Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 4:5

"And he led him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time." — Luke 4:5 (ASV)

The kingdoms of the world.—St. Luke uses the word (literally, the inhabited world) which was commonly used as co-extensive with the Roman empire. On the difference in the order of the temptations, see Note on Matthew 4:5.

In a moment of time.—The concentration of what seems an almost endless succession of images into the consciousness of a moment is eminently characteristic of the activity of the human soul in the state of ecstasy or vision.