Christ, is the Lord of the Heavens and Heir to the throne of God.
The prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 28:12–17) reveals to us who Satan was long before man was created as manifested by the spirit of the King of Tyre.
“You were the seal of perfection,
Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering…
The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes
Was prepared for you on the day you were created...
“You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you;
You were on the holy mountain of God;
You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.
You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created,
Till iniquity was found in you.
“By the abundance of your trading
You became filled with violence within, And you sinned;
Therefore I cast you as a profane thing
Out of the mountain of God;
And I destroyed you, O covering cherub,
From the midst of the fiery stones.
“Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;
You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor;
I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings,
That they might gaze at you.
Isaiah 14:12–14 showed us from God’s word what is Satan’s ultimate will, intention, and motive:
“How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer (another name of Satan), son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
For you have said in your heart:
‘I WILL ascend into heaven,
I WILL exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I WILL also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north;
I WILL ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I WILL be like the Most High!’
Back in Eden, Satan deceived Adam and usurped the authority that Adam had over all the kingdoms of the world. Down in the wilderness, Satan tried to tempt the Son of God who is the Heir of all that God created including the heavens (Colossians 1:16) in order to fulfill his ultimate will.
Therefore, should Jesus succumb to that temptation as Adam did, Satan would be able to claim Lordship not only over all the earth but also over the heavens where God rules and HE WILL BE LIKE THE MOST HIGH!
The Will of Man, the Battleground
God in His sovereignty allowed man the will to choose. Man can choose to obey God’s command or to disobey it according to his willing mind. Somehow, God would not violate man’s will. God may influence it but He would not force His will on man’s will. Satan knew this and that’s where he entered man, through the mind in order to influence the will of man with his lies.
Since God gave man dominion over all the earth before his fall, God would not take back that authority from him unless he himself allows God. This is the reason why the prayer which Jesus taught His disciples includes, “Let Your kingdom come; Let Your will be done here on earth as it is done in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)
In heaven, God’s will prevails. No issue at all. However, if man wants God to do anything here on earth where man has the jurisdiction, he must first allow God’s will to be done, then God can act. And this is why Jesus, as He agonized in prayer while in the garden of Gethsemane, though He could choose to skip the death on the cross told God, His Father, “…nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:39)
“You Shall Call His Name JESUS, for He Will Save His People from their Sins!”
That was the life of the Son of God, always denying His will in order to obey the will of His Father, God. And by His absolute obedience to God’s commandments, He was unblemished, without sin, qualified as the lamb sacrifice to bear the sins of mankind on the cross, and save His people and those who would believe in Him, from their sins.
Apostle Paul described Him to the Philippians (2:8–11):
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Finally, as He bids His followers the great commission, Jesus boldly proclaimed His full authority over all creation (Matthew 28:18–20),
…“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.”
“He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16)
HalleluYAH! Amen.