Luke 4:5

New International Version (NIV)

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.

Meditation

In an instant! That’s the name of the game. It has power to attract and draw the ignorant into bondage. The game is played everywhere. You play it on advertising billboards, TV commercials, in showrooms, architectural beauty, fashion shows, with smartly dressed ladies and gents, in casinos, and much more. Their splendor, glitter, shine, and alluring beauty are difficult to escape.  They trigger something in the human brain that takes us outside ourselves and into the wishful and get-me land, where everybody is beautiful, rich, and powerful. Advertisers know that so well and the media employs their trade to keep us constantly reminded. But who is really behind this grand façade?

Enter into the Garden of Eden and observe the master schemer at work on his first victims – Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:1-7). Ask Lot, Samson, David, and they will have much to tell you. The carnage the devil’s schemes leave behind is devastating. So, why can’t humans be wise? Why do people observe the ugliness of poverty and still go after the vain promises of the lottery? Why can’t people be counseled by the shame of disgraced politicians and business people? Why can’t the misery of broken homes restrain sensual appeal?

It’s because no one has the power within themselves to stand against the power behind these things, but through Jesus. It operates in the dominion of darkness, and under the cover of spiritual blindness. Its protagonist is Satan, “the ruler of the kingdom of the air” (Eph. 2:2). Paul articulates the human situation after the fall so well: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do … What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Christ Jesus our Lord!” (Rm. 7:15, 24-25).

Jesus succeeded where Adam failed (Lk. 4:1-13). In the second of the three tests, “The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world … I will give you all their authority and splendor … If you worship me, it will all be yours” (Lk. 4:4-7). “In an instant”, before one could think, the dazzle snaps and the ignorant is ensnared. But, thank God Jesus did not fall for the power of the “instant” view and the promise of its authority and splendor (5-6). His weapon was the fullness of the Holy Spirit and the word of God (1, 8).

The key to our victory over the instant view of the glitter of the kingdoms of the world, with Satan’s promise of authority and splendor, is the constant infilling of the Holy Spirit and effective use of the word of God.

So: When the glitter of this world tempts you in an instant, speak the word of God in the Spirit’s power.

Shalom