“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour.’ All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” – Matthew 4:9-10.
We have just read the last temptation of Jesus by Satan before starting his ministry on earth. It was the last card Satan used in this context. Before proceeding any further with this message, let me remind you that the Bible reveals that Satan does not come to anyone or anyplace except to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). He will not come to you unless you had something of value (of God) in your life or you were born to make a difference for good in the world.
The NIV rendering of Satan’s statement is interesting: “…if you will bow down and worship me.” It implies that Satan understands that true worship is a matter of the will (choice). Here we learn that Satan has no power over your will unless you surrender it to him, which Jesus refused to do of course. I pray you do the same…
Please note that Jesus’ reply decrypts Satan’s language: Satan was actually asking Jesus to acknowledge him as lord and therefore serve him instead of God -that is what he meant by “if you will bow down and worship me”. Accordingly, Jesus’ answer shows that he understood very well that Satan was asking to take the place of God in his life, which was madness from Jesus’ perspective so that his response could not hide his disgust with Satan: “Away from me Satan!”, he said.
Satan’s real aim was to cut Jesus off from God his Lord, as he did with Adam and Eve, so that he could derail Jesus’ mission on earth and compromise our salvation from the dominion of darkness. Here we learn that Satan cannot play with your life as long as you worship and serve God alone. In resisting Satan Jesus set an example for us to follow in his footsteps daily. We should never forget that only God is the Lord worthy of our worship and he alone we should serve.
Sadly, many human beings fall for Satan tricks due to failing to decrypt his language. Some peoples turned to Satan for “protection” without knowing that it was in exchange for their lives (destiny, soul) and their offspring’s. Some peoples’ “stars” will never shine on earth and others have condemned their descendants to perpetual poverty because of visiting shrines, praying to idols or visiting herbalists…. I pray that you escape Satan’s snares by leaning on the Word of God and fixing your eyes on Jesus Christ always.
May God help us all, in Jesus Christ’s name.
