“And saith vnto him, All these things will I giue thee, if thou wilt fall downe and worship me.”
1611 King James Version (KJV)
4:9 If thou wilt fall down and worship me - Here Satan clearly shows who he was. Accordingly Christ answering this suggestion, calls him by his own name, which he had not done before.
Mt 4:9 All these things will I give thee. All disguise is laid aside. Satan claims to be the Prince of the world and the disposer of human kingdoms. Jesus came to be a King, but the pathway to the crown is weary, painful, beset with thorns and blood. Satan proposes an easier way. He will rally the Jewish nation around him, set him on the throne of David, make him the Messiah King of the world, if he will only consent to give up his idea of a spiritual kingdom, "not of this world" (Joh 18:36), and worship the god of this world by conforming his kingdom to the worldly ideas of Israel. The temptation is to turn away from the path of self-denial, the cross and the tomb, and to establish an outward, worldly domain.