Mat 4:8-10 Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
The Words of Jesus
Mat 4:10 Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'
Background
This is the third temptation that Satan threw at Jesus at the end of His forty day fast. Satan had already failed to convince Jesus to turn stones to bread. And he failed to convince Jesus to throw himself down from the pinnacle of the temple. Now it seems the true motivation of his temptations is exposed - which is to have Jesus bow down and worship him.
Satan understands the power of worship...after all he once stood at the throne of God (see Eze 28:13-16) where angels worship the LORD continuously (see Rev 7:11 & Rev 4:8). Satan still desires to have the thing that caused his downfall from heaven in the first place...he still desires to exalt himself over God Isa 14:12-15.
Application
We humans were created to worship...and unfortunately we worship many things (money, fame, fortune, rock stars), rather than our creator. Satan would love to have our hearts turned to worship anything BUT the Lord.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego provide a great example for us in that they set their hearts to worship God - even if it meant death. They said:
“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty's hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." (Dan 3:17-18)
God alone is worthy to be worshiped and when our worship is focused on Him it draws our hearts into a posture of serving Him. The power of worship is that the worshipper ends up serving the object of worship. May we commit to Jesus’ words and “worship the LORD our God and serve Him only”.
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