Counteracting Partial Truth with the Whole Truth (Matthew 4:5-7)

“Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, if thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.”  Matthew 4:5-6

 “For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” (Psalm 91:11-12) 

In Matthew 4:6, Satan almost quotes Psalm 91:11-12in its entirety. However, he omits the words, “…to keep thee in all thy ways.” Satan quoted some of what was written, but when citing and applying the word of GOD, some, is simply not enough.

For Jesus to have thrown himself off of the temple, based upon Satan’s quoting of Psalm 91:11-12, would have been to act using only a portion of the truth resulting in a violation of the part Satan left out.  

We cannot expect to see the result or promise that comes from the whole truth, when only responding to a portion of the truth. “…to keep thee in all thy ways” is crucial to the text in Psalm 91. The condition necessary for the servant of GOD required walking in the way of GOD.

Jesus answered, “It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” (Matthew 4:7) This quotation comes from Deuteronomy 6:16. Tempting or testing GOD is spoken of many times throughout scripture and is regarded as an act of evil. (Exodus 17:2;7, Numbers14:22, Acts 5:9, Hebrews 3:9)

To test the reliability of the Father would have been a misuse and misapplication of what was written. Psalm 91:11-12 was not for the purpose of testing GOD’S faithfulness. To tempt the LORD would not be consistent with walking in His ways. It is evil to tempt the LORD, therefore the truth stated in Psalm 91:11-12 would no longer apply because a portion of the truth was omitted leading to the conditions set forth by GOD not being met.

Had Jesus responded to Satan’s use of a partial truth the repercussions upon our soul would have been damning. However, Jesus was so intent with the Father’s will and the plan of redemption that He quickly delivered a counter punch to Satan’s temptation by making an appeal to the truth, “Thou shall not tempt the LORD thy GOD…”

Jesus sets forth the pattern that we should follow. We must be a people who are so closely connected to the truth of GOD that any omission, misuse or mutilation of the truth, can be identified and countered with the whole truth and proper context.

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