CONSECRATION FOLLOWED BY
TEMPTATIONS.
-Jan. 28.-Matt.
3:13-4:11.-
“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
AFTER JOHN had
been preaching and baptizing for about six months, about September, AD 29,
Jesus, who had been residing in Galilee and was nearing his thirtieth birthday,
set out to find John and to be baptized of him and to begin his public ministry
at the earliest possible moment. He was to be a Priest as well as a King for
his people, “a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec,” and the Law
required of a priest that he be at least thirty years of age. Hence Jesus’
ministry was hindered from beginning until this age was attained, but he was
free to begin it at the ear-liest possible moment after that time.
He was of course acquainted with his second-cousin, John the Baptizer, who
evidently well knew of his up-right life and unimpeachable character, and who
was astounded to have him apply for baptism, whereas the class John was seeking
was the renegade and sinful. According to the original reading, John “would
have hindered him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou
to me?” Realizing that Jesus had no sins to wash away, it seemed to John
inappro-priate that this ceremony should be performed upon Jesus, for we are to
remember that John’s baptism was merely a baptism unto
repentance-reformation-and not Christian baptism.-See Acts 19:4,5.
Our Lord did not attempt to explain to John that he was introducing a new baptism,
not for sinners but exclusively for holy ones, and not, therefore, in any sense
of the word symbolic of the cleansing from sin, but symbolic of a sacrificial
death for the sins of others. It was not then due time to explain
Christian baptism, and to have done so would merely have confused John and
those who might have heard, without profiting him any, because the new baptism
belonged to the new dispensation which did not begin until Pentecost, except in
the person of our Lord Jesus himself. And in any case the force and meaning
of the symbol is merely what is understood by the baptized one. It is
perhaps well that we call special attention to this point, in view of the fact
that a large and influential body of Christian people* are even
today practicing John’s baptism, “for the remission of sins,” wholly failing to
realize the im-port of the new baptism-Christian baptism-first sym-bolized by
our Lord Jesus himself.
Our “Disciple” friends will not dispute the Scrip-tural statement that our Lord
Jesus was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and hence that he
had no sins to wash away, and consequently that for him John’s baptism of
reformation would have been worse than meaningless; it would have been a
contradiction of fact and contrary to faith; and “whatsoever is not of faith is
sin.” Hence it would have been wrong for our Lord Jesus to have been
baptized for the remission of sins-John’s only understanding of baptism. We
may be sure, there-fore, that since “in him was no sin,” his act of baptism was
the first of a new order of baptism-practiced by his followers after
Pentecost. (Acts 19:4, 5.) We here note the fact that Christian baptism is
only for believers in Christ-not for unbelievers, not for sinners. Faith
in Christ is the justifying power; we are justified through faith in his
blood. When justified we are ready for Christian baptism, and not before, but
when justified we have no sins to wash away, “being justified freely from all
things.” To the Christian believer, baptism symbolizes precisely the same
thing that it did to his Lord, viz., consecration-the full
surrender of his will, his life, his all, to the Heavenly Father’s will. By
such a surrender of his will he becomes dead to the world, to earthly
hopes and aims, and becomes alive toward God, to walk in newness of
life, and by and by to have that newness of life actually, as a sharer with
Jesus, his Lord, his Redeemer, in the “first Resurrection.” All this is symbolized
in the proper Christian baptism.
Our Lord, being free from sin, required no justifi-cation by another, and when
he had reached manhood’s estate presented himself wholly, unreservedly, to do
the Father’s will. At the moment of consecration his earthly life was
yielded up as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world,-and this was
symbolized by his im-mersion in water. The remaining three and a half years of
his life were already on the altar, and he merely waited for his sacrifice to
be consumed, crying with his last breath, “It is finished!” Likewise he has
invited all of his faithful, elect Church to become joint-sacrificers
with him, and ultimately to become also his joint--heirs in the Kingdom
to be given to the Royal Priest-hood. As Jesus’ baptism, therefore, signified
his death sacrificially for sins, so the baptism of Christians
sym-bolizes their participation with the Lord in his sacrifice (after
they have first been justified by faith freely from all things by the merit of
his blood). In our Lord’s case the consecration was quickly followed by the
sym-bol, and with his followers the consecration should be followed by the
symbol as quickly as they recognize the meaning of the symbol,-which for
centuries has been beclouded and obscured.
Quickly following our Lord’s consecration and its symbolization came the
evidence that his sacrifice was accepted of God: the heavens were opened
unto him. This probably signifies that he was granted a vision of heaven,
confirming to him his relationship to the Father, and connecting up the interim
of his experience as a man with his prehuman experiences: and there came a
voice declaring him to be God’s well-beloved Son, and he as well as John (John
1:34) witnessed a manifestation of the divine blessing descending upon him like
a dove. We are not informed that the people saw the heavens opened, heard the
voice and saw the dove; on the contrary, the records seem to indicate that only
Jesus and John saw and heard, and that the latter was granted the privilege to
the intent that he might bear witness to the fact.
A dove was a favorite figure with the Jews as an emblem of peace and
salvation. Indeed, Noah’s dove, with its olive branch, seems to have become a
symbol to all civilized peoples. It was most appropriate, therefore, that
since some figure was to be used as an out-ward evidence of divine blessing,
the dove should be that figure. Yet we are not to suppose that the holy spirit
is a dove, nor that it has bodily shape like a dove, but as instructed in all
the Scriptures, that it is a divine power or influence. The dove represented
fittingly the meek and quiet spirit which is one of the striking ornaments of
all those who possess the spirit of holiness unto the Lord. Such experiences
as these which our Lord enjoyed are not granted to his followers nor to be expected
today,-neither the voice nor the opened heavens, nor the dove. The coming of
the holy spirit to the Church at Pentecost was signalized by an outward
demonstration, which serves the entire Church throughout the age. Such
outward demonstrations were essential at the beginning, as assurances to us
that we are not following some vain imaginations of our own or other men’s
minds in respect to the holy spirit, and now we merely have the realities,
which at first were symbolized or represented in tangible form. All who, after
believ-ing unto repentance, are justified from their sins, and subsequently
present themselves to the Lord to be baptized into his death (Rom. 6:3),
receive an opening of the heavens before them in the sense of an opening of
their minds to see heavenly things, to appreciate spirit-ual matters; as the
Apostle declares, “God reveals them unto us by his spirit; for the spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God,”-things which “eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of [the natural] man.”
(I Cor. 2:10.) They also by faith hear the voice of the Father, speaking unto
them, saying that, having thus come unto him through Jesus, and having thus
consecrated their lives to him, they are now beloved sons, accepted in the
well-beloved One. They also receive the blessing of the holy spirit, in the
shedding abroad in their hearts of the peace-giv-ing, meek and gentle spirit of
holiness, and this becomes more and more a reality with them as they become
more and more “filled with the spirit.”
Jesus was led of the spirit-his own spirit, illumin-ated by the spirit-baptism
which he had just received-to go apart from John and the concourse of people
into quiet solitude, and for this purpose he chose a wil-derness place. Mark
says he was impelled or “driven” of the spirit into the wilderness. The
thought we get is that there was a great pressure upon our Lord’s mind at this
time. In a previous lesson we noted his study at Jerusalem at an early age
respecting the “Father’s business,” and how he should go about it. We found
the Law instructing him that it would not be proper for him to engage in the
Father’s business until he was thirty years of age and that in consideration
of this fact he desisted and served his parents. The momentous time for which
he had been waiting for eighteen years had come. He hastened to present
himself at the earliest moment, that his service should not be de-layed; but
now, under the enlightenment of the holy spirit, instead of beginning his
ministry precipitately, he felt that he must know definitely the proper course
to pursue: he must not make a mistake at the very out-start of his service; he
must know the Father’s will, that he might render his service in harmony
therewith. Such motives impelled him to seek solitude for thought and prayer,
and for reviewing the various Scriptures which hitherto he had studied and but
imperfectly com-prehended, but which now began to be luminous under the
influence of the holy spirit which he had received.
How proper it would be that all of the Lord’s peo-ple, when they have made a
consecration of themselves to the divine service, should be impelled by the new
mind, the new spirit, to go apart first and to commune with the Father, and to
study his Word respecting how they should render their lives most acceptable in
his service! Were this course pursued how many lives would be totally
different from what they are; how in many failures and changes and turnings,
hither and thither, would be avoided! Our Lord expressed the matter in one of
his parables, when he said that anyone taking up his cross to follow him should
sit down first and count the cost-learn what the Father’s will would be, as
well as the results to be sought. And if any of God’s dear children have
neglected thus to seek the right path at the beginning of their consecration,
we refer them to the example of our dear Master, who was wise in this as in all
things, having not only the spirit of a sound mind, but a sound mind itself,
through which that spirit operated perfectly. However, our study of the
divine will need not be so completely alone as was our Master’s-we have
“brethren,” he had none, being himself the forerunner. We may profitably take
counsel of such as give evidence of faith in and consecration to God, that we
may learn the more quickly and the more thor-oughly the Father’s will
concerning us: especially may we have the aid of the words and example of our
elder Brother, Jesus. We must never forget, however, that our consecration is
to the Father’s business, and that brethren can only be really helpful to us as
they assist us in understanding the Father’s plan and our part therein:
otherwise they might become hindrances by substituting their own or sectarian
plans and seeking our consecration thereto.
Our Lord’s temptations may be said to have begun at this point-those
temptations in which “he was tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” It was
not the boy Jesus, nor the youth Jesus, that was tempted “as we are.”
And our Lord’s temptations after his consecration were not like the temptations
which beset the world, but like the Church’s temptations. In other words, our
Lord was reckoned a new creature from the time of his consecration at
Jordan, as we are counted new creatures in him from the time of our
consecration; and it was the consecrated Jesus who was tempted and tried
like as his consecrated followers are tempted and tried. We shall see
further evidences of this as we pro-ceed to notice the character of our Lord’s
temptations, and to compare them with the temptations which come to his
consecrated “brethren.” Many have wondered why their temptations seemed to
commence after their consecration to the Lord, rather than before: seemingly
they expected that after consecration the Adversary would flee from them, and
they should have little or no temptation-totally mis-understanding the divine
arrangement. Such temptations or tests of character as come to the consecrated
are not appropriate to the unconsecrated: the present is not the judgment day
of the world, but the testing time for the Church.
It would appear that our Lord’s temptations pro-gressed throughout the entire
forty days, but that the three temptations specifically described were the
culmi-nation of that period of testing. We may imagine our Lord in the
wilderness solitude, intently thinking over the various prophetic references to
himself, and linking these together, as an architect would first draw the
out-line of a building and subsequently fill out feature after feature of its
internal arrangements. The outline before our Lord’s mind from the Scriptures,
beyond any peradventure, was the Kingdom. He was to be the King, the Seed of
Abraham, under whose gracious government and wise instruction all the families
of the earth were to be blessed. This, the profile, was already clearly
delineated in his mind, but other features needed to be properly adjusted.
How was he to fulfill the type of the Law which represented the priest as
giving up his life for the sins of the people? Where would come in the type of
the everlasting priesthood? Where would come in the class of Israelites
represented by Rebecca, as he himself was represented by Isaac, and the Father
by Abraham, in the type? And if Israel would receive him, and become the
Rebecca, where would come in the sacrifice, and how? And then other prophecies
no doubt pressed his mind for a place in the plan, viz., the declaration that
although Israel were as the sand of the sea only a remnant should be acceptable,
and how then would the predestinated number of the “elect” be found, to
complete the glorious royal priesthood; and by what process would the blessing
come to all the families of the earth, if himself, as the High Priest, and his
true followers, as the royal priests, were all to suffer and to die for
righteousness’ sake, as sacrifices?
We may well suppose that adjustment and read-justment, fitting and refitting,
with much reflection and prayer, occupied many of the forty days, and there may
have been temptations intermingled with these all; as for instance,
questionings respecting the necessity of those features represented in the
types and specified in the prophecies of the sufferings of Christ which must
take precedence to the glories that would follow. There may have been
temptations, too, to deal dishonestly with the records, to “wrest the
Scriptures,” and thus self-deceived, to choose a way not in fullest conformity
to the divine outline; but we may safely suppose that as soon as such
suggestions, one after another, present-ed themselves, they were promptly
rejected,-our Lord being fully determined that he would be absolutely obe-dient
to the Father’s will and accomplish the work which he had sent him to do in
exactly the manner prescribed.
So intent had been his study, and so earnest his desire for quiet fellowship
with the Father and his Law, that forty days were spent under such conditions,
and apparently so deeply absorbed was our Lord that he did not even think of
food. Nor does this appear so strange to us, when we remember that he was
perfect, while we are imperfect, physically as well as otherwise, “He afterward
hungered.”
It was at the close of this period of Bible study and prayer, when our Lord was
weak from fasting, that the Adversary assaulted him with three temptations
particularized in our lesson.
The word here translated “devil” is diabolos, and is used with
the definite article-the devil. The arch deceiver is thus Scripturally
distinguished from the fallen angels, who throughout the Scriptures are spoken
of in the plural, designated by another word signifying de-mons. Here,
then, is one place in the Scriptures where the personality of the prince of
devils is definitely af-firmed, and his person and power acknowledged by our
Lord himself. It is not necessary for us, however, to assume that Satan
appeared to our Lord in a human form; he may or may not thus have been
personally manifest. If personally manifest, we may rest well as-sured that he
presented himself in his very best appearance, as an angel of light. Indeed,
we may well re-member that our Lord, in his prehuman condition, had, as the
Father’s agent, been the Creator of Satan, and we remember that Satan was an
angel of very high order, whose sin consisted in an attempt to usurp authority
and to become the potentate of earth, by stealing the sympathy, affection and
obedience of hu-manity, and that on this account he fell under divine
reprobation. We can imagine that a visit from him to Jesus would not be at all
inappropriate, as he undoubt-edly knew the facts of our Lord’s consecration,
and to some extent knew of the work which the Father had given him to do in the
redemption of the fallen race of men. We can imagine him even presenting
himself in a friendly manner, and assuring our Lord Jesus that he -felt a great
interest in him and in his work; that he himself had been painfully surprised
to note the penalty of sin upon mankind, and the dreadful degradation which had
resulted; and that now he would be glad indeed to have something done by which
poor humanity might be delivered from its groaning, travailing, dying
conditions. As a friend, thoroughly versed in the situa-tion all around, and
interested in its success, and thoroughly conversant with the mental moods and
foibles of humanity, he was in a place where he felt qualified to offer some
suggestions respecting the very work which our Lord Jesus wished to perform,
the plan for which he was now considering.
TEMPTATION TO USE SPIRITUAL FAVORS
FOR PERSONAL PROFIT.
First, he manifests his personal interest in our Savior by suggesting his
weakness from lack of food and the necessity for taking proper care of his
physical health if he would do the great and noble work he had undertaken. He
reminded him also of his present power-that he had just been imbued with
divine power, and that he had now full ability to supply his wants, and need
only to speak the word and have the stones turned into food. Thus also, he
suggested, he would be demonstrating to himself the verity of the new power
which he witnessed coming upon him, and had subse-quently felt. What more
cunning temptation could be devised than this? Compliance with it evidently
meant, not only the relief of his hunger and the strengthening of his physical
frame, but additionally it apparently meant the conversion of Satan, who now
seemingly was in a repentant attitude, and desirous of cooperating with him in
the undoing of the evil work of the long ago. It was a strong temptation.
Such temptations come also to all the consecrated; not in exactly the same
form, nor in the same language, but somewhat similarly-suggestions
that the new re-lationship with God, and the strength which it brings, may be
used to some extent at least in creature comforts-may be utilized for our temporal
advancement; may be made to make us shine before men as very hon-orable and
favored of God; may be used to command large salaries, or at least as a means
for seeking them, even if never found. We may then all note carefully how our
Lord resisted his would-be friend and his worldly-wise suggestions. He flatly
refused the sugges-tion of using his spiritual power to serve his temporal
wants. The spiritual gift could no more be used to procure temporal comforts
than it could be sold for money to Simon (Acts 8:18-24); but without going into
details, and without boasting that he was too holy to think of such a
sacrilegious use of the power entrusted to him, Jesus simply answered the
Adversary in Scriptural language, that a man’s life was not wholly dependent
upon what he should eat, but that obedience to the Word of God would be a surer
guarantee of life. And after this manner each of the Lord’s followers should
answer every question which in any manner pro-poses the acquirement of earthly
blessings and comforts at the sacrifice of the spiritual. To quite a number of
the Lord’s “brethren” the Adversary has presented this same temptation in this
form: If you follow too closely to the truth, and permit the holy spirit of the
truth to make you very zealous in its service, you will soon have no bread, no
food, for the world’s people with whom you must deal do not appreciate such
things. They will discharge you from their employ, or they will cease to deal
at your store, or they will dismiss you from being their pastor, or they will
withdraw from you their fellowship, their society, etc., and you will starve
for all the good things of this present life. The proper answer is that God is
able to take care of all those who respect his spiritual blessings too much to
sell them for a mess of pottage, as did Esau in the type; and that we are
convinced that whoever lives according to the Word of God, though he may lose
some of the comforts of the present time, will eventually gain the far better,
the life eternal with exceeding glory.
Our Lord’s positiveness of reply shut off the temp-tation quickly, and
discouraged the Adversary from further proceeding along that line; and so it is
with us, his followers: if we are positive in our
rejection of temp-tation it increases our strength of character, not only for
that time, but also for subsequent temptations; and it disconcerts to some
extent our Adversary, who, noting our positiveness, knows well that it is
useless to discuss the matter with persons of strong convictions and positive
characters; whereas, if the question were parlayed over, the result would
surely be the advanc-ing of further reasons and arguments on the Adversary’s
part, and a danger on our part that we would be over-matched in argument, for,
as the Apostle declares, the Devil is a wily adversary, and “we are not
ignorant of his devices.” Prompt and positive obedience to the word and spirit
of the Lord is the only safe course for any of the “brethren.”
TEMPTING GOD BY UNAUTHORIZED EFFORTS.
Disappointed in his first effort, the Adversary quick-ly turned the subject,
not even dissenting from our Lord’s judgment in the matter. The second
temptation he presented is like all others that came to our Lord and that come
to his consecrated followers, viz., not a temp-tation to gross wickedness-to
steal, to kill, etc.-but a temptation to do the Lord’s work in another way than
that which the Lord had planned-the misuse of the divine powers given him by
endeavoring to accomplish good results in an improper manner.
Satan took our Lord Jesus to Jerusalem and up to the flat roof of one of the
wings of the Temple-not physically, but mentally, just as mentally we can go to
various places and do certain things without change of physical location. The
suggestion now made was this: I (Satan) can give you a good suggestion
respecting a way to bring yourself quickly into prominence before the people of
Israel, and you will be pleased with it, because it is a Scriptural way; indeed
I have found that it is foretold in the prophecy that Messiah at his coming
will do this: and the people will readily recognize it as a fulfillment of the
words of the Prophet David, and thus they will embrace your cause quickly, you
will become the leader of the people, and your work will go on most grandly:
and as I said before, I will rejoice in seeing the prosperity of the work, for
I am heartily sick of the degradation which I have witnessed for now four
thousand years. My suggestion is that you go to the roof of the southern wing of
the Temple which on its rear part overlooks the Valley of Hinnom, towering
above it six hundred feet, and which also overlooks the court of the Temple, in
which there are hundreds of devout Jews: then leap from this eminence, and
arise unhurt by the fall. This will demonstrate more quick-ly than anything
else you could do or say that the power of the Highest is upon you, and that
you are the Mes-siah. This, I say, is referred to in the Scripture which
says,-“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.”-Matt.
4:6.
Similar are the temptations which Satan presents to the consecrated followers
of Jesus:-Make a great show before the world
and the nominal church; attract their attention by any means, and not simply by
the preaching of the cross of Christ; use the spiritual powers and blessings
that you have received for doing some great and striking work, which will
appeal to the nat-ural man, and thus secure quick and great success; do this
instead of doing the quiet and less conspicuous work of presenting spiritual
things to the spiritual class, which work the vast majority can in no wise
appreciate, but will only shun you, consider you peculiar, and which not only
will lose you the sympathy of the mass, but will bring you specially the hatred
of some of the principal professors of Christendom.
Again our Lord answered promptly and correctly: “It is written again, Thou
shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Satan would like to have us walk by sight,
not by faith; he would like to have us continually tempting God, and demanding
some ocular demonstrations of his favor and
protection, instead of accepting the testimony of his Word, and relying
thereon implicitly in faith. In the light of the unfolding of the Scriptures
we see that Satan, probably unwittingly, quoted a passage of Scripture wholly
out of its proper meaning and inter-pretation, a passage which referred, not to
the literal feet of Jesus, and to literal stones, and to literal angels, but to
the symbolic feet-members of the body of Christ today, and to the stones of
stumbling, doctrinal and otherwise, which are now permitted in the pathway of
the faithful, and to the angels or ministers of divine truth who in the present
harvest-time would be commissioned to bear up the feet members with such
coun-sels, admonitions and expositions of Scripture as would be necessary for
them.-Psa. 91 :11, 12.
TEMPTATION TO OBTAIN DESIRED GOOD RESULTS BY COMPROMISE.
Satan’s third temptation we may presume was
pre-sented likewise in a friendly and sympathetic manner, indicative of a
desire for cooperation in our Lord’s great work. He took him to a high
mountain-not literally, but mentally. Indeed, there is no literal high
mountain near Jerusalem, nor anywhere in the world, from which all the kingdoms
of the world and their glory could be seen. Satan took our Lord mentally to a
very high symbolic mountain (kingdom). He pictured before him the immensity of
his (Satan’s) own power throughout the world, his control of all the nations
and peoples to a large extent, and this our Lord subsequently acknowledged when
he referred to Satan as “the prince [ruler] of this world.” This panoramic
presentation of Satan’s power and influence throughout the world was designed
to impress upon the mind of our Redeemer the thought that Satan’s friendship
and assistance would be most valuable-nay, almost of vital importance to the
success of his mission, and hence that it was very fortunate indeed that at
this juncture Satan had called upon him in so friendly a mood, and that he
apparently so sincerely welcomed his efforts and was ready to cooperate
therewith.
Satan possibly pointed out to our Lord that Messiah - was specially referred to
as the King of Israel, and to bless Israel, and he may have admitted that a
light of influence would extend to all nations through him, but the center of
his argument would seem to be that he proposed to Jesus a still larger kingdom
than Israel. He proposed to him a kingdom embracing all the na-tions of the
earth, and that he should have the control of all these, and be able to bring
in the blessed reforms which were designed of God, only one condition being
insisted upon, viz., that whatever kingdom or rule or authority might be
established must recognize Satan. The Adversary thus seemed to see what he
thought a favorable opportunity for consummating his original plans, for we
cannot suppose that his original intention was to gain control of a dying and
depraved race, but that he much rather would be the lord or ruler of a highly
enlightened and well-endowed people. He was willing, therefore, to see
carried into effect all the gracious work which God had designed, and willing
to reform himself and to become the leader of reform, provided only that he
should be recognized as having the chief place of influence in connection with
mankind. It was after this manner that he wished our Lord to do worship or
reverence to him-to recognize his influence and co-operation in the work, and
not for a moment can we suppose that he expected him to kneel before him and to
worship him as God.
Our Lord’s reply to this last temptation shows that it fully awakened him to a
realization of the fact that there was no real reformation at work in Satan’s
heart; that he was still ambitious, self-seeking, as at the be-ginning of his
downward course; and he realized that to even discuss the matter further with
one who had thus avowed his real sentiments would be disloyalty to the Father,
and hence his words, “Get thee hence, Satan”-leave me; you cannot cooperate
with me at all; my work is in full accord with the absolute standard of the
divine will; I can be a party to no program contrary to this, however alluring
some of its features might be in promising a speedy conquest of the world, and
a speedy establishment of a reign of righteousness and blessing and an
avoidance of personal suffering; I cannot serve two masters; I can only
recognize the one supreme Jeho-vah, as Lord of heaven and of earth, and
therefore could not recognize you in any position of authority except as the
great Jehovah would appoint you to it, which I know he would never do, so long
as you are of the pres-ent ambitious spirit. I am operating along the line of
the declaration, “Thou shalt worship [reverence] the Lord thy God, and him
only shalt thou serve.”
We may readily discern that this temptation of our Lord was but a sample
illustration of such as beset his followers all along the narrow way, from the
same source, directly or through agencies. Satan, through his vari-ous
mouthpieces, is continually saying to the saints, Here is a more successful way
of accomplishing your object than that which you are pursuing, a more
success-ful way than the Lord’s way. Bend a little; make com-promise with the
worldly spirit; do not hew too close to the line of the word of God and the
example of the Lord Jesus and the apostles; you must be more like the world, in
order to exert an influence-mix a little into politics, and a good deal into
secret societies; keep in touch with the fads and foibles of the day, and above
all things keep any light of present truth under a bushel, thus alone can you
have influence and accomplish your good desires toward men. But our dear
Master assures us that we are to be faithful to the Lord and to his plan, and
let things work out as best they may along that line; and that we may rest
assured that in the end the Father’s plan not only is the best but really the
only plan for accomplishing his great designs, and that if we would be
associated therein with him as colaborers, it must be by recognizing him as our
only Master, and with an eye single to his approval.
Our Lord’s utter refusal of every other way of carrying out his mission than
the one which the Father had marked out, the way of self-sacrifice, the narrow
way, was indeed a great victory. The Adversary left him, finding nothing in
him that he could take hold of or work upon, so thoroughly loyal was he to the
very word and the spirit of Jehovah. And then, the trial being ended, we read
that holy angels came and minis-tered to our Lord-doubtless supplying him with
re-freshment such as he had refused to exercise the divine power to obtain for
himself. And such we may recog-nize as being the experience of our Lord’s
followers: with victory comes a blessing from the Lord, fellowship of spirit,
refreshment of heart, a realization of divine favor that makes stronger for the
next trial.
Another lesson here is that temptation does not imply sin. As our Lord was
tempted “without sin” so may his brethren be if they follow his example and
with purity of heart, purity of intention, seek only the Father’s will. Sin
could only come through yielding to the temptation. But let us not forget that
hesitancy after the wrong is seen increases the power
of the temptation. And we may note here that while Satan is a tempter,
endeavoring to ensnare us into wrong paths and wrong conduct, God is not so;
“he tempteth no man” (Jas. 1:13), and even though he permit the Adver-sary and
his agents to beset his people, it is not with the object of ensnaring them,
but with the opposite object, that they may by such trials and testings be made
the stronger, developing character through exercise in resisting evil. Let us
remember too for our strengthening, the Scriptural assurance that God will not
suffer us to be tempted above that we are able to resist and overcome but will
with the temptation provide also a way of escape.
To avail ourselves of this provision requires merely faith, and the more we
exercise our faith in such mat-ters the more of it we will have, becoming
stronger in the Lord and in the power of his might; and thus by divine grace
and under the Master’s assistance we may come off overcomers-conquerors, and
more than con-querors, through him who loved us and bought us with his own
precious blood.-2 Cor. 12:9; I Cor. 10:13; Eph. 6:10; Rom. 8:37-39.