THE THREEFOLD TEMPTATION.

"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil."-Luke iv. 1-13.

It is fitting that any person who is about to enter upon an important work of life should seek a special preparation for the same by retirement, meditation, and prayer, accompanied sometimes by fasting. It will not be surprising if at such times he shall be exposed to peculiar temptations. In this regard our Saviour has recorded His experience and example. It is important to remember that His great temptation had been immediately preceded by His baptism, by the descent of the Holy Ghost, and by the voice from heaven, "Thou art My beloved Son: in thee I am well pleased." (Luke iii. 22.)

It is not necessary to determine whether the locality was a portion of the great Arabian desert or the wilderness where John was baptizing. (See Lange on Matt., page 81, for Robinson's account of the Quarantania.)

In Matthew (iv. 1) it is said, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." Here it is written, "Being full of the Holy Ghost He returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil."

God cannot tempt any man to sin. To tempt means sometimes to test, to prove, as in the case of Abraham. (See Genesis xxii. 1, and Hebrews xi. 17.) To tempt frequently means to incite to wrongdoing, and in this sense the word is often used in this discourse.

God certainly permits His people to be tempted by Satan, but with every temptation can make a way of escape. Being full of the Holy Ghost our Redeemer was led into the wilderness to obtain additional preparation

for His work, and a part of that preparation was the trial and discipline of temptation. He was led by the Spirit of God not to sin, but to certain victory. During forty days He did eat nothing, but was sustained by Divine power, as had been also Moses and Elias. During these forty days Satan from time to time made his assaults, but concentrated his efforts at the last for a desperate struggle.

We do not regard the narrative as a myth, a fable, nor a parable, nor a vision. Neither is it necessary to suppose, with some, that Satan employed the representatives of the Sanhedrim to tempt Christ.

We can admit the real personality and existence and agency of Satan without any bodily presence or visible appearance. The narrative does not state that there was any bodily appearance. When Satan entered into Judas or desired to sift Peter as wheat, and successfully tempted Peter to deny his Lord, he did not appear in visible form. It may be enough to suppose that Satan came to Jesus as he does to all men, suggesting wicked thoughts, which find a lodgment in the depraved heart of fallen man, but which were repelled by our Saviour even as the darts of an adversary recoil from a brazen shield.

Why was Jesus subjected by the Holy Spirit to this trial, and why did Satan, the evil spirit, so furiously assault Him? are two distinct and widely different questions, requiring separate and different answers.

The first question, Why was Jesus subjected by the Holy Spirit to this trial? we answer by saying, It was needful for Him to be tempted as a part of His humiliation, and that, having assumed our nature, He might have all the experience of our humanity and yet without sin.

The Apostle's words to the Hebrews aptly and fully explain the mystery: "For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted. For we have not a high priest which cannot

be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews ii. 10, 18, and iv. 15.)

As to the second question, Why did Satan, the evil spirit, so furiously assault Him? The cause of the violent and virulent assaults of Satan against the Son of man is wrapt in that deep hatred which had existed and had been foretold from the beginning between the serpent and the seed of the woman, and the time has come when the promised seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent, or, in other words, shall crush the power of Satan.

The last opportunity is given to overthrow the plan of redemption, if the Redeemer of men at the threshold of His work can be drawn into sin, or diverted from His purpose.

Since such a calamity was forbidden, we shall not attempt to describe the appalling and disastrous consequences of such an event, even if it had been possible.

As to the point of attack, or where was the weak point, if any could be found, at which Satan aimed his blow, different opinions prevail. Some say the first temptation was to sensual enjoyment; the second to ambition; the third fanatical pride. (See quotations in Lange on Matthew, page 86, and Van Oosterzee on Luke, pages 69 and 70.) Another very similar is: first, the lust of the flesh; second, the lust of the eye; third, pride. Another says: first, to distrust God; second, to covet riches and worldly goods; third, vain confidence. (See Beza in Scott on Luke iv. 1-13.) Rather than these, we suggest that the first temptation was to distrust not God's Providence, but to distrust or doubt God's word, and the second temptation, to abandon His work and set up an earthly instead of a heavenly kingdom. This would be apostasy. And, thirdly, to presumption in the mode of conducting His work.

Von Oosterzee on this passage (in Lange, page 70) attributes these words to Bachman: "The temptation of Jesus was a temptation: 1. To doubt of God; 2. To presuming upon God; 3. To apostasy from God's work."

The first temptation was presented in these words: "If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread." After forty days' fasting the craving desire for food which only a person reduced to the point of starvation can understand came upon Him, and there was no way to satisfy this natural and harmless appetite. Then the suggestion came insidiously from the tempter: Work a miracle, and thereby prove not to or for the benefit of others, for he was alone with the wild beasts, but prove to yourself that you are the Son of God.

The mystery of the Incarnation, the mystery of the union of the Divine with the human nature, envelopes the temptation scene, and we shall better understand the temptation if we remember that in this one person were united two distinct natures. He possessed a human soul, a human intellect, which increased in knowledge. The temptation was addressed to His human nature. His previous life in private had been characterized by unusual maturity of judgment and peculiar holiness, but hitherto He had given no manifestation of superhuman power. At the reception of baptism in the Jordan, a voice came from heaven, which said, according to Luke, "Thou art my beloved Son: In thee I am well pleased." According to Matthew, the voice said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Upon the mount of transfiguration the same voice addressed not Him, but the disciples, and said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him." Is there not significance in the second personal pronoun at the baptism, "Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased?" (See Luke iii. 22, Matt. iii. 17, xvii. 5.) With these words sounding in His ears, Jesus retired into the wilderness. The invisible tempter suggests to His human nature, How knowest thou that thou art indeed the Son of God? What proof hast thou given? Here is a favorable opporunity to test and settle the question by satisfying a lawful and imperative desire for food, for actual existence. Convert these stones into bread, if indeed thou art the Son of God.

Thus, we regard the temptation not as a distrust of