10. How did Jesus respond to the third temptation, and why?

¹⁰ Note how Jesus responded to the third temptation. Showing his undivided loyalty to Jehovah, he immediately dismissed the Tempter, saying: “Go away, Satan!” As he did with the first two temptations, Jesus then quoted a scripture from Deuteronomy that contains the divine name: “It is written: ‘It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.’” (Matt. 4:10; Deut. 6:13) Jesus thus rejected the attraction of a prominent but short-lived worldly career and an easy life without suffering. He recognized that his Father alone deserves to be worshipped and that to perform even a single “act of worship” to Satan would signify submission to him. Jesus steadfastly refused to make the wicked Tempter his god.

When we loyally take our “stand against [Satan], firm in the faith,” we are, in effect, saying: “Go away, Satan!” (1 Pet. 5:9) Remember, Satan left after Jesus firmly rejected him. Likewise, the Bible assures us: “Oppose the Devil, and he will flee from you.”​—Jas. 4:7.