Luke 4:9-13 No Stubbed Toes for Jesus
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: June 28, 2018 Luke 4:9-13
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
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.
(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) Satan had been studying scriptures. He knew the prophecies of the Messiah. He quoted from Psalm 91. “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place— the Most High, who is my refuge— no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. ‘Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation’” (Psalm 91:1-16).
Reading this, I would never have suspected that it was a Messianic prophecy. I think it also applies to any of God’s people because Jesus said something to the disciples about snakes biting them and it not affecting them which would correlate too. “You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.” “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you” (Luke 10:19). I guess that power is given by Jesus who received it from the Father.
Jesus answers the Psalm quote with a quote from Deuteronomy. “then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers” (Deuteronomy 6:12-18).
The focus of Jesus’ answer was not on not serving other gods, but only the LORD. Instead, I think that I can deduce that Jesus was saying to Satan that throwing Himself off the pinnacle would be not trusting the Father. Massa was the place where Moses struck the rock according to God’s command and water came forward. The people had been traveling according to God’s leading through the wilderness. They were very thirsty with no water in sight. Even though God had led them safely in the past, they lacked faith that the Lord would fill their needs here. They complained to Moses saying that he had led them there to die. Masa is about forgetting how God has led us in the past and having no faith in His present leading. Also, Masa was where a symbol of Jesus was. Jesus was the rock that was struck and life-giving water flowed out to the rebellious people of earth. Jesus had studied this and understood well what it meant.
(Application) Everything points to Jesus saying that to throw Himself down would be to show a lack of faith in the Father’s leading. It would be demanding a sign from God when God had already given signs. It would be trying to force God to do something. There is a difference between asking and receiving promises and demanding presumptuously like a spoiled child. There is a difference between confidently expecting God to be God and trying to manipulate God into being who we want Him to be. Throwing Himself down in order to get confirmation of His mission would be manipulating the Father. Love does not work that way.
Jesus and Satan were on the pinnacle of the temple looking down. I assume that there were many people in the area who would have witnessed the fall and angel rescue. Was this temptation another shortcut to the mission? If everyone saw the sign, they would believe? Otherwise, I just don’t see how this was a very effective temptation. Why would anyone be tempted to throw themselves off a high tower? Guzik’s commentary offers one insight. “i. The ancient Jewish document Pesiqta Rabbati (162a) records a traditional belief that the Messiah would show Himself to Israel standing on the roof of the temple. If Jesus did what Satan suggested, it would fulfill the Messianic expectation of His day.” In other words, it would have been a shortcut to fulfilling a sign of the Messiah. Cambridge commentary says “Some well-known pinnacle of the Temple, either that of the Royal Portico, which looked down from a dizzy height into the Valley of the Kidron (Jos. Antt. xv. 11 § 5); or the Eastern Portico, from which tradition says that St James was afterwards hurled.” It is ironic that Jesus may have been tempted to hurl himself from the same pinnacle from which His brother was later hurled. On the other hand, Guzik’s commentary assumes that the pinnacle was the Royal Portico, not the Eastern Portico. Guzik also says “ii. Jesus understood that Satan enticed Him to take a step of ‘faith’ that would actually test (tempt) God in an ungodly way. ‘The temptation may have been to perform a spectacular, but pointless miracle in order to compel wonder and belief of a kind.” (Morris)'”
Meyer’s commentary says “He took into the wilderness a perfect humanity of flesh and blood, made in all points like His brethren, though without sin. He elected to fight His great fight, not by the use of the divine attributes, but as Son of man. Where the first Adam fell, the second must stand. First, He could not use His native power for His own gratification. Second, He would abide strictly within the limitations of the world He had entered, Heb_2:16-17. Third, He would win His kingdom by the Cross.” This quote points out that Satan was also trying to disqualify Jesus from being our human representative by getting Him to use His divine powers. Satan kept referring to Jesus as the Son of God, but Jesus always referred to Himself as the Son of Man. It was only as Man that Jesus was able to win back for us the inheritance of life, freedom, and dominion of this world. He could only fulfill the qualifications needed to take the world back from Satan as a Man. Mankind lost the original fight with Satan, so God became Man to fight Satan on his own territory and reinstate the original plan for humanity. Satan placed God in the position of seeming arbitrary if He took Satan’s victory over man away as a judge or parent deciding who would get what share of an inheritance. Satan anticipated being able to accuse God of being arbitrary. Instead, God did the unthinkable and fought Satan as Man. I wanted to say “as an equal” but in fact humans are less powerful, so God fought Satan “from a lower position.” It was an unequal fight with Satan having the advantage.
(Application) Satan stopped tempting Jesus at that point, but the passage makes the point that Satan would be back whenever he thought that circumstances would be favorable. Just because we have victory in one area of temptation does not mean that the tempter will not try again in either the same area or a different one. He is persistent in finding another opportune time when we are weak and not connected well to Jesus. In fact one of the times that he finds opportune is after a victory when we do not expect temptation. The SDA commentary talks about the transition from baptism (a victory) to the wilderness (temptation). “When Jesus first entered the wilderness He was shut in, as it were, by the Father’s glory, and when the glory departed He was left alone to battle temptation (DA 118).” After experiencing the glory of the Father’s love, the let down of not experiencing that intimate love left Jesus vulnerable. In the same way, a great revival in our lives with lots of emotion can leave us open for the morning after doubting and depression.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that Satan tempts every human, and most of us fall. It is only through the power of the Holy spirit that we may resist. These temptations were offered when Jesus was weakened physically by 40 days of fasting. Jesus went from the glory of the baptism to almost death and still resisted temptation through the Holy Spirit and scriptures but also through His very character. I need to let God to continue to transform me into His image. He has already got rid of many selfish and lazy aspects, but I still lack a loving heart and a faithful mind. My faith in God’s promises is so small that it would be easy to overcome me and cause me to test God with my doubt. I pray for faith and love and to reflect Jesus’ character.