Christ Jesus vs. Satan over God
As Moses led Hebrews after fleeing Egypt in the Sinai desert for 40 years, Christ Jesus thought that he also had to experience a desert life at least for 40 months, 40 weeks, or 40 days. It must have been necessary to a kind of cleanse old sins Hebrews and Moses had acquired in Egypt. Christ Jesus had lived in Qumran before He came back to the River Jordan and Galilee, so that He thought that He had to cleans His soul from any religiously biased customs He had used to accept there.
For 40 days in the wilderness, Christ Jesus did not eat and drink enough. He just meditated while watching sometimes the land and the sky as well as flowers in the field and birds in the sky by day and stars and constellations during the night. In hunger and thirsty, Christ Jesus gave a bitter laugh to Himself, thinking that He knew that He had ability to conquer the Roman Empire and other great nations and cities in the world only if He had ventured into such worldly adventure. He was also amused by a fact that He could even turn a stone to bread since God had given part of the great ability to work miracles.
Then, Satan found a chance to insult the Son of God, which he never missed. So, Satan suddenly appeared in front of hungry and thirsty Christ Jesus. Knowing that Christ Jesus had the ability to turn stones into foods, Satan said to Christ Jesus, "If you beg a favor of me, I would turn this stone to bread. Then, you can make excuses before God, saying that it was not you but Satan that changed the stone to bread, so that you did not abuse your ability even if you ate the bread to ease your hunger." Christ Jesus said to Satan, "Men can live by the word of God, but not by bread Satan gives."
Disappointed, Satan then showed aerial images of great nations and cities in the world, although he knew that Christ Jesus had power and ability to conquer the Roman Empire and all the other mighty empires in this world, saying, "If you beg a favor of me, I would give you all these glorious nations and cities in addition to wealth accumulated there. Then, you can make excuses before God, saying that it was not you but Satan that made a conquest of the world and you only took back the world from Satan even if you became the king of the world." Christ Jesus said to Satan, "Great empires and cities without faith in God are nothing. Wealth they were accumulating is of no use. Respect and revere God!"
With his heart hurt so much, Satan took Christ Jesus to the top of the tower of Jerusalem Temple, and knowing that Christ Jesus could call angels at any time, Satan said to Him, "Jump from this tower and then God will save you by sending angels around your body before you are hit and destroyed by the ground!" Christ Jesus said to Satan, "Loving God is more important than being loved by God. You should not request God to show His love just in order to see how much God loves you even if your life is at stake."
Satan knew that his evil wisdom was defeated by hungry and thirsty Christ Jesus who refused to exercise His super ability and power to fight Satan. Christ Jesus did not even attack and destroy Satan who was insulting Christ Jesus while knowing that He had part of the ability and the power God has. Christ Jesus never left the sate of being a poor man, and he simply overwhelmed Satan.
Satan now knew that he had to do something carefully and decisively to save himself from this shame. So, Satan left Christ Jesus thinking what would be the most effective way to hurt God through his fight against the Son of God.
This episode occurred just in 40 minutes at the end of the 40 day's suffering, in the human sense, of Christ Jesus in the desert to cleans Himself from past religious and scholarly customs He used to have in Qumran before continuing His mission around Galilee.
And, Christ Jesus did not tell this episode to anyone in His mission time, but He wrote it down in the Q document after His resurrection from the cross, which happened a few years later actually.
**** **** ****
Mat 2:7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
Mat 2:8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.