CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE DAILY DEVOTIONAL ON YOUTUBE
Matthew 4:8-11
A third time Satan tempts Jesus, which is unique in that of the three persons of the triune God in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. But this third time Satan pulls out all the stops and gets right to the point; he showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in their “earthly” glory and said to Him in Matthew 4:9 (NKJV), “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” At this point Satan has revealed his true passion and goal in tempting Jesus, that Jesus would worship him. He has revealed his sin against God in his desire to have God worship him – he desires to be higher than God in status.
It is believed by many scholars that the sin/fall of Lucifer (Satan) is recorded in Isaiah 14. The Prophet Isaiah teaches us in Isaiah 14:12-15,
12 “How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars
Of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the
Congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the
Clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit.”
Jesus sets the example for us once again of what we should do when Satan tempts us; in His power over Satan through His deity being God in human form, and the creator of all – including Lucifer himself, gives a command in which Satan must follow. He commands in Matthew 4:10, “Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve’” [Deuteronomy 6:13].
We learn the result of having the power of the LORD working from within us in our salvation/believing in the power of Jesus over the power of Satan. Matthew 4:11 teaches us of this result as it states, “Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.”
This is an example of the power of Jesus/God over the devil.
Through our faith and salvation in Christ Jesus, He defends our faith in Him by filling us with His power in times of need. Through our sincere faith in Him, He gives us His righteousness; He gives us His power when we call on His name – the name of Jesus, to protect us as we should say the same words as Jesus when we are being attacked by the devil: “Away with you Satan!” I personally believe that we should say this in the name of Jesus as it is His power that protects us – not our own power which is inferior to that of the devil. But that’s why we need Jesus; to set us free from the chains that the devil binds us with, and then to protect us from the devil through our faith in Him – our faith in the Savior of the world – Jesus!
Dear LORD,
There is power in the name of Jesus; power to save us from sin and the fiery darts of the devil. It is our faith in Jesus that must be sincere to experience a new life in Christ Jesus and be protected from the trickery of the devil. Please help us to see that we must repent from the evil ways of this world and seek Your will for our lives as we put and keep our faith in our Savior—the Savior of the world – Jesus! In Jesus name I pray, amen.