Matthew 4:8

Again the devil taketh him unto an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and he said unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

The mystery of how Satan could do such a thing remains unknown. McGarvey is doubtless correct in pointing out the imagination as a key factor in this temptation. No literal mountain answers the specifications here. Christ, in some way unknown to us, was transported through Satanic power to a great eminence where the devil made all the kingdoms of the world to pass in review, as it were, before the mind of Jesus. As McGarvey expressed it, "If they were presented only to his mental vision, it might have been accomplished by a vivid description, such as Satan is capable of, aided by the excited imagination of Jesus as he looked abroad from the top of the exceeding high mountain."[3]

All these things will I give thee ... What did Satan mean by that? Did the devil propose a union of his forces with the powers of Jesus for the purpose of establishing a world dominion with Christ as the nominal head but with Satan as the real ruler? Or was Satan's proposition an unqualified lie? This commentator recognizes that many distinguished students of the word of God are of a contrary opinion; nevertheless, it is the conviction of a lifetime that Satan lied to Jesus Christ in this third temptation. McGarvey saw no unwarranted assumption of power in the devil's claim to control over all the kingdoms of the world.[4] Also, H. Leo Boles believed that Satan could have delivered on his promise to Jesus, if Christ had yielded.[5] However, Satan is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). The Bible specifically refutes the idea that Satan has at his disposal all the world kingdoms. Nebuchadnezzar was compelled to eat grass with the beasts of the field until seven times had passed over him; and WHY? Only that he might learn a simple truth, namely, "That the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will" (Daniel 4:25). It is impossible to suppose that Christ was ignorant of the truth mentioned in Daniel or that he was in any sense ignorant of the falsity of Satan's claims. How, then, could he have been tempted? Any tempted saint can answer that Satan's lies have the power to seduce even when they are known to be lies. No sinner ever did wrong but Satan promised him pleasure, but no sinner ever got what he expected. "The wages of sin is death," not pleasure. Here, therefore, in the temptation of our Lord was the handiwork of that original artificer of the phenomenon that flowered in Nazi Germany under Adolph Hitler, the strategy of THE BIG LIE. It must be admitted that in this case, Satan told such a big lie that God-fearing men still believe it, nearly two thousand years after the fact! Face the truth: If Christ had yielded to Satan, Christ would not have won the kingdoms of this world; Satan would have won them, and God's redemptive work would have failed.

[3] J. W. McGarvey, Commentary on Matthew (Delight, Arkansas: The Gospel Light Publishing Company), p. 42.

[4] Ibid., p. 43.

[5] H. Leo Boles, op. cit., p. 103.