Daily Bible Reading 28th April 2026 // Luke 4:1-13
1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were over, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” 5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve.’”
9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
to guard you’,
11 and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
We have already pointed out the connection between the Temptations and the Baptism of Christ. This is seen very clearly also in this one, and confirms what was said earlier about the association of the words 'Thou art My beloved Son' with Psalm 2. The words in the Psalm, 'Thou art.... this day have I begotten thee' (2:7) are followed immediately by 'Ask of Me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession'. It is against this word of God that Satan's words, 'All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them....' are seen in all their blasphemous arrogance. For he is 'ape-ing' Deity, taking God's words on his lips in a foul, irreverent parody. This, in fact, is one of the dominant characteristics of Satan: not only does he parade as an angel of light, confusing the issue, pretending he is God and deceiving men into thinking that it is God who is speaking to them (this is part of the great subtlety of temptation and one of its most confusing aspects, that terrible point of indecision when we no longer can recognize the distinction between Satan's voice and God's - leading finally to the fearful state of calling evil good and good evil, the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which represents Satan's final aim and final victory in a man's heart), but also this reveals the real heart of evil: Satan wants to be God. He wants even Jesus - and especially Jesus - to bow down and worship him; and he apes the Godhead in this dreadful way by using the divine word for himself. This is unfolded in a remarkable way in the book of Revelation where, in the horrific images of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet we have represented to us the idea of a trinity of evil standing over against the Holy Trinity, and in competition with God the Three-in-One.