In his fourth chapter Matthew tells how Satan proposed to give the world
to Christ, a great offer and fitting in a sense but one our Lord could
not accept on the terms stated or from this would-be giver. How could he
receive a gift from Satan without being subordinated to him? How can a
Christian do this same thing without change of character and loss of
life?
Were Christ to receive the world as a gift from Satan he would still
need to save it from sin if a redeemed world is what he wants. Satan
cannot give what he does not possess. But whatever his right of
ownership his offer was not intended to aid our Lord but to tempt him to
betray His trust.
Matthew thinks Satan proposed to give only as a last resort and after
other means had failed. Giving appears to be the hardest thing for him
to do or he may regard it as the climax of his appeal. He was in the
presence of Christ but he proposes to give his own gift in his own way
to further his own ends. Satan remains Satan in the presence of Christ,
unchanged and unchangeable.
Satan requests Christ to fall down and worship him while Christ replies,
“Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.” Satan has no disposition to
follow the example of the Wise Men or to adopt their order of procedure.
He asks our Lord to accept his gift and then worship him in
acknowledgement of his supremacy. He offers temporal things for
spiritual service, earthly greatness for divine recognition.
Unlike the Wise Men Satan is unlike God also, who sends his rain upon
the just and the unjust. God’s giving springs from his love, is measured
by it and is the expression of it. God so loved the world that He gave
His Son. His giving is a real bestowment and not a deceptive deal. He
gives according to his nature and men receive according to their
ability.
Well we know that God can give
Knowledge of the way to live.
Give he will and give he must
Unto all who in him trust,
Right thru things that lie between
God can give while yet unseen.
But God gives ministry instead of mastery. “It is the most fantastic of
all dreams,” says Newman Hall, “that a man can cut his being into two
portions, call one of them religious and the other mundane, and
administer them on directly opposite principles.” As Christ was not
deluded, divided and directed by Satan neither can Christians be if they
are to remain Christians.