“If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.”
If you worship me, it will all be yours — the terms are explicit: worship (proskyneō) me and receive all the kingdoms. The temptation is to achieve the messianic goal (rule over all nations) through the wrong means (worship of Satan). The kingdoms that Jesus will receive through suffering, death, and resurrection are offered here as a shortcut — the Messiah can have the result without the cost if he will simply worship the wrong lord.
Church Fathers on Luke 4:7
The enemy had first assailed Christ by the temptation of the appetite, as also he did Adam. He next tempts Him with the desire of gain or covetousness, showing Him all the kingdoms of the world. Hence it follows, And the devil taking him up.
What marvel that He permitted Himself to be led by the devil into the mountains, who even in endured to be crucified in His own body?
Or, the devil described the world in language, and as he thought brought it vividly before our Lord’s mind as though it were a certain house.
Read all 14 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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