GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LUKE 4:9-12
9 The Devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here,
Before we get to this temptation, we can take a moment to define what is meant by a pterygion (πτερύγιον). The word means “little wing” or “corner.” The “corner” meaning seems to be what Ruth meant when she asked Boaz to spread his cloak’s pterygion over her, “since you are a kinsman-redeemer” (Ruth 3:9, Greek text). This is the part of the robe which David cut from Saul’s robe (1 Samuel 24:4-6). What would this have been on the temple? Although we translate the word as “pinnacle,” perhaps “extreme corner” would help us to understand the architecture. The temple was built on the northeastern side of Mount Moriah (Mount Zion), over the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. It faced roughly east, toward the sunrise over the Mount of Olives. The temple area today is the Medieval and Muslim reconstruction of the Second Temple, which was built after the Jews returned from exile (Haggai 2:18). The temple walls towered above the rest of the city, with the outer walls built on the edge of a tall hill (or very small mountain). This gives us two different possible answers to the question of what this “pinnacle” was. Was it the very highest point of the structure, which would probably have been the lintel above the main doors to the holy place? Or would it have been the southeastern corner of the wall, which overlooked the furthest drop down to the ground, since the hill slopes most steeply down from that point? This question is why we’re not more specific with the translation; it could have been one or the other. There is no theologically or grammatically preferable answer.
Consider what the Devil was trying to command Jesus to do: Jump off of or out of the temple. This is exactly what Satan wants: to remove God from his holy temple. Having failed to do this in his original rebellion in heaven (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6), now he wanted to trick the Son of God into doing it voluntarily. What a victory that would have been for Satan! He even used one of his favorite tricks, which is to twist Scripture into saying something it does not:
10 for it is written:
‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you.’
11 And,
‘they will lift you up with their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Here the old Rascal quotes Psalm 91:11 and 91:12, but as Luke has shown us with his “and” outside of the quotation marks, the Devil has left something out. The phrase at the end of Psalm 91:11 which the Devil has dropped is “in all your ways.” Our ways are to conform to God’s ways (Psalm 119:59). God says: “My ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts (are higher) than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9). By omitting the whole point of the Psalm, which is walking in God’s path, he makes the Psalm sound as if God will protect us no matter what we do—even some foolish daredevil stunt like this (which is why it’s called a ‘dare-devil’ stunt in the first place). You can hear it when the Devil has succeeded in this lie when people justify their sins by saying, “God is love, and so God just wants me to be happy,” when in fact God wants us to be faithful and to walk in his ways. You may as well say that since God is love, there cannot be any hell. But just ask the Devil how the weather is down there today….
By quoting these verses, the Devil was really playing with fire, since Psalm 91 goes on to say in verse 13, “You will trample the great lion and the serpent.” When we walk in God’s way, we do not need to fear the enemies arrayed against us; not even the Devil himself. But Jesus did not point this out. He didn’t worry about the omitted phrase, either. If the Devil wanted to play with only part of a verse, fine. Jesus would answer him where he stood. After all, is not Psalm 91:11a the inspired Word of God? It certainly is, and so Jesus answered on the basis of the Devil’s quotation and his temptation:
12 Jesus answered him, “It says: ‘You shall not test the Lord your God.’”
This is Deuteronomy 6:16. In all of Jesus’ responses in the temptation, he does not quote outside of Deuteronomy 6 or 8. He teaches us that Scripture always interprets Scripture. It must agree with itself. Satan, on the other hand, wants to pit Scripture against Scripture, which is almost always the challenge of unbelievers, especially today when everyone demands a simple, concise answer to any confusing, complex and often self-contradictory question.
How is it that we walk with God? It certainly isn’t by putting God to the test. Rather, it’s understanding that God often tests us. When tragedy, difficulty, or pain comes into my life, do I get angry, or vengeful, or do I despair? Do I wonder what God is up to? Is my very faith tested? Or do I run to God, and ask him to help me through the tough day? That’s what God wants me to do. The consequences of sin in the world means that there are sinful explosions and melt-downs and crashes and eruptions happening all the time, all around. The messiness of other people’s sins splashes its filth on us every single day. We can’t protect ourselves from these things. Hiding away like monks or nuns doesn’t carry out the Great Commission. God wants us to be in there, in the trenches, in lifelong family commitments that are often hard and heartbreaking. But these things are how God gathers the elect. It’s how the work of his kingdom gets done. Don’t test God. Ask God to help you pass his tests.
Jesus passed his temptation with flying colors. He made no mistake at all, even in the swamp of Satan’s twisting and bending of the Bible. His victory covers all of your failures, and mine. His victory means our victory over sin and the Devil, and even over death itself. His victory assures us of eternal life.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota