Did Satan appear physically to tempt Jesus, or did he only appear in Jesus' mind?
Matthew 4:3
KJV - 3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
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Asked August 07 2014
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Martin Klux
Supporter
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Jyotish Mishra
Supporter
Satan has a celestial body as per 1 Cor. 15:40.We can not see him but we know as per the word of God that he is a real person and now his realm of operations is predominantly the planet earth. We are told about his throne in Rev. 2:13. But our Lord as the Son of God, being the second revealed person of the Trinity, could see him and thus He interacted with satan as a real person as we interact with each other as terrestrial beings. Do not forget that a day is coming when satan will be bound (Rev20:2). But now our eyes are not opened to see him. Celestial beings like angels of The Lord were visible to human beings Think of Mary seeing Gabriel; even Daniel seeing Michael. So I believe that our Lord Jesus faced the devil as a real person and not in His mental realm.
Seth Freeman
Supporter
From what I can see, the words "came" and "said" used in verse 3 are always used in the book of Matthew referring to people physically approaching, and audibly speaking. The dialogue seems to indicate that Satan appeared to Jesus physically. Is it possible that Satan was present but not in physical form that we could see but still conversed with Christ? I suppose it could be. But as the temptation reflects back upon the temptation of Adam and Eve in the garden where Satan did take physical form (albeit a snake), I don't see any compelling reason to think that Satan did not have physical form throughout this temptation.
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