Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Luke 4:7

"If thou therefore wilt worship before me, it shall all be thine." — Luke 4:7 (ASV)

The second temptation involves similar issues. In a vision, the devil takes Jesus to a “high place” and offers him the world. Once again, what the devil offered was legitimate in itself. The Messiah would one day rule all the world, possessing all “authority and splendor.” In this temptation the devil claims to possess the world, a claim that Jesus neither challenges nor acknowledges. Had Jesus accepted the devil’s offer, our salvation would have been impossible. First, Jesus would have sinned by giving worship to the devil and thus could not have offered himself a perfect sacrifice for our sins. Second, Scripture teaches that the Messiah should first suffer and only then “enter his glory” (24:26). Had Jesus listened, he would have been avoiding the Cross. By quoting Dt 6:13, Jesus responded as the perfect human being should respond, worshiping and serving God alone. Both of the OT texts Jesus quoted so far (vv.4, 8) are more than weapons against the devil; they apply to Jesus himself.