T HE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
1054
furnace fire. “ Tempted in all points like as we are” means that His human nature was tested at every point, that He received and resisted the pressure of every unholy motive, that every part and space in His human nature was probed by Satan to find a vulnerable spot. He knows what it means to be swayed like a tree in the tempest by the powers of darkness, to hear the fiery darts of the evil one hissing around him in the air. He sounded to their lowest depths the waters of human weakness and because of that-experience He is able to succor them that are tempted. From His throne of Divine grace in the highest Heaven He is able to impart grace and help in every time of need. The battle in the wilderness was a dem onstration of the fact that although Satan had conquered every man since- Adam, he found one at last who dared to meet him on the plane of human nature with no weapon in His human hands but the’ Word of the living God, who contended with him eye to eye and foot to foot and who took him by the throat and hurled him back in utter and ignominious defeat. The three-fold temptation of Christ was an essential repetition of that brought to our first parents in Paradise, an appeal to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. It touched every department of human nature, the body, through the senses and appetites, the mind through ambi tion, and the soul through expediency. How can Christ help us? How can we lay hold upon His power? Not by looking upon His inspiring example and by courageously trying to copy it. Rather by receiving Him as our indwell ing and abiding life. Then as Satan comes he will find himself opposed, not by our fallible human nature, but by his former Conqueror. “ This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” We appropriate by faith the
question, and how can this temptation he met? (Phil. 4:19.) (2) Will a Christian be tempted be yond his power to resist? (1 Cor. 10:13.) (3) Is there a reward for resisting temptation? (Luke 22:28, 29.) (4) How can man tempt God? (Acts 5:9.) (5) Will God deliver us from tempta tion? (2 Pet. 2:9.) (6) Can we hinder God’s work by yielding to temptation? (1 Thess. 3:4, 5) (7) Who alone is worthy of wor ship?, (Psa. 72:11.) Jesus presented Himself as a candi date for baptism to John, who remon strated but yielded. As Jesus came out of the water the heavens were opened and God said, “ Thou DEVOTIONAL art my beloved Son in COMMENT whom I am well F. W. Farr pleased.” Following this signal recognition of His Messiahship came the temptation. It was no mere allegory nor a conflict with shadows. It was a trerible reality. “ He suffered being tempted.” The agony was the greater because the temp— tation came to a nature infinitely strong and infinitely pure. We must discrim inate between temptation and sin. It is a mistaken notion that man becomes acquainted with temptation only in pro portion as he is defiled by it. It is one thing to be tempted, and another thing to fall. Every influence that Satanic ingenuity could devise was brought to bear upon the human nature of the Saviour, but His virtue was in vincible. When temptation is resisted there comes a maturity and purity which is the more glorious and lustrous be cause of the victory. Christ was never disobediefat, but He is said to have learned obedience by the things which He suffered. Even the virgin gold has a brighter lustre by passing through the
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker