Then Satan took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time; and the devil told him, “I will give you all these splendid kingdoms and their glory—for they are mine to give to anyone I wish—if you will only get down on your knees and worship me.” Jesus replied, “We must worship God, and him alone. So, it is written in the Scriptures.” Luke 4:5-8(Living Bible)
I have been thinking about the temptation of Jesus after he came back from a season of fasting in the desert. I know that this is a rich theological passage, and I will let the rich theologians have at their interpretation. Sorry, that was not a nice thing to say. I doubt that there are a lot of rich theologians, but they do much rich research. How is that? All that to say, is that my takes on the Bible are not typically deeply researched opinions. My opinions are just that- my opinions. So please take that as my disclaimer for possible heresy! 😊
Satan approached Jesus to tempt him, and the only explanation I can think of is that Jesus allowed this so that he could instruct us on how to refute Satan’s lies. Satan said some interesting stuff. He tempted a famished Jesus with possible bread, and Jesus told Satan that he was not interested in the food that Satan could point to. Satan only knew of earthly food, and Satan went right there with Jesus.
It was the next temptation that Satan offered that intrigued me. He offered Jesus the “kingdoms of the world” so that Jesus could rule over them. He just asked that Jesus bow to Satan and worship him. Jesus brushed that off too, reminding Satan that the only One worthy of worship in that space was Jesus himself, though he used proper Biblical language- God alone is worthy of worship!
Satan offered the kingdoms of the world because they were his to offer. Jesus has a Kingdom that is not of this earth. However, I am reminded that when Christians are offered earthly kingdoms and power structures, that is Satan’s plan, not God’s. God does not need earthly kingdoms or political power structures to ensure that his divine plans are completed!
When the Roman Emperor Constantine conflated the kingdom on earth (the Roman Empire) with the Kingdom of God, things went to a pretty bad place in a fairly short period of time. Political or military power is not the kind of kingdom Jesus came to establish.
He came to bring the Kingdom of heaven to earth.
Prayer: Lord, help us to see beyond earthly political power structures and attempt to bring Heaven to earth, Amen
Reflections of a Counselor 