Holy Boldness

(6) and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “’He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “’On their hands, they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Once again, Satan tempts Jesus by mocking God’s designation of Him as a Son and sought to provoke Him to take an initiative that would prove who He was. Satan quotes a scripture from the 91 st Psalm, “He will give His angels charge over you lest you dash your foot against the stone.” (v. 11) But this is a perfect example of exploiting God’s good favor and blessing and using it is an opportunity for self-promotion and lawlessness. Satan sought to lure Jesus into invoking the privilege of His special status and acting presumptuously, pulling God’s chain to force him to come to the rescue. This would have involved Jesus taking the initiative and ceas ing to follow God’s lead. It is pointing to the promise of God’s protection as an excuse for Jesus to provoke God into action on His behalf. This temptation is another attempt to try to seduce Jesus into not trusting God, to be self-centered as opposed to God-centered. Remember, we stated in the first chapter that the fear of the Lord means that a person lives for God’s pleasure and seeks to be oriented and grounded in Him. Once again Jesus answers from the book of Deuteronomy. “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Deut. 6:16) The context of this verse finds the Israelites in a place in the wilderness without water. So they tested the Lord asking an insulting question, “Is the Lord among us?” v. This statement was an insult aimed at trying to provoke God into proving His loyalty to them. Furthermore, it shows a total lack of trust, honor and the fear of the Lord. Jesus’ answer to Satan placed Him unmistakably on the Lord’s side and struck at the heart of this self-interested spirit. Jesus refused to throw himself down for it would have been an attempt to manipulate God into action. It would be an act of unbelief and not faith. It would be an insult to God for Jesus to try to provoke God to prove His promis es. And Jesus did not need God to prove himself. He already knew His Father and fully trusted Him.

Jesus did not need popularity to accomplish His purpose

Furthermore, such action as Satan tried to suggest to Jesus would have certainly created quite a stir among the people. It might have been a shortcut to popularity and acclaim. But Jesus was not a show-off.

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