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Thread: The pinnacle of the temple

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    The pinnacle of the temple

    Luke 4:9 Then Satan brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.
    10 For it is written:
    'He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you,'
    11 and,
    'In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.' "
    12 And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.' "

    I've wondered if the above was a vision that Satan invoked in Jesus' mind. The previous temptation involved placing him on a mountain and showing him "all the kingdoms of the world and their glory" (Mat 4:8). That cannot be done by placing him somewhere then having him look around, the world isn't flat and even if it had been, he couldn't have seen that far. And even if he could, then he wouldn't be able to discern "the glory" of all the kingdoms of the world. Maybe Satan did place him physically on a mountain but it still involved some kind of a vision.

    In the passage that I quoted above, Satan must have placed him physically on the literal pinnacle of the temple. If it had been a vision then Jesus could have rejected it, claiming that he was still situated in the desert. The possibility of actually falling down from the pinnacle and either being killed in the fall or being rescued from it by angels - was integral to the temptation.

    I suppose that noone was looking up when that happened, at the pinnacle of the temple which was situated hundreds of feet above the city. But how was Satan able to do all of that ? What do you think ?

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    Senior Member Cardinal TT's Avatar
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    Good observation ...I have pondered about this in the past and shared it with some believers earlier this year

    All of Jesus temptations involved a spiritual as well as physical aspect. The story is too literal to just be a spiritual vision but I believe it was a physical transportation.

    Many western believers don't really understand that satan has far more power than they realise ( of course God still is infinitely greater). Believers in 3rd world nations have to contend with some incredibly powerful activities of demonic spirits.

    Jesus submitted to this temptation by satan and allowed himself to be transported physically because he had to experience satans power so he could defeat him using God's way.
    Satan has the ability to do things like this, because we don't see it or hear about it in the west it doesn't mean it doesn't happen even today.

    Jesus had to trust in God's grace using the Word and not resort to abusing his spiritual authority by calling on angels whereas satan uses his power at will for evil.
    Satan wanted Jesus to be impressed with his spiritual power and authority which is why many having chosen to follow evil when they experience demonic power.

    It is a strange temptation but the scripture says Jesus was tempted in ALL points and even though many people will never be tempted with such demonic power there are many who have and embraced it.
    Jesus had to experience the highest level of satanic power to be totally victorious

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    I'm thinking that it must have been the "ideal" situation for Satan. Usually there is a battle going on between angels in the heavenlies and the forces of evil are kept at bay to greater or lesser degree. In this case it wasn't much more than Satan vs Jesus and Jesus was in human form though with the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

    There are stories from witches and Satanists of encounters with the demonic that were horribly real. Their serving those demonic forces opens up the way for those forces to manifest among them and have power in that situation. The Satanic witch that I talked to on a Christian forum for a while 20 years ago claimed that she frequently met Satan in open visions. I'm not so sure that that was the boss but it could have been one of his angels. Or maybe a demon took over after a while, after demonic forces had gained a stronger foothold in the woman.

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    Senior Member Ezekiel 33's Avatar
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    We have to keep in mind that satan is a fallen angel. He has great power because God created him and gave it to him.
    One thing that he is not, though, is Omnipresent. He can only be in one place at a time. This is clear when we look at Daniel's encounter with the angel Gabriel.
    I think many have had encounters with various powers and principalities and thought they were dealing with satan himself.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ezekiel 33 View Post
    We have to keep in mind that satan is a fallen angel. He has great power because God created him and gave it to him.
    One thing that he is not, though, is Omnipresent. He can only be in one place at a time. This is clear when we look at Daniel's encounter with the angel Gabriel.
    I think many have had encounters with various powers and principalities and thought they were dealing with satan himself.
    He has power because he's the original sinner, he fell of his own accord and is totally evil (the other angels were tempted by something outside themselves). He has power because he has authority over all the other fallen angels and demons since they subjected themselves to his rule. He was originally an arch angel but I don't think that God created him to be vastly more powerful than all the other angels. It has to do with the position he's in.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ezekiel 33 View Post
    We have to keep in mind that satan is a fallen angel. He has great power because God created him and gave it to him.
    But he has no authority any longer. We have authority through Jesus over all the power of the enemy. The pinnacle was pre-cross so satan had not been stripped of any legal authority he held due to Adam handing it over to him. Of course I know you know that but thought I'd say it anyway. lol.

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    Quote Originally Posted by fuego View Post
    But he has no authority any longer. We have authority through Jesus over all the power of the enemy. The pinnacle was pre-cross so satan had not been stripped of any legal authority he held due to Adam handing it over to him. Of course I know you know that but thought I'd say it anyway. lol.
    There's a limit to how much authority we can exercise directly against fallen angels. Casting out demons involves disembodied spirits that have a connection to the physical world, usually in and through a human being.

    1 Thes 2:18 Therefore we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan hindered us.

    Prayer affects the spiritual climate of course, even though one cannot simply cast all the fallen angels into the abyss or similar.

    Jesus had as much authority over demons pre-cross as we do now but like us, he was unable to exercise authority over the fallen angel Satan directly.

    Luke 4:13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time

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