Episode 154: Worship: The Spiritual centrality

We explored what scripture has to say about the centrality of worship to the Christian life. Quite literally worship from a scriptural point of view is the reason we are saved. When Jesus was tempted by the devil, the third temptation was to worship Satan and receive the nations of the world without going to the cross. We looked at whether this was a legitimate offer or not, but according to scripture Jesus Himself recognized Satan as the ruler of this world prior to the cross. This raises of course other questions. One of them is when did Satan become the ruler. This had to take place when Adam ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. At this point in History Adam went from being the vice-regent or ruler of this world by command of God to being the conquered ruler of this world by means of following Satan in disobedience. Through his fall Adam lost his rulership to Satan. This only pertained to the command God gave Adam to rule over the earth in Genesis 1:28. Jesus as the new and better Adam through the incarnation was the perfect seed God had promised. This seed would need to face the wrath of God on behalf of men in order for them to be set free from their bondage to Satan and His rule. By doing this and rising from the dead Jesus conquered the ruler of this world and broke his hold over mankind. Jesus is now the rightful ruler of this world by means of conquest over sin and death and Satan. He sits at God’s right hand until all of his enemies are put under his feet, which is the very definition of subdue from Genesis 1:28 where Adam was commanded to subdue and rule. Jesus was tempted by Satan to bypass the facing the wrath of God on behalf of men in order to break the power of sin and death. It was a very real temptation. We see the weight of what Jesus did on the cross, in the garden as He sweated great drops of blood because of the sheer overwhelming nature of what he faced in his humanity. This was no walk in the park and Satan’s temptation was very real. At the heart of this temptation was worship. Jesus clearly declares to Satan, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”