Tempted as We Are by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 23, 1911

Tempted as We Are

By F. M. W.

The ground of our assurance in coming to the Lord Jesus is the fact that he took upon himself the nature of man, and in this human form conquered Satan, thus bridging the gulf which sin had made between God and humanity. Going through this experience in behalf of the lost race, he became a perfect Saviour. He became identified with man in all of his trials and temptations. “In that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.” He “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” In consequence, the apostle concludes, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

We may not fully understand in just what way Christ was “in all points tempted like as we are.” We may not be able to make application of this truth to the details of the various trials and temptations through which mankind passes. We may, however, accept through faith this statement of fact as a blessed truth. And believing it, we shall be drawn closer to the Saviour, and shall be able to experience much more of his keeping power in the trials that come to us.

It is comforting indeed when passing through trying experiences to realize that there is a true and tried friend who has gone the way before us, who knows by his own experience how we feel. Are we tired and weary? He himself, through his earthly pilgrimage, experienced weariness in the extreme degree. Do we experience nerve tension, and feel sometimes that we have reached the breaking point, that we can not possibly endure more? Christ experienced all this. He knew what it was to be hungry and thirsty. He knew what it was to be deserted by his dearest friends, to be the object of ridicule and scorn, to have his name cast out as evil, to have imputed to him selfish and sinister motives. If we would only remember this when passing through similar trials, and come boldly to the throne of grace, there to find the needed help and strength, we should then realize the blessedness of this great truth of Christ’s temptation and sympathy of which the Scriptures assure us.

Christ was sorely and severely tempted, to a degree and to an extent which no other human being ever experienced, yet he endured all this without sin. Not once did he yield to the tempter’s power. In every conflict he was victorious. With a mind stayed upon God, with trust in the love and power of his Heavenly Father, he resisted at every turn the attacks of the enemy. And in addition to the sympathy which he affords us in times of trial, he likewise bequeaths to us this heritage of victory over sin. As he took hold of divine power, it is our privilege to do the same. The resources open to his demand are open to our demand.

It is comforting to a struggling child of God to learn, in reading the Bible story, that not only did Christ succeed in his conflict with the great adversary, but that in every age of the world’s history others also, through his help, have succeeded in that conflict. We have only to look back to such men as Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, and many others to find men who, though weak by nature like ourselves, through divine grace became mighty in behalf of righteousness, notwithstanding all the assaults of the adversary. And of such men the record is that they were “subject to like passions as we are.” James 5:17. While this is predicated of Elijah, it is likewise true of the men and women of God in every age. By God’s grace passions were subdued, sins were overcome, and character was developed that stood the test of Heaven.

What assurance the record of these and other worthies gives us to-day! Do we sometimes fail? Do we have to retrace our steps, confess our wrongs? Men in the past who lived on this earth as we are now living to-day, who worshiped the same God, who fought the same enemy, had the same human frailties in their natures. They fought, and were sometimes vanquished in their struggles. They sometimes failed, but through the mercy of God and heavenly grace they came off victors in and through the blood of the same blessed Saviour who to-day is our faithful and merciful high priest.

Victory in the Christian warfare is not dependent upon noble ancestry, good birth, or earthly station. It depends upon the operation of God’s marvelous grace in a subject willing to submit to him and to be molded by the Holy Spirit. Amos was a humble herdsman. David was a shepherd boy. The apostles were fishermen, men of humble calling, in their natural make-up possessing evil traits, bad dispositions, and many wrong tendencies. But by submission to God, by casting themselves upon his mercy and permitting his grace to rule and reign in their lives, they became the mighty agents of divine power for the accomplishment of a great work in the world.

Dear reader, God is willing to accomplish all this for you. He may not, in his providence, call you or me to the kingship; we may never become great apostles; we may never speak with prophets’ tongues; but there may be seen in our experiences the working of the same divine power, the same miraculous transformation of divine grace, that

was seen in the lives of these men of old.

Have we failed in the past? The failure has not been because God’s hand was shortened, or his ear heavy. The failure has been through lack of submission on our part, through resistance to the divine working. Let us renew our consecration, casting ourselves at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, asking him to change our hearts, and work in and through us according to his own good pleasure.

Our appeal for divine succor will not be in vain. The cry of helplessness will be heard. Trusting faith will bring a response from him who has identified himself with us as our brother. Through his grace we may come off more than conquerors.

F. M. W.