The Second Temptation

Uf BERE is no definite data for determining the length of time elapsing between these several attacks. In all probability they followed each other in quick succession. This seems to be

suggested by the word with which Matthew introduces the account

of the second attack. “Then the devil taketh Him into the holy city.”1 This would suggest immediateness, that directly he was repulsed at the one point, he commenced the attack from some new vantage ground. He had attempted the overthrow of obedience through an attack upon the physical nature. In renewing the attack he no longer appeals to the element of weakness created by hunger, but to that which was the very strength of spiritual life, namely, the Master’s trust in God.

Following the order of the previous consideration, first consider the attack; and secondly, the repulse.

I. In this renewal of temptation the enemy passes to that which lies behind the citadel already unsuccessfully assailed. Having endeavoured to seduce Jesus from His position of unswerving loyalty to the will of God, he now flings all the force of his subtle art against that which was the strength. of His abiding in the will of God, namely, His perfect confidence in God. There can be no question that the element of strength in Christ’s resolute steadfastness in the will of God was that of His absolute confidence in His Father, His quiet and perfect trust. It was this trust which made Him deliberately choose to suffer hunger which lay within the Divine will, rather than to satisfy that necessity of His life by deviation from the Divinely-marked pathway by a hair’s breadth. The enemy, having failed to persuade Him to turn aside from that pathway, now directed his forces against the principle of strength which was the secret of the previous triumph of Jesus.

Too much emphasis can hardly be laid on this introductory thought. God’s perfect Man was perfectly victorious, and that because His trust in His Father was so complete that His relation to the will of God was something infinitely beyond that of resignation or merely of determined submission. It was that of delighting in whatever was the will of One Whom He so absolutely trusted. He knew that He was safer, hungry, in the will of God, than He could have been, satisfied, outside that will.

This being the objective point, now carefully mark the terrible subtlety of the approach. “Then the devil taketh Him into the holy city; and he set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto Him, If Thou art the Son of God, cast Thyself down: for it is written: -

“He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee:”
and,
“On their hands they shall bear Thee up,
Lest haply Thou dash Thy foot against a stone.””?

The choosing of the place is first evidence of the subtlety of the foe. “The holy city,” and in the holy city “the temple,” and in the temple “the pinnacle.” How largely the mind is often influenced by surroundings. Changes that are no less than marvellous are brought about in the attitude of the mind by the change of bodily situation. Location constantly stirs the pulses of patriotism. All the nature is made tender in the neighbourhood of the old homestead, and some of the deepest springs of religious feeling well forth into new power in some place where long ago the streams of living water refreshed the thirsty spirit. It is always impossible to revisit any place of tender, sacred, or holy associations without being profoundly influenc>1.

How much this place meant to Jesus we are hardly in a position to understand. Every sentence in the account is descriptive, and has its own peculiar value. “The holy city.” It is doubtful whether we are able to appreciate just what that meant to a Hebrew. In order to do so in any measure, we have to go back to Hebrew poetry, and read some of the sentences which throb with such devotion as we know little of, in these days of many cities and constant travelling. “Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, the city of the great King.”! “whither the tribes go up,”2 “as the mountains are round about Jerusalem.”3 These and all such sentences minister to our understanding. Jerusalem was the very centre of the deepest life of the nation, and all the aspirations of the people centred therein. The devout child of Abraham, in whatever part of the earth he found himself, turned his face towards the city as his heart went out to the God of his Fathers in prayer; and concerning it thousands would join in the prayer of the Psalmist of old: “If forget Thee, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget her skill.”4

Jesus of Nazareth was no exception to the rule. How He loved the city. He came to it again and again, and when at last it had finally rejected Him, as He knew, and it was necessary that He should pronounce its doom, He did so in a voice choked with emotion, so that the very curse pronounced was wet with the tears of His pity.

To this city the devil conducted Him. Into the midst of all that reminded Him of God’s past dealings with His people, and of that city which was the centre of the promises, Satan brought the Master when he would attack His trust in God.

If the city was dear to the heart of the Jew, the temple was much more so. It was the centre of the city; indeed, the city was only great because it contained, and was gathered around, the temple. The Hebrew nation was a theocracy. They were under the immediate government of Jehovah, and His place of revelation was the temple. That temple was therefore the peculiar glory of Jerusalem. Even when spiritual values were at a discount, there still remained in the heart of the people a veneration for the temple, and devout members of the nation ever associated with that temple all that was highest and best in their history, experience, and hope. It was indeed the very house of God.

How dear it was to the heart of Christ is proven in many ways, but most especially, perhaps, by the fact that at the beginning and close of His ministry He cleansed it from the traffickers. How often He stood in its courts, and walked in its porches, and addressed Himself to the multitudes, or held conversation with the smaller groups. To that centre of the national life, the point at which the

1Psa. 48. 2. 2Psa, 122. 4. SPsan 12 $y 2. 4Psa. 137. §.

religion of the Hebrew had its supreme manifestation and expression, the splendid symbol of that principle of faith in God, upon which the whole nation had been created, the enemy conveyed the Christ.

And yet once more note the particular place in the temple where the devil set Him. The word “pinnacle” conveys a false. idea. As a matter of fact there were no pinnacles on that temple. The marginal reading suggests the word “wing,” and in all probability the point referred to was that of the southern wing of the temple made magnificent by Herod’s royal portico. Josephus tells us that standing on the eastern extremity of that portico, “any one looking down would be giddy, while his sight could not reach to such an immense depth.” This was the one point in the temple which might be described as of a great height. It was the most magnificent, the most strategic point, that point to which any one would be taken whom it was desired to impress with the solemnity and splendour of the city and its temple.

Thus to the heart of the nation, the city; to the heart of the city, the temple; to the most awe-inspiring situation of the temple, the devil brought Jesus. How well and subtly chosen, with what awful cunning and malice! Everything in the surroundings was calculated to appeal to the sense of trust in God. It would seem as though this were the last place in which to attack the principle of trust, and yet considering the enemy’s suggestion, the malicious cunning of the foe will be seen in making such selection of situation.

Now hear the suggestion. Notice, first, the palpable and actual proposal of the enemy. “Cast Thyself down.’1 It is a a direct attempt to force Jesus to act upon that principle of trust, which has been ministered to by the selection of this particular place. In the city of the great King, in the house devoted to His worship, at its most awe-inspiring point, exercise trust in Him by casting Thyself from this great height. Behind this palpable suggestion lay one inferred and indirect. It was the suggestion that trust most perfectly expresses itself in daring something unusual, out of the common, heroic. It was as if the enemy had said to Jesus, There is no necessity for Thee to cast Thyself down. It does not come in the ordinary line of duty, but so much the greater opportunity for a venture of faith — trust in God most perfectly expresses itself in the doing of extraordinary things for God. The enemy suggested that the trust of Jesus should be put to the test and proven by being placed outside the realm of the commonplace. Jesus had repulsed the first attack of the enemy in the strength of .His trust, and while the sense of that victory based on trust is fresh in His soul, the enemy suggests the unusual exercise thereof. “Cast Thyself down.” Could anything be conceived more full of subtlety, more likely to entrap the unwary, and bring about the overthrow of what had seemed to be an impregnable life?

The plausibility and force of the temptation is even more vividly seen in the argument which the devil makes use of, “If Thou art the Son of God.”! This is the same argument used in the previous temptation, but almost certainly with a different emphasis. In the first in all probability it lay upon the word “art,” “If Thou art the Son of God.”2 Here it seems as though it must have been upon the word “God,” “If Thou art the Son of God.” The emphasis would be upon the nature of God. In the first temptation He has proved the fact of His relationship. Now the appeal is to that relationship. He is prepared to enlarge upon the goodness of God, and the care He bestows upon such as put their trust in Him. Foiled and wounded at the first by the Master’s use of the weapon of the Word, he now makes use of the selfsame weapon. Behold the very sword of Christ in the hands of the devil. Its flash is seen as he says, “It is written.”

In endeavouring to appeal to the principle of trust, he made use of Scripture. Jesus had declared that man lived not by bread alone, but by words proceeding from the mouth of God, and in an attempt to urge Him to a new exercise of trust, the devil quotes the Word of God.. He now accepts Christ’s definition of human life as something more than animal. He acknowledges that it is the spiritual life that needs to be strong for the exercise of trust; and moreover, that spiritual life is only strong as it feeds upon the Word; so he attempts to minister to Him in the realm of that very spiritual nature. It is a startling and an appalling picture. “It is written,”

“He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee:”
and,
“On their hands they shall bear Thee up,
Lest haply Thou dash Thy foot against a stone.”
9 1Matt. 4. 6. 2Matt. 4. 3. 3Matt. 4. 6.

130 THRE POR SES) RO.E MU Hee eC ERP ser,

That is the very acme of subtlety. The psalm from which the

quotation is made, opens with the words:

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

This is a description of the perfect safety of the trusting soul. Its rhythm, its music, and its sweetness have cheered the heart of such as put their trust in God through all the centuries; and as the enemy now attempts to press the Master towards some new exercise of trust, from that great psalm of confidence he quotes these words.

So far something has been seen of the subtlety and force of the attack, and yet the final revelation of that only comes when our Lord’s answer lays bare its inner meaning.

II. Turn now to consider the victory of Jesus, and in doing so note first of all the weapon He used. Again the flash of the sword is seen as He says, “It is written.” It is as though He first replies to the very subtlety of the enemy’s attack by revealing the fact that He is still living upon the Word of God, and that as His physical being was content to be conditioned by the law of God, so also it is that law which defines His spiritual responsibility. He no more attempted to live outside the realm of His Father’s will in spiritual life than in physical; and was no more prepared to trespass upon the limits God set upon His spiritual liberty, than He was to trespass upon the limits set upon His physical being. And yet notice the slight variation in the form of His use of the weapon. In the first temptation He said, “It is written.” In the second He said, “Again it is written.”2 In the use of the word “again” is a revelation of our Lord’s perfect mastery of the weapon. In comparison with Christ the devil was a poor swordsman, when he attempted to use the sword of the Spirit. It would seem as though with quiet and yet mighty movement of His strong arm Jesus wrested the sword from Satan. The force of the “again” lies in the fact that it is an answer to Satan’s, “it is written.” He does not deny the correctness of the satanic quotation, but He replies to it by saying, “Again it is written.” That is to say, there must be proper use made of the words of God. No one statement wrested from its context is

1Psa. OI. 1. 2Matt. 4. 7.

a sufficient warrant for actions that plainly controvert other commands, “It is written,” but “Again it is written,” and for the proper definition of life, no one isolated text is sufficient. It is necessary that there should be acquaintance with the whole scheme of the Divine will, and the true balance and proportion of life is only discovered in this way.

What infinite value there is in that word “again.” How excellent a thing it would be if the whole Church of Christ had learned that no law of life may be based upon an isolated text. It is ever necessary to discover the varied sides of truth, for these limit each other in operation, and create the impregnable stronghold of safety for the soul of man.

In a study of the heresies of the Church — not a very profitable one, be it said — it will be seen that all these have been based upon Scripture used as the devil uses it — Scripture taken out of its context, and out of its relation to the whole of the revelation. Every false teacher who has divided the Church, has had an “‘it is written” on which to hang his doctrine. If only against the isolated passage there had been the recognition of the fact that “again it is written,” how much the Church would have been saved.

To pass, however, to the actual Scripture with which Christ resisted the attack, “Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God.”! It has been somewhat commonly understood that here Christ was addressing Himself to the devil as though He should say to him, Thou art not to make trial of Me. That, however, is surely to miss the supreme value of the words. In these words, as in those with which He defeated the enemy in the first temptation, He was defining His own position. The command, “Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God,” was addressed to man, and in this quotation the Lord gave His reason for refusing to cast Himself from the wing of the temple.

Here, then, is the exposure of the deepest meaning of this subtle attack. What could be more excellent to all outward seeming than that this perfect Man should trust in God? What more fitting than that He should prove His trust by daring something, by taking some great risk 2? In a sentence the Master strips the whole hypocrisy of its speciousness, and reveals the murderous intent. To have cast Himself from the wing of the temple into the abyss that yawned below would have been to tempt God, and in the last and fine analysis would have demonstrated not trust, but lack of confidence. It is when we doubt a person that we make experiments to discover how far they are to be trusted. To make experiments of any kind with God, is to reveal the fact that one is not quite sure of Him. Trust never desires to tempt, to test, to trifle. It calmly, quietly abides in sure confidence. With what matchless skill this perfect Man has revealed at once the strength and weakness of the satanic onslaught. The true territory of trust is revealed by the Lord’s answer. That territory is again the will of God. In effect the Master declared that He could trust God perfectly so long as He remained within the sphere of His revealed will, but that if He passed out of that sphere, then He had no right to trust, and could not trust.

What infinite value for all men is there in this unfolding of the true nature of faith in God. The devil is perpetually saying, Do something adventurous, do something magnificent, do something out of the ordinary, and thus demonstrate your confidence. The Master is always replying: Trust is not evidenced by such action. That would be to tempt God, and to tempt Him is to reveal the death of trust. Trust never makes experiments outside the Divinely marked pathway. Such experiments are evidences of timidity rather than of trust.

Thus again the citadel is held, and the foe is vanquished. Jesus refusing to tempt God, demonstrated His perfect confidence in Him, and thus revealed for all time the fact that man, so devoid of selfish interest as to be willing not to appear heroic, in confidence may dare all hell, and issue from the conflict more than conqueror.

In these first two temptations the twofold nature of the second Man has been subjected to severest testing, and the last Adam, Head of the new race, has been proved invulnerable to the assaults of evil. Weakness in the physical realm was tested. Strength in the spiritual realm was attacked. Physical weakness, abiding in the will of God, proved stronger than the mightiest force of evil; and spiritual strength, calmly content with what seemed to be the commonplace of life, was demonstrated mightier than all the subtlety of spiritual wickedness. The Man Jesus is victorious over evil in both departments of His nature. Behold Him, God’s perfect Man, standing still erect, not merely in the perfection of created and untried humanity, but having passed through trial and testing still triumphant. He has chosen hunger, rather than bread which God does not provide. He has elected to appear to lack daring, rather than to demonstrate His fear by testing God. When the alternative of hunger in the will of God, or food outside, was presented to Him there was not one moment’s hesitation; and yet again He elected the commonplace of patient waiting, rather than the brilliant magnificence of an act, which would have revealed fear rather than faith.

In what clear shining the deepest facts of human life are revealed in these hours of the temptation of the Son of Man. Perhaps nowhere is life seen to be more simple. Man in his fall has rendered it complex by endeavouring to act upon a thousand different principles, and with complexity has come confusion. This Man had but one principle, and that the will of God, and whether the enemy approached along the line of physical necessity, or of spiritual activity, it mattered not, he was foiled and driven backward. It is for man to remember that by the mystery of His Cross and passion, and the triumph of His resurrection, this victorious One now dwells in him. In proportion as man is loyal to Him, as He was to God, his loyalty is also loyalty towards God, and as He conquered the subtlest temptations of the evil one, so also may all be “more than conquerors through Him that loved us.”

Rom. 8. 37.