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THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 26, 1901

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 9.

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THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

I
MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE
The shades of night fell dark and drear, And curtained in the closing day, As in the wilderness alone I saw a Man in anguish lay. There gleamed no light above His head, There beamed no radiance from His brow, The glory from the heavens had fled,— No dovelike form was near Him now. The desert monsters prowled around, The night bird sang her doleful hymn; But He, the Tempted, hears no sound Among the shadows dark and dim, Save this one mocking voice, which said: “Command these stones to be made bread.”
Then from the ground where prone He lay, I saw the godlike Sufferer rise, A radiance like the light of day Sprang flashing from those wondrous eyes.
And then a voice, like music rare, Was borne upon the desert air, As from th’ Eternal Father’s throne: “Man shall not live by bread alone.”
Then through the darkness of the night Two hurrying forms went flitting past, Till, on the temple’s dizzy height, I looked and saw them stand at last. Again that mocking voice I heard: “Art thou, indeed, th’ Eternal Word? Art thou that Shiloh long foretold By prophets in the days of old? That promised Seed, who, sages said, Should bruise, one day, the serpent’s head? Cast thyself down from hence, I pray; Angels shall go before thy way.”
Again falls on my listening ear The thrilling answer, soft and clear: The Master only bowed His head,— “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord,” He said.
Again I looked. Upon a mount Whose hoary summit towered high, I saw two outlined forms once more— Dark silhouettes against the sky, Before them spread, in grand array, The fairest monuments of earth, Silver and gold and baubles gay, Kingdoms and thrones of countless worth; “All these—all these I give to thee, If thou, O Christ, wilt worship me.”
“Get thee behind me; thou shalt serve The Lord thy God, and Him alone; Thus it is written: Thou shalt bow And worship only at His throne.”
The word is spoke, that word of might, And like the blackness of the night The arch-deceiver took his flight.
Three times the powers of hell have failed, And Judah’s Lion hath prevailed.