"In his third temptation, the
devil casts away all subtlety and scripture and all deviousness and disguise.
Now he staked everything on a blunt, bold proposition. From a high mountain he
showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them—the
cities, the fields, the flocks, the herds, and everything nature could offer.
Though they were not his to give, Satan offered them all to Jesus—to
him who had lived as a modest village carpenter.
With wealth, splendor, and earthly
glory spread before them, Satan said unto him, “All these things will I give
thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” (Matt. 4:9.) In a final ploy
Satan was falling back on one of his false but fundamental propositions, one
which resulted in his leading one-third of the hosts from heaven and continues
to direct his miserable efforts against the children of men here on earth. It
is the proposition that everyone has a price, that material things finally
matter most, that ultimately you can buy anything in this world for money.
Jesus knew that if he were faithful to
his Father and obedient to every commandment, he would inherit “all that [the]
Father hath” (D&C 84:38)—and so would any other son or daughter
of God. The surest way to lose the blessings of time or eternity is to accept
them on Satan’s terms.
Lucifer seemed to have forgotten that this was the Man who would later preach, “For what shall it profit a man, if he
shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
“Or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul?” (Mark 8:36–37.)"
Howard W. Hunter
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