The Temptation
- 2 -
: 1 : 2 :
It was in
the time of greatest weakness that Christ was
assailed by the fiercest temptations. Thus Satan
thought to prevail. By this policy he had gained
the victory over men. When strength failed, and
the will power weakened, and faith ceased to
repose in God, then those who had stood long and
valiantly for the right were overcome. Moses was
wearied with the forty years’ wandering of
Israel, when for the moment his faith let go its
hold upon infinite power. He failed just upon the
borders of the Promised Land. So with Elijah, who
stood before the King Ahab, who had faced the
whole nation of Israel, with four hundred and
fifty prophets of Baal at their head. After that
terrible day upon Carmel, when the false prophets
had been slain, and the people had declared their
allegiance to God, Elijah fled for his life
before the threats of the idolatrous Jezebel.
Thus Satan has taken advantage of the weakness of
humanity. And he will still work in the same way.
Whenever one is encompassed with clouds,
perplexed by circumstances, or afflicted by
poverty or distress, Satan is at hand to tempt
and annoy. He attacks our weak points of
character. He seeks to shake our confidence in
God, who suffers such a condition of things to
exist. We are tempte4d to distrust God, to
question His love. Often the tempter comes to us
as he came to Christ, arraying before us our
weakness and infirmities. He hopes to
discourage the soul, and to break our hold on
God. Then he is sure of his prey. If we would
meet him as Jesus did, we should escape many a
defeat. By parleying with the enemy, we give him
an advantage.
When Christ
said to the tempter, “Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God,” He repeated the
words that, more than fourteen hundred years
before, He had spoken to Israel: “The Lord
thy God led thee these forty years in the
wilderness with manna, which thou knowest not,
neither did thy fathers know; that He might make
thee know that man doth not live by bread only
but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of the Lord doth man live.”
Deuteronomy 8::2,3. In the wilderness, when all
means of sustenance failed, God sent His people
manna from heaven; and a sufficient and constant
supply was given. This provision was to teach
them while they trusted in God and walked in His
ways He would not forsake them. The Savior now
practiced the lesson He had taught to Israel. By
the word of God succor had been given to the
Hebrew host, and by the same word it would be
given to Jesus. He awaited God’s time to
bring relief. He was in the wilderness in
obedience to God, and He would not obtain food by
following the suggestions of Satan. In the
presence of the witnessing universe, He testified
that it is a less calamity to suffer whatever may
befall than to depart in any manner form the will
of God.
“Man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
of God.” Often the follower of Christ is
brought where he cannot serve God and carry
forward his worldly enterprises. Perhaps it
appears that obedience to some plain requirement
of God will cut off its means of support. Satan
would make him believe that he must sacrifice his
conscientious convictions. But the only thing in
our world upon which we can rely is the word of
God. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and
His righteousness; and all these things shall be
added unto you.” Matthew 6:33. Even in this
life it is not for our good to depart from the
will of our Father in heaven. When we learn the
power of His word, we shall not follow the
suggestions of Satan in order to obtain food or
to save our lives. Our only question will be,
What is God’s command? And what His promise?
Knowing these, we shall obey the one, and trust
the other.
In the last
great conflict of the controversy with Satan
those who are loyal to God will se every earthly
support cut off. Because they refuse to break His
law in obedience to earthly powers, they will be
forbidden to buy or sell. It will finally be
decreed that they shall be put to death. See
Revelation 13:11-17. But to the disobedient is
given the promise, “He shall dwell on high:
his place of defense shall be the munitions of
rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall
be sure.” Isaiah 33:16. By this promise the
children of God will live. When the earth shall
be wasted with famine, they shall be fed. “They
shall never be ashamed in the evil time; and in
the days of famine they shall be satisfied.”
Psalms 37:19. To that time of distress the
prophet Habakkuk looked forward, and his words
express the faith of the church: “Although
the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall
fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive
shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat;
the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and
there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will
rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my
salvation.” Habakkuk 3:17,18.
Of all the
lessons to be learned from the Lord’s first
great temptation none is more important than that
bearing upon the control of the appetites and
passions. In all ages, temptations appealing to
the physical nature have been most effectual in
corrupting and degrading mankind. Through
intemperance, Satan works to destroy the mental
and moral powers that God gave to man as a
priceless endowment. Thus it becomes impossible
for men to appreciate things of eternal worth.
Through sensual indulgence, Satan seeks to blot
from the soul every trace of the likeness to God.
The
uncontrolled indulgence and consequent disease
and degradation that existed at Christ’s
first advent will again exist, with intensity of
evil, before His second coming. Christ declares
that the condition of the world will be as in the
days of the Flood, and as in Sodom and Gomorrah.
Every imagination of the thoughts of the heart
will be on evil continually. Upon the very verge
of that fearful time we are now living, and to us
should come home the lesson of the Savior’s
fast. Only by the inexpressible anguish that
Christ endured can we estimate the evil of
unrestrained indulgence. His example declares
that our only hope of eternal life is through
bringing the appetites and passions into
subjection to the will of God.
In our own
strength it is impossible for us to deny the
clamors of our fallen nature. Through this
channel Satan will bring temptation upon us.
Christ knew that the enemy would come to every
human being, to take advantage of hereditary
weakness, and by his false insinuations to
ensnare all whose trust is not in God. And by
passing over the ground which man must travel,
our Lord has prepared the way for us to overcome.
It is not His will that we should be placed at a
disadvantage in the conflict with Satan. He would
not have us intimidated and discouraged by the
assaults of the serpent. “Be of good cheer,
He says; “I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33.
Let him who
is struggling against the power of appetite look
to the Savior in the wilderness of temptation.
See Him in His agony upon the cross, as He
exclaimed, “I thirst.” He has endured
all that it is possible for us to bear. His
victory is ours.
Jesus rested
upon the wisdom and strength of His heavenly
Father. He declares, “The Lord God will help
Me; therefore shall I not be confounded: …
and I know that I shall not be ashamed….
Behold, the Lord God will help Me.” Pointing
to His own example, He says to us, “Who is
among you that feareth the Lord,…that
walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him
trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his
God.” Isaiah 50:7-10.
“The
prince of this world cometh,” said Jesus,
“and hath nothing in Me.” John 14:30.
There was in Him nothing that responded to Satan’s
sophistry. He did not consent to sin. Not even by
a thought did He yield to temptation. So it may
be with us. Christ’s humanity was united
with divinity; He was fitted for the conflict by
the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And He came to
make us partakers of the divine nature. So long
as we are united to Him by faith, sin has no
dominion over us. God reaches for the hand of
faith in us to direct it to lay fast hold upon
the divinity of Christ that we may attain to
perfection of character.
And how is this accomplished, Christ has shown
us. By what means did He overcome in the conflict
with Satan? By the word of God, Only by the word
could He resist temptation. “It is written,”
He said. And unto us are given ‘exceeding
great and precious promises: that by these ye
might be partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is the world through
lust.” 2 Peter 1:4. Every promise in God’s
word is ours. “By every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God” are we to live.
When assailed by temptation, look not to
circumstances or to the weakness of self, but to
the power of the word. All its strength is yours.
“Thy word,” says the psalmist,”
have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin
against Thee.” “By the word of Thy lips
I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.”
Psalm 119:11; 17:4.
: 1 : 2 :
|
