The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 1301-R, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 20."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE.  ©1982. All Rights Reserved.

Question

With the recognition that Satan possesses the highest intellect in all creation, which leads us to believe that surely he recognized that Christ as God. What was the intent and function of Satan tempting Christ the three times he did? And I don’t mean just in terms of an illustration to us that Christ could withstand the temptation, but originally.

Answer

You see, there are several things you see about Satan: one, Satan knows the story. He knows who God is; he knows who Jesus Christ is. You know, remember what the demons said in Mark 5 when the maniac was over there, and Jesus showed up and the demons said, “What have you to do with us Son of God?” I mean, they know who He is; there’s no question about that. And they know how it all ends; they can read Revelation. They know what’s going on. I mean, Lucifer knows; he knows the whole deal. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to give up. He hates God; he despises Jesus Christ. And he’s not willing to accept the plan as it’s laid out. He is fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting against God, fighting against Christ. And so even though he recognizes the deity of Christ, and even though he knows how the thing is going to end, and even though he knows the power of God, he is—listen to this now—he is as perverse in his reasoning as he is in his nature. Do you understand what I’m saying?

So he does not reason with pure clear reason. That’s why you have such incredible inconsistencies in Satan’s domain. I mean, you may have demons, a bunch of demons doing the very opposite of a bunch of other demons. There’s a lot of inconsistency. You know, you can ask the question, if Satan knew that Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God, why did he want Him to go to the cross? You know, I mean, why did he try to nail Him to the cross? Why did he put in the hearts of the people to do that?

Question continued

But did he not attempt to keep Christ from going?

Answer continued

Sure, and that’s what I’m saying. On the one hand he tried to prevent the cross, on the other hand, once the cross was done, he tried every way he could to make sure it was really done.

He’s relentless, he’s perverted in his thinking, he’s inconsistent. For example, he even had people going around casting out demons as a part of his system. So you will find no logical consistency basically in the kingdom of Satan if you look long enough. You’ll find that he runs into himself.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur's Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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