On This Day: Deception By the Book

   And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written,
   “‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    to guard you,’
   and
   “‘On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
   And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. (Luke 4:9-13)

   I just want to focus on the fill-in-the-blanks statement, “If you are _______, do this _______ because it is written _______.” While it appears to have three parts, there are really four.  

   Part 2: “If you are ____”. This focuses on something legitimate about who we are in Christ. For Jesus, it was “If you are the Son of God…” Yes, he was the Son of God. Yes, there are many things Satan can attach to that are who we really are in Jesus Christ our Lord.

   Part 3: “do this ___”. In Jesus’ case, the “do this” was, “throw yourself down from here”. This is totally fabricated. It focuses on something we would do to defend who we are, or to prove who we are, but in a totally made-up way that does not come from God’s word.

   Part 4: “because it is written ___”. The “do this” fabrication is sandwiched between a legitimate statement of who we are in Christ and legitimate Scriptures that really say something that almost sound like they fit the made-up challenge. 

   For Jesus, the “for it is written” was two promises of God regarding protecting his children. For us, it could be anything that is a legitimate promise of God in Scripture. The point is in Part 1 of this scene.

   Part 1: Satan is urging Jesus to treat him as the authority over what Jesus should do next rather than Jesus continuing to live under his Father’s authority. 

   The reason I made this last point Part 1 is because it is the thing we should always address first: Who is the authority in this scene? Where am I being directed to put my faith? Who am I being asked to trust right now? However we say it, the first part in anyone telling us anything we should do is to address who is the authority. 

   A good pastor/teacher will be a man who does what Paul told Titus, “But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1). Paul had just outlined some ways that false teachers were seeking to lead people astray. He then gives this instruction that applies to every man who presents himself as a teacher of God’s people. Whatever we teach must “accord with sound doctrine”. 

   In other words, as we test the teachers we listen to, the issue isn’t how much Scripture they quote. Satan used Scripture when he tried to lure Jesus into sin. The issue is whether they keep directing us to live under the authority of God’s word as we can read and understand it plainly, or whether they keep telling us to trust them that the scriptures mean something different than what we can see for ourselves.  

   No, this is not easy, as our daily struggles with sin testify. However, that is why we are told to “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (I Peter 5:8). When Satan first asked, “Did God actually say…?” Eve’s answer should have been, “Adam, is that what God said?” (which it wasn’t). If they had waited for God to come in the cool of the day and join the conversation, we would have had quite a different story. 

  We certainly can’t change what happened in that garden. However, maybe we can change someone’s story today by turning from Satan and his servants who are challenging the authority of God’s word and once again seek to live by every word that comes from the mouth of God. 

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)