Matthew 4:6

and *said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU’; and ‘ON {their} HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’ ”

     When Jesus is in the wilderness, right before His ministry gets underway, Satan comes and tries to tempt Him. This is a critical juncture in history. Jesus is going to be offered up as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. Yet this is only possible if He remains sinless. If He were to have a defect, He would be useless to free us of our sins. It should come as no suprise then, that we Satan pull out some of his biggest tricks to try and thwart the Lord’s plans.

     One of his sneakier tricks is found in the above passage. He actually has the gall to quote the word of God to Jesus while he is trying to get Him to sin. Jesus is up to the challenge. He is the author of the word, so He knows the intent behind and it and instantly recognizes the twist that Satan puts into it. Yet it is important to recognize that Satan is not above quoting not just one but two passages from the Scriptures.

     Satan eagerly uses this trick against us today. He tries to convince us that sin is okay, and he will do it by using God’s own word. How many times will people say, “God would not send anyone to hell! He is too loving to do that.” You can just see Satan smiling impishly behind them. He is winning. There is no doubt that God is love. Yet that is only half the truth. God is also righteous. By getting us to focus on one and not the other, Satan wins. He can do this with so many scriptures, even convincing others that God is so righteous that He would never be able to forgive. God is not that loving. We must study the word of God so as to not fall for such tricks of the devil.

and *said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU’; and ‘ON {their} HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’ ”