'O!Jt.e 'O!.empt.er itt tlr.

e
'O!.eri:tphttimt nf W.ezuz
A. The Reality of Satan
1. The Historicity of the
Temptation and the Non-
Physical Nature of Satan
The temptation of jesus in the
wilderness by Satan has two
characteristics: historicity and
objectivity. Itreally took place. Some
have been doubtful at this point
because of their
failure to distin-
guish objectivity
and physicalness,
(ma terialness,
corporealness).
Satan is a real,
personal, created
being, but he is not
physical with skin
and bones. This
factinno way takes
away from the
historicity or the
objectivity of the
temptation. "An
encounter between persons,
especially in the supersensual world,
can be perfectly objective without
necessarily entering into the sphere
of the corporeally perceptible. -
The reduction of all this to the rubric
of superstition or phychological
derangement is certainly not in
accordance with the mind of the
evangelists. Anyone who desires to
dissociate Jesus from all these and
other supernatural phenomena,
must do so on the basis of a prior
theological or philosophical
premises .... "-Vos, pg. 331-332.
2. The Personality of Satan
The New Testament presents
Satan, not as a symbol or an
impersonal force, or as the 'dark
side' of the universe, but as a living,
created PERSON, who 'cannot be
rationalized away as a pre-scientific
myth or literary personification. He
moves, I Peter 5:8, works, Eph.2:2,
knows, Rev. 12:12, speaks, Mat. 4:3,
plots, II Cor. 2:11, desires, Lk. 22:31,
disputes, jude 9, deceives, II Cor.
11:3, feels emotion, Rev. 12:12; I
Tim. 3:6; jam.2:19, tempts, I Thes.
3:5, makes promises, Mat.4:9, sins, I
jn. 3:8, and engages in many other
activities of a personal nature. "Of
course Satan is more than Simply a
person, according to Paul in II Cor.
6:15. He is a worthless and lawless
person, the personal representative
of darkness and unrighteousness. -
He represents nothing constructive,
profitable, or good. Finally, II Cor.
6:15 portrays Satan as in utter
opposition to the person of Chtist
and everything He went into the
wilderness to be tempted by the devil,
who made an all-out assault upon
the divine approval jesus had
received at His baptism as well as
presuming authority over the
kingdoms of the world, Mat.4:1-11.
Satan endeavored to induce Jesus to
betray His calling, submit to the
4 T THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon T December, 1994
kingdom of darkness, and thus to
abandon the establishment of God's
kingdom. Satan was fighting for his
life, just as jesus persevered in the
face of the devilish onslaught in
order to redeem, reclaim, andremake
the lives of His elect people. The
confrontation in the wilderness was
a deadly serious battle between two
kingdoms, and Chris t won that battle
where both Satan and Adam had
failed - not through autonomous
power, but through complete
obedience to the
will of God.--
"lnaddition to
shOwing us the
principle defeat
of Satan, this
account also
reveals Satan's
character as the
bitter antagonist
to God's Anoin-
ted and the
Messiah's con-
gregation. He
expresses this
antagonism by
working in
INDIVIDUALS, Eph.2:2, both
BODY, Lk. 13:16, and MIND, Lk.
22:3, by working through the
NATURAL WORLD, Lk. 8:23f; Mk
9:25, by working in SOCIAL
BEHAVIOR, Lk.8:27 and
RELATIONS, II Cor. 2:5-11, by
wotkingin INTELLECTUALmattets,
I Tim. 4:1, byworkinginPOLITICAL
affairs, Rev.12-13, and by working
in RELIGIOUS affairs, whether in
FALSE sects, II Cor. ll:14f orin the
TRUE way-by distorting, Gal. 4:8f
and competing with, Mat. 13:39, the
preaching of the gospel. There is no
facet of life which Satan will avoid in
his project of hindering Christ's
kingdom. - Greg Bahnsen, The
Journal of Christian Reconstruction,
Vol. I, No.2, Winter, 1974, "The
Person, Work, and Present Status of
Satan," pg. 12f.
However whenever we think of
, .
Sa tan, we must think of him as finite,
created being, not as a being equal to.
God in any sense. He is NOT
omniscient, omnipotent or
omnipresent. He is under the control,
restraint, and direction of the Mighty
Sovereign of the universe, Rev.9:1 ,
5, Who also has him "bound" in
"chains", since the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, II Pet.
2:4; Jude 6. In fact, he has been
"rendered powerless" by the death of
Christ so that he will not be an
insurmountable obstacle deceiving
the nations in the way of Christ's
invinCibly triumphant conquest of
the nations with the gospel,
Heb.2:14. ''The work of demons (and
of Satan) must be viewed constantly
in terms of the chains that now
restrain them." - Bahnsen, pg.l 7.
3. The Designation of Satan
as "the Devil" by Luhe
In the temptation account, Luke
refers to Satan as the "Devil," Lk 4:2,
as does Matthew, Mt. 4:1, while Mark
refers to him as "Satan,"Mk 1:13. In
fact, the Bible gives him several
descriptive names: "Beliar, the
worthless one," II Cor. 6:15,
"Apollyon or Abaddon, the
destroyer," Rev.9, "Beelzebul, the
dung-god or the lord of the flies," Lk
11:15, "the prince of this world or
the god of this age," I.e., the leader of
a destroyed humanity, of a kingdom
of unethical darkness and spiritual
death, In. 12:31, 11 Cor. 4:4, the
crushed "serpent," Gen.3:15,
Rev.12:11, Rev.20:lf, the shackled
"dragon," Rev. 20:1.
"Satan" means our "adversary," I
Pet.5:8. This one name summarizes
the work of Satan in the world. Satan
is the "opponent" of Christ and the
Church, who "does his utmost to
present opposition to the people of
God." -Bahnsen, pg.30.
We must always keep in mind the
fact that "whatever Satan does in
opposing God's people he can only
do it at the permission of God," (-
Bahnsen), Who causes all things to
work together for good for His
people, Rom. 8:28. Although Satan
tries to destroy the work of God in
the believer and in the earth, I
Thes.3:5, I Tim. 5:15, 3:6f, the
Sovereign Christ uses his destructive
work to further His own purposes, II
Cor. 12:7, I Tim. 3:6, Jam.4:6f,
Heb.12:10, I Cor. 5:5, 13.
Luke describes Satan as "the
devil," who is "the ruler of the
demons," Lk.11:15. There are many
demons (daimonia) but only one
devil (diabolos), who is "the king
overtheswarm from the abyss," Rev.
9: 11. "Diabolos" has the basic sense
of "separation, opponent, accuser,
repudiator, liar. " Just as Christ is the
Head of the church, so Satan is the
evil leader of the demornc host, who
has an army of wicked, unclean,
demons under his command, Mat.
8:28, 1O:I,Mk.5:2f, 9:20,Act.19:15,
(although the devil and allhis demons
are under the sovereign rule of God).
As "the ruler of demons," Satan
surpasses them all In authority,
wickedness, and power.
The Biblical strategy against the
destructive work of Satan is threefold:
(1). RESIST THE DEVIL WITH THE
WORD OF GOD, as did Jesus in the
wilderness, James 4:7, and he will
fleefromyou; (2). USETHESHIELD
OF FAITH IN CHRIST AND IN HIS
WORD, Eph. 6:11-12, 16, and you
will quench all the firy missiles that
Satan hurls at you; and (3). PRAY,
Mat.6:13, and God will deliver you
from d'le evil one.
B. The Goal of Satan in the
Temptation of Jesus
1. The Tactics of Satan
a. The Three-Pronged
Attach of Satan
The first time we hear Sa tanspeak
in the Bible is in the temptation of
Eve and Adam, when SATAN TRIES
TO MAKE GOD LOOK LIKE A
FOOL BEFORE MAN, Genesis 3.
The second time we hear him speak
is in the court of heaven seeking
divine permisSion to temptJob, when
SATAN TRIES TO MAKE MAN
LOOKLIKEAFOOL BEFORE GOD,
Job 1. The last time we hear Satan's
voice in the Bible is when he tempts
the God-Man, and SATAN IS MADE
A FOOL OF, and silenced, Luke 4:1f.
b. The Reasoned-Out
Plan of Satan
"The Biblical Satan is a creature
who seeks to be god and is fully
aware of the existence of God, Jam.
2:19. His program is a reasoned one:
FIRST, man is to be his own god,
determining good and evil for
himself, Gen.3:5. SECOND, man
should be freed from all testing and
judgements and given cradle to grave
security. If man needs bread, the
stones should be made bread,
Mat.4:3. THIRD, faith should be
totally unnecessary; man should be
able to walk by Sight and Godshould
prove all things for man's benefit,
Mat.4:6. FOURTH, righmess is an
attribute of the creature, and the
creature should be worshipped and
served rather than God, Mat. 4:8-9."
- Rushdoony, The Journal of
Christian Reconstruction,VoL I,
No.2, Winter, 1974, "Power from
Below," pg.9.
December, 1994 THE COUNSEL of 5
c. The Objective
of Satan's Plan
"Satan has rightly been called 'the
ape of God'; his plan is a parody of
God's plan, and his standard is in
essence an antistandard, a negation,
not a new creation. In rebelhon
against God, Satan decided to create
his own heaven and earth out of the
materials of God's creation. His
program thus involved enlisting man
as an ally, but an ally
kingdom in the earth, Mat. 12 :28.
Satan was determined to break this
"God of a hero," Isa.9:6, this Divine
Champion. He had conquered the
first Adam, now in the wilderness he
would conquer the Last Adam once
and for all.
3. The Satanic Assault onJesus'
Messianic Status and Jesus'
Necessary Phase of Humiliation
These assaults of Satan on Jesus
A. The Order of the
Temptations Accord-ing to Luke
The order of temptations inLuke's
account is different from that of
Matthew. Matthew's order is: (1). If
you are the Son of God, command
that these stones become bread. (2).
If you are the Son of God, throw
Yourself down ... " (3). All these things
will I give You, if You fall down and
worship me. Luke reverses (2) and
(3). Is this a real
who would have to be
remade in order to
participate in Satan's
plan of action. His
approach to Adam and
Eve was thus an acted
proclamation which in
effect declared 'I will
remake man; in my
own image I will
remake him.' History
thus is the development
and warfare of two
contending concepts of
man, two differing
liThe Lord's Christ went
into the wilderness to
crush Satan, to rob
him of his property, to
destroy his power, and
to establish His own
kingdom in the earth. JJ
contradiction between
Matthew and Luke, or
does Luke have a specific
point he wants to make?
FIRST, Matthew's
account is obviously
CHRONOLOGICALLY
arranged . . Notice the
adverbs in Matthew 4: I-
ll: "Then ... and
after ... then . .. then ...
again . .. then .... ".
Matthew is relatingwhat
occurred first, what
concepts of creation. - In
Revelation, Satan is called 'the great
dragon, the ancient serpent,'
Rev.12:9;20:2-3, 10. These and other
terms all underscore the essential
negation of Satan's role. This work of
negation has as its goal, however, a
new creation in Satan's image, a new
world order without God and with
only a humaniry made into gods." -
Rushdoony,RevoltAgainstMaturity,
pg.61.
. 2. The Goal ofJesus and
the Goal of Satan in the
Temptation in the Wilderness
The Lord's Christ went into the
wilderness to crush Satan, Gen. 3:15,
to rob him of his property, Mat.
12:29, to destroy his power, Heb.
2:14, and to establish His own
are aimed at discrediting Jesus'
Messianicstatus of the Divine-human
Savior of the world, into which office
He had just been publicly
inaugurated at His baptism. In two
temptations,Jesus is confronted with
the phrase, "if you are the Son of
God .... " In the third temptation, He
is requested by Satan to surrender
His Messianic status to Satanhimself.
However, it is not the Messiah but
Satan that is discredited. But, in the
meanwhile, the Messiah suffers
hUmiliation in the wilderness by
allOwing Himself to experience this
degrading set of temptations and
human limitations, e.g. hunger,
thirst, physical exhaustion.
V. The Three Tempt-
ations ofJesus
6 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon f December, 199+
followed, what came
next, and how it was concluded.
Luke's account is not arranged
chronologically, nor does he claim
to do so." He mentions the three
temptations but does not indicate by
even a Single word that they occurred
in tha t particular time sequence. Any
mention of a possible clash or conflict
between Matthew and Luke is
therefore unreasonable."
Hendrikson
SECOND,Lukearrangesthethree
temptations in such a way that they
climax in the Temple. His
arrangement is based on the order of
places where each temptation takes
place. He moves FROM DESERT TO
MOUNTAIN TO TEMPLE. This is in
accordance with Luke's Temple-
Motif, as we have mentioned before.
The Birth Narratives are arranged so
as to have their climax in the Temple,
2:41-52; and the Passion Narratives
and the conclusion of the Gospel as
well climax in the Temple, 24:53.
jesus Christ is jehovah coming to
His Temple to cleanse it and to exalt
it in the Church.
B. The Three Temptations and
Jesus'Response to Them
1. (lK.4:2) The Condition of
Jesus During the Temptations
" .. Jar forty days, while tempted by
the devil. And He ate nothing during
those days; and when they had ended,
He became hungry. And the devil said to
Him .... "
jesus was severely tempted by
Satan throughout the forty days He
spent in the wilderness. The Greek
participle, translated, "while
tempted ... ," is a present participle
indicating persistence of the
temptations for the entire forty days.
His conflict with Satan was of such
intensity that it demands the total
consecration of all His attention and
energies to such a degree that ,
although He had been fasting, (doing
without food), for the whole time,
Mat.4:2, it was only at the end of the
time that He began to be conscious
of His hunger.
"The sense of physical need had
been supplanted, (superceded),
throughout by the violence of the
spiritual conflict. Exhaustion
followed upon this long period of
wrestling and fasting, and it was
now, at the end of theforty days, that
the enemy came with his
overwhelming attacks. When the Son
of Man had been physically and
spiritually exhausted to the utmost,
the conflict with the Evil One reached
its climax. -What a contrast this
forms with Adam, who fell although
he was living at that time under the
most favorable circumstances!"-
Geldenhuys
throughout the "wilderness" of His
time of humiliation, can He be
persuaded to trust in Himself and in
His own miraculous abilities as the
Son of God? If He can be so
2. The Prindple of Interpretation
of These Temptations
persuaded, Satan wins, and God's
The words and intent of the devil
people lose.
in his series of temptations are best
understood in the light of jesus'
answers to them from the Word of
God. "The meaning of the answer
supplies the meaning of the Satanic
suggestion. And besides this, since
the words of the answers were taken
from Scripture, and we may again
safely assume thatjesus seized upon
the real meaning and intent of the
Scripture passages, we can infer from
a COITect contextual exegesis of these
what their point is, what
consequently the point of Jesus'
answer was, and what, behind the
latter, the point in Satan's suggestion
was."-Vos, pg.336
3. (lK. 4:3-4) The FiTst
Temptation: Don't Trust God,
Tntst Self. Avoid Humiliation,
Go Straight To Exaltation
a. The Temptation of the Devil
Satan focuses his temptation on
Christ's faith in God, on His inner
submission to God's Word, and to
God's redemptive plan in their
totality, because that faith-
submission would be the basis of the
eternal salvation of God's people.
That faith had to be squelched and
that submission broken. Can Jesus
be persuaded to avoid the humiliation
required of Him to save His people
from their sins and act immediately
sa "the Son if God" in all His exalted
glory? Will He be willing to escape
the pain and deprivation of His
humiliated state to enjoy the
pleasures and provisions of
exaltation? Instead of depending
upon God alone to provide for Him
b. The Resistance of the Christ
Jesus repels this temptation
unconditionally by quoting the Bible:
"It is written, 'Man shall not live on
bread alone.''' This is a quotation
from Deuteronomy 8:3. Fromjesus'
response we learn three things:
(1.) How to Handle Temptation
The way in which Jesus resisted
temptation is the way Christians are
to resist temptation. "Three times we
see Him foiling and baffling the great
enemy who assaulted Him. He does
not yield a hair's breadth to him. He
does not give him a moment's
advantage. Three times we see Him
using the same weapon, in reply to
His temptations: 'tl,e sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God,'
Eph. 6: 17. He who was 'full of the
Holy Spirit,' was yet not ashamed to
make the Holy Scripture His weapon
of defence, and His rule of action.
"Let us learn from this single fact,
if we learn nothing else from this
wondrous history, thehighauthortty
of the Bible, and the immense value
of a knowledge ofits contents. Let us
read it, search into it, pray over it,
diligently, perseveringly, unweiredly.
Let us strive to be so thoroughly
acquainted with its pages, that its
text may abide in our memories, and
stand ready at our right hand in the
day of need. Let us be able to appeal
from every perversion and false
interpretation ofits meaning, to those
thousand plain passages, which are
written as it were with a sunbeam.
The Bible is indeed a sword, but we
December, 1994 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon t 7
must take heed that we know it well,
if we would use it with effect. " -]. C.
Ryle, Luke, Vol. III, pg.1l2.
(2.) WhatJesus Thought of the
Old Testament
maIlllerofawrittenauthority,carrtes the meaning of the text in the same
with it the impUcation that the appeal way which it applied to the Israelites
is made to the indefectible authority of old. Regardless of how severe 'the
of the Scriptures of God, which in all wilderness experience' may be,
their parts and in every one of their Jehovah will supply nourishment to
declarations are clothed with the H' S H d'dt H' lth
Jesus begins His BibUcalquotation IS on,as e 1 0 ISpeOp eWl
with the pbrase, "It is written," which authOrityofGod.Hirnself." -Warfield, supernatural maIllla, without the
He does not only in verse 4, but also pgs. 239- 40. natural process. "He had been
inverse 8,with a synonymous phrase (3.) Whatthe True brought by the Spirit into this
in verse 12 - "It is said ... ." In the Point of the Text is situation, where God expected Him
perfect tense, this r---------------------, to hunger. Notice the
phrasemearIS, "It stands occurrence of the
permanently and I*very man's life depends words 'to prove' and
authoritatively written." 'to humble' in the
Luke uses this phrase upon God, not upon man. context of Deuter-
more frequently than E h'" d' onomy. And the
any of the other Gospel veryt .ng Uepen 'S upon probation (temp-
writers, Lk. 2:23, 3:4, God's authoritative Word. tation) consisted in
4:4,8, 10, 17, 7:22, 7, placingbeforeHimthe
10:26, 19:46, 22:37, Therefore Jesus will not necessity of exercising
24:46. These phrases, implicit trust in God
"it is said," and "it is be perturbed by His hun- as the One able to
written," imply that sustain His life
what is thus said or gey, He will persist in notwithstanding the
written is of DiVine and ' G d' 'I II protracted fast. The
final authority. Jesus trust.ng.n 0 a,one. 'word proceeding
used such pbr3.ses often. from the mouth of
"It stands written" God' refers to the
"involves the Csugges- Jesus resisted Satan's first assault miracle-working word of omni-
tion), of an authority which rises by quoting a portion of Deuteronomy potence,themerewordrequiringno
immeasurably above all legislative 8:3, which reads in full, "And He natural means." - Vos, pg. 336-37.
authority." - B.B. Warfield, The humbledyou and let you be hungry, and Nothing would have been wrong
Inspiration and Authority of the fed you with manna which you did not aboutjesus supplying Himself With
Bible, pg. 239. hnow, nor did your fathers know, that foodbya mirade, but in this instance,
Thesignificanceofitstandswritten He might make you understand that the act would mean DISTRUST OF
"is perhaps most manifest where (it) man does not live l:ry bread alone, but HIS FATHERIN HEA YEN. AndJesus
stmds alone as the bare adduction of man lives l:ry everything that proceeds did NOT entertain the suggestion,
authority without indication of any out of the mouth of the LORD." Every the doubt for one moment.
kind whence the citation is derived, man's life depends upon God, not
(Lk. 4:4, 8,10; 7:27; 19:46; 20:17; uponman.Everythingdependsupon
22:37). - When a N.T writer says, God's authoritative Word. Therefore
'ltiswritten,'therecanarisenodoubt Jesus will not be perturbed by His
where what he thus adduces as hunger, He will persist in trusting in
possessing absolute authority over God alone. The point ofjesus' word
the thought and consciences of men is not to draw a contrast between
is to be found written. The Simple physical food and spiritual
adducttonin this solemn and decisive sustenance. He applies to Himself
8 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon December, 199-4
"The first temptation resembles
that of our first parents in Eden. It
deals with food and uses food to
awaken distrust of God and of God's
Word. What succeeded in Eden, in
the land of plenty, failed in the
destitute desert. What succeeded in
the case of Adam and Eve who were
well-fed failed in the case of Jesus
who was in great hunger. The
temptation assailed Jesus from His
human side; He smote it down, not
with His Deity, but as a man, with
His trust in God and in God's Word. "
- Lenski
4. (Lk.4:5-8) The Second
T empmtion: Worship
Satan Not God
a. The
Circumstances
of the
Temptation
J e sus
permitted the
devil to lead
Him up into a
mountain and
to "show Him
all the
kingdoms of
the world,
(the inhabited
earth), in a
moment of time." Luke places this
temptation second, in contrast to
Matthew, and follows the order of
places: desert, mountain, Temple.
Was this panorama of the world's
kingdoms a mental image or vision
in Jesus' mind implanted there by
the devil? Many good Bible scholars
would say that it was merely a mental
picture. However, d1ere are several
reasons whywe must disagree: (1). If
the view of the world's kingdoms
was mental only, why go up into a
literal or mental mountain to see
them? (2). The plain sense of the
words seem to imply something other
than a mentalimage. (3). If Satan can
project thoughts and images into the
mind ofjesus Christ and can "make
Jesus think that He was where He
actually was not, the mind of Jesus
would be utterly helpless under the
will of Satan. - Only from the
outside, by the words which Satan
spoke audibly, could he present
thoughts to the mind of Jesus; and
these lying thoughts Jesus instantly
rejected." - Lenski
On this high mountain, the devil
"showed" (EDEIXEN) Jesus the
world's kingdOlns. Matthew's verb,
"showed," is in the present tense,
4:8. Luke's
w 0 r d ,
EDEIXEN,
does not
mean that
Satan flashed
the thought
of the world's
kingdoms,
( H E
OIDJMENE),
and their
great weald1
into the
mind of
Jesus. "Showed" means "showed to
the eyes ofjesus" and "in a moment
of time" means 'Just one instant, a
split second." "This phrase should
not be regarded symbolically with
reference to the transient nature of
all these kingdoms, their authority,
and glory, flashing brillial\dy for a
second and then as quickly being
gone again. Before the very eyes of
Jesus as Helooked out over tl1e world,
(the inhabited earth), from that
mountain top the prince of d1is world,
by his occult power, flashed out in
an instant a view of the mighty realm
he (ostensibly) ruled. How this was
done, and why the view lasted only
so long, none will ever say." - Lenski
b. The Temptation of the Devil
Now comes the temptation: "I
will give You all this domain and its
glory; for it has been handed over to
me, and I give it to whomever I wish.
ThereforeifY ou worship (bow down)
before me, it shall all be Yours."
(1.) The Satanic Lie
Wim this temptation, Satan shows
his true colors. He is a liar and
deceiver, aspiring after d1e power
and glOlY tha t belong only to the
Living God. The presupposition of
Satan's offer to Jesus is a flagrant lie.
The sovereignty and magnificence of
nations of the inhabited earth have
not been handed over to Satan to
give to whomever he wishes! The
contrary is true: the Triune God is
the absolute sovereign of all men and
nations and He gives their power
and wealth to whomsoever He
pleases. Jesus, not Satan, is "me ruler
of the kings of the earth," Rev. 1:5.
Jesus, not Satan, is "the King of kings
and Lord oflords," Rev. 19:16. "The
earth is the LORD'S, and all it
contains, the world, and those who
dwell in it," Psa. 24:1. "Let the name
of God be blessed forever and ever,
for wisdom and power belong to
Him. And it is He who changes the
times and the epochs; He removes
kings and establishes kings ... ," Dan.
2:20-21. It was Jesus, not Satan,
Who said,
'All authority
in heaven and
on earth has
been given to
M
"
e, Mat. 28:18.
December, 1994 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 9