TEMPTATION TWO: THE PRIDE OF LIFE SATAN SUGGESTS SUICIDE
Then the devil took Him to the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple. “If You are the Son of God,” he said, “throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command His angels concerning You, and they will lift You up in their hands, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”
Matthew 4:5-6
Then the devil led Him to Jerusalem and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple. “If You are the Son of God,” he said, “throw Yourself down from here. For it is written: ‘He will command His angels concerning You to guard You carefully; and they will lift You up in their hands, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”
Luke 4:9-11
SUSAN: Once again, “if” would be better rendered “since.” Satan did not doubt the fact that Jesus was indeed the Son of God.
SUSIE: Satan next tempted Jesus in the area of the “pride of life” by telling Him to jump from a height that would surely be suicidal. He is again trying to trick Jesus into displaying His power as deity rather than remaining in humble subjection to the Father’s will.
SUSAN: God’s enemy is trying to get Jesus to test God, to see if His Father truly would send angels to save Him. Satan even employed scripture to try to trick Jesus:
For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
Psalm 91:11-12
SUSIE: The Scripture was pointing out that we can trust God, not that we should put this trust to the test.
SUSAN: God is trustworthy and does watch over us, but we should not set up situations in which we need to be rescued. There are many times in life that we cannot make sense of what God is doing, but He is still trustworthy, and we should not allow those times to create doubt in our minds. This is challenging to do, but God’s word is true—we can trust Him.
Jesus replied, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Matthew 4:7
But Jesus answered, “It also says, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Luke 4:12
4:7 Christ replied with another verse from Israel’s wilderness experience (Deut. 6:16)—recalling the experience at Massah, where the grumbling Israelites put the Lord to the test, angrily demanding that Moses produce water where there was none (Ex. 17:2–7).
The MacArthur Study Bible
He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
Exodus 17:7
Do not test the LORD your God as you tested Him at Massah.
Deuteronomy 6:16
SUSAN: Jesus again quoted a verse from the Old Testament and refused to put God to the test.
SUSIE: We are wise to learn from history. Jesus knew this failing of His people that they tested God many times even as the Lord was freeing them from slavery in Egypt and leading them to the Promised Land. We are to trust the Lord rather than test the Lord.
Ways this applies to our lives:
- Scripture needs to be at our fingertips and in the forefront of our minds so the Holy Spirit can help us use it to avoid temptation.
- We should never test God by purposely putting ourselves in need of rescue.
- Putting God to the test is arrogance, haughtiness, and ultimately doubt.