Matthew 4:5-7

⁵ Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶ and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” ⁷ Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”

Commentary

The Lord Jesus having overcome the first temptation by the devil to preserve His Person and Life by His own means now faces a second. Now this temptation takes place in Jerusalem (i.e. the holy city) where the devil sets Jesus on the pinnacle of temple and then says to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

Jesus then having rebuked the devil’s first temptation through the use of God’s Holy Word, now has to face the devil using the same Holy Word in an attempt to lure Jesus into openly displaying His stature as the Son of God. For if Jesus listened to the devil and threw Himself off the pinnacle of the Temple then God according to His Word would immediately send His angels to keep His Son from coming to any harm, and all would believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And thus in the devils mind and reasoning towards Jesus, Jesus would have His Person and Stature as the Son of God fully vindicated by one and all. And so with no doubts about His Person by anyone, Jesus would not have to face any unbelieving scribes and Pharisees, and Jews and various Jewish factions and authorities and such who do not believe (and who would not believe unless they could see a sign from Him, Matt 12:38-45; John 2:18-22; 4:46-48; 6:28-71 etc.) and thus who would only contend with Him (whether by their questions, or by their plots and schemes, or by their threats towards Him) at every turn. Even while on the cross and dying for our and their sins they would only mockingly request a sign from Jesus that He come down from the cross so that they might see it and believe in Him (Matt 27:39-44). And so Jesus knowing that all His humiliation was still ahead of Him was now being given an opportunity by the devil to bypass all that and go from the place of His suffering to immediate glory.  

For even with Jesus’ own mother, brothers and disciples He would have no easy ride in building and nurturing their faith in His Person, having always to endure with them, while He Himself was always steadily journeying towards the Cross (consider Matt 17:17-23). Therefore knowing that all this, and most importantly His darkest hour was still ahead of Him when He would be betrayed and would be forsaken by all of them (even His Father so the work of the cross could be complete), before we who believe in Him could all come to remain with Him forever. Jesus must have seen this temptation by the devil for what it was a cunning allurement to seemingly have all of the glory that God would bestow on Him with having to go through none of the shame and sufferings and people’s unbelief that must precede it. Therefore in response to this temptation the Lord Jesus Christ does not reason, or debate, or even speak with the devil, instead ⁷ Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” Jesus then by quoting Deut. 6:16 immediately rebukes and rejects the devils temptation, and with that the devil seeing that his line of reasoning has again been foiled by Jesus through God’s Holy Word, he will now move onto his finial temptation of Him.

Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.