The Temptation (No. 2)
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
1. "THEN" the word holds our attention. "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." The word "then" carries with it a most suggestive meaning.
(1) It carries us back to the baptismal scene. It shows the Saviour coming to John and requesting baptism. It reveals the voice of God, immediately after the baptism, as He proclaims, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
The baptism of the Lord Jesus followed immediately upon the twenty-eight years of silence, when He was "the Carpenter." His baptism was His open dedication to His office as Saviour and Redeemer. It was His public annunciation by the Father as "My beloved Son," and by John as "The Lamb of God."
(2) "THEN" was Jesus led * * to be tempted of the devil must mean that Satan may not have known the fuller meaning of the One who wrought in the carpenter shop at Nazareth. Now, however, with Christ's baptism, and with the Voice from Heaven that announced Christ as the Son of God; and with the voice from John that announced Hun "Lamb of God," the devil is made fully aware of the identity of Christ.
(3) "Then was Jesus * * tempted" also suggests that it was after His dedication to office, and after His acclamation as Son, that Satan tempted Him. We stop to suggest that this is always the case.
When would Satan desire to tempt us more than following the moment of our public consecration? For instance, if the believer is leading a careless or even an ineffectual life, with no definite testimony, Satan would have little need to bestir himself against such an one. "Why not let good enough alone?" is what he would say.
It is always when any of us come to the Lord, and assert our intention of following fully in the Master's steps, that the enemy begins to fear us; and that he, consequently, gets busy, if by any means he may hinder us. Let those of us, therefore, who are placing our lives on the altar of sacrifice and service, not be surprised if we are tempted by the devil.
2. "LED," here, is another word that grips our attention. "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." From this it appears that Satan, although, no doubt, he was ready to tempt Christ, was in no immediate hurry to carry out his attack. He, perhaps, would have preferred to have had more time to plan his attack.
The Spirit of God, however, would brook no delay. He knew that Satan would tempt the Lord Jesus, and He led Jesus at once to the fray. The Spirit seemed to say, once and for all, we will settle the matter as to Christ's claims, and as to God's assertions.
Thus, led by the Spirit, Christ pressed His way into the wilderness, ready for the onslaught. He went with no uncertain step, He went with no holding back; He was ready to meet Satan.
Let no one think that the meeting was mere child's play. Christ was not afraid; yet He knew the power of the devil: knew his history from all time, knew his cunning, knew his power, knew how he had met the first Adam and had conquered him.
3. "The wilderness," here, is a third word that is most suggestive. Christ did not force the "temptation" on to a ground that would be conducive to His side of the conflict. He did not compel the devil to meet Him where He was surrounded by innumerable hosts. Neither did He demand the testing to be witnessed by the Father's revealed presence, in the faraway Glory. It was in the wilderness, the place of the devil's own advantage.
4. "Of the Spirit" This word must not be omitted. Christ was "led up of the Spirit * * to be tempted." The devil did not corner Christ: Christ cornered the devil. The tempting came in the plan of God, not in order to see if Christ would sin, but to prove forever that Christ would not sin.
God who said, "This is My beloved Son," would prove the Deity of His Son once and for all.
I. SATAN'S FIRST INSINUATION (Matthew 4:2-3)
1. Satan dared to question Christ's Sonship. He said, "If Thou be the Son of God." When the devil entered the Garden of Eden it was to discount the integrity of God. He asked, "Hath God said?" Then he added, "God doth know."
Until this hour the enemy is quick to question all that God is, and all that God does. He is still throwing question marks over every statement of Holy Writ. The sad part is that the names of the men are legion who are joining hands with the devil in his denials. There is scarcely a great fundamental of the faith that is not placed in the crucible of doubt.
The Virgin Birth is questioned; the saving power of the Blood of Christ is questioned, the literal, bodily resurrection of Christ is doubted; the Coming of the Lord is scoffed at. What is left? Nothing vital to saving faith, or to the Blessed Hope.
2. Satan took advantage of the fact that Christ had been fasting for forty days and nights, and that He was now hungering. He said what purported to be a test of Christ's Sonship, by demanding a Divine creation of bread from the rocks. He hid the fact that what he was really doing was not to secure a miraculous proof of Christ's Sonship, but that he was trying to instill a doubt into Christ's own mind that He was the Son of God, or at least a doubt that, being the Son of God, the Father truly cared for Him.
The devil was saying, in effect, "If Thou art the Son of God, why does God leave You hungry and alone? If Thou art the Son of God, where are the angels that always surrounded the throne?" Deeper still lay the fangs of the tempter: "If Thou art the Son of God, forsaken and alone, break the bands of Thy bondage to the Father, and make a start for Thyself." Satan seemed to say, "God, at least, has forgotten You; exert Your power."
This is ever Satan's tactics with us. He wants to force us into doing something anything to break connections. He wants to force us into self-dependency, and away from Divine loyalty. Under the guise of doing the supernatural, by faith, he wants us to attempt things in our own innate, self-centered authority.
II. CHRIST'S FIRST RESPONSE (Matthew 4:4)
1. Christ appealed to the Word of God. He did not start an argument on God's love to, or care for, Himself. He did not seek to vindicate the Father's love, nor His own Sonship. He merely drew the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, from its sheath, and made his stroke. He said, "It is written."
Would that all of us had ready a "thus saith the Lord" for every satanic thrust. God hath certainly panoplied us with this Sword of the Spirit. Let us use it.
2. Christ appealed to the Word of God as final. He said "It is written," as much as to say, "When God hath spoken, let it stand." His Word knows no impeachment and permits no appeal. He has said and that settles it. His Word is the end, not the beginning, of all controversy. It is not only final, but it carries all authority. Nothing can be done beyond it, nothing attempted. God speaks, we obey. God speaks, let every man be still nothing by the way of answering back, nothing by the way of appeal to a higher court.
3. Christ appealed to an appropriate Word. He said, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
He was asked to make bread out of stones to satiate His hunger. He replied that there is another hunger more necessary to satisfy. He placed the spiritual as over, and more important than, the physical. It were better to die physically, than to be spiritually impoverished.
4. Christ appealed to an oft-disputed word. Our Lord, when He met the devil in the wilderness, used a Scripture from that oft-decried Book, as a dart to undo the devil. The verse is found in Deuteronomy 8:3. Christ even quoted a verse that says, "Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God": in this He was evidently asserting that Deuteronomy itself came from the mouth of God.
5. Christ, moreover, appealed to the deeper meaning of the verse He quoted from Deuteronomy. The devil said, in effect, "Thou art hungry: make these stones bread with which to satisfy Your hunger." Christ said, in effect, "I am the Bread that came down from Heaven; I am the Manna; My flesh is Bread indeed: shall I then make bread, when I am the Bread?" Christ also averred, "Thou askest 'If Thou be the Son of God' make bread; and I am the Son of God, because I am the Bread.
III. SATAN'S SECOND INSINUATION (Matthew 4:5-6)
1. Satan dared the second time to cast doubt as to Christ's Sonship. This time he said, "If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down." This time the devil seemed to make sport of Christ's first unmovableness, and His implication that He was the Son of God, because He was the Bread of life; and Satan said, all right, "If Thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down." He appealed to His spiritual pride; to His seeming boastfulness in His first reply.
The devil had taken Jesus to the pinnacle of the Temple in the holy city. He suggested that leaping off, and being borne down majestically from the high peak would afford abundant proof of His Deity. The devil also used Christ's own method, and quoted Scripture, saying, "For it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee: and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against a stone."
Now, suggested the devil, You can do two things at once. Thou canst cast Thyself down to prove Thou art the Son of God; and Thou canst cast thyself down according to the Word of God, and its definite promise which fits this very case.
2. Satan failed to rightly quote the Word of God. He bravely enough said, "It is written": however, observe what he did:
(1) Satan left out the words: "To keep Thee in all Thy ways." There was no charge to the angels to keep Christ out of the will of the Father. His ways were the Father's way; for they were both one. Christ said, "I do always those things that please Him." He spoke the words of the Father, did the works of the Father, and lived in the will of the Father.
(2) Satan also left out the words which immediately followed his quotation, "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder." These words were, indeed, applicable to the very hour of the temptation and were abundantly fulfilled in Christ's utter overwhelming of the evil one.
IV. CHRIST'S REPLY TO THE SECOND TEMPTATION (Matthew 4:7)
Christ might have reminded the devil that he had misquoted and misapplied the Scripture he quoted. This, however, He did not do. Why start an argument? Why give an answer that would lead to needless strife? Christ did what He, afterward, often did. He answered a query with a query, and utterly ignored the folly of the adversary.
Christ simply said: "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord Thy God." How straight-from-the-shoulder were His words! How all-overwhelming.
Christ's reply showed two things:
(1) In the life of perfect trust there is no place to do the rash and impudent thing in order to establish one's faith. Here is a warning that many need. It pampers the flesh to say, God watches over me, and He will stand by me; and then to use that too evident fact to do the foolish and even overdaring and unnecessary thing, the great risk, wholly outside of God's will, for no other purpose than to force God to vindicate your faith in spite of your folly.
This Christ would not do. Not for one moment would He take a dare from the devil as an excuse to manifest His Deity by a mad and foolish display of bravado, and thereby tempt God, the Father.
(2) In the life of perfect trust one must stand firm in his confidence. This the Lord did. To me, He seemed, at one fell stroke, to show the sin of tempting God the Father, which the devil had dared Him to do. At the same time He once more asserted that He, Himself, was God, and that the devil had no right to tempt Him.
That is what Satan was seeking to do. He was tempting Christ to tempt God; while he was tempting God, in tempting Christ. He was seeking to bring schism in the Godhead, and set God against God, and the Lord Jesus knew it.
(3) There is one other thing we must not omit. It is this: Christ was tempted by Satan to cast Himself down, Satan always tempts with that objective. When God tempted Abraham, the objective of the test was not set for Abraham's undoing, but for his upbuilding. God cannot tempt anyone to sin, to drag them down. Satan always does that very thing.
V. SATAN'S THIRD AND SUPREME TEST (Matthew 4:8-9)
1. The great panorama of glories. We read: "Again, the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them."
(2) There was much of glory to show. Some people imagine that in the days of Christ there was nought of power or of glory in the world-kingdoms. Such an idea is sheer folly. Only at this time, yesterday, we were carried up into an high mountain in an Indian chair by six natives to see a temple that antedated the times of Christ. It was hewn out of solid stone of hardest quality, and yet in size it rivals many of the great cathedrals of today. The entrance had huge elephants in stone carved upon the rocks. The temple lay about 125 feet deep and 60 feet wide. On its walls were carved all kinds of angel images, and great girders, also carved out of solid rock which had no use, only for display. In the rear of the Temple was a dome that still stands in all of its former vastness. Behind the dome is a cement-sealed door, which we were told formerly entered a tunnel that was carved for six miles, much of it through solid rock. The tunnel led to a mosque on another mountain, and to an ancient fort. There were, adjacent to the temple, three stories of houses for the priests, also carved out of solid rock; also a whispering, or echo gallery. It must have taken centuries to carve out that structure. That may have had a part in "all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them." There was much, very, very much more for Satan to display,
(2) There was a boastful proffer, preceded by a boastful claim. The devil said, "All these things will I give thee." Christ did not deny his power to fulfill the promise, for Christ knew that the world lay in the lap of the wicked one. He, more than once, in after years, spoke of Satan, as the "prince of this world."
How proud the devil must have felt as he demonstrated to Christ that he, and not the One he tempted, held the great world forces in his hands.
(3) There was a self-centered and proud condition of the devil's proffer: "All these things will I give thee, if," "if Thou wilt fall down and worship Me." The panoramic picture showed the world worshiping at Satan's feet. So the tempter said: "If You worship me, all is Yours; I only will be above Thee." In all of this, the devil did no less than set himself up above all that is called God, and that is worshiped.
Satan had come out into the open and frankly acknowledged that his purpose was to overthrow the supremacy of God in His own universe. He simply sought, along with his human devotees on earth, and his multitudinous devotees among the fallen angels, to add the One who was coequal with God, and Son of God, to his clientele; and to obtain this, he was willing to suffer a great loss by paying a great price.
VI. CHRIST'S REPLY TO THE THIRD TEMPTATION (Matthew 4:10)
1. "Get thee hence, Satan." The word was simple but meaningful. It showed that Christ realized that the last effort of the devil was the final one. The devil had cast his last card. He had nothing more to proffer, nothing more to say.
Christ's word was full of holy disdain. Satan had now plainly asked Christ to turn traitor to the Father. This was so contrary to all the pulsings of Christ's spirit that He summarily dismissed the devil, with "Get thee hence, Satan."
2. "It is written." Once again Christ did not try any method of argument. He did not even linger to make a parade of His own fidelity to His Father. He simply, but in all assurance, turned once more to the Word of God.
Would that we might wield the Sword of the Spirit with the same deftness, and with the same assurance.
3. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him ONLY shalt Thou serve." The ramparts that Christ had raised before the devil were absolutely impregnable.
In the panorama of the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, Christ had seen what can be seen, in a small way, in India. He had seen millions of devotees marching their ways to shrines to worship idols. He knew it all. Now Satan wanted to add Him to the string of his worshipers. Christ said, "God, God only."
What do we see? Two great events.
First of all we see the devil leaving Christ, and leaving Him untouched, unscathed a Victor.
Secondly, we see the Father speaking to the Son and saying, "Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession."
The devil will yet deliver the kingdoms of the earth to the antichrist; however, he will have them but a short while, a few years, until Christ descends from Heaven, when with the brightness of His Coming, and with the breath of His lips He will slay him. Then will Christ take the Kingdom and reign from shore to shore as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Thirdly, we see one thing more. We see in Christ's victory in the wilderness, our victory over the devil; and we see in His reign, our privilege of reigning with Him.
AN ILLUSTRATION
To us it is wonderful to see how Christ declared Himself the Bread. And He, as the Bread, will provide us with both the spiritual and the natural bread. He was "an hungered," but we need not so to be.
Do you all know the story told by "Sister Abigail," of a day in George Muller's Orphanage at Ashley Downs, when there was literally no breakfast for the children in the house? "Sister Abigail" was a small child at the time, and her father was a close friend of George Muller's. One day, that man of faith took the child's hand and said: "Come and see what our Father will do," and he led her into the long dining room. The plates and mugs were on the table, but they were empty. There was no food in the larder and no money to supply the need. The children were standing waiting for the morning meal, when Mr. Muller said: "Children, you know you must be in time for school." Then lifting his hand, he said, "Dear Father, we thank Thee for what Thou art going to give us to eat." A knock at the door was heard. The baker stood there and said: "Mr. Muller, I couldn't sleep last night; somehow I felt you had no bread for breakfast, and the Lord wanted me to send some. So I got up at 2:00 o'clock and baked fresh bread and have brought it." George Muller thanked the man and gave praise to God for His care, then said, "Children, we not only have bread, but the rare treat of fresh bread." No sooner had he said this, than there came a second knock at the door. This time it was the milkman. He said his milk cart had broken down, right in front of the orphanage, and that he would like to give the children his cans of fresh milk so that he could empty his wagon and repair it. Selected.