Luke 4:12 –
Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God’.”
After Jesus is baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit, he goes into the wilderness for 40 days and is tempted directly by the devil. The final temptation is to jump off a cliff and have God save him. At this time Jesus is facing off with probably one of the most knowledgeable about scripture. The devil knows it inside and out and can twist them into knots. So this is what he is attempting to do with Jesus.
Jesus is referencing Deuteronomy 6:16 here and has taken it a step further. In context Deuteronomy 6:16 was talking about worshiping other gods and testing God in that aspect. Jesus is taking it to all aspects of life. God set up this world with “natural laws” like gravity. God is not here to prove his existence to everyone who asks, hence why we require faith. God is way more than an micro-manager or a genie in a bottle, and Jesus is teaching us that here.
The question is could God or would God save Jesus if he did jump? That is a difficult question to answer. I believe yes he “could”, but would not since it would be a “test” of God’s sovereignty. That is something many followers of God, be it Christian, Jewish or Muslim, would like more than anything is absolute proof God exists. Thomas put his fingers in Jesus’ wounds, but Jesus said the ones who believe based on faith are blessed. So we must fight doubt constantly in our walk, we will always have someone saying if there was a God then why “…”!
How do you keep your resolve without “testing”? At the same time we are warned against testing, one can point to Malachi 3:10 where God is saying “test me”! One could argue that Jesus would have been saved if he would have jumped. But there distinct difference between the two scriptures, one is testing God on obeying his commands when the other is testing a natural law to see God do the unnatural. God allows “nature” to work with Him to bless you, where if you are expecting Him to violate laws of “nature” then you are “outta luck!” Not saying He can’t violate laws of “nature” … just don’t “test” Him on that!