Archived Daily Manna | Rejoice Fellowship | A mission to release people to rejoice in the world.

Message: We cannot know if Satan actually flew Jesus around physically, or if he “took” Jesus to a place in his mind, his imagination. The entire temptation sequence is veiled in mystery, for Christ was alone in the desert; the account of the ordeal had to come from Christ himself, and he was adept at speaking metaphorically. But this very mysteriousness emphasizes an aspect that is more important than whether Jesus actually flew around: his internal struggle. Saint George and the Dragon, by the Master of Sir John Fastolf (French or English, ca. 1440). I like to think of Satan as an actual being, but feel free to differ. Many theologians argue that Satan is himself metaphorical, the personification of a force contrary to God’s will. And in his book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, Julian James makes a brilliant argument that ancient men would actually see things within themselves as external beings. Either way — whether Christ is tempted by an external being or by his human nature — the critical events take place in Christ’s mind. Satan appeals to Christ’s human drives; if he did not feel any pull towards sin, he would not be fully human and the temptation story would be meaningless. Jesus felt what we feel when we are tempted to sin; but being the Son of God, he resisted the temptation 100%. But why tempt Christ to jump off a cliff? Christ had been born to bring the word to humanity, so bringing people to hear him was something desirable. And flying off the Temple would get him attention in a hurry. (A fake “Messiah” of the period known as Simon Magus did exactly what Satan tried to convince Jesus to do: He jumped off a cliff to show that he could fly — and fell to his death.) So why did Jesus, who actually could have fallen from the cliff without harm, not perform this miracle? He certainly had no problem with turning water into wine, or walking on water. Anglo-Saxon cross found on the corpse of a dead girl, @ 500 AD England, ca. 500 A.D. Cross found with body of a girl First, the miracles Christ performed were signs of divinity, not magic tricks to wow the fickle and faithless. They were carefully placed signals for those who were truly seeking righteousness. Consider Luke 4. When Jesus returned to Nazareth, the people complained that he didn’t perform enough miracles. But they were not seeking salvation; they wanted to see a show. Christ’s miracles were (and are) for those who have faith or, at least, genuinely seek righteousness before God. Secondly, Christ’s miracles were done only when necessary and only to benefit others, as a demonstration of God’s mercy. And thirdly, Satan’s temptation implies that Christ performs miracles in order to fulfill prophecy, which is backwards. Christ did not conduct himself to fulfill prophecy; rather, the prophecies had been made because the miracles would be performed. Jesus was not, for example, born in Bethlehem because Micah predicted it; Micah predicted it because God had already ordained it. Miracles determine prophecy, not vice versa. God will not, in summary, be tested. (See Deut. 6:16.) God’s timing of events is the product of perfect knowledge; to allow another being (much less a purely evil one) to determine the timing of his miracles would be absurd.