Jesus’ Temptation Quotes, Part 2
Satan: If you are the Son of God …
In the second temptation (the third in Luke), the devil gets sneaky. The devil just tempted him to turn stones into bread, because he was hungry. Jesus rejected that, choosing to trust God to meet his needs. So then the devil tries to convince him to drive his trust in God off the rails.
He takes Jesus up to a pinnacle of the temple and says,
“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” (Matthew 4:6 NRSV).
So he takes Jesus up to the highest point of the temple, and he’s like, “Okay, I get it. You trust God. You live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So throw yourself down. The scripture says the angels will bear you up, so you won’t get hurt. You believe the scriptures, don’t you?
“What’s this? I see you hesitating. Why? This is the inerrant, infallible word of God. You believe that, don’t you? Then why aren’t you jumping? Are you afraid of getting hurt, even though God promised in his word he wouldn’t let you even dash your foot on a stone?”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the…
