Luke 4:9-13 :
He led him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here, for it is written,
‘He will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you;’
and,
‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answering, said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”
When the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until another time.
This is a very interesting temptation to be me because it is an attack on the word of God. This is a common method of Satan and it was his first suggestion to Eve in the garden:
Genesis 3:1 :
Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’”
Notice that Satan asked Eve a confusing question about what God said. In this case, he actually uses a fallacious argument technique in which he sets up a “straw man.” He acts as if God had said something that He knew that God never said. In the attempt against Jesus, Satan questions God’s appointment of Jesus as His Son. This is a very common Satanic plot to this very day.
Satan appears to be aiming this temptation at Jesus pride by saying something that would require Him to prove himself before unbelievers. I really love how Jesus answers here.
Jesus is God and when He says “You shall not tempt the Lord your God,” He condemns Satan’s question against Him while also saying exactly why it will go unanswered by the perfect Man. God is not to be put to the test. God loves faith and hates doubt. We are to believe what He says because He said it because without faith it is impossible to please God.