Worship God alone

Read Matthew 4:8-11

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This temptation is the crunch test, for Jesus had come to reclaim the kingdoms of the world from the devil, “the prince of this world” (John 12:31; Lk.4:5-6). By his obedience to death, all authority would be given to him, not only over all peoples and nations (Dan.7:14) but “all authority in heaven” too (Mt.28:18; Ph.2:8-11).

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So the devil tested Jesus at this key-point by offering him an easy route to kingship, avoiding the cross. The Israelites in the wilderness had likewise been tempted to compromise when they entered the promised land (Deut.6:10-15) and once again Jesus quotes from that passage, insisting that it is God alone who must be worshipped and obeyed (6:13).

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Jesus countered Satan’s temptations by using scripture and that’s our own best defence (Eph.6:16). But Satan can quote scripture too (Mt.4:6) so we need to beware of twisting texts. The context for all three verses Jesus used here (4,7,10) is Deut.6-8, in contrast to the wilderness test which Israel had failed. This was not the end of his testing (Lk.4:13). Neither for Jesus nor us will there be freedom from temptation in this life. But like him we too can overcome it (Heb.2:18; 1 Cor.10:13).