Jesus had been led by the Holy Spirit towards an intentional encounter with Satan (Luke 4:1).  Now Satan was allowed to take the lead.  Of course, he had no right to lead Jesus, any more than he had a right to say that all authority had been given to him, or that he had the right to delegate that authority to anyone.  But God gives the devil permission to operate within strict limits so that God’s purpose is achieved.  It was true for godly Job (Job 1:6-12), and for Jesus who was betrayed by wicked Judas Iscariot (John 13:21-30).

Reading this passage may provoke the question, ‘Who does the devil think he is’?  The answer is that he presumes to take the place of God and wants to be treated as God.  His character was embodied in the evil king of Tyre, and horrifically described in Ezekiel 28:11-19.  Satan is still demanding honour and worship for what does not belong to him. Here in the wilderness, he exposed himself as a fraud, a confidence trickster, a liar and a blasphemer.  Worse still, Satan even believed that he could fool Jesus Christ, and get God the Son to treat him as a god.  Were he a human being we would say he was deluded, mad, pathologically obsessed with himself, a danger to the world - and he is!

Satan thought he could trap Jesus.  But in fact, Jesus trapped the devil into confessing his real intentions - to rob God of His authority and glory and get everybody to worship him.  In an instant, the temptation of Jesus had turned into the trial of Satan who showed his true hatred of God.  He declares that he is guilty of the worst sin.  He makes his own downfall inevitable (it started at Calvary and will be completed when Jesus returns).  But at this stage, Jesus simply rebuked him with the command to repent and show repentance by worshipping God alone and serving Him.  Satan's refusal to obey in the presence of his future judge has already sealed his eventual fate (Romans 2:8).

Until his final destruction, Satan furiously tries to stop people worshipping and serving God (Revelation 12:12).  Although Satan rarely exposes the full depth of his evil character, his temptations are all plausible alternatives to giving God first place in our lives.  Of course, most of the time he works though the lusts of our sinful nature, or the deluded suggestions of people who have accepted his lies as being true (James 1:13-15).  But whatever ideas may come to our minds, the key question is, ‘Is this the way in which God has commanded me to worship and serve Him?’ If the answer is ‘No’, then you have identified a satanic temptation.  Reject it immediately and replace the evil suggestion by some act of positive obedience to the Lord.  No Christian is ever immune from these tests of faith.  They can come at home, at work or even in the church; so be alert to resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).