For You Have Promised . . . Do I Believe?
For You Have Promised . . . Do I Believe?
In the second temptation of Christ as recorded in the gospel of Matthew
(4:5-7), Satan takes Jesus to a high temple and provokes him by saying, “If
you are the son of God you can jump from here. For it is written ‘He shall
command his angels concerning you and, on their hands, they shall bear
you up.’ ”
As I was growing up, I knew this as sin, because its source was the mouth of
the accuser. The problem is that Satan is not always so easy to be perceived.
It took me a very long time to understand the guile and cunning of the king
of all liars, indeed I am still learning. Matthew does us a favor by
announcing the presence of Satan and telling us what he speaks.
Unfortunately, the dark paths where I sometimes find myself make his
presence much more difficult to discern. I do not think that the tempter
threw up a lob for Jesus to smack out of the park. What Jesus experienced
and how this was manifest to him, we do not know for certain. Matthew
presents it to us in the form of a conversation. Knowing full well who Jesus
is, Satan begins his attack with an apparently innocent question. The
appearance of innocence is where the danger of this challenge lies. In the
garden, Satan issued a similar challenge by adding one simple word to what
God had already spoken. (Genesis 2:17 / 3:4) At that time, his approach
effectively enticed Eve to take the fruit. We still live with the devastating
consequences of her beguilement and Adam’s acceptance of that lie. Here
with Jesus, Satan employs the same approach as repeated from the first
temptation. It seems that the tempter has no new tools, even when
employed against the creator. He is, however, a master in his audacious
craft. Matthew has just told us that the voice of God spoke to Jesus and
said, “You are my beloved son.” (Mat 3:17) Again Satan adds one tiny word
to the statement of God. IF , you are the son of God. (Mat 4:6) With the
most insignificant of linguistic alterations, Satan returns the undeniable,
holy, and sacred scripture into a blasphemous challenge to God’s revealed
word. What the reader should understand here is that, like in the garden,
this is a pivotal moment for all of mankind. As in the garden, God’s image
is once again standing a hair’s breadth between complete and utter disaster
and blessed heavenly relationship. Knowing the somber significance of
holding on to each and every word of God as they were originally spoken
rests heavily on my soul. At any moment an “innocent” question may
introduce me to a new “if”, “and”, “but” or “not” that could bring me to the
same precipice that mankind faces each time that they add to or take from
God’s revelation. Thanks be to God that Jesus saw right through this.
As the approach of Satan fully develops, we see him coalesce his blasphemy
with the beautiful and holy promises for someone “resting in the shadow of
El Shaddai.” (Psa 91:1) The psalm from which Satan chooses his excerpt is
a blessed promise and conviction of God’s loving care and protection. The
contextual abuse Satan employs comes from Psalms (91:11-12), where he
takes the truth and tries to alter it into an assault against God. Satan is the
master alchemist, mixing hard circumstances, God breathed truth and
“innocent” additions into an unholy brew. With this last ingredient, Satan
places his profane concoction at the feet of Jesus. The firm conviction of
the psalmist is the loving embrace and protection of the Almighty. With
only the slightest twist of the holy scripture, Satan has created what
appears to be a proof that needs an action. This trap is one I have been
particularly susceptible to, as time and again proof is demanded for solace I
find in God. Not that there is no proof, but that the demand seeks
something outside the sufficiency of what has already been provided.
As in the previous temptation, Jesus goes back to the Torah, the
Pentateuch. Back to the original words of God. These are the words
spoken more than a century before faithful men of God began to make
dense meaningful poetry from God’s continued care and love for his
creation. This is not to say that the Psalms are not God breathed but that
they often assume a context of what God has already revealed. If Psalms is
the linguistic art expressing the unyielding and impregnable protection of
God, Deuteronomy is the fountain from where that protection was
promised. (Deut 6:16) In the context of Jesus’ quote, the Israelites are
being reminded how God had promised to deliver them, but they “tempted
God” at the waters of Meribah. They were challenging what God said that
he would do. God said that he would lead them to a paradise. They tested
God by saying, “will you lead us to this land, or leave us to die of thirst in
this wilderness?” The specific whisper of Satan is not revealed to us, but
you can imagine his dark utterings peaking the ears of God’s children, “can
God really deliver you to the promised land?” Jesus took the memory of
Israel’s doubt not only to prove God’s fidelity but to crush the perverted
atrocity that Satan had created. Jesus changed the question back into its
original statement. In this case, Jesus removed the “IF.” God said it,
therefore it is true.
IF , God’s protection is true, how could Jesus suffer in the wilderness and
ultimately on the cross? IF , God blesses so richly, how can such
devastating suffering exist? IF , God’s protection is promised, why must I
“walk through the valley of the shadow of death” (Psa 23).
Jesus understood and treasured God’s word. IF we think we understand
the heights of God blessings in the depths of our personal suffering, I would
suggest that perhaps our downcast eyes are focused in the wrong direction.
Not minimizing the pain of the circumstance but realizing the greater
promise of the one that has, does, and will deliver.
1 Corinthians 2:9 (inspired by Isaiah 64:4) For from of old no one has
heard or perceived by ear, no eye has seen a God besides you who acts for
those who wait for him.
Context: “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the
mountains might quake at your presence – as when fire kindles
brushwood and the fire causes water to boil – to make your name known
to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the
mountains quaked at your presence.” (Isaiah 64:1-3)
- Steve Turquette
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