Final

Apeer studying a picture in detail, it is always well to look at it from a distance. In this way effects are discovered which cannot be discerned in a more critical examination. There

are certain interesting facts connected with this crisis in the mission

of Christ which have not come’under the observation in the former studies. These facts, while closely connected with the whole story, belong peculiarly to no section thereof, and therefore have so far eluded notice, but they are altogether too valuable to be omitted.

Before passing from the general subject then, look at the temptation as a whole, making certain observations, principally concerning the two central figures, Satan and Jesus, the Tempter and

the Tempted.

I. Consider the tempter first. And the first point of interest is that of a perpetual method, incidentally revealed in his attack upon Jesus. Carefully read the quotations from Scripture in which Jesus replied to his attacks, side by side with the passages in the Old Testament.

In answer to the first He said, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”! That is a quotation from Deuteronomy “And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by everything that proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live.”2

In answer to the second temptation He said, “Again it is written, Thou shall not make trial of the Lord thy God.”? That is a quotation from Deuteronomy. “Ye shall not tempt Jehovah your God, as ye tempted Him in Massah.”4

1Matt. 4. 4. Deut. 8. 3. 3Matt. 4. 7. {Deut. 6. 16,

In answer to the third He said, “It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.”! That is a quotation also from Deuteronomy. “Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God; and Him shalt thou serve, and shalt swear by His name.”2

These answers of Jesus reveal the order of the attacks. First bread, then trust, and then worship. If the references in Deuterenomy are now observed, it will be discovered that they are quoted in opposite order to the way in which they occur in the book. In answer to the temptation concerning bread Christ uttered words to be found in Deuteronomy 8. 3. In replying to the temptation directed against trust, His quotation was from Deuteronomy 6. 16. While in replying to that in the realm of worship, the quotation is from Deuteronomy 6. 13. In the law of God, the order is worship, trust, bread. That order the devil inverted, and his temptations proceeded as to bread, trust, worship. This is a revelation of the perpetual method of Satan, and also of his estimate of humanity. All attempts to work the ruin of man by the enemy are based upon a low conception of human life, to which he attempts to gain the consent of the tempted. His unfailing plan is to act as though man were less than God has called him to be, while he endeavours to degrade’ him to the level of his own suggestion. He appeals first to man as being animal only, calling him to satisfy his material appetite, as though that were the sum total of life. God never so appeals to man, even in his fall. Notwithstanding the ruin and the wreckage of human life, the message of God is always one that calls man first to worship, and a recognition of his spiritual nature. The Divine plan is ever that of recognising the Divinity in man, the magnificence of his spiritual being, ruined magnificence to-day, and yet truly magnificent in the ruin, because capable of communion with God. The Word of God is ever, “Seek ye first His kingdom;”3 and then He appeals to the trust in man, and promises him bread and all things necessary. Satan called this Man to feed His physical life, and endeavoured to break down His trust in God, and to divert His worship from the true to the false, and so change His allegiance and His service to bondage and slavery.

Then again notice how the enemy silently confessed his defeat. That is impressively evident by the fact that in each temptation the

1Matt. 4. 10, *Deut. 6. 13. 5Matt. 6. 33.

Master gave him but one reply. No second argument was needed. Looking back on that threefold process, in the wilderness, on the wing of the temple, and on the high mountain, there is seen a Man, on each occasion occupying an impregnable position, standing in a fortress that hell is utterly unable to capture, replying to each attack in one brief sentence. The silence of the enemy after the reply of the Lord was a clear confession of his defeat, and a remarkable proof that he is unable to gain any advantage over those who are content to abide, at whatever cost, in the will of God.

To those who know anything of the devices of Satan, and the persistency of his opposition, his’ silence with regard to each several temptation after the first reply of Jesus, is evidence at once of the perfection of that reply, and the utter discomfiture of the foe.

Yet again. In the last temptation there is an intimation of the devil’s estimate of the worth of Jesus. After showing Him the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, he declared his conviction that to capture the soul of Christ would be a greater victory than all his conquests. He reckoned this perfect Man to be worth all over which he claimed to have gained authority. “All these,” said the enemy, and the offer included the result of the dreadful persistency of diabolical endeavour through long centuries, the evolution of evil through tedious processes. The spotless Son of God was, in the estimate of the devil, of more value than all. In effect the enemy said, I will give to Thee all that has cost so much, if I may but gain for one moment Thy homage. It is a stupendous and startling revelation, the devil’s estimate of the worth of Christ. There are persons who say that they cannot understand the expiatory work of Christ on the Cross, because of the difficulty of believing that the suffering and death of One could possibly be sufficient for the redemption of the world. Those who speak of this difficulty evidently hold Christ at lower valuation than did the devil. He, comparing the world with the Master, tacitly acknowledged the greater worth of Jesus. Satan evidently reckoned that unless he could bring Christ into subjection, nothing he had, would he be able to hold. He evidently recognised the infinite value of this second Man; and understood, moreover, the relation of that undepreciated value to the redemption of the world.

And yet, moreover, remarkable as is this estimate, from another standpoint the offer of Satan was a piece of insufferable and impertinent blasphemy. The kingdoms of the world for this pure soul. It seems at first assuredly a great conception of the Master’s value, and yet one day, Jesus, holding the scales of infinite accuracy in His right hand, revealed that any life, even though bruised and broken by sin, was worth more than all the world. Said He, “What doth it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his lifer”! and yet Satan dared to suggest that the pure and spotless One, heaven’s delight and earth’s hope, might be purchased for the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them.

Thus in these scenes of the testing of the Son of Man, Satan is revealed that men may nevermore be ignorant of his devices. The last Adam has dragged him from his hiding-place, and held him to view in the clear shining of the light, so that he is known for a liar, the father of lies, for the traducer, the calumniator; and, moreover, for the foe who is defeated, whose power is broken, and who must at last lose his kiagdom.

II. Turning attention now to the tempted One Who became the Victor, notice, first, His use of the Word of God under the process. His attitude towards the Word is clearly revealed in the fact that under stress of these terrible onslaughts of evil, His life was wholly conditioned by the law found in Scripture. As defining His own position He quoted directly from the law of Moses. By so doing, He placed Himself under it, and acknowledged its authority. This, moreover, was no mere unofficial sealing of that law. He declared plainly that it had proceeded from the mouth of God. Thus He set His imprimatur upon the Divine authority of the Mosaic economy. This should never be lost sight of. While this is not the only occasion upon which He did this, there is no other more remarkable. When Jesus was tried as Man by the powers of darkness, He revealed the fact that He stood within the limits of life, dominated by the sacred writings with which He was familiar; and in simple but explicit statement sealed those Scriptures as of Divine origin and authority.

In this connection notice also His marvellous familiarity with the Word of God. This is proven, not by the length of the quota-

1Mark 8. 36.

tions for they were brief, but by their immediate applicability to the need of the moment. This could only be done by a Man Who was familiar with the sacred writings, and of Whom it might be said, even more fully than of Timothy, that from a child He had known the holy Scriptures.

This fact of His familiarity, and of its value in the hour of temptation, should ever be borne in mind by those who are still in the place of testing. Strength to overcome in the hour of such testing, is assured to those, and to those only, who are familiar with the Word of God, not merely as to its letter, but as to its spiritual value.

Without hesitation Jesus quoted the one verse in all the Library that perfectly defined His own position, and revealed the evil lying behind the plausibility of the foe. To do this was proof, not merely of familiarity with the letter, but of His clear understanding of the application thereof to human life.

In the second place notice the relation that the temptation bore to the public ministry of the Master. He passed into the wilderness full of the Spirit; “and Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led in the Spirit in the wilderness during forty days.”1 At the close of the temptation it is recorded, “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and a fame went out concerning Him through all the region round about.’ Mark well the two statements. “Full of the Spirit,” “in the power of the Spirit”; and between the fact of fullness and the fact of power He was led by the Spirit through these severe processes of temptation. “Full of the Spirit” He went down to the wilderness. “In the wilderness” He was “led in the Spirit.” From the wilderness to public ministry He passed “in the power of the Spirit.”

Between the condition prior to temptation and that following it, there is a distinction and a difference. It is that which exists between the plenitude of the Spirit and the power of the Spirit. The plenitude of the Spirit is the result and evidence of holiness of character, and is in itself capacity and sufficiency for service. The power of the Spirit is the consciousness which is born of victories won, and triumphs achieved. He entered upon temptation full of the Spirit, that is to say, in possession of all power necessary for

1Luke 4. 1. 2Luke 4. 14.

the fulfilment of His work, But power bestowed, becomes truly powerful when it has been tested through the process of temptation. What is seen in perfection in Christ, is a lesson that men do well to lay to heart. Fullness of the Spirit, becomes the power of the Spirit, through processes of testing. Herein is revealed the value of the trials and temptations that beset the pathway of the Christian worker. In the experience of all those who know anything of what it is to follow in the footsteps of the Lord in God-appointed service, the power of the Spirit is never realised save through some wilderness of personal conflict with the foe. From such experience entered upon in the fullness of the Spirit, men go out either broken and incapable of service, or with the tread and force of conscious power; in which way, depends upon the attitude in which the enemy is met. If in the spirit of selfcomplacency, then the devil is invariably the victor. If in the spirit of resolute abandonment to, and abiding in the will of God, the foe is routed, and consciousness of power is the inevitable sequence.

And once again. That whole temptation gives a very valuable insight into the relation of Jesus to the principalities and powers. First with regard to those which are fallen. Luke writes, “And when the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from Him for a season.”! The wording is most expressive. “When the devil had completed every temptation” can only be interpreted into a statement of the fact that the devil had exhausted himself, and had no other line upon which he found it possible to approach the uncaptured citadel of the Son of God. “Then the devil leaveth Him,”2 says Matthew; and Luke declares, “the devil departed from Him for a season.” Both are right. Matthew leaves the fact stated in all its magnificence, the King perfectly victorious over the foe. Never again did the enemy approach Christ in the same way. Never again is the perfect Man seen in defensive conflict with the foe. His presence in the wilderness was a challenge to the enemy, but it was a challenge in which He forced Satan into attack, rather than one in which He attacked the enemy. The victory is perfect. From that moment the records only reveal Him speaking to Satan, and to all demons under his sway, in words of quiet, absolute, Kingly authority. In the power of the Spirit He passed from the wilderness

‘Lake 4eeng. Matt. 4. 11.

to cast out demons, and He drove before Him all the emissaries of the prince, having routed in this supreme conflict the arch-enemy of the race. It is interesting to notice how few words He addressed to demons afterwards, and that they were always words of command and that the command He uttered was always obeyed. The story of the man possessed with a legion of devils as recorded in Matthew, chronicles the fact that they “besought Him, saying, If Thou cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine.” Jesus answered them with one word only “Go,”! and immediately they obeyed. That is but one illustration out of very many. The same facts are patent through all the Gospel story subsequent to the victory of the wilderness. He at once assumed the position of authority over a conquered foe, and drove him and his forces, until at last in a final conflict in which He attacked the strongholds of evil,

“He hell in hell laid low,
And Satan’s throne o’erthrew;
Bowed to the grave, destroyed it so,
And death by dying slew.”

And yet again is seen His relation to the unfallen principalities and powers in the words, “Angels came and ministered unto Him.”2 There is a beautiful touch of tenderness here. During the conflict He had received no help from these ministers of love. They had been restrained from coming to His aid during the temptation. Directly the fallen foe was driven forth, they gathered round in solicitous and tender service. This same restraint and readiness were manifest later in the garden of Gethsemane, when, the victory won and the conflict over, there also they ministered to Him; and when soon after the Master rebuked Peter for the rashness of his action in smiting Malchus, in one sentence He illumined the whole upper spaces, and showed how great hosts of them were ready to succour Him. “Thinkest thou that I cannot beseech My Father and He shall even now send Me more than twelve legions of angels?’ They were ready at His bidding, to sweep to destruction the blasphemous rabble, approaching Him to do Him violence. And yet He did not ask for them, and even the hosts of light were held in restraint by the infinite love of God for man. Their rendering of

1Matt. 8. 31, 32. 2Matt. 4. II *Matt. 26. 53.

assistance was rejected, when for man’s redemption the pathway had to be trodden in loneliness. Yet with what haste they sped to minister to Him in the moment of triumph, and with what exultant gladness at last they were permitted to roll the stone away, and watch the sepulchre, and be the first messengers of the resurrection to men.

Our Lord and Master is seen to be King over fallen and unfallen angels. All the fearful host of demons obey His simplest word, and all the companies of the unfallen ones are eager to minister to Him, and go forth gladly as they are sent to minister to the heirs of salvation. The victory of Jesus over temptation is victory over all the forces of hell; and all men who, abandoned to His Lordship. abide in His will, must share in His triumph. He is, moreover, Master of the innumerable company of the angelic host, who have never fallen; and enthroned above them, He gives them also to the service of the saints, who through testing are passing to triumph.

Thus standing back and viewing the whole temptation, two figures stand out in clear light. The enemy of the race is seen in all his subtlety and terrible power, but yet spoiled, defeated, crushed. The Redeemer is seen in all the terribleness of conflict, upon the issue of which depends the carrying out of the purpose of God, and the deliverance and uplifting of man; but yet victorious, crowned, and exercising the functions of the Conqueror.