The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."
If thou art the Son of God ...  This could be taken as an effort on the part of Satan to create a doubt in Jesus' mind; but Boles is more likely correct in the view that "IF seems to have the force of SINCE, which would express no doubt."[7] If this is allowed as correct, then Satan already knew that Jesus was the Messiah, admitting it in this suggestion.  It does not appear, however, that Satan at this point actually recognized Jesus as "God come in the flesh," a recognition that was to come later.  If Satan had known at the time, it seems unlikely he would have tried to accomplish Jesus' murder through the citizens of Nazareth (Luke 4:29).