Title: Temptation of the Devil Every Morning Prayer
The temptation of the devil at every morning prayer
“Then the devil took Jesus to the holy city and set him on the top of the temple, saying, “If you are the Son of God, jump down!” It is written, “He will command his angels for you, and they will support you with their hands, so that your feet will not strike a stone.” "(Matthew 4:5,6)
There have been so many sermons and teachings about the three temptations that Jesus was subjected to by the devil in the wilderness. We are all familiar with it and we know it well. Nevertheless, there is a very important spiritual teaching that most believers easily overlook.
Now the devil quoted the words of the Old Testament as it was. In other words, you are persuading Jesus to obey God's word. “He will command his angels for you, and they will support you with their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” Psalm 91:11,12.
So what is this exam about? Are you trying to see if Jesus really obeys the word of God? There is no way that Jesus would not obey God. Not even the devil knows that much. The test is to tell Jesus to follow the words of the Old Testament literally and literally. Obviously, God has promised to protect him no matter what, so he will jump down with confidence.
In the same way, Jesus overcame temptation with the word of God. “It is also written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Verse 7) No matter how much God has promised, you must not hold on to the literal meaning and insist on fulfilling it. This is not an excuse to protest that we should simply and purely believe the words of the Bible as they are.
Actually, the devil quoted God's word, but he used some insidious tactics in his own way. First of all, I intentionally omitted the key part of the interpretation. “I have commanded his messengers to watch over you in all your ways.” But “in all your ways” is omitted. It cannot be applied to the situation of jumping out of a temple, as it literally means when walking on the road.
However, it should not be applied hastily to include the case of jumping out of the temple by paraphrasing because it says that it will protect you in all your ways. Stones that stand in the way of walking refer to various obstacles that occur in life. The world's temptations, temptations, sins, tribulation, etc. On the other hand, if “on all roads” is taken out, it means that even if you jump from that high temple, an angel will come and hold you in the air and gently lower you to the ground, so your feet will not get hurt.
Those who read the Bible carefully will find that in the KJV, Psalm 92:12 is translated as “hold on” and in Matthew, “hold on”. This is a question that should be left to the study of theologians as it raises many tasks in biblical hermeneutics. Here, we only need to understand that both the Hebrew and Greek words mean virtually the same, and the ultimate meaning is also different because the devil has deliberately omitted "in all ways."
The passage quoted by the devil goes on, "You will tread on lions and vipers; you will trample young lions and serpents with your feet" (verse 13). A human cannot kick a lion even if he does not know a snake unless he has received the same power as Samson. The intention is already implied not to take the Word literally. There is a law that a believer never (on all roads) never crashes against a beak of stones and falls down, which cannot be literally applied to the saying that one does not hit a stone on all roads, right?
Rather than interpreting God's promises in the Bible simply literally, we should judge well by comparing the author's intentions, the circumstances of the time, and the context before and after. Even the promise of not hitting stones on all roads should not be extended to jumping out of the temple. In this way, when believers arbitrarily expand and apply the words of the Bible to infinity, they are testing God.
Also, not to apply God's promises indefinitely means that there are many things that God cannot do, but there are many things that God cannot do. For example, is the North Korean communist dictatorship not being destroyed right away despite the earnest prayers of believers in North and South Korea? It is certain that one day God will punish him in his own time and manner, but anyway, it is one of those things that he cannot yet do.
But do you know what is the most typical thing that God cannot do even though he can do it? “He did not deal with us according to our sins, nor recompense according to our iniquities, for as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him” (Psalm 103:10,11).
We have to punish each and every one of our sins, and we can give as much as we want, but He is still patient with us. Since the text says it is true for those who fear him, it is primarily applicable to believers. Even after believing and still committing many sins, your great mercy is more than enough to cover the punishment we deserve.
God's mercy goes further here. “May God speak, and open his mouth to you, and show you the secrets of wisdom, for his knowledge is great; know you that God's punishment is lighter than your sins” (Job 11:5, NKJV). 6) This is the content of Job's friend Zophar's argument about Job's suffering. Although Sobal's idea was wrong in the whole context, the words he spoke in part contained spiritual truth. God tolerates our sins with great kindness and punishes us when the amount of patience is full, but it is much lighter than the quality and quantity of our sins.
What does it mean? While God does not accurately evaluate, judge, or act on every matter we do, we are complaining that we simply interpret His Word literally and do not do it as it is. Even when we see the promises of the Bible, like the devil, we omit the most important part and choose only the expressions we like, read and misinterpret them. Isn't the most frequent complaint against God in early morning prayers, "Why are you still not able to do this even after you say that nothing is impossible and pray like this?"
If such a complaint is to have logic, rationality, and validity, we must first make this request to God. “Treat us according to our sins, and repay us according to our iniquities.” You must also be willing to receive God's follow-up measures accordingly. After that, you should be able to pray in a loud voice saying, “You said that there is nothing impossible to do, so you must do this as well.”
Surely no one interprets this word literally? Without knowing that if He repays us for what we have done, no one will survive on this earth, including me. For believers, the mercy of God, who does not deal with sin, alone is too overwhelming to bear, and it is the only reason and ability to live vigorously in the midst of any tribulation.
10/16/2011 .