The physical world lives with the expectation that we look out for ourselves first and foremost. But more than just self-preservation, like little school children we crave that praise that feeds our ego. We SEEK glory for ourselves.
Satan had used two very different tactics in his first two temptations of Jesus. First, he tried to tempt Jesus into satisfying a legitimate physical appetite in a completely wrong way. He tempted the body of Jesus.
Next, he tried to tempt Jesus into testing God by jumping from the temple expecting a rescue from God, all the while trying to convince Jesus such would be an act of great faith. He tested the soul of Jesus, testing his character.
Now we come to the devil’s third and final attempt. Again, trying to lure Jesus into receiving His crown without experiencing the cross, Satan offered Him rulership of the world in exchange for His worship. He tempts the spirit of Jesus, “I will make you ‘god of the world’ (an idol) if you just give ME glory.”
Satan offered Jesus control over these kingdoms in exchange for His worship, to take a shortcut to receiving His full Messianic authority NOW. All these things would be Jesus’s anyway, subsequent to His death, burial, and resurrection. The devil (this word literally means "to throw across"), sought to “throw across” Jesus’ path lure of instant gratification and success to lure his spirit away from God and to Satan.
Invariably, Satan uses this tactic with people today. He will tempt a person with success, health, wealth, and prosperity while demanding a heavy price in return. The devil wants us to give the glory that belongs to God and render it, instead, to the-opposer-of-God, but the price is too steep, no matter what he offers in exchange.
Now Satan promotes his true agenda – IT’S ALL ABOUT ME! He desired the worship that belongs to God alone.
We tend to think of worship as a ceremony, a “worship service”, but the word worship literally means “the condition of worth”. Satan literally expressed to Jesus: “just humble yourself before ME and consider ME worthy and I will give you rulership of the world until you die.” Yeah, but then what?
Jesus recognized the devil’s scheme for what it was and responded with a third “it is written” reply. Quoting Deuteronomy 6:13, Jesus reiterated the necessity of ascribing ALL worth to God alone. Jesus, however, added a couple of key aspects. First, He said to worship the Lord and “serve” (the word serve means render HABITUAL obedience to) Him.
Jesus added, in the second clause, that we should worship and serve “only him.” This was not expressed in the Old Testament passage but was added here by Jesus to highlight the exclusivity of worshiping God alone. While we may consider things “of worth” during our lives we should ALWAYS bear in mind that God is our HIGHEST value. We should render our habitual obedience only to him if we want to draw closer to God.
After Jesus once again quoted Scripture to Satan, He banished him from His presence, and following this defeat, the devil left …for a time. Jesus had succeeded in establishing a pattern of trust and obedience from which He would never waver. He stayed true to his mission. Jesus had successfully passed the test and was now recovering from His fast and His spiritual battle with the devil in anticipation of beginning His earthly ministry.
So let’s look the passage Jesus quoted. Moses was giving his warning to the people of Israel to stay focused upon God. Moses demonstrated that he was a good student of human behavior. He knew that when the going was rough the people could easily depend upon God. But he also knew that the people might forget God as soon as they received blessings and feel themselves to be self-sufficient. So, he reminded the people of God’s faithfulness.
Moses warned the people concerning the dangers of prosperity. He understood the human condition and the tendency to take credit for things we did not accomplish. He phrased the warning “be careful not to forget the Lord.”
The Hebrew word used is shamar, meaning “pay careful attention to.” It is a word that is used repeatedly throughout Deuteronomy when Moses wanted the people to recall or remember something important: being grateful to God for our blessings and praising the Lord who deserves it.
The Israelites were transitioning from rural desert wanderers with nothing, into urban city-dwellers about to walk into a great place; they were going to have houses, wells, and crops ready-made for them, which they did not have to work to build or prepare.
Deuteronomy 6:13 is the verse Jesus quoted when Satan offered Him all the kingdoms of the world in exchange for Jesus' worship. Moses’ admonition puts forth three points for leading a righteous lifestyle.
When fear is used in this sense, it is synonymous with belief; we entrust ourselves to the Lord and commit to His ways. The significance of it being used here is that it implies prosperity shouldn’t make a person arrogant or self-confident. Jesus recognized the foolishness of Satan’s LIMITED time offer with EXPIRING benefits. Those who truly fear God believe God, and see the foolishness of arrogance in claiming results that were given by grace and believing that they were earned by self.
Second, Moses said the people were to “worship him.” The word “worship” here carries the connotation of service. UNLIKE WHEN THEY WERE SLAVES IN EGYPT, FORCED TO SERVICE AGAINST THEIR WILL, they were now to be willing servants of the Lord, entrusting their very lives to Him because He grants actual and total freedom.
The third feature in the verse can be seen in Moses’s instruction to “take your oaths in his name.” Our witness to the effects of God in our lives should be in reverential awe and worship. GOD IS THE GRANDEST WITNESS THAT WE CAN INVOKE TO WITNESS THAT WE ARE BEING TRUTHFUL.
Unlike the habitual liar’s “I swear to God…” which has come to mean an OBVIOUSLY false statement, a judicial oath of truthfulness sworn to the “Lord your God” invoked God to witness the truthfulness of what was being sworn to. An oath taken of allegiance to veracity with God as the witness and covenant maker is the idea here. Such judicial oaths are used because “I swear to my lucky rabbit’s foot” is not an effective oath, and “because I said so” is literally swearing by one’s own authority and is likewise not an effective oath.
Moses understood the Israelites would face tough challenges in Canaan. They would be blessed with great resources but would be tempted to blend in with their neighbors. The pressure to be liked or to “fit in” is enormous. The command is straightforward and simple to understand. Don’t get involved in idolatry. Keep God first, worshiping no one and nothing else. Here God asked the people to swear to Him—to be faithful to Him and Him alone. In effect this was like a marriage between God and the people of Israel. God said I promise to take care of you if you will stay focused on God. History records that after the people came into the land and began to enjoy the benefits of God’s blessings, they became lax in their commitment to God and even started following other gods. It is no different today.
Why is God jealous for us? When we love Him passionately and devote ourselves to following his guidance it provides a track, or a path for Him to work in your life and bring His blessings. El Kanna is Hebrew for consuming fire, jealous God. The root idea in the Old Testament word 'jealous' is "to become intensely red" and refers to how rising emotion colors our face when something or someone very dear to us is threatened. God is zealous and eager about protecting what is precious to Him. This jealousy for us, compels God to pursue us relentlessly, no matter how hard we may try to evade Him.
God is jealous for us, on behalf of us. He wants to be our only object of worship because He knows what is best for us; He wants us to place nothing ahead of Him. Imagine how the completely, and wholly zealous God who IS Love feels when we turn to someone, or something, else as OUR Godly authority figure.
Forgetting God would be the ultimate act of betrayal and would be deserving of the strictest of punishments: removal from the promised land—eviction! Warnings such as this one are appropriate for us today too. Without being careful, all of us can become complacent in our circumstances; we can focus so much energy on ourselves and our worth that we no longer see our need for God.
Such betrayal does not lead to unlimited and everlasting joy; our greatest joy comes from exalting God rather than ourselves, by being one with God.
