#088 "Dethroning Satan: The Third Wilderness Lie" (Matthew 4:9)

"And he said to him, 'All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.'" (Matthew 4:9)

What is Satan really after in the wilderness?

In Matthew 4:9, the tension of Jesus’ temptation story reaches its climactic peak. After forty days of fasting and two failed temptations, Satan finally reveals his true goal: worship.

Standing on an exceedingly high mountain, the devil offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory in exchange for one shocking act—“Fall down and worship me.”

In this episode of The Abidible Podcast, Kate explores the deeper spiritual conflict behind this moment, tracing the story of rebellion from Eden to Babel and explaining why Scripture calls Satan the “ruler of this world.” But the offer Satan makes is built on a lie—and the kingdoms he promises are already crumbling.

Through Scripture, theology, and biblical history, this episode reveals why the wilderness temptation is ultimately a battle over worship, allegiance, and the true King of the world.

If you've ever wondered why evil seems to have influence in the world today—or how Jesus’ victory in the wilderness shapes the way we live as believers—this episode will help you see the bigger story unfolding behind the scenes.

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Transcript

Setting The Stage: Climax In Story

Kate 0:00

Hey guys, this is Kate from Abidible.com, and you're listening to the Abidible Podcast. I'm just a regular wife and mom who's had my life transformed by learning to study the Bible on my own. If I can, you can. On this show, I help you know and love God more by abiding in Him through His Word yourself. When a storyteller directs a great film, they rarely start with the biggest moment. Instead, they build toward it, scene by scene, so that the tension rises as the stakes get higher. The conflict tightens like a rope being pulled from both ends until finally everything reaches a single decisive point. That's the climactic moment. Artistically, this is where all the threads of the story converge. Every conversation, every conflict, every increased moment of pressure leads here. It's where the central question of the story must finally be answered. The resolution can't be avoided and the hero cannot delay. Something has to give. These are the moments that make you lean forward in your seat with your heart pounding because everything hangs in the balance. Think about some of the most memorable scenes in film. In Gladiator, the entire story builds toward the moment in the Colosseum when Maximus finally faces Commodus. Rome is watching. The man who was once a general, then a slave, then a gladiator, now stands before the emperor who destroyed his family. Everything that has been building throughout the film erupts in the arena. Or in the dark night, when Batman is forced into the Joker's twisted dilemma. Two fairies wired to explode, civilians on one side, prisoners on the other. This is the moment the Joker has been pushing toward the whole time. He wants to prove that under enough pressure, people will abandon morality. Everything comes down to whether humanity will collapse or hold in what Batman will do. Or think about Braveheart. The Scottish army is gathered on the field at Stirling. They're outnumbered. The English army is massive, and the Scottish soldiers are starting to lose their nerve. Some of them are already turning away, ready to go home. Then William Wallace rides out on his horse in front of the army. He looks at these men who are afraid, uncertain, tempted to walk away from the fight, and he calls them to a decision. He says, I fight and you may die. Run and you'll live at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom. In stories like these, the climactic moment reveals what the story has really been about all along. This is often when the conflict is exposed as something deeper, something more personal, more consequential, a battle of allegiance, character, or truth. And that's exactly what happens in the wilderness of Matthew 4. Jesus has been alone in a desert wasteland fasting for 40 days. Satan has been tempting him, one temptation after another. First, he tries to capitalize on Jesus' hunger to get him to test God's goodness. Then he brings him to the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem to test God's will and his protection. But in the third and final temptation, this temptation, Satan stops circling the issue and finally reveals his real goal. He's brought Jesus to an exceedingly high mountain to show off all the kingdoms of the world and their glory and make an offer. All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. That's our verse for today from Matthew 4 9. This is the climactic moment of the wilderness temptation. Everything has been building toward this point. The real issue underneath every temptation is finally exposed. The battle was never just about bread. It was never just about throwing himself from the temple. It was about worship. Satan wants Jesus to worship him. David Guzick says this is a revealing insight into Satan's heart. Worship and recognition are far more precious to him than the possession of the kingdoms of the world and their glory. What we're seeing here is that Satan is willing to give it all up if the Son will just bend a knee before him. Wrap your mind around this climactic scene. Jesus' final temptation is to worship the devil. Satan literally says, fall down and worship me. This Greek word for the phrase fall down is a loaded gun. It means to descend from a higher place to a lower, to fall prostrate, overcome by astonishment. It's used of persons rendering homage and worship to someone. This is what Satan asked Jesus to do before him. Worship me, and in exchange I'll give you the kingdoms of the world and their glory. Who will Jesus bow to? In this moment it's clear that the tension that has been building through the wilderness is reaching its peak. This story pauses on a knife's edge as the devil finally, bluntly, asks the question that has been sitting there underneath the passage the whole time. Who deserves the worship of the Son of God? Real quick, do you want to be a part of what God's doing here at Abidible? For just a few dollars a month, you can support our mission to help people know and love God more by abiding in him through his word themselves. Check out the link in the show description to learn more. Okay, so what's happening here? The devil is offering all the kingdoms of the world and their glory to Jesus, if only Jesus will fall down and worship him. In this proposal, the devil is clearly exposing his deepest desire. It's an astonishing escalation, really. When Satan fell, it was because he wanted to be like God. Now we see that what he really wants is for God to worship him. This is more than a quality. This is eminence. Thomas Aquinas says, see the devil's pride of old. In the beginning he sought to make himself equal with God. Now he seeks to usurp the honors due to God. This is what his temptations were aimed at all along. He wants nothing more than the sun to fall at his feet as a resounding middle finger to the God of eternity. We've already discussed in detail how we got here in previous episodes, but let's do a quick refresher because it will help make a necessary connection to the kingdoms of the world and their glory. God created everything in love and everything was good. Sometime after that final day of creation, something terrible happened. The household of God was fractured by sin and rebellion. First, there was the mutiny that took place in the heavenly realm when Satan sinned by becoming proud in his heart. He wanted to be like God. He led one third of God's angels, or the sons of God, in that rebellion, and they were all cast out of heaven. Then Satan led the first three major rebellions, all with the ultimate goal of forming an alliance with mankind against God. We are a natural enemy for the devil because we are made in the image of his enemy, God the Father. He hates us with fierce animosity because we look like our dad. Let's quickly review these three major rebellions. First came the garden, where Adam and Eve saw that the apple looked tasty and good in their eyes and was desirable to make one wise, so they disobeyed God and ate from the one tree in all of paradise that he'd commanded them to avoid. Where did they get that idea? From Satan, the crafty serpent who slithered up next to them in the garden. This was the beginning of Satan's hold on humanity. Gusick states, Adam and his descendants gave the devil this authority. God gave Adam the earth as stewardship, and Adam willingly turned it over to Satan. After that, all Adam's descendants cast their vote of approval by their personal sin. In the second rebellion, the sons of God, fallen angels, left their proper dwelling, as Jude 6 says, and had sexual relationships with the daughters of man, creating a new race called the Nephilim, or the mighty men of old, the men of renown. This story from Genesis 6 is the demonic attempt to corrupt the DNA of Adam's progeny to prevent the Messiah from coming out of the promised line. The corruption of all flesh was so pervasive, the thoughts of man were only all evil continually that God's judgment fell in the form of the great flood. The third major rebellion was at Babel. As we've discussed, this is where the post-flood peoples of the earth disobeyed God's command to disperse and multiply and subdue the whole earth. Instead, they formed an alliance against God. Sound familiar? With the end goal of creating a tower to the heavens so they could make a name for themselves, to get glory for themselves. They were glory thieves too. The consequence or judgment for their rebellion was that God not only confused their languages, but used that confusion to cause them to disperse. Hear me when I say Babel was the birth of the nations. Deuteronomy 32, 7 through 8 and Psalm 82 tell us that this is when God disinherited the nations and gave them over to be ruled by the sons of God, angels, some good, some fallen. Immediately following Babel in Genesis 11, what's the next story? We are introduced to Abram. Why? Because it is Abram who will be called out of the polytheistic pagan nations ruled by the demonic sons of God and called specifically out of Ur to become the father of the nation God had chosen as his inheritance. The sons of God get the nations. God keeps Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Israel, for Himself, because He had a plan. Psalm 82 reveals some sort of heavenly divine counsel that took place. In it, the sons of God who had been given the nations are rebuked. Let me read it to you. It says, God has taken his place in the divine council. In the midst of the gods, demons, he holds judgment. How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? And then God says, You are gods, sons of the most high, all of you. Nevertheless, like men you shall die and fall like any prince. Judgment against the rebellious gods was apparently decided at this council. The Bible tells us some demons have already been put in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. That's Jude 6. And it seems that the rest who still roam the earth and hold power in the spiritual realm, Satan and his demons, will face judgment on the final day of the Lord. But again, their sentence has already been decided. God tells us here, death. They will die, meaning that they are sentenced to eternal punishment in the lake of fire. Three major rebellions: the Garden, the time of Noah, Babel. Be like God, be like God, be like God. Three different stories, one same lie. Adam gave Satan authority, and all mankind continues to cast their vote of approval through personal sin. So God gave us what we thought we wanted, and he disinherited the nations. He gave them over to the sons of God. And Satan and his demons take that authority and do what they've always done. Abuse it. Again, this is what we asked for when we chose sin, when we chose to worship Satan instead of God. Satan rules the world because we unleashed him, because we agreed with him, because we fell down and worshipped him again and again and again. This is the great exchange, the dark exchange of Romans 1, worshiping creation instead of the creator. So that's the headline. Satan rules the world. This is not my made-up idea or exaggerated plot line. Paul gives the devil this title, the God of this age, in 2 Corinthians 4.4. In Ephesians 2.2, Paul calls Satan the prince of the power of the air. And Paul gets his theology of the devil from Jesus, who calls Satan the ruler of this world multiple times in the book of John, in 1231, 1430, and 1611. Jesus affirms that Satan rules this world. John tells us that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. That's 1 John 5.19. Now this is sort of confusing, right? It should probably bring up a litany of questions for you. Satan rules the world? I thought God is ruler of all. Does Satan really have this level of authority? Can he truly offer Jesus the kingdoms of this world and their glory? And furthermore, why does God allow Satan this authority? If he's sovereign, why doesn't God just completely destroy Satan and his demons and eradicate all evil? And actually, now that we're asking, why did God create Satan in the first place, if he had foreknowledge that Satan would sin and rebel and destroy so much? Look at you. You are a mini theologian thinking about all kinds of good questions. Remember, we don't fear questions here, even the hard ones, especially the hard ones. And these are some really hard questions. So let's do our best to answer them together. First of all, we need to start by making an important distinction. When Jesus said that Satan is the ruler of this world, we need to understand what he meant when he said world in this context. Because on initial inspection, it is confusing. It appears to be a contradiction. I thought God rules the world. Does Satan rule it or does God? What would you say to that question? We can find an incredibly helpful hint in 1 John 2, 15 to 17. It reads, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world, and the world is passing away along with its desires. Could this be the world over which Satan rules? The world we are commanded not to love, because it is not only not from the Father, but is in opposition to the Father. This world is ruled by the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life. All things that we are told are passing away. This is a pretty strong candidate for the world over which Satan rules. Let's add to this ruler of the world phrase another phrase that we just read in 2 Corinthians 4.4, which is another title for Satan, the God of this age. So he's the ruler of this world and the God of this age. I'd like to dive into this a little more deeply by sharing a helpful commentary from William Barclay. He says, for Christians, the split between the world and the church had another background. The Jews had for many centuries held to a basic belief which divided time into two ages, the present age, which was holy evil, and the age to come, which was the age of God, and therefore holy good. It followed, inevitably, that there was a complete split between the church and the world, and that there could be no fellowship and even no compromise between them. But we must be careful to understand what John meant by the world, the cosmos. It was God's creation, and God made all things well. Jesus had loved the beauty of the world. Not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of the scarlet anemones which bloomed for a day and died. The earth was not the devil's, the earth and all its fullness was the Lord's. But cosmos acquired a moral sense, this word for world. It began to mean the world apart from God. C. H. Dodd defines this meaning of cosmos. Our author means human society insofar as it is organized on wrong principles and characterized by base desires, false values, and egoism. In other words, to John, the world was nothing other than the society of the Roman Empire with its false values and its false gods. The world in this passage does not mean the world in general, for God loved the world which he had made. It means the world which in fact had forsaken the God who made it. Satan is ruler of the elements of this world that have forsaken God. He rules over every broken, unjust, inhumane kingdom and society, over every corrupt practice, over all that is organized under error and falsehood and pride and sin. Satan is the ruler of that world, the world that is passing away, the world of this age, not the one to come. Satan's rule is limited and temporary. Those parameters don't negate the fact that he rules. But above him, there is one God, one king, one ruler of all. And Psalm 47, 7 says, For God is king of all the earth. God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne. God has always been on the throne. Satan has never come close to removing him off it, and he never will. God is ruler over all forever. Satan still answers to God, is limited by God, and one day soon will face eternal judgment and punishment. He is a dog on a leash, and his time is short. What about our next question? Does Satan really have this level of authority? Can the devil truly offer Jesus the kingdoms of this world and their glory? The answer is yes. Satan does have authority over the kingdoms of this world, as long as we keep our earlier distinction or definition of world in the forefront here. Adam gave the devil that authority through his rebellion in the garden, and the descendants of Adam continue to cast their vote of approval by their personal sin. And as we've seen, God disinherited the nations and gave them what they wanted by giving them over to the sons of God. Jesus affirms this to be true. Satan is the ruler of this world, which means he rules this world. To that end, he does therefore have the authority to turn those kingdoms over to Jesus in this temptation. And it's important for us to understand this because otherwise there would be no temptation. If there was no real sense that Satan possessed the nations and was therefore able to offer them, it wouldn't be any temptation at all. Satan is offering something that he can genuinely deliver, though the bait is not what it's. Cracked up to be. Their glory is their sin. Their majesty is their rebellion. But nevertheless, as the ruler of this world, yes, he had the authority to hand the keys of his kingdom over to Jesus. And again, as a reminder, it was our participation in this rebellion that gave Satan the keys in the first place. Our third set of questions is the hardest of all. These are the why questions. Why does God allow Satan this authority? Why doesn't he just completely destroy him? And actually, if God is omniscient with perfect, divine foreknowledge, why did God create Satan in the first place? The first answer is the answer I will give because I have studied the Bible for the last six years straight, and I believe with all my heart that God is good and holy and right and fair and just. These are good questions, but primarily I put them under this category. God is God and I am not. I don't understand everything he does, but that doesn't make what he does wrong or cruel or weak or unjust. Let's look at some of our cross-references from Matthew 4.9 to help us answer these questions from a 30,000-foot view first. Psalm 24.1 says, The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. So the world belongs to God and he can do what he wants. He does not answer to us, and he owes us no explanation for why he created Satan or why he allows Satan's authority or why he hasn't destroyed him yet. God doesn't play. He tells us in Jeremiah 27 5, it is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me. This is not like some petty, like mischievous statement. It is a majestic declaration of his divine ownership as creator. He made it, so he alone has the right to entrust its kingdoms to whomever aligns with his perfect wisdom and righteous purposes. First Samuel 2, 7 through 8 articulates it this way: The Lord makes the poor and makes rich. He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit seats of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and on them he has set the world. So it's from that framework of faith that I'll now answer each of these questions a little more thoroughly. One, why does God allow this temporary authority to Satan? It seems that God permits Satan temporary authority as part of his sovereign plan to display his attributes more fully, God's attributes more fully. For example, his patience, mercy, justice, and ultimate triumph through Christ. Satan's limited role exposes evil's futility, refines us believers through trials, and magnifies Christ's victory at the cross. The world is meant to see the bankruptcy of Satan and sin in light of the supremacy of God. The darker things are, the brighter Jesus shines. When his followers remain faithful amid opposition, and God works all things together for good, yes, even the things Satan intended for evil, God does this amazing thing, right? And even use Satan and his schemes and his authority to bring people to himself. Two, why doesn't God just completely destroy Satan now? Or why hasn't he destroyed him yet? Well, I don't fully know the answer to this, but it seems that there is a pattern in the Bible of God defeating evil progressively instead of all at once. Though the cross is certainly a definitive all-at-on exception, and so will be his second coming. This will be a definitive destruction of Satan and his demons in the lake of fire. But for the present time, God seems to allow Satan's activity for a season so that his holiness, righteous wrath, and redemptive work can take place. Instant annihilation might cause us to miss lessons about sin's consequences, human choice, and also God's patient mercy. 2 Peter 3:9 says, God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. And he uses what Satan does to bring himself glory. We can be confident that regardless, God's plan is unfolding exactly as purposed. And three, if God is omniscient with perfect foreknowledge, why did God create Satan knowing that he would rebel? Well, we know that God created Lucifer, Satan, good and perfect, like all his creation. Satan's rebellion arose from his own free choice, his prideful self-exaltation. God's foreknowledge didn't cause Satan's sin. He created beings with genuine moral freedom to love and obey willingly, not as robots. The fall was incorporated into, as a part of, his eternal plan for greater good, to reveal his grace, justice, and glory through redemption in Christ, as we've already said. Evil's entry serves to showcase God's holiness and the beauty of salvation more vividly than a rebellion-free creation could. Now, I say all of these things not with blind faith, but as someone who has repeatedly observed these statements about God to be true in his word. Scripture presents his character with vivid clarity and unmistakable precision. This is why I abide in the word. Who God is is irrefutably evident if you just take the time to go to the source itself. The God of the Bible is sovereign, just, and redemptive in his ways. And even though they are sometimes mysterious, they are repeatedly proven trustworthy in both scripture and real life observation. So, yes, Satan is real. His power is real. God allows him to have authority for a season and for a reason. And again, we must now address free will. Remember that it was Satan's free will, as I just read, that led to his rebellion. And it was our free will that gave Satan his authority. God is not to blame for Satan or his demons or our sin. God gave us choice to love and worship him, or to love and worship the lie and the father of lies, that ancient crafty serpent. So why free will? Why is that important? Well, God questions has a helpful answer. For love to be proved genuine, God gave Adam and Eve and all succeeding people the freedom to choose. We can choose to love or not to love, to obey God or not to obey, to do good or evil. If the human will had never been allowed to be tested and proved, then people would be nothing more than robots. God could have created us to love and obey him automatically. He could have put a fence around Eden and never allowed humanity to be tempted. But God's desire was and is for people to love him sincerely, obey him willingly, and worship him wholeheartedly. But we made our choice, Adam first, and all of his descendants thereafter, through our own choices to sin. We chose to empower Satan when we took and ate the apple. This is the fall. Thomas Aquinas says, Whoever then worships the devil must first fall down. And that is exactly what Satan now asked Jesus to do. The ESV says that Jesus is being tempted here to exchange the love of the Father for the worship of Satan. Fall down and worship me. Back to our original question: Who deserves the worship of the Son of God? We'll be right back after this message. Are you ready to hear what's next at Abidible? As we've been walking through the wilderness with Jesus, we've watched Satan come after him again and again, pressing, twisting Scripture, trying to shake his trust in the Father. And each time Jesus has stood firm with the truth of God's word. But if you've been listening and thinking that's exactly what my life feels like sometimes, like I'm in a battle and I'm not always sure how to stand my ground, then I want to invite you into what we're studying next. In just a few weeks, on April 6th, we're going to open Ephesians 6, 10 through 20 together and study the passage about the armor of God. Because the Bible is clear, the battles we face aren't just physical or emotional. They're spiritual. We are not battling flesh and blood, but spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. And I think you will be so encouraged to learn that God hasn't left us unprepared. This study is an invitation to slow down and really learn what it means to put on the armor that God has given us. Truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the word of God, so that when temptation comes, when trials come, when the enemy whispers lies, we are ready to stand firm. And honestly, this is the kind of study that's even better with someone beside you. Who is the friend that you could grab and say, hey, will you do this with me? Again, we'll begin on April 6th. So if you want to follow along live, now is the time to grab your copy. There are printed versions and digital download options, and I've linked both in the episode description. I would love to have you join us as we learn together what it really looks like to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. And now, back to the show. We've wrestled with some hard truths today, haven't we? Satan wields real, though temporary, authority over this fallen world system, a realm marked by rebellion, corruption, and opposition to God. But here's the sudden shift that flips the script right here at the climactic moment of our wilderness story. Satan trying to get Jesus to bow down and worship him isn't cause for despair or shock. It's nothing new, nothing original, nothing surprising. It's another play from his same tired playbook. And instead of leading to victory, this temptation sets the stage for the very backdrop that makes God's redemptive story shine. I love that the Bible doesn't hide the world's brokenness. It's upfront about it, from Genesis to Revelation. Think about it. If the world weren't under Satan's sway, why would Jesus pray for his followers not to be taken out of it, but protected from the evil one? Or why warn us that friendship with the world is enmity with God? The surprise isn't the corruption that we see today, wars, injustice, moral decay, greed-driven empires. It's that God uses this very darkness to reveal his light. We're not surprised by headlines of division or deception because Scripture forewarns the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. Yet in this twisted age, God's people are called to be salt and light, preserving and illuminating without being tainted. That counterintive truth, Satan's rule, exposes his ultimate weakness. His kingdom is already crumbling and passing away, while God's eternal one advances through ordinary believers like us. And here Satan wants to give Jesus this crumbling kingdom. Oh, the irony. The word for give that Satan uses when he said, All these I will give you, in the Greek, it can mean to bestow a gift. The kingdoms of the world have a false glory that has been tainted by Satan's influence. As they stand, they are no gift for Jesus at all. Instead, this is the world that Jesus came to save. He came to seek and save the lost kingdoms of the world. Bowing down to Satan would destroy that plan entirely. Besides, everything already belongs to Jesus. The Father created the world through the Son and for the Son, and so loved the world that he sent the Son, who died for the sins of the world, and will one day come back on the clouds to finally conquer the world. Revelation 19 16 says, On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Yes, Jesus called Satan the ruler of this world in the three scriptures that I shared with you from John, but I didn't give you the context. In John 12, 31, he says, Now is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. In John 14, 30, he says, I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me. And in John 16, 11, he says, the ruler of this world is judged. Jesus is being tempted to bow down and worship the ruler of this world who will be cast out, has no claim on him, and already stands judged. All along, God had a plan to answer this question of worship once and for all. For him to fall down and worship Satan, as we'll see next week, could not be more absurd. And I think, as arrogant as the devil is, and as much as this is his Hail Mary Pies de Resistance, like climactic moment of the wilderness temptation, I think deep down he knew it wouldn't work. Why do I think this? Well, have you noticed what the devil doesn't say this time? What did he call Jesus in the first temptation? The Son of God, right? What did he call him in the second temptation? Again, the Son of God. Does he call him that here in the third temptation? No. Spurgeon rightly says, the tempter does not dare mention sonship in this case, for that would have laid the blasphemous suggestion too bare. No son of God can worship the devil. And that's our big idea for today. No son of God can worship the devil. The sons of God, the fallen angels, rejected God. Instead of following God the Father, they fell in a rebellious line behind the father of lies. But a true son, just think of it, the word son itself implies intimacy. A true son knows the Father. If you know God, in fact, the more you know God, the more ridiculous and absurd and asinine and impossible it becomes to do anything but love him and kneel before him alone in humble adoration. A son of God, a true son of God, can only fall down before the Father. This is why we abide. Hear Satan's proposal again. Fall down and worship me. What absolute insanity. Satan says this to the one before whom all kings and nations will one day bow. Every tongue will confess that Jesus is God. This Greek word for the phrase fall down, remember how I said it's a loaded gun? It means to descend from a higher place to a lower, to fall prostrate, overcome by astonishment, rendering homage and worship, blah, blah, blah. But oh how our God loves irony and reversal. This same word fall is also used in Luke 10 18, where Jesus tells us that he saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. It's the same word. Maybe that's why Jesus uses it as he tells the story to the disciples. Maybe he's remembering Satan's offer in the wilderness, the promise of kingdoms and glory, if Jesus would just fall down and worship Satan. No, Jesus uses this same word to describe Satan's fall like lightning from heaven, but in this sense, fall can mean to perish or be lost, fall into ruin, be cast down from a state of prosperity, come to an end, lose authority, no longer have force, miss a share in, and be removed from power by death. Jesus was there the day Satan fell from heaven. And now that same cast down rebel invites Jesus to share in his same fate. Fall down and worship me and fall from grace, fall from power, fall from life to death, fall from your father. I'm still reeling at the fact that God, Jesus, allowed himself to even be put in the presence of such hostile arrogance. But this climactic moment in the story requires this frame, the picture, to now zoom in and for our hearts to notice that instead of escaping or avoiding temptation and lies, our Jesus walked right into the middle of them with the worst the devil had to offer, with the one who is eternity's literal worst. That's who Satan is. Jesus faced the Satan-dominated territory and systems of this world and did not choose to negotiate or bow, but to conquer them from within. Feet on the ground, stomach strapped with intense hunger, insults and lies and temptations flying. I have to save the rest of the good news for next week's episode, which is going to be about a declaration of war. But for now, let me close with what all of this means for us today. Here's what I want seared into your mind. Again, it's our big idea for today. No son of God can worship the devil. The power Satan had, the power of death gained through sin, has been destroyed by Jesus on the cross. Right now, that power over you, if you are a son or daughter of God through Christ, that power of sin and death has been broken. We are told this in Hebrews 2.14. And Colossians 2.15 says he, Jesus, disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. Walking in sonship, living as sons and daughters of God means that we understand, regardless of the news headlines or our earthly circumstances, that we live in a world where Satan's grip has been shattered and is still in the process of being shattered. We live in the now and not yet. The cross dealt Satan a crushing blow, and Scripture promises that there will be a day when his temporary throne is toppled forever. The ruler of this world will be cast out, bound, and thrown in the lake of fire. This is what's true. A day is coming when there will be no more corruption in governments, no more injustice in societies, no more pride-fueled divisions. Instead, the kingdoms of this world will bow before Christ, and those who have chosen Christ will be welcomed into his eternal kingdom, the new heavens and the new earth where righteousness dwells and God's people reign with him in glory forever. Until then, we know that we are exiles. Until then we know that this world is not our home. Until then, we stop being surprised by the world's decay and instead live as people fueled with true, lasting, eternal hope, fixing our eyes on Jesus, our wilderness, Jesus, who so perfectly endured in ways we never have and never could. We fix our eyes on him who The author and perfecter of our faith. We pursue holiness. We make disciples in the midst of the chaos, and we allow our worship of the Son to dictate everything we do, just as the Son allowed his love for the Father to dictate everything he did. Our work, our relationships, our decisions, we make them all for him, kneeling only before him, because he alone is worthy, and because our labor isn't in vain. We reject the false allure of the world's kingdoms because they are passing away, and friend, they are passing away quickly. We shine as citizens of a better kingdom, and we live our lives in such a way that we become a preview of the world to come. And that's it for this episode. If you know someone who would be blessed by what you just heard, please share the Abidible podcast with them. Keep spreading the word so we can make much of the word. Drop us a review, tell us what you love and what you're learning. Check out the link to learn more about partnering with us by buying us a coffee one time, by joining our Abidible Plus women's Facebook membership community for $10 a month, or by becoming a monthly supporter. For those of you following along in the workbook, go ahead and begin working on our second to last verse in this series, Matthew 4, 10, on pages 52 to 55 in your study workbook. Ideally, you would have this section done before you listen to the next episode number 89. In this episode, we get to see how Jesus declares war and responds to this outrageous request from Satan. We will get to see who is worthy of the Son's worship. The verse next week is Matthew 4, 11. Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Next week we will see that Jesus' heart beats for the Father and the Father alone. His final response comes yet again from the book of Deuteronomy, this time from the Shema, also known as the Great Commandment. Love, serve, worship God alone. I can't wait to see Jesus take his victory lap. I'll pray for us and then I'll close this out with our memory work for verse 9. Father, you alone are worthy of our worship. In a world that so often bows to power, glory, and the passing kingdoms of this age, we thank you for showing us your Son in the wilderness, hungry, tempted, and yet perfectly faithful. When Satan offered him the kingdoms of this world, Jesus, you refused the lie and held fast to the truth. You would not fall down before the enemy because your love for the Father was perfect. Lord, remind us today that the kingdoms of this world are passing away, but your kingdom stands forever. Strengthen us as your sons and daughters to resist the lies of Satan, to see through the false glory of sin, and to kneel only before you. Thank you that through the cross, Jesus has disarmed the rulers and authorities and broken the power of death. Thank you that Satan's rule is temporary and his defeat is certain. Teach us to live as citizens of your coming kingdom, faithful in the wilderness, steadfast in worship, and filled with hope until the day when every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus is Lord. We love you and we worship you alone. You are the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and it's in your name we pray. Amen. Let's close by doing our memory work together. I'm going to repeat Matthew 4 9 five times. Say it out loud with me or quietly to yourself. And he said to him, All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. And he said to him, All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. And he said to him, All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. And he said to him, All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. And he said to him, All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. Matthew 4 9. Remember, you are able to abide in the Bible. We'll see you next time. Until then, let's abide.