Recall the story of Satan tempting Jesus in the desert. You can read it in Luke 4 for a refresher, and you will see that for each of Satan's temptations Jesus had an answer from the Law. The part that I want to focus on is this: when Satan told Jesus to throw himself down off the cliff and have the angels save him, Jesus said "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" The scripture He quoted is from Deuteronomy 6:16, which reads "Do not test the Lord your God as you did at Massah."
So what exactly happened at Massah? After being delivered from slavery out of Egypt, Israel had rejected the promised land by their lack of faith and were being led through the desert by God from one place to the next as a period of trial and testing. Eventually they stopped at a place where there was no water for them to drink, and they start arguing with Moses and complaining against God, telling him to give them water, to which Moses responds by saying "Why do you put the LORD to the test?" The word "Massah" means "testing," and I find it interesting that, while God was testing the Israelites to see whether they would follow His ways or not in their wilderness wandering, the Israelites, rather than obeying God, in turn tested God, challenging Him to see whether He would really provide for them - as if parting the Red Sea and raining down manna had not been enough!
Moses then asked God what to do, because he could see the people were getting out of control. Despite the fact that God wasn't happy with their attitude, He provided water for His people. As a result of this whole ordeal, Moses gave the place the names "Massah," which means "testing," and "Meribah," which means "quarreling," because Israel tested the God and argued by saying, 'Is the LORD among us or not?'"
Moses then asked God what to do, because he could see the people were getting out of control. Despite the fact that God wasn't happy with their attitude, He provided water for His people. As a result of this whole ordeal, Moses gave the place the names "Massah," which means "testing," and "Meribah," which means "quarreling," because Israel tested the God and argued by saying, 'Is the LORD among us or not?'"
Going back to the temptation: Satan was asking Jesus to prove that God was with Him. How often do we question whether or not God is with us? Just as He patiently provided water for an unbelieving people then, even greater is the patience of God toward us, for surely we have all sometimes tested God ourselves in ignorance as we wander through our own wilderness! Thank God for His mercy! But we are called to a higher standard, because Jesus, in whose way we are called to walk, after 40 days of fasting demonstrated through His response that we should not seek to prove to ourselves or anyone else that God is with us, but to have faith in God to provide. The Israelites were ready to stop following God and go look for water themselves because they thought God might abandon them, whereas Jesus knew that God was with Him.
So also, by the holy scriptures we can know that God is with us! Isaiah prophesied of Christ in Isaiah 7:14 that He would be called "Immanuel," meaning "God with us." Jesus lived on earth and was "God with us" in the flesh, but also in the Great Commission, when Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection, Jesus assured the disciples that "surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Jesus continues to be "God with us" today as we draw near the "end of the age," if we will repent of our sins, be baptized, and strive to live by God's word.
Thanks for your thoughts on this passage, especially - what a contrast - between the Israelites' loss of faith once the water ran out and Jesus' complete faith in God though he'd already gone without food [water too?] for 40 days. Googled this post while contemplating whether or not we could say Nik Wallenda is putting God to the test with his stunts.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this! May the Lord bless you always :D x
ReplyDeleteThanks alot for the answer. that passage makes sense now
ReplyDeleteI'm SORRY G-d. PLEASE HELP US.
ReplyDeleteThank you. This has helped me in my BSF study on Matthew 4. God bless you more
ReplyDeleteSame for me with my BSF study of Matthew Chapter 4 seven years after this post! I love it!
DeleteTHANKS FOR THIS STUDY.God is good!
DeleteThat really blessed me - Thank you!
ReplyDeleteJust what I needed to know. I am guilty of sometimes wondering if God is really with us, testing Him and doubting Him at times. But this has uplifted me. Thank you and God bless you.
ReplyDeleteExactly the same for me, my brother
DeleteThis is a test and it does involve testing God...but, the point of HaSatan taking Christ to the top of the temple is that he would be visible to any and all that are in the temple and city below. It is from this point that if anyone witnessed a miracle of no harm as HaSatan declares, then THEY will know he (Christ) is of God! In doing so HaSatan knows he will force Gods hand to reveal his son...this is the temptation that Christ is to resist, taking control (as most of us do) and causing God to act (see Massah). We plan, connive, secure our own daily needs, financial wealth, even our plan for old age...all just as HaSatan would like it...take the initiative to do what God would/will do for us...in HIS TIME. We submit to that temptation. Christ didn't.
ReplyDeleteYou make an interesting point that this would have become a public incident because it was at the Temple; however, I don't think that the temptation was necessarily about revealing Jesus publicly - He was about to start His ministry right after this anyway. The temptation to rule the earth fits that mold since this is something that Jesus would wait much longer for (and still waits for!), but He was very soon to be revealed as the Christ. I wouldn't say that you're wrong, it's just that the narrative doesn't seem to be making that point because this temptation is posed the same as the temptation to turn the stones into bread, starting with, "If you are the Son of God..."
DeleteAnd your point about waiting on God is a good one - that He will provide for all of our needs - however, we have to be careful not to let that be cause for idleness. God's blessings often come in the form of opportunities rather than gifts, and there are times when God wants us to take initiative. We certainly shouldn't give obsessive worry to our financial security and other worldly cares, but we should be sure to do what we are able with the comfort that God will supply what we lack.
Yes Steven...idleness is counterproductive, but the urge to advance God's plan (which both Jesus and Ha Satan knew of very well) is a tact we succumb to often. The first case of this occurred in the encounter Eve had with the serpent. Eve knew she had a role as ‘Helper’ and in her perfect state she must have taken that role to heart (Just as Jesus did when we learn he took his role ‘unto death’). In a deeper study one discovers just what Eve’s role was and modeled the role for all women/wives in a man’s life, Thank you God Almighty! But that’s another discussion all together. The point being, the serpent offered Eve an opportunity to advance her ability to fulfill this role so deeply held by making herself equal to God Himself! Perhaps Eve would have been better served (or better served her mission) by waiting (sort of idleness) for God to give his input and direction in answer to this temptation. We all know what she did and the consequences of it.
DeleteIn the case of ‘What happened at Massah’ per the verse in Mathew, the people forced God’s hand in their desire for immediate satisfaction of their thirst (hmmm, sort of like the end of Matt. 4:2 where Jesus was ‘hungry’ an illusion to a weakened state...is Mathew making a connection?) and tempted/tested God in their weakened state. Thus, forcing God’s hand by accusing him of not being ‘with us’ [Exodus 17: 1-7] (Ha Satan, Hebrew for ‘The Accuser’; see Job). In Mathews account of the temptation, there is the illusion to a weakened state; hunger, Ha Satan is up to his old tricks of taking advantage of that state of weakness, and calls upon Christ to circumvent the plan of God (which they both know) to expedite his revelation as the Messiah to the Jews all around the base of the temple and outlying area (the audience)...just JUMP! Wow what a temptation to get satisfaction right now...Strike that rock for us Moses and show us God is really with us! (Exodus as above).
Jesus in obedience to God, did not move to advance what God would eventually do, he resisted the temptation to call on God to reveal His plan in Ha Satan’s time by instigating it...exactly what the people at Massah did and that was the submission to their own desires, disobedience. Ha Satan has not power, we can rule over the temptation (Gen. 4:7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”).
By the way, we see later in Mathew that Christ’s ‘countenance’ was lifted up when the Angels administered to him...to bad the Hebrews at Massah didn’t wait for God to send them.
Excuse me Steven...in one more point to your reply, the temptation to rule the earth as being an eventuality was not the plan of Ha Satan...it was to cause Christ to achieve in his own way what Christ would eventually get but in that way negate the need for him to die on the cross to get there eventually. We know the result of this would have been the non-defeat of death and thus no eternal life for us! Ha Satan was going after this and would have given anything to achieve it, even his own power (which he had none) he thought he had on earth to give away the nations.
DeleteSure, we don't want to try to advance God's plan by our own will - a prominent example of this would be Abraham and Sarah using Hagar to have a son. I'm not so sure that Eve's motivation for taking the fruit was to become a better helper though - again, not that I think you're necessarily wrong, that just doesn't seem like the most likely explanation to me. Either way, you give an interesting and well thought out analysis, which I appreciate.
DeleteBut I do want to reiterate the main point of my initial response, which is that we are expected to do what we can to provide for ourselves and our future, and there is a fine line between simply being diligent versus being obsessive over it. As long as we are (1) not doing anything dishonest or otherwise sinful and (2) putting our trust in God rather than our own efforts, then I don't think that we are guilty of trying to force God's blessing just because we work hard and plan well, knowing that all good things that we acquire actually come from God.
One final thing: Satan did (and does) have power on earth. Paul called him both "the god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4) and "the prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2). God allows Satan to rule over the earth for now, but the time is coming when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ (Revelation 11:15).
Thanks for the dialogue Steven. I would respectfully submit that what you have posted is a well summed theological doctrine derived from an attempt to quell accusations that arose during ‘the enlightenment’ period (1700’s) and known to us as systematic theology. This not offered to belittle your response...but to cause others who might view this thread and perhaps you, to research where these ideas we are taught originated from in history. Then go on to peel back the layers of understanding why we have 30,000 different denominations (views) of theology in our day.
ReplyDeleteLet’s focus in on the term ‘god’ in your response and used as you have correctly quoted (mostly in the NIV interpretation of scripture and carried forward into other interpretations by that influence). Knowledge of why a small capitol is used would be appropriate and found fully revealed in the Old Testament. This is no entity of power and is declared by the only God as empty and disrespectful to him in the accounting of power...see idol worship. Used in the words of Paul during this era and audience (Hebrews who knew the Old Testament way better than you or I probably ever will) this is exactly the meaning associated because everyone knew the emptiness of the non-power (think of Moses and the Pharaoh). Systematic theology has brought us a slave mentality to the belief that a boogey man lurks in the darkness, undetectable until he grabs us and we are gone...this is amazing since there is no mention of this sort of thing in the Old Testament and in the only accounts this entity has only the permission of God to test (Job) and the cunningness to entice (Eve – he is ‘more crafty’ than any other ANIMAL...not you, so once again Gen. 4:7). We need to move beyond the doctrines of the 1700’s and associate the New Testament words with the overwhelming references making up that material to the Old Testament, to what the people they were writing to would have seen it as.
Finally and with much love, please Brother, read the entire context of your quote from Ephesians. I think you will find that the power you attribute is only a submission and participation in the ‘course of this world’ which was set in motion by God when He allowed the creation He formed in Their own image to follow until we should discover that it is in our own best interest to follow Him. Paul is dealing with identifying disobedience which is our own lust, indulgence and our nature...which is the spirit (as a verb – action, not a noun-person, place or thing) which is the delight of Ha Satan performed by us, just as Eve performed what that crafty animal wanted her to....but Jesus didn’t.
To the administrator of this thread...thank you for your allowance of me to perhaps take this subject on temptation further off course than you may have intended...Steven made me do it!
I understand your point that, in comparison to God, Satan has no power, or even that Satan has no power outside of what God allows, as the book of Job teaches. However, if we are to understand that Satan "walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8), then we must also understand that he has some power by which to devour - by this I mean primarily the power to deceive. Whether Satan has the ability to cause things to happen of his own accord or whether he has to go ask God every single time whether he can make something bad happen to test someone is irrelevant since, either way, (1) Satan can do nothing if God doesn't allow him to and (2) Satan ends up, at the very least, having access to power.
DeleteHowever, one are in which God seems to have given Satan carte blanche is in deceive people, and the scriptures testify that he has deceived the entire world. Only a small number of people at this time are having their eyes opened by God to escape this deception. If the leaders of this world are by-and-large deceived by Satan, then is he not their ruler? My belief is that the bible says that he is for now, but that, as I quoted before, a day is coming when "the kingdoms of this world [shall] become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ" (Revelation 11:15).
By the way, I happen to be the administrator for this site :). I don't think we should continue this discussion in the comments here because it has indeed gotten far off track, but I'm planning to write an article soon on this topic. I'll put a link here when I'm done in case you want to continue the discussion of Satan there, but I'm not going to continue allowing comments on that topic in this thread.
One final thing! It may admittedly take me some time (probably at least until the middle of next week) to get together an article on this, so I wanted to say that you are certainly welcome to contact me directly via e-mail if you want to continue this discussion now rather than wait. My e-mail is stuntmansteve@gmail.com
Deleteoops..Steven, I wanted to call your attention also to what the whole "the prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2) Paul was alluding to. This is an Old Testament reference to Job when God allowed Ha Satan to cause the great wind that blew away Job's family and the Hebrews would have readily known this. Once again we know that God controls his creation and only allowed Ha Satan a momentary use of it to perform the test of Job. Reading the scripture we see it was the 'power of the air' not the power of Ha Satan.
ReplyDeletePraise God Steven for your self control an God inspired response. I think, "that guy" sounds like a know all an maybe little tired.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really good exposition, and helpful to me. The Spirit is still moving through it. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you
ReplyDeleteHe was telling Jesus to cast himself off the pinnacle of the temple
DeleteThanks Steven .Clear,powerful,gentle.keep posting!God bless you
ReplyDeleteThank you Sir, God bless you
ReplyDelete