Luke 4:7
So if You worship me, it will all be Yours."
If you, then, will worship me
This phrase is a direct quote from Satan during the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. The Greek word for "worship" here is "προσκυνήσῃς" (proskynēsēs), which means to bow down or prostrate oneself in reverence. In the ancient Near Eastern context, worship was not merely an act of religious devotion but a declaration of allegiance and submission. Satan's proposition is not just about a physical act but a call for Jesus to acknowledge his authority. Historically, this temptation reflects the broader struggle between the kingdoms of this world and the Kingdom of God. The act of worship is central to the biblical narrative, emphasizing the importance of whom we choose to serve and honor.

it will all be yours
The promise of "it will all be yours" is a deceitful offer of worldly power and dominion. The Greek word "σου" (sou) translates to "yours," indicating possession or ownership. This reflects Satan's attempt to entice Jesus with temporal authority over the kingdoms of the world. In the historical context, rulers often sought divine endorsement to legitimize their reign, and here Satan is offering Jesus a shortcut to kingship without the cross. This temptation underscores the biblical theme of the fleeting nature of earthly power compared to the eternal reign of God. It serves as a reminder that true authority and inheritance come from God alone, not from compromising with evil.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Jesus Christ
The central figure in this passage, Jesus is being tempted by Satan in the wilderness after fasting for forty days and nights.

2. Satan
The adversary and tempter, Satan is attempting to divert Jesus from His mission by offering Him all the kingdoms of the world in exchange for worship.

3. Wilderness
The setting of this temptation, the wilderness represents a place of testing and spiritual struggle.

4. Kingdoms of the World
Symbolic of earthly power and glory, these are offered by Satan as a temptation to Jesus.

5. Temptation Event
This is the second of three temptations Jesus faces, highlighting His obedience and commitment to God’s will.
Teaching Points
The Nature of True Worship
Worship is reserved for God alone. Any deviation from this is idolatry, which is a direct violation of God’s commandments.

The Deceptive Nature of Temptation
Satan often presents temptations that seem beneficial or appealing. Believers must discern and reject offers that compromise their faith and obedience to God.

The Importance of Scripture in Spiritual Warfare
Jesus’ response to temptation with Scripture highlights the necessity of knowing and applying God’s Word in resisting the devil.

The Temporary vs. the Eternal
Earthly power and glory are fleeting. Believers are called to focus on eternal rewards and the kingdom of God.

Commitment to God’s Will
Jesus’ refusal to worship Satan demonstrates unwavering commitment to God’s will, serving as a model for believers to prioritize God’s purpose over personal gain.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Jesus’ response to Satan’s temptation in Luke 4:7 inform our understanding of true worship?

2. In what ways can believers today be tempted to "worship" things other than God, and how can they resist these temptations?

3. How does the use of Scripture by Jesus in this passage serve as a model for us in facing our own spiritual battles?

4. What are some modern-day "kingdoms" or "glories" that might tempt us away from our commitment to God, and how can we maintain our focus on eternal values?

5. How can the lessons from Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness be applied to strengthen our daily walk with God and our resistance to worldly temptations?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Matthew 4:8-10
This parallel account provides additional context to the temptation account, emphasizing Jesus' response to worship God alone.

Deuteronomy 6:13
Jesus later quotes this scripture, affirming the command to worship and serve only God, which is central to His rejection of Satan's offer.

Exodus 20:3
The first of the Ten Commandments, which underscores the exclusivity of worship due to God alone.

Philippians 2:9-11
Highlights the ultimate exaltation of Jesus, contrasting the temporary power offered by Satan with the eternal authority given by God.
The Temptation of ChristR.M. Edgar Luke 4:1-13
An High MountainS. Baring. Gould, M. A.Luke 4:5-8
And the Devil Taketh Him Up into an High MountainA. M. Fairbairn, D. D.Luke 4:5-8
Distance Lends Enchantment to the ViewA. B. Grosart.Luke 4:5-8
Elation no Temptation to ChristG. Matheson, M. A. , D. D.Luke 4:5-8
Fancy EnticedR. Gilpin.Luke 4:5-8
Principle not Place the SafeguardBishop Hacker.Luke 4:5-8
Reviewed TemptationBishop Hacker.Luke 4:5-8
Satan a Close SolicitorBishop Hacker.Luke 4:5-8
Satan's MethodsNewman Hall, LL.B.Luke 4:5-8
Satan's Short CutS. Baring. Gould, M. A. .Luke 4:5-8
Temptation RecurrentBishop Hacker.Luke 4:5-8
Temptation: Outward and Inward GrandeurW. Clarkson Luke 4:5-8
The After-Claps of SinD. Dyke.Luke 4:5-8
The Eye the Portal to the HeartBishop Andrewes.Luke 4:5-8
The Force of This TemptationGeorge Macdonald, LL. D., J. Stalker, M. A., G. S. Barrett, B. A.Luke 4:5-8
The Temptation on the MountainW. Landels, D. D.Luke 4:5-8
True Sight After SinD. Dyke.Luke 4:5-8
What Would the Result have Been If Christ Had Yielded!G. S. Barrett, B. A. .Luke 4:5-8
A Plausible LieBishop Harvey Goodwin.Luke 4:6-7
Bounty AttractiveD. Dyke.Luke 4:6-7
Gifts SatanicalDr. Krummacher.Luke 4:6-7
Giving; Divine and SatanicA. B. Grosart.Luke 4:6-7
Mortifying the Carnal DesiresD. Dyke.Luke 4:6-7
Satan a Tyrant Though He May Seem a ParasiteA. B. Grosart.Luke 4:6-7
Satan Offering Stolen GoodsBishop Hacker.Luke 4:6-7
Satanic FascinationsDr. Krummacher.Luke 4:6-7
Satan's Attempted Bribery of ChristE. E. Johnson, M. A.Luke 4:6-7
Satan's Bid for the SoulLuke 4:6-7
Satan's OfferGordon Calthrop, M. A.Luke 4:6-7
Satan's PromisesD. Dyke.Luke 4:6-7
Sold to the DevilNewspaperLuke 4:6-7
The Bait of Worldly ProsperityG. T. Coster.Luke 4:6-7
The Devil's BargainT. Whitelaw, M. A.Luke 4:6-7
The Devil's BountyD. Dyke.Luke 4:6-7
The Flesh and Spirit in ConflictA. Farindon, D. D.Luke 4:6-7
The Soul Sometimes Sold for the Smallest ThingsGeorge Dawson.Luke 4:6-7
The Temptation to Doubt God's Present Government of the WorldBishop S. Wilberforce.Luke 4:6-7
The World Possessed by SatanDr. Krummacher.Luke 4:6-7
To be Right is to be RichJ. Parker, D. D.Luke 4:6-7
Toleration not DonationD. Dyke.Luke 4:6-7
Two Mountain ScenesJ. Parker, D. D.Luke 4:6-7
Unprincipled Success is FailureE. E. Johnson, M. A.Luke 4:6-7
Wrong Moral Conditions Cannot be Productive of HappinessJ. Parker, D. D.Luke 4:6-7
People
Elias, Elijah, Eliseus, Elisha, Esaias, Isaiah, Jesus, Joseph, Naaman, Simon
Places
Capernaum, Galilee, Jerusalem, Jordan River, Judea, Nazareth, Sidon, Wilderness of Judea, Zarephath
Topics
Bow, Homage, Mayest, Wilt, Worship, Yours
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Luke 4:1-12

     8225   devotion

Luke 4:1-13

     2078   Christ, sonship of
     4122   Satan, tempter
     5214   attack
     5379   law, Christ's attitude
     5804   charm
     6022   sin, causes of
     8729   enemies, of Christ

Luke 4:2-13

     2575   Christ, temptation
     5828   danger

Luke 4:4-12

     2333   Christ, attitude to OT

Luke 4:4-13

     6251   temptation, resisting

Luke 4:5-7

     1194   glory, divine and human
     4254   mountains

Luke 4:5-8

     2312   Christ, as king
     5367   kingdoms
     8848   worldliness

Luke 4:6-7

     8770   idolatry, in NT

Luke 4:7-8

     4114   angels, and praise

Library
Preaching at Nazareth
'And He began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled In your ears.'--LUKE iv. 21. This first appearance of our Lord, in His public work at Nazareth, the home of His childhood, was preceded, as we learn from John's Gospel, by a somewhat extended ministry in Jerusalem. In the course of it, He cast the money-changers out of the Temple, did many miracles, had His conversation with Nicodemus, and on His return towards Galilee met the woman of Samaria at the well. The report of these things,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

The Temptation
4 And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2. Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days He did eat nothing: and when they were ended, He afterward hungered. 3. And the devil said unto Him, If Thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread, 4. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 5. And the devil, taking Him up into an high
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

The Temptation of Christ
Matthew 4:1-11 -- "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a
George Whitefield—Selected Sermons of George Whitefield

Private Prayer, and Public Worship.
"And, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day."--ST. LUKE iv. 16. "He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there He prayed."--ST. MARK i. 35. These two texts set before us our Saviour's habit in regard to public and private spiritual exercise; and they suggest to us the question, What have we, on our part, to say of these two elements in our own life? These texts, we bear in mind, represent not something casual or intermittent in the life of our Lord. They
John Percival—Sermons at Rugby

Salvation by Faith
"By grace are ye saved through faith." Eph. 2:8. 1. All the blessings which God hath bestowed upon man are of his mere grace, bounty, or favour; his free, undeserved favour; favour altogether undeserved; man having no claim to the least of his mercies. It was free grace that "formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into him a living soul," and stamped on that soul the image of God, and "put all things under his feet." The same free grace continues to us, at this day, life, and breath,
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

Massillon -- the Small Number of the Elect
Jean Baptiste Massillon was born in 1663, at Hyères, in Provence, France. He first attracted notice as a pulpit orator by his funeral sermons as the Archbishop of Vienne, which led to his preferment from his class of theology at Meaux to the presidency of the Seminary of Magloire at Paris. His conferences at Paris showed remarkable spiritual insight and knowledge of the human heart. He was a favorite preacher of Louis XIV and Louis XV, and after being appointed bishop of Clermont in 1719 he
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 3

Jesus Sets Out from Judæa for Galilee.
Subdivision C. Arrival in Galilee. ^C Luke IV. 14; ^D John IV. 43-45. ^d 43 And after the two days [the two days spent among the Samaritans at Sychar] he went forth from thence [from Samaria] into Galilee. ^c 14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee [Power of the Spirit here means its manifest use to perform miracles, rather than its presence, influence or direction. Jesus was always under the influence and direction of the Spirit, but did not previously perform miracles]: ^d
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Divine Healing.
The thirty-fifth chapter of Isaiah is a prophecy beautifully extolling the glories and virtues of Christ's redemptive works. "The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." "It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.... Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the
Charles Ebert Orr—The Gospel Day

The Synagogue at Nazareth - Synagogue-Worship and Arrangements.
The stay in Cana, though we have no means of determining its length, was probably of only short duration. Perhaps the Sabbath of the same week already found Jesus in the Synagogue of Nazareth. We will not seek irreverently to lift the veil of sacred silence, which here, as elsewhere, the Gospel-narratives have laid over the Sanctuary of His inner Life. That silence is itself theopneustic, of Divine breathing and inspiration; it is more eloquent than any eloquence, a guarantee of the truthfulness
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

His Training.
WITH the exception of these few but significant hints, the youth of Jesus, and the preparation for his public ministry, are enshrined in mysterious silence. But we know the outward condition and circumstances under which he grew up; and these furnish no explanation for the astounding results, without the admission of the supernatural and divine element in his life. He grew up among a people seldom and only contemptuously named by the ancient classics, and subjected at the time to the yoke of a foreign
Philip Schaff—The Person of Christ

Standing with the People
We have found two simple and axiomatic social principles in the fundamental convictions of Jesus: The sacredness of life and personality, and the spiritual solidarity of men. Now confront a mind mastered by these convictions with the actual conditions of society, with the contempt for life and the denial of social obligation existing, and how will he react? How will he see the duty of the strong, and his own duty? DAILY READINGS First Day: The Social Platform of Jesus And he came to Nazareth, where
Walter Rauschenbusch—The Social Principles of Jesus

Christ the Deliverer.
"And he [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And he opened the book, and found the place where it was written, The spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor: He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that
Frank G. Allen—Autobiography of Frank G. Allen, Minister of the Gospel

Quotations from the Old Testament in the New.
1. As it respects inspiration, and consequent infallible authority, the quotations of the New Testament stand on a level with the rest of the apostolic writings. The Saviour's promise was: "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth;" literally, "into all the truth," that is, as immediately explained, all the truth pertaining to the Redeemer's person and work. When, therefore, after the fulfilment of this promise, Peter and the other apostles expounded to their brethren
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

From his Commission to Reside Abroad in 1820 to his Removal to Germany in 1822
In 1822 John Yeardley went to reside in Germany. As his residence abroad constituted one of the most remarkable turns in his life, and exercised a powerful influence on the rest of his career, we shall develop as fully as we are able the motives by which he was induced to leave his native country. By means of his Diary we can trace the early appearance and growth, if not the origin, of the strong Christian sympathy he ever afterwards manifested with seeking souls in the nations on the continent of
John Yeardley—Memoir and Diary of John Yeardley, Minister of the Gospel

Whether in Christ There were the Gifts?
Objection 1: It would seem that the gifts were not in Christ. For, as is commonly said, the gifts are given to help the virtues. But what is perfect in itself does not need an exterior help. Therefore, since the virtues of Christ were perfect, it seems there were no gifts in Him. Objection 2: Further, to give and to receive gifts would not seem to belong to the same; since to give pertains to one who has, and to receive pertains to one who has not. But it belongs to Christ to give gifts according
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

It is the Final Court of Appeal.
It is not a question of what I think, or of what any one else thinks--it is, What saith the Scriptures? It is not a matter of what any church or creed teaches--it is, What teaches the Bible? God has spoken, and that ends the matter: "Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven." Therefore, it is for me to bow to His authority, to submit to His Word, to cease all quibbling and cry, "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth." Because the Bible is God's Word, it is the final court of appeal in all things
Arthur W. Pink—The Divine Inspiration of the Bible

Epistle xiii. To Serenus, Bishop of Massilia (Marseilles) .
To Serenus, Bishop of Massilia (Marseilles) [128] . Gregory to Serenus, &c. The beginning of thy letter so showed thee to have in thee the good will that befits a priest as to cause us increased joy in thy Fraternity. But its conclusion was so at variance with its commencement that such an epistle might be attributed, not to one, but to different, minds. Nay, from thy very doubts about the epistle which we sent to thee it appears how inconsiderate thou art. For, hadst thou paid diligent attention
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Book x. On Numbers
In truth, we interpret, however briefly, these numbers of perfect names. The mystical account of these examples makes them more honored among the blessed. I. This number refers to the unity of the divinity; in the Pentatuch: hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one. [Deut. 6:4] II. [This number refers] to the two testaments; in Kings: and He made in Dabir two cherubim in the measure of 10 cubits. [III(I) Kings 6:23] III. [This number refers] to the Trinity; in the epistle of John: three are those
St. Eucherius of Lyons—The Formulae of St. Eucherius of Lyons

The Doctrine of the Scriptures.
I. NAMES AND TITLES. 1. THE BIBLE. 2. THE TESTAMENTS. 3. THE SCRIPTURES. 4. THE WORD OF GOD. II. INSPIRATION. 1. DEFINITION. 2. DISTINCTIONS. a) Revelation. b) Illumination. c) Reporting. 3. VIEWS: a) Natural Inspiration. b) Christian Illumination. c) Dynamic Theory. d) Concept Theory. e) Verbal Inspiration. f) Partial Inspiration. g) Plenary Inspiration. 4. THE CLAIMS OF THE SCRIPTURES THEMSELVES: a) The Old Testament. b) The New Testament. 5. THE CHARACTER (OR DEGREES) OF INSPIRATION. a) Actual
Rev. William Evans—The Great Doctrines of the Bible

The Cornish Tinners
Saturday, September 3.--I rode to the Three-cornered Down (so called), nine or ten miles east of St. Ives, where we found two or three hundred tinners, who had been some time waiting for us. They all appeared quite pleased and unconcerned; and many of them ran after us to Gwennap (two miles east), where their number was quickly increased to four or five hundred. I had much comfort here in applying these words, "He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor" [Luke 4:18]. One who lived near
John Wesley—The Journal of John Wesley

Wesley Begins Field-Preaching
1739. March 15.--During my stay [in London] I was fully employed, between our own society in Fetter Lane and many others where I was continually desired to expound; I had no thought of leaving London, when I received, after several others, a letter from Mr. Whitefield and another from Mr. Seward entreating me, in the most pressing manner, to come to Bristol without delay. This I was not at all forward to do. Wednesday, 28.--My journey was proposed to our society in Fetter Lane. But my brother Charles
John Wesley—The Journal of John Wesley

The Redeemer's Return is Necessitated by the Present Exaltation of Satan.
One of the greatest mysteries in all God's creation is the Devil. For any reliable information concerning him we are shut up to the Holy Scriptures. It is in God's Word alone that we can learn anything about his origin, his personality, his fall, his sphere of operations, and his approaching doom. One thing which is there taught us about the great Adversary of God and man, and which observation and experience fully confirms, is, that he is a being possessing mighty power. It would appear, from a
Arthur W. Pink—The Redeemer's Return

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