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man, and expected Him to bow or accept or acknowledge the offer. Satan
didn’t realize the prophecy, “and they will lift you up in their hands, so that
you will not strike your foot against a stone,” applies to a mere man. He
would not be sufficiently graced to stand toe to toe with Satan [until after
Jesus’ resurrection], so he will be protected just as the scriptures foretold.
The words in the Scriptures are true, but not Satan’s application of them in
reference to Jesus. Jesus did strike His foot against a stone—I was much
worse, so was this prophecy misstated or does it applied to another. The
truth was spoken, but Satan did not clearly understand. Jesus responded,
“Do not put the Lord your God to the test,” clearly states that He was God!
Satan did not comprehend then, but he knows now who will not strike their
foot against a stone!
To know this difference and why the spiritual forces are in constant
conflict, we must review what was given to understand in the beginning.
“Lucifer [“sense of brightness” according to a Hebrew meaning] how you
have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been
cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your
heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of
God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights
of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will
make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to the grave, to
the depths of the pit. Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your
fate: ‘Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, the
man who made the world a desert, who overthrew its cities and would not
let his captives go home?’”
(Isaiah 14:12-17)
The stage was set, and God’s Plan For Man began to reveal itself in the
garden: throughout the ages it remained hidden, then it was unveiled one
part at a time. You already possess wisdom to understand and comprehend
the plan, as you rise above the limitations of knowledge: “Whoever has will
be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have,
even what he has will be taken from him.”
(Matthew 13:12)
The battle with Satan from the beginning of human existence, it is a battle
of the mind. Satan used and uses knowledge, to program the mind to
misunderstand, while deception convinces the mind that it understands
accurately.
The grace of wisdom—a precious gift—is available to any human being at