SUNDAY SCHOOL continued Christ’s followers to be learned from Christ’s wilderness experience. The Time of the Struggle (4 :1 -2 ) It followed quickly the great experience of our Lord’s baptism and also His ex perience of receiving the Holy Spirit. There is a very practical lesson for us today in this time element. Mark says (1:12) that it was “immediately” after the baptism and descent of the Holy Spirit that Jesus faced the devil in the wilder ness. It is still often true that mountain- top experiences are quickly followed by times of testing. Periods of unusual bless ings do not insure the child of God against such testing. On the contrary, God often sees fit to allow them in order to prove how effectively the blessings have been received. The Agent of the Temptation (4 :2 -3 ) The temptation was within the will of God as is evident from the fact that the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilder ness, but it was the devil who applied the temptations. Teachers need to remind their scholars that Satan is a mighty enemy. He is not to be made light of or minimized. He dared even to assault the Lord Jesus Christ. What man, therefore, can afford to trifle with him? He is so formidable that no one can resist his de vices except he be clothed with the full armour of God. Its Threefold Character (4 :3 -1 3 ) A study of the three temptations re veals that Jesus was tempted through the avenues of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16), just like all men are tempted. Of course, He did not yield. Being God He could not sin. His temptations were rath er testings to make it evident that He was the Son of God than efforts to see whether or not He would sin. God can not sin and ‘Jesus is God. Study James 1:13. In the first temptation, as a man, He resisted Satan’s suggestion to set aside God’s plan for His life and substitute a display of His inherent power. In the flesh it is sometimes God’s will for man to suffer hunger, etc. Jesus told Satan that it is better to do God’s will than to eat bread. In the second temptation, there was the appeal of Satan to both the lust of the eye and the pride of life. It was a temptation to bow the knee to Satan and thus evade the cross. Jesus knew that it must first be the cross, then the crown. In the third temptation, Satan sought to get Christ to presume upon God’s care and to make a spectacular display of His divine powers. Something of this sort of display is sometimes made today in relation to the healing service of James 5. Victory in the Struggle ( 4 :4 , 8 , 12 ) In connection with each temptation the Lord Jesus vanquished the devil by the use of the Word of God. It is the sword which the Christian also should always use in his battles for God (Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12).
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