The Succour of the Tempted

“In that He Himself hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted.” — Heb. ii. 18.

How can the writer to the Hebrews say this when he himself tells us that Christ’s temptation was “without sin “? Is not the absence of sin the absence of a most important element for a sympathiser with human weakness? No, it is not. The soreness of a temptation, in my opinion, never lies in the presence of sin; it lies precisely in the concealment of sin. If the sin of the act were conspicuous, there would be very little struggle. The struggle of the temptation lies in the hiding of the evil. Temptation did not come to Jesus as a choice between good and evil — I do not think in its sorest form it comes to any man as a choice between good and evil. What we struggle with is a masked form, and we struggle to unmask it. The tempter tells Jesus that certain drastic acts will be for the good of the kingdom. In that motive lies Christ’s temptation; His whole struggle is to discover whether the drastic act

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would really be for the good of His kingdom; when He decides that it would not, the soreness of the temptation is gone. We have not all such high motives for listening to the tempter; but we have always a higher motive than the intrinsic love of sin. When we are tempted to do wrong our danger lies in the eclipse of sin — just as Christ’s danger lay in His actual sinlessness. The succour we need is precisely the same as the succour He needed. We want to be shown that the course proposed would be evil; our cry is, “Show us the tempter, and it sufficeth — sufficeth to make us flee!” It is because Christ can do this that He is able to succour.

Jesus, when I go up to the mount of temptation, let it be with Thee! I am bound to go up, even as Thou wert. Often have I thought of these words, “Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.” Yes, it was Thy spiritual ecstasy that made the wilderness inevitable to Thee. It is my spiritual ecstasy that makes my wilderness inevitable. It is after my exaltation that my reaction comes. It is the very glory of my baptism that brings my desert. The sight of the open heavens makes me scorn the slow methods of earth. I am tempted to follow new paths, quicker paths — to be restive under the 159 old regime. Succour me, O Lord! Succour me as Thou Thyself wert succoured — by a vision of the sin beneath the seeming good! Show me that the old regime is the Will of the Father, that the new method is my own will! Unmask the seeming sanctity of sin! Disrobe the tempter of his trappings of truth! Draw aside the veil from the face of evil! If I could see that face, temptation would die. Reveal it, O Christ! Thou alone canst reveal sin. Nothing but purity can disclose impurity. It is written, *’ In Thy light shall we see light “; yea, but it is also true, “In Thy light shall we see darkness.” Shine, and I shall know what night is! Sing, and I shall know what discord is! Speak, and I shall know what silence is! Touch, and I shall know what solitude is! Inspire, and I shall know what meanness is! Quicken, and I shall know what death is! Reveal sin by the brightness of Thy coming, and I shall yield to temptation no morel

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