The world has so much to offer in terms of materialism, power, and distraction from the plans that God has for us. Satan tempts us with things that look good to us and appeals to our fleshly desires. He knows our weaknesses and will exploit them in order to destroy us, even using scriptures out of context to distort the truth.
The temptation before Jesus was to take the world right then, without carrying out God’s plan to save the world from sin. Satan was trying to distort Jesus’ perspective by making him focus on worldly power and not on God’s plans. The devil offered the whole world to Jesus, if he would only kneel down and worship him. Even though Jesus was hungry and in a weakened state, he quoted scripture right back at Satan.
When I read, study, and meditate on God’s Word, I have scripture available to fight off the temptations that the enemy throws at me, just as Jesus did. We are to be imitators of Christ. God’s Word is true and powerful!
Matthew 4:9 (NLT) - “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”