Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

​I see two aspects of Satan's identity reflected in the temptation of Jesus referenced in the question. 

One would be the title of "father of lies" given to Satan by Jesus Himself in John 8:44. Satan did not have anything to offer Jesus. Anything that he regards as his possession is either not really his or is his only by the permissive will of God.

At the same time, in a very real sense (and as he is called in the Bible), Satan is "the ruler of this world" (John 14:30), "the god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4), and "the prince of this world" (John 12:31). But submitting to that rule consists of offering him the worship and praise that belongs to God alone (as he tempted Jesus to do), while leaving in place the universal sin that would doom humanity to eternal separation from God, and that Jesus had been incarnated for the purpose of defeating.

Nevertheless, Satan's temptation of Jesus was a powerful allurement to Jesus' true humanity to escape the suffering (which I don't think any of us can fully appreciate or even understand) that would be involved (and that Jesus knew would be involved) in undergoing the torture and death (including the circumstances reflected in His cry from the cross of, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?") that He was later to undergo in order to make humanity's salvation possible.

February 23 2021 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report