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III. The devil’s first stratagem in tempting the first God-man to ignore His human status of being a man — Matt. 4:3-4:
А. In His anointing the first God-man, God declared that He was His beloved Son — 3:17.
B. Based upon God’s declaration that the first God-man was His beloved Son, the devil exercised his first stratagem, tempting the first God-man to ignore that He was a man.
C. But the first God-man defeated His tempter by standing firmly in His position of a man and answering him by saying, “Man shall not live...,” insisting to indicate that He was a man — 4:4.
IV. The devil’s second stratagem in tempting the first God-man to assume His divinity of being the Son of God — vv. 5-7:
А. Again, it was based upon what God declared that the first God-man was.
B. The devil exercised his second stratagem, tempting the first God-man to assume His divinity by having a miracle of protection by the angels.
C. But the first God-man overcame His subtle tempter by saying, “You shall not test the Lord your God,” indicating strongly that He was a man before God who should not test the Lord His God.
D. God in His eternal economy wanted to have a man as one of His creatures to deal with His enemy Satan, another creature, but the enemy tempted the first God-man to assume His divinity as the Creator of all things. By this subtle way Satan mixed up the levels of God as the Creator and Satan himself as a creature.
V. The devil’s third stratagem in seducing the first God-man to love the glory of the kingdoms of the world, worshipping him as God and serving him as his subordinate — vv. 8-11; Luke 4:5-8:
А. It should have been that in the preadamic age, God appointed the archangel to be the head of the preadamic age (Ezek. 28:13-14), and the authority and glory of the kingdoms of the earth should have been given to him. After he rebelled against God and became God’s enemy, Satan, he was judged by God (Isa. 14:12-15), but the full execution of God’s judgment upon him will not be completed until the end of the millennium (Rev. 20:7-10). Hence, until that time he has authority over the kingdoms of the earth.
B. In his subtle temptation of the Lord, he offered the earthly kingdoms and their glory to the first God-man as a bait to hook Him so that He would worship him as God and serve him as his subordinate.
C. But the first God-man saw through the evil tempter’s devilish device and conquered him by chasing him away and telling him in a shaming way that as a man before God, He would worship God and serve Him only.
In the previous chapter we saw the definitions of the way of righteousness and the proper and righteous base of Jesus’ baptism. Jesus received the baptism by John the Baptist, standing on the base of realizing that He was a man in the flesh. Of course, Jesus had no sin. Romans 8:3 says that He was in the likeness of the flesh of sin, but He was still in the flesh, which in the eyes of God is altogether condemned, rejected, and worthy only of death and burial. Jesus stood on this base to receive the baptism from John.
Before the Lord Jesus began to do anything for His ministry, the first thing He did was to come to John to receive such a baptism to declare to the universe that He did not depend at all upon the flesh for God’s ministry. We all have to see this. No one should bring anything of his natural life, anything of his flesh, into God’s ministry. Especially the co-workers and elders need to realize that as a natural man in the flesh, we are good for nothing except death and burial. We need to have ourselves absolutely terminated in the water of baptism. This is the intrinsic significance of the base of Jesus’ baptism. I hope also that all the full-time trainees, spiritually speaking, have accepted such a baptism. We all should declare in our life and work, “I am a person in the flesh, worthy of nothing in the eyes of God but death and burial, so I want to have myself terminated, crucified and buried.”
In this chapter we want to go on to see three definitions covering the three sections of the enemy’s one temptation of the first God-man.
Jesus was led to fast for forty days. After the forty days He was hungry. Then the tempter, Satan, said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, speak that these stones may become loaves of bread” (Matt. 4:3). It was as if Satan were saying to Jesus, “God appointed You and declared that You were His beloved Son, the Son of God, when You were standing in the waters of baptism. If You are such a Son of God, give the word for these stones to become loaves of bread.”
I believe we would have failed such a test. We would have performed a miracle to display to everyone that we are the sons of God. But if the Lord had done this, it would have been against the base of His baptism. He came to the wilderness to be tempted as a man, not as the Son of God. The Son of God is just God Himself. Who can tempt God? Jesus was a man in the wilderness. As God Himself, could He be hungry? With God there is no hunger, but as a man, Jesus was hungry. Satan’s stratagem was to tempt Jesus to ignore His standing as a man and to assume His position as the Son of God. So the Lord answered him by saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God’” (v. 4). He defeated the enemy by His standing as a man.
In His anointing the first God-man, God declared that He was His beloved Son (3:17). Based upon God’s declaration that the first God-man was His beloved Son, the devil exercised his first stratagem, tempting the first God-man to ignore that He was a man. But the first God-man defeated His tempter by standing firmly in His position of a man and answering him by saying, “Man shall not live...,” insisting to indicate that He was a man.
Now we need to consider the application of the devil’s first stratagem to our own situation. When some co-workers visit another place, they may expect that the elders there will welcome them as the top co-workers in the recovery and ask them to give a message. What would we do in such a situation? Would we accept this invitation or stand on the base that we are men in the flesh? We should have the attitude that we have nothing good and are worthy only of death and burial. Suppose we take the chance to speak and speak successfully. Then we could declare, “I am a real son of God.” Is this what we should stand on? We should stand on the base that we are men in the flesh. What we have is not worth anything in the eyes of God except death and burial.
After passing through two years of training, the full-time trainees may feel that they are special when they return to their localities. Perhaps they expect that everyone will come out in a parade to welcome them back. Even the elders may feel this way because they are so natural. They would announce to the congregation that a certain trainee has returned, and they would ask him to give a message. The returning trainee may feel that this is his golden opportunity to show that he is a son of God. In principle this is the same as Satan’s temptation of the Lord to make the stones loaves of bread.
On the other hand, if a trainee returns to his locality and nobody pays any attention to him, he may be disappointed and not know what to do or where to go. Where should you go? Go to the water to die and be buried there. Such a temptation is a test. The Greek word is the same for both temptation and test. With God it is a test; with the enemy it is a temptation. When we pass through the temptation of the enemy, we pass through the test of God to be approved by God. The first stratagem of the enemy is to annul our proper standing and encourage us to assume a higher standing. Some sisters may become jealous of others who receive more Amens than they do in response to their prayer. This means that they need another burial. We all need to realize that in our flesh we are worthy of nothing except death and burial.
After the devil’s first stratagem his temptation of the first God-man changed somewhat (4:5-7). He brought Jesus to the wing of the temple, a very high place. The tempter said to Jesus, “If You are the Son of God, cast Yourself down; for it is written, ‘To His angels He shall give charge concerning You, and on their hands they shall bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against a stone’” (v. 6). This was a temptation enticing Jesus to show that as the Son of God He was able to act miraculously. Many of the so-called healings in Pentecostalism are just for the purpose of making a show and are not genuine. We may be attracted by the Lord and react to His attraction by loving and following Him, but at the same time we may desire to have a name like the Son of God and a position like the divine position of God. This is our trouble.
The devil’s second stratagem was again based upon what God declared that the first God-man was. The devil then exercised his second stratagem. The first one was to tempt the Lord to ignore His position as a man and to assume His divine position as the Son of God by performing a miracle. When this did not work, the devil tried to make Him assume His position in divinity to display His power and His authority by having a miracle of protection by the angels. But the first God-man overcame His subtle tempter by saying, “You shall not test the Lord your God” (v. 7), indicating strongly that He was a man before God who should not test the Lord His God. Not to test means not to tempt. He, the first God-man, stood on the ground of a creature, recognizing that God was His Lord. He declared, “I shall not tempt My Lord. He is My Lord.” In being tempted, the Lord had at least three statuses: first, He was a man, second, a creature, and third, the Son of God. As a man, He could not test His Lord.
God in His eternal economy wanted to have a man as one of His creatures to deal with His enemy Satan, another creature, but the enemy tempted the first God-man to assume His divinity as the Creator of all things. By this subtle way Satan mixed up the levels of God as the Creator and Satan himself as a creature. We can see this when Jesus indicated that as a man, God’s creature, He would not test the Lord, His Creator. Today we must realize first that we are a man of the flesh worthy of nothing and second that we are a creature. God desires to use a creature to deal with Satan, another creature. Here we can see God’s wisdom. God would never deal with Satan directly. According to Hebrews 2:14, the Lord Jesus destroyed Satan by partaking of the flesh. He destroyed Satan in His flesh. Christ, as a creature, not as the Creator, destroyed Satan. He destroyed Satan as a creature on the same level as Satan. By this He honored God’s unique position as the Creator. Satan’s way was to uplift himself to the level of the Creator.
After his first two stratagems failed, Satan tried a third time to tempt the Lord to love the glory of the kingdoms of the world, worshipping him as God and serving him as his subordinate (vv. 8-11; Luke 4:5-8).
The enemy would tempt us to love the world by getting us to consider how successful the people in the world are, while we are nothing. I began to serve the Lord with my full time in 1933. About ten years later, I was imprisoned by the invading Japanese army, and afterward I contracted tuberculosis of the lungs. One day while I was still recuperating from my illness, I was walking with a stick on a bridge, and a thought came to me, saying, “You’ve been laboring for your Lord for ten years. What have you gained? All you have is a stick in your hand and nothing else. But look at how successful your classmates and other people have become.” That was a temptation. Many cannot overcome the third stratagem of the enemy: to use the world as a bait to hook us. I have seen many get hooked by this bait.
It should have been that in the preadamic age God appointed the archangel to be the head of the preadamic age (Ezek. 28:13-14), and the authority and glory of the kingdoms of the earth should have been given to him. After he rebelled against God and became God’s enemy, Satan, he was judged by God (Isa. 14:12-15), but the full execution of God’s judgment upon him will not be completed until the end of the millennium (Rev. 20:7-10). Hence, until that time he has authority over the kingdoms of the earth. In his subtle temptation of the Lord, he offered the earthly kingdoms and their glory to the first God-man as a bait to hook Him so that He would worship him as God and serve him as his subordinate. But the first God-man saw through the evil tempter’s devilish device and conquered him by chasing him away and telling him in a shaming way that as a man before God He would worship God and serve Him only.
I hope that these definitions will help us to see Satan’s stratagems. All of us are under these dangers. Every day our enemy is busy, and he is very diligent.
