Prosperity Tests
and said to Him, “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 strike Your foot against a stone.’” Matthew 4:6 NASB
Throw Yourself – Commentaries on the temptations of Yeshua often note that ha-Satan misquotes the passage from the Tanakh. The Accuser simply leaves out a thing or two, altering the meaning just enough to make his point. Surprisingly, Yeshua does not correct him. Yeshua simply notes that this is a test of YHWH, and such actions are strictly forbidden. We applaud Yeshua’s counterpoint. But perhaps focusing on the misquoted Scripture distracts us from the lethal implication of Yeshua’s response. Let’s see what is really implied here.
“Throw yourself from the Temple” is a demand that God perform a miraculous feat. It’s true that God protects His servant. It’s true that the servant is highly favored. But that does not give the servant the right to demand that God do what would otherwise seem impossible. It really doesn’t matter if Scripture can be re-interpreted to appear to give credence to the claim. It is the entire mindset that is amiss. No one can stand before the Lord of all and demand action. God is not the captive genie of my three magical wishes.
Perhaps a more contemporary application will demonstrate the audacity of this approach. Does God promise reward for those who follow Him? Yes. Does that mean we are entitled to demand God give us the reward now? As Paul would say, “Heaven forbid!” What arrogance! God says that He will repay those who give to the poor. Do we perform acts of charity with the intention of demanding that God reimburse us? God says that the agony endured by His Son heals our brokenness. Are we therefore entitled to demand healing because we have fulfilled the conditions of repentance? God says that we have been ushered into a Kingdom where there is no discrimination between members. Are we empowered to demand that He remove the various hierarchies of difference that exist in the human social system within the Kingdom?
“Throw yourself from the Temple” has a lot of applications. The “Name It and Claim It” varieties of religious belief seem to be Temple-throwers. Placing any demands on God even when His own words suggest the result seems to me to be the height of spiritual arrogance and a clear violation of the commandment not to tempt YHWH. This applies even to the statement of Yeshua about prayer and removing mountains. We read. We meditate. We pray. We ask. But we do not see the biggest picture–the way that God weaves everything to serve His purposes. Because we do not see, we cannot demand. We can request. We can hope. We can expect. But God’s purposes prevail and often those purposes are hidden from us in such a way that our demands would circumvent His intentions. We do not throw ourselves from the Temple. We throw ourselves on His mercy – and He decides.
Topical Index: Temple, throw, tempt, test, Matthew 4:6
What I like about this verse is that once Jesus refuses to tempt God and the devil departs, the angels do come and minister to Him.
I think this has been one of the deepest struggles within me, to read His word and expect Him to do what it appears to say was the way I was taught for thirty years and I believed it, operated in it. The Fear of Yaweh wasn’t what I felt it was supposed to be because of it. I almost get angry, no, I do get angry that I struggle with a real reverence I should have for who He is and what the truth of His character is.
I’m right there with you Babs. Appreciate your honesty.
I wanted share something I came across this morning. The Hebrew term yir’at HaShem sometimes translated as a “Fear of God”,but is better understood as, “in awe of God”, I think that is an interesting change of a word that makes my heart light bulb go off. I can definitely stand in awe and be amazed not quaking in my western mindset of fear.
“And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy G-d, to observe, and to do all his commandments, which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy G-d will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth: and all these blessings shall come upon thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy G-d.” Deuteronomy 28:1,2.
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Psalms 23:6
Ok, the instructions tell me “hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy G-d, to observe, and to do all his commandments”. Then what happens? Blessings OVERTAKE, and goodness and mercy FOLLOW. So, if the good stuff is behind me, how am I supposed to chase it? It is supposed to chase me! The name/claim crowd displays not only a seeming inability to read scripture about blessings, but loudly demanding what you are already promised looks like a profound lack of not only faith, but gratitude also, to me.
Blessings are conditional upon obedience; but if you ARE obedient, then it is to be expected that those blessings are going to show up like the sun and the rain. Promises are not something we can CLAIM, they are something we can EXPECT, IF we obey. Obedience is what is lacking in the name/claim cake recipe. Noisy, demanding people sometimes remind me of the priests of Baal, leaping around their altar on Mt. Carmel, trying to make up in volume what they were lacking in obedience.
I do not think God tempts me
Rather I feel tempted by forbidden things
However, kind of like like a heart monitor
I think God is always testing me
Always?
Aa a young man I was an end to end test manager for a number of years
And it seemed like life was an extremely complicated broken system
My job was to sort out the issues and work with others to resolve them
At the same time I was always reporting to the Higher Ups
And the higher ups were always very eager to see the issues closed
So I tended to feel responsible for the issues
Even though I did not create them
Maybe as a result I came to feel like I was also being tested
And that I was always being judged on my behavior
And being tested on how much I could endure
Of course life is a lot like that
At least in my view
My sense is that God is always watching
“But we do not see the biggest picture–the way that God weaves everything to serve His purposes. Because we do not see, we cannot demand. We can request. We can hope. We can expect. But God’s purposes prevail and often those purposes are hidden from us in such a way that our demands would circumvent His intentions.”
No, we cannot make demands of YHWH. We can plead for our case to be heard, to be sorted out, but really, all we can do is rest in Him at times of afflictions, and wait for outcomes that fulfill His purposes, through the shalom that comes from Him. But knowing where we are, if we are doing His will would be a criteria, when we are walking in His ways.