The Fellowship of Christ and His People⤒🔗

Scripture speaks of the fellowship between Jesus Christ and us. That includes fellowship in temptations: “He has been tempted in all things as we are.”

It is not easy to discern the precise enticement in the second temptation, in which the devil takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem and urges him to throw himself down, quoting Psalm 91 as a promise that the angels would protect him.

With the others, it is clearer, for bread is a necessity of life; and the hunger for the glory of the world is a deep drive within man, once anointed as king in paradise. But here that element seems to be missing, at least at first glance. So we ask: What profound human longing is Satan offering Christ to satisfy? Surely this temptation must involve something infinitely more serious than mere daredevilry.

The Place of Temptation←⤒🔗

Notice first where the devil sets Jesus. He brings him to the holy city and makes him stand on the pinnacle of the temple. Some have thought that Satan wanted Jesus to perform a spectacular miracle before the eyes of the people. For that reason, they say, he chose the capital city, and within it the gathering place of all the Jews.

Yet Matthew’s wording points another way. When he calls Jerusalem the holy city, he does not mean what the city represents for men, but this: Jerusalem is God’s possession. “In Salem is his tent.” And in the same way the devil chose the temple as “the dwelling place of the Most High.”

This time, the devil brings Jesus into the very presence of God.

The Devil Quotes Scripture←⤒🔗

A second striking feature is that Satan now quotes Scripture: “It is written.” God himself has said this.

This fits perfectly with what has just been noted: Jerusalem is God’s city, the temple is his house, and this text is God’s Word. And you—so Satan says to Jesus—you are the Son of God, the Messiah, the beloved of the Lord.

In every way, the prince of this world presses upon Jesus the relationship in which he stands before God. And as he does so, he places him on the temple’s height, above the abyss. If anything was dangerous, it was surely the plunge from that height into that depth.

The Devil’s Argument←⤒🔗

But now the tempter says, “This danger does not exist for you. You are God’s beloved Son. You are here in God’s city and in God’s house. God’s Word declares that you are safe everywhere, especially here in his presence. Then show your faith—faith that there is no danger for you, least of all here, since God himself has said it.”

“Let your leap be a living confession: Lord, I believe; I believe that you are here; that your Word is true; that your angels will carry me, even into the depths.”

The Demonic Twist←⤒🔗

What, then, is the demonic in this urging to prove faith? Is it the recklessness of plunging into danger? Is it the sin of forcing God to serve man? I do not think so.

The heart of this temptation is that the devil insists Jesus must believe—only believe—that he must now prove his absolute faith. Yet at the same time he tries to lure him into the purest unbelief.

For as soon as Jesus would leap, he would be demanding that God prove his faithfulness, his presence, and the truth of Psalm 91. The leap would mean that Jesus wanted to see what God commands him to believe.

Thus Jesus was here tempted in faith itself, in the most direct sense.

Faith versus Sight←⤒🔗

For to believe is always this: to look to what is unseen. And if Jesus, by the leap, were to demonstrate his faith, he would in reality be trying to make the unseen visible—and so abandon the very posture of faith.

Here lies the connection with the deepest human longing: our intense desire to see and to touch. Jesus here stands in the anguishing conflict between faith and sight. He must believe that he is the Son of God; but what he sees is the assault of the devil. He must believe that God dwells here; but what he sees is the devil standing before him. He must believe that the angels will bear him up, according to the promise; but he sees no such protection—quite the opposite.

The Scriptural Answer←⤒🔗

The fact that this is the heart of the temptation is confirmed by Jesus’ answer. He replies with a word from Deuteronomy that recalls the events at Rephidim. Moses called that place Massah because there the people tested the Lord, saying: “Is the Lord among us or not?”

That is the essence of tempting God: to say, Is God here, yes or no? He may say so, but let him prove it! I will not believe; I must see.

The devil had said to Jesus: God may have said he dwells here; he may have said you are his Son; he may have said that he will guard you—but let it now be proven.

Then Jesus replied, “You say you will believe only when you first see it, but that means you do not want to believe at all. The text you quoted is true: God has promised me his protection. But that protection is only for the one who says to the Lord, “My God, in whom I trust.” Whoever chooses the path of sight has no share in that promise. The angels guard only along the paths of faith.”

Tempted in All Things as We Are←⤒🔗

“In all things he was tempted as we are.” Indeed. And it is a heavy thing to live by promise and not by sight. It is hard to trust only the Word when reality seems so very different.

You have examples at hand. How many tensions our faith must constantly endure!

Yet in this struggle to live by faith alone, it is my great comfort that Christ himself has walked this path. Now I want to follow him and listen to him, as he sets before me the law of faith: God may allow us to be led into temptation, but we must not tempt the Lord our God.

Sight never leads to faith. But faith does lead to sight. Blessed, therefore, are those who have not seen and yet have believed. They are blessed because they believe now, and so they shall also see.

“You shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Sola fide. The righteous shall live by faith.