Revival Cry Podcast

Overcome the temptation to spiritualize ungodly actions and satanic activities

T. E. Agbana


Luke 4:9-13:Then the devil led Him to Jerusalem and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple. “If You are the Son of God,” he said, “throw Yourself down from here. For it is written:‘He will command His angels concerning You to guard You carefully; and they will lift You up in their hands, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’
d”But Jesus answered, “It also says, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’e”When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

He took him to the highest point of the spiritual place. The pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem. What can be more spiritual than that. That is the zenith of all spiritual knowledge, power and wisdom. At that highest point, Satan proposed a satanic action and justified the actions with scriptures. 

A common spiritual error at the highest spiritual point of a life is to spiritualise demonic actions and satanic activities. Peter had a powerful revelation about the sonship of Jesus in Mathew 16.

Verse 16-19 tells us that:

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah!bFor this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Wao! What a spiritual level. Jesus immediately affirmed the spiritual level of Peter. He called him by his name, Simon son of Jonah, this revelation came directly from the Father in Heaven. That is the highest spiritual point of any spiritual life. To have direct access to God. And as a result of this spiritual operation, Peter gained access to the keys of the kingdom. I am sure the rest of the disciples would have been overly impressed with the spiritual status of Peter. Peter himself must have been enjoying the attention that came with his new spiritual status. 

In his spiritual state, Peter was unknowingly hijacked by satan and in verse 21-23: The bible says

From that time on Jesusc began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Far be it from You, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!”But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

The same man who was at highest spiritual point had received the ungodly advice of the devil concerning the  death of Jesus Christ. He took the advice spiritualised it and began to rebuke the Lord Jesus Christ. But Jesus saw through it and rebuked Satan for Peter to be free.