By: Jack Wyman

It must have been extraordinarily beautiful.

From this high place the view was breathtaking and magnificent.

Glimmering in all their majestic glory and vibrant colors, their opulence proved a stark contrast to the surrounding dry and windswept barrenness.  

This was, quite literally, a golden opportunity. Or was it? There they were, all of them, for the taking. He had been led to this rugged and intimidating mountain peak. The one who took him up was certain this would seal his fate, destroy the plan, and doom the world.

Few things are as irresistible as power.

Satan pulled back the curtain of deception, “and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.” He whispered in his ear. He hissed into his soul. “I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them,” he said, “because they are mine to give to anyone I please.” (Luke 4:5-6)

I’m powerful. You can be powerful too.

“Opportunity knocks but once,” observed Mark Twain, “temptation leans on the doorbell.”

Luke tells us that Jesus had been “full of the Holy Spirit” when he returned from the Jordan River after John baptized him. Then the Spirit led him into the wilderness. To the place of deprivation and solitude, where cold nights and hot days would wear him down. Where hunger and thirst would be his constant companions.

The Holy Spirit had led Jesus to the place of temptation.

Satan did his best. He appealed to Jesus’ appetite. Then he tempted him with pride. Then, finally, he drew out his best trick—power. “I will give this all to you. . .”

“. . . if you will worship me.” (Luke 4:7)

Here was manifest, unseen by human eye, one of the greatest showdowns in the continuing and relentless cosmic spiritual struggle between good and evil. Between God and Satan. Power hanged in the balance.

Jesus could have struck a deal with the devil. Our first parents did. Adam and Eve weren’t in an arid wilderness, 40 days without food. They lived in a lush garden of beauty, perfection, and abundance. Satan promised them power and knowledge that would rival God’s.

They liked that. They swallowed the deception of the serpent. And the hoary tentacles of sin, with its coming millennia of destruction and grief, bringing death in its wake, infected the human race. Jesus had no such intention. Instead, he invoked the Torah:

“The scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” (Luke 4:8) God first, always, and only—not power.

Luke concludes this account in his gospel by saying that the devil, when he had finished his temptations, left Jesus, “until the next opportunity came.” They’d meet again.

Man has always been enamored of power. Sometimes he’s done great and noble things with it; important things; necessary things. He’s promoted justice, created opportunity, preserved freedom, and advanced civilization. More often, he’s abused power and been corrupted by it.

Power’s a subtle tempter. It flourishes in the odious soil of pride, selfishness, and narcissism.

Israel demanded a king. The prophet Samuel, distraught by the people’s misguided zeal, went to God for guidance. God told him to give the people what they wanted.

“They have not rejected you, Samuel. They have rejected me. They don’t want me to be their king any longer. . . Ever since I brought them from Egypt, they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods.” (I Samuel 8:6-8)

“Other gods”. The people dismissed a heavenly kingdom—and spiritual authority—and yearned for an earthly one. Human power would protect and prosper them. Instead, its abuse by the kings they wanted brought the people suffering, bondage, poverty, and injustice. In time, Israel would fall under the yoke of Roman rule. Civilization itself would be corrupted by man’s lust for power.

The people had hoped that Jesus would employ political power to overthrow Rome. When they tried to make him a king, Jesus went to the hills to pray. He didn’t trust in people. He “knew human nature. No one needed to tell him what mankind is really like.” (John 2:24)

“The kingdom of God is within you,” Jesus taught. It’s not in the corridors of power.

Jesus told Pilate, a powerful Roman, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm.” (John 18:36)

Are you and I fighting the right battle, in the right way, with the right weapons? Or are we worshipping before the idol of political power?

Politics, as important and noble a calling as it is, will not save us. We cannot save ourselves. No president or congress, or court—or party or candidate—can rescue America. Only God can do that.

The soul that matters is not political, cultural, or legal. It’s personal. The soul that counts—the soul that must be changed by the power of God alone—dwells inside each and every one of us. The work of American revival and restoration starts there.

When he addressed Harvard University in 1978, Russian dissident and author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn declared:

“We have placed too much hope in politics and social reform, only to find out that we are being deprived of our most precious possession, our spiritual life."

A dear friend of mine recently said that the most powerful political action we can take is prayer.

To order Jack Wyman’s book, “Everything Else: Stories of Life, Faith and Our World”, go to amazon.com, Christian Book Distributors or barnesandnoble.com. It is also available on Kindle and eBooks.

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