Answering Islam - A Christian-Muslim dialog

Do Not Tempt the Lord Jesus –

But Worship Him Instead! Pt. 1

Sam Shamoun

When the Lord Jesus went into the wilderness in the fullness of the Holy Spirit for the express purpose of confronting the tempter, he expressly told the enemy that the Lord God alone is to be worshiped and served:

“Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry… Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, ‘All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.’ And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.”’ Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. For it is written: “He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you,” and, “In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.”’ And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘It has been said, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”’ Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.” Luke 4:1-2, 5-14

Here, also, is the Matthean version of this same event:

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil… Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: “He shall give His angels charge over you,” and, “In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.”’ Jesus said to him, ‘It is written again, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”’ Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.”’ Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.” Matthew 4:1, 5-11

Now some will argue that Jesus’ response indicates that the Lord God whom Scripture says is not to be tempted, and who alone is to be worshiped and served, is the Father. As such, Jesus was basically telling the devil that he (meaning Christ) will neither fall down and worship anyone other than God the Father, nor will he tempt him. 

However, there may be another legitimate way of interpreting these texts, especially when we examine them in the light of the immediate and over all contexts of Luke-Acts and Matthew. Since Satan was actually tempting Jesus, the Lord may have been reminding him that the God-breathed revelation expressly forbids doing such a thing. In other words, Jesus would have been identifying himself as the Lord God whom Satan shouldn’t be tempting. This would further mean that Christ is actually the Lord God whom Scriptures says is the only One (along with the Father and the Holy Spirit) worthy of being worshiped and served. I.e. Jesus was essentially telling the evil one that, instead of the Son falling down before the deceiver, the enemy should be bowing down before Christ and worshiping him instead.  

With the foregoing in perspective we are now going to take a look at Luke-Acts and Matthew to see if whether Jesus received worshiped, and whether there is any record of individuals trying to tempt him in anyway, especially after his ascension into heavenly glory. These factors will strengthen our interpretation that Christ was identifying himself as the Lord God who alone is worthy of worship, and whom no one should ever put to the test.

But first let’s look at how the Apostles and righteous servants of God responded whenever someone tried to worship them.

Jesus’ disciples took their Master’s words to heart since they expressly forbade anyone from worshiping them, as we find in the case of the blessed Apostle Peter:

“As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, ‘Stand up; I myself am also a man.’” Acts 10:25-26

Paul and Barnabas reacted similarly when some of the Lycaonians attempted to offer sacrifices to them, thinking that they were the gods Zeus and Hermes appearing in human form:

“And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, ‘Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked. Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, ‘The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!’ And Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out and saying, ‘Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them,’” Acts 14:8-15

On the flip side, God struck Herod dead for allowing people to praise him as a god, thereby robbing God of the glory he alone deserves:

“Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; but they came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus the king’s personal aide their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food by the king’s country. So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, ‘The voice of a god and not of a man!’ Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.” Acts 12:20-23

These examples from Luke make it abundantly clear that God will not tolerate worship and/or service being given to someone else. Therefore, if Jesus were/is not God in the flesh then we would expect him to respond the same way that his disciples did whenever someone attempted to worship him.

This brings us to the next part of our discussion. So please proceed to part 2.