The World and the Word

                                The Devil's Dilemma

The Devil displayed his absolute contempt and hatred of Jesus when he tempted Him in the desert. Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13. Jesus had fasted for forty days and nights, and as a man, had become extremely hungry. The Devil tempted Jesus to turn stone to bread and satisfy His hunger. By this temptation, the Devil revealed his materialist philosophy that the only desires in life that matter happens to be only physical desires. According to this philosophy, spiritual needs do not even exist. Jesus rebuked the Devil by quoting scripture that teaches humans that they need the spiritual life that only God can give even more than they need physical food. Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:1-4. Millions today demonstrate the influence of evil in their lives because they adhere to the philosophy that only material needs matter and spiritual needs do not exist.

The Devil then took Jesus to a high pinnacle of the temple and tempted Him to attempt suicide. To effect his temptation, the Devil misquoted scripture that states that God would always protect Jesus; that is, until Jesus voluntarily went to the cross. The Devil reasoned that if Jesus threw Himself down, then the Devil would win whether God saved His life or if Jesus killed Himself. In the first place, if God saved Jesus then He would be guilty of the sin of excessive pride. He would be like a person who boasts about his own powers in the face of death, similar to a daredevil. Jesus never used His miraculous powers to put on a show. Jesus always used His powers for the benefit of others. In the second place, if Jesus committed the sin of suicide, then the Devil would succeed in His murder of God. Jesus overcame this temptation when He quoted the scripture that proves that any temptation of God is a terrible evil because it joins with the Devil's attempt to get rid of God. Deuteronomy 6:16; Matthew 4:5-7.

The Devil then took Jesus to a high mountain and showed Him all of the sinful and evil kingdoms of the world that the Devil controlled. Job:1:7. The Devil then told Jesus that he would give Jesus control of all of these realms of excessive pleasures, excessive evil powers, and excessive greed if Jesus would only worship the Devil. In this temptation, total evil revealed its consistent attitude that everything that is pure can be corrupted. This was a direct, evil temptation of God. No doubt, the Devil lied to Jesus because as soon as Jesus had accepted the Devil's temptation, then the Devil would have promptly murdered Jesus on the grounds that Jesus should have known better than to have stepped into the Devil's evil territory. Jesus countered the Devil's temptation by quoting scripture that proves that if one worships and serves God only, then God will provide that person with an eternal physical and spiritual salvation from all of the resultant horrors that come from the practice of sin and evil. When Jesus told the Devil "Get thee hence...," Jesus meant that He would purge all of His creations from the Devil's influence of total evil forever. Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 10:20; Matthew 4:8-11; II Peter 3:9-13; Revelation 21:5.

After Jesus defeated the Devil and he left, the angels came to minister to Jesus' physical and spiritual needs. Matthew 4:11. This verse proves that God will provide for the eternal physical and spiritual needs of all who will worship and serve Him. God loves all of His creations with an Almighty Love. God created the living souls and spirits that He puts into every human that He creates in His image, which is the image of Christ, and God can never lose anything He has ever created. Genesis 2:7; Genesis 3:20; Luke 20:38; Romans 11:36; Ecclesiastes 3:14. The perfect human life of God and His loving sacrifice while on the earth represents the eternal salvation of every living human endangered by eternal spiritual death. God has an Infinite Intellect that can create plans that will cause all living humans to return to repentance and faith and the worship and service of Him of their own free will: some by His grace while still alive in the flesh and all others confined to the regions of death by a great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. John 5:24; John 5:28-29; I Timothy 6:13; Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 2:14-15; I John 3:8. The fact that God can cause all living humans to return to repentance and faith in Him of their own free will proves that God's Love can never fail because love by free choice can only be true and real. I Corinthians 13:8. Jesus bore the cross, was buried, descended into Hell, and rose immaculate from the dead to provide for the eternal salvation of every living human that He ever created and loves. Revelation 21:5; Hebrews 2:9; I Timothy 4:10; II Peter 3:9. Who can thwart the will of God?