Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
Ver. 11. Then the devil left him] If Christ command him away, there is no abiding for him. Here he was foiled and queried, and, as it were, cast down and killed, by Christ our champion. (Stuchius de sacrific. Gentilium.) He came into the field like another Goliah, cracking and calling craven, but ere he went thence, was made to hop headless, as he first a terror, afterwards a scorn, as it was anciently said of those chariots armed with scythes and hooks. Charles VIII, in his expedition against Naples, came into the field like thunder and lightning, but went out like a snuff: more than a man at first, less than a woman at last. Henceforth, therefore, though we are ever to expect temptations till such time as we have gotten that great gulf between the devil and us, Luke 16:26, yet "fear none of those things that ye shall suffer," Nulla maior tentatio quam nulla tentatione pulsari. Behold, the devil shall (by his imps and instruments) cast some of you (not all) into prison (not into hell), that ye may be tried (not destroyed), and ye shall have tribulation ten days (so long, and no longer). "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life,"Revelation 2:10. Satan can look for no crown, he is in perdition already. His aim and endeavour is, to draw us into the same condemnation. This we escape, if we resist, steadfast in the faith: for then he perceives Christ, "the chief Captain of our salvation," to be there; and therefore flees his presence, ever since he felt his prowess. Chrysostom saith, that by the sacrament of the Lord's supper we are so armed against Satan's temptations, that he fleeth from us no otherwise than if we were so many leones ignem expuentes, lions that spit fire. It is not silly people's defying the devil and spitting at his name, that avails anything: for they spit not low enough; they spit him not out of their hearts: yea, they admit him thereinto by yielding to his suggestions; and are miserably foolish, as if men should startle at the name of fire, and yet not fear to be scorched with the flame thereof. Our safest way is to run to Ithiel and Ucal, as Agur did, Proverbs 30:1,2, to Christ "the author and finisher of our faith," Hebrews 12:2; who here gave the devil such an inglorious foil, trampled him in the mire, triumphed over him, and hath promised to "tread him under our feet shortly,"Romans 16:20 .
And, lo, the angels came and ministered unto him] Perhaps food to his body, as once to Elias, 1 Kings 19:5,6, but certainly comfort to his soul, as to Jacob, Hagar, Daniel, Zacharias, Joseph, Cornelius, Paul, &c. Daniel 9:21; Luke 1:11; Acts 10:4; Acts 27:23. Socrates and Theodoret tell us of one Theodorus, a martyr, put to extreme torments by Julian the apostate, and dismissed again by him, when he saw him unconquerable. Ruffinus tells us that he met with this martyr, a long time after this trial, and asked him, "whether the pain he felt were not insufferable?" He answered, "that at first it was somewhat grievous; but after a while, there seemed to stand by him a young man in white, who with a soft and comfortable handkerchief wiped off the sweat of his body (which through extreme pain and anguish was little less than blood) and bade him be of good cheer. Insomuch as that it was rather a punishment than a pleasure to him to be taken off the rack, since, when the tormentors had done, the angel was gone. And how many unspeakable comforts ministered the good angels to the modern martyrs in their prisons, at the stake, and in the fire! Christ indeed was not comforted by them till the temptation was over; but to us they minister, many times, in the hour of temptation. They have power over the devils to restrain them; and (though invisibly and insensibly) are as ready to help and comfort us as the evil angels to tempt and trouble us: else were not our protection equal to our danger, and we could neither stand nor rise. An angel stood at Zacharias' right hand, Luke 1:11; (as the devil did at Joshua's, Zec 3:1), to show how ready and handy they are to defend and support the saints. It was as he was burning incense. The angels are busiest about us when we are in God's work: which to set forth, the hangings of the tabernacle of old were full of cherubims within and without. He said unto him, "Fear not, Zacharias." The blessed spirits (though they do not often vocally express it) do pity our human frailties, and secretly suggest comfort to us, when we perceive it not. Alway they stand looking on the face of God to receive commandments, for the accomplishment of all designs for our good; which they have no sooner received than they readily despatch, even with weariness of flight, as Daniel 9:21, with so much swiftness, as if they had wearied themselves with flying. I read of a friar that undertook to show to the people a feather of the wing of the angel Gabriel. A plume of whose feathers it might better have become the pope to send to Tyrone the Irish rebel, than that plume of phoenix feathers he sent to honour and encourage him: had his Holiness such command over angels, as they say he hath, or did he not rather collude in one thing, as that friar did in another (Carleton's Thankful Rem. of God's Mercies.