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 5 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.
6
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.
