Vol. 3, No. 9 | Page 6 |
September, 2001 |
Jesus had not eaten anything in forty days. He was very hungry. And he was very tired and weak. Satan had tried to get him to turn a stone into bread. But Jesus had resisted using his miraculous powers to serve himself. He stayed with his mission to serve others.
Satan then takes Jesus to the top of a high mountain. He shows Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world. He tells Jesus he will give him the power to be king over all of them and give him the great glory that would go along with that power. He would do this if Jesus would bow down and worship Satan.
Now Satan is the father of lies. But I do not think Satan was lying about being able to do this. Notice that in Luke 4:6, Satan states that the ability to give Jesus this power and glory had been given to him. Jesus does not answer that Satan is lying. His response assumes that what Satan is saying is true.
Satan had challenged God once before over Job. God had given Satan the power to do anything to Job that he wanted, except to kill him. It is very likely that God had given Satan the power to do all that Satan stated he would do for Jesus. That is what made this such a temptation for Jesus. He could have avoided being crucified.
But Jesus knew that this was not the way he was to become the King of Kings. He knew that he must teach the message of God for the next three years and then die on the cross. He would not be able to be the eternal King of Kings if he worshipped Satan. You or I might have been very tempted to do what Satan wanted. But Jesus gave us the perfect example of resisting Satan.
I am thankful that we have a Savior who loved us enough to suffer and die for us. I am thankful that he gave us the example of resisting Satan.
Until next time, keep reading your Bible. Learn the wisdom of God. Follow the example of Jesus. And if any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.
John the Baptist is known as a great Bible character. He was responsible for preaching and preparing the way for Jesus. John was not scared to preach what needed to be said. He was willing to do whatever was necessary to preach the good news of the coming Christ.
Jesus said that no man had ever been born who was greater than John the Baptist (except for Jesus himself, Matthew 11:11). That means Jesus considered John greater than Abraham, Moses and Elijah. This makes John a very great man indeed.
Yet, as great as John was, John did not think he was great. John considered himself as very, very low compared to Jesus. In Matthew 3:11, John said he was not worthy to bear the sandals of Jesus. That is a very important statement.
In New Testament times, people wore sandals. The lowest job a person could have was carrying the sandals of someone else (and/or washing their feet). Many times the lowliest servant went with a master to carry his sandals. The lowliest servant would take the sandals off for the master when he arrived home.
John said he was not even worthy of bearing the sandals of Jesus. So even though Jesus said that no man had ever been born greater than John, John says he is lowlier than the lowliest servant when compared to Jesus. This tells us how great John considered Jesus to be.
Do you think of yourself as that low compared to Jesus? Many people think more highly of themselves than they should. But no one should think that way, especially when he thinks of Jesus.
Copyright © 2001 Louis Rushmore. All Rights Reserved.
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