All those who tested the Lord were defeated, muzzled. Actually, He was the only one qualified to test. He tested them by saying, “What do you think concerning the Christ? Whose son is He?” Their questions indicated that they were concerned about Roman imperialism, their Jewish belief, and their creed (the law). The Lord indicated that those things meant nothing. What mattered was Christ. He is what they needed. When He asked them whose son Christ is, they answered, “David’s.” He said, “How then does David in spirit call Him Lord [Psa. 110:1]...? If then David calls Him Lord, how is He his son?” (vv. 41-45). Not one of them was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone from that day dare to question Him anymore (v. 46).
The Pharisees, the Herodians, the Sadducees, and a lawyer of the Pharisees tempted the first God-man with questions concerning Roman imperialism, the belief of the Jewish religion, and their creed, thinking that they could ensnare Him, but He defeated them all by His wise and subduing answers, which led them to consider the person of Christ who, not the political and religious things, was their real need. It was as if the Lord were saying, “You have to consider your real need. The real need for your life is Christ. But regretfully you don’t know Him. You know Roman imperialism, Jewish belief, and the Jewish creed. You know all the political and religious things, but you don’t know the very Christ who is your real need.”
When He tested them with the person of Christ, they did not have the adequate knowledge, knowing Christ only in His humanity as the seed of David but not in His divinity as the Lord of David who will sit at the right hand of God (Psa. 110:1). Eventually, He muzzled all their mouths and won the victory in the mutual testings.
Now we want to consider the temptations through which the Lord passed at the end of His ministry (Matt. 26:57-68). This was at the time of His being judged by the Jewish Sanhedrin after He was arrested by the Roman authorities in the night (vv. 57-58). They tested Him about several things so that they might put Him to death, but He answered nothing (vv. 59-62). Eventually, the high priest tested Him concerning whether He was the Christ, the Son of God (v. 63). He answered, “You have said rightly. Nevertheless I say to you, From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power [Psa. 110:1] and coming on the clouds of heaven” (v. 64). The Lord Jesus referred them to Psalm 110:1, which says, “Jehovah saith unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, / Until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (ASV). Although He was a man, He could sit at the right hand of God. He was saying that He was equal to God, and that offended the Jews, but it was prophesied by David in Psalm 110:1. He also said that the Son of Man would come on the clouds of heaven. This word has not yet been fulfilled. We believe that the Lord Jesus as the Son of Man will come on the clouds of heaven to take the earth and possess it (Rev. 10:1-2).
When the high priest heard this man, Jesus of Nazareth, say that He would sit at the right hand of God, making Himself equal with God, the high priest tore his garments and said that He had blasphemed, and the Sanhedrin considered that He was worthy of death (Matt. 26:65-66). They spit in His face and beat Him with their fists, and others slapped Him (vv. 67-68).
In the last temptation of the first God-man by the high priest usurped by Satan, the high priest’s test was in principle the same as the devil’s in the beginning of the temptations, tempting the first God-man to assume His divine position as the Son of God and ignore His human position as a man (Matt. 4:3-7). At the beginning Satan himself was tempting the Lord. At the ending the high priest was tempting Him. These two temptations were actually the same because the high priest was usurped by Satan. His temptation was just a repetition of that by Satan. They tempted the Lord to assume His God-given position, the position of His divinity, and ignore His God-ordained position, the position of humanity. The first God-man, knowing the stratagem of Satan, in His answer again did not explicitly assume His divine position as the Son of God but strongly stressed His human position as the Son of Man to shame Satan and annul him by His humanity. The Lord’s standing on the position of humanity was a strong weapon for Him to defeat Satan and the instrument usurped by Satan.
In conclusion, all the temptations by Satan and his usurped instruments present us a vivid picture that the first God-man behaved stately within the limit of His positions according to His dual status of God and man. His wisdom, His honesty, His faithfulness to God, His sobermindedness concerning His position and status, and His conquering and subduing ability, all were shown in this ugly portrait of His enemy Satan, the devil. The actual result of the temptations by the opposers of the first God-man did afford a chance for Him to unveil to them the person of Christ in full, that He is both God as the Lord of David, their respected father, and man, a seed of David, who will sit at the right hand of God (Psa. 110:1). Such an all-inclusive Christ was the real need for their life, but what a pity that they were blinded by Satan and became ignorant of their real need so that they despised Him, forsook Him, and sentenced Him to death by crucifixion! (Matt. 26:66-67).