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itations o f the evil one. The writer to the Hebrews makes Christ’s sinlessness the basis o f His power to sympathize with us. Those who resist temptation suffer more in the temptation than those who yield to it. That Christ was really tempted is essential to .the New Testament doctrine o f His sympathetic priesthood. One sometimes wonders whether Satan really wanted this conflict. It seems as though he was forced into it. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted o f the devil. The temptation was threefold: physical, spiritual, vocational ; the flesh, the world, the devil ; distrust, presumption, bribery ; to satisfy a natural appetite in a wrong way; to put oneself in a difficult place and then presume upon God’s promises for deliver ance to use wrong means to attain legiti mate ends. Note that this is the same threefold temptatioa presented to Adam (Genesis.3) and men today (1 John 2:15- 17). W e are not to understand that these temptations exhausted the scheme o f Satan ; they are but samples o f what took place. Suggestive are the words, “ And when Satan had finished all the temptation” ; nor was this Satan’s last attack on Christ, for we read that the adversary left Him but for a season. (B ) PROCLAMATION OF THE KING DOM— -4:17-16:20. Under this section we consider the Con stitution o f the Kingdom (5-7), the Signs o f the Kingdom ( 8 ,9 ), the Messengers of the Kingdom (10), Hindrances to the Growth o f the Kingdom (11, 12), the Progress o f the Kingdom (13-16:20). I. The Constitution of the Kingdom— The Sermon on the Mount, cc. 5-7 In order to understand the truth taught in the Sermon on the Mount, we- must appreciate the ministry o f John the Baptist and both his and Christ’s announcement of the “kingdom o f heaven’T being “at hand.” The kingdom o f heaven was the topic of conversation among all classes. Naturally questions regarding this kingdom would
similar expressions in Isaiah 42:1, in which reference is made to the Servant o f Jeho vah, the One in Whom God took delight; also the second Psalm, in which the ideal King o f Israel is presented. All these things, associated' as they are with the Messiah, the King o f Israel, God’s chosen Servant, must have been' in the mind of Christ at this time. Note the doctrine o f the Trinity as set forth here: God speaks from heaven, the Holy Spirit descends like a dove, Jesus Christ is being baptized—God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Note' the expression, “ This is My beloved Son.” compare 12:18; 17:5; Mark 9 :7 ; Luke 9:35. V . The Testing of'the King, 4:1 -1 1. So far we have had the relation o f the King to earth and man (genealogy), to heaven and God (baptism), now to hell and Satan (temptation). Three main thoughts are prominent in this narrative: the tempter and the tempted; the temptation; the issue. Two personalities are here in conflict— Satan and’ Christ. The absence o f any sin ful nature or tendency within Christ post ulates the existence o f a personality o f evil without. The temptations o f Christ came from an outside source, from Satan him self. To disbelieve in a personality o f evil is to attribute to man the possession of a nature so debased ‘as to be guilty of originating the awful crimes that mar the pages o f history. The temptation o f Christ was real. The Scriptures tell us that Christ “ suffered being tempted.” Our Lord’s sympathy with us in our temptations is based on His own experience with Satan’s attacks. There was nothing in Christ’s nature either to originate or respond to the sug gestions o f Satan. The nature o f Christ, conceived as He was by the Holy Ghost, was absolutely sinless, and_ even according to B is human nature, we cannot entertain the idea o f the possibility o f His yielding to the temptations o f Satan. He neverthe less felt the keenness and pain o f the solic
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