Christ’s Second Temptation.
By Thirza M. Foster
“THEN the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down; for it is written, 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. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Matt. 4:5–7. The temptations which our Saviour endured form an interesting particular in his life. They are written for our admonition and instruction. From them we learn the temptations to which we are exposed, and in the resistance he made, we learn how we may so resist the devil that he will flee from us. Although the first attempt Satan made to overcome the Son of God was defeated, he did not quit the field, nor give up all hope of final success. No; he had other wiles to try, and the repulse he had received suggested to his mind a second mode of attack. He had seen that Jesus depended more upon the words that came from the mouth of God than he did upon bread, the staff of life; and so he tempted him under the semblance of exercising strong confidence in God to do a presumptuous act. He took him to Jerusalem, placed him in a conspicuous place, even on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down.” This was a proposal to Jesus to destroy his own life, and Satan, to give force to his purpose, refers him directly to the written word for a promise of divine protection. He says, “For it is written, 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.” This text is recorded in Psalms 91:11, and is a specific promise of God’s protecting care, written evidently for his commandment-keeping people; and is to be fulfilled after probation closes and when the seven last plagues are falling upon the ungodly. Satan not only made a wrong application of this scripture, but, to make it answer his purpose better, he left out the short clause, “in all thy ways,” which, had he retained it, would have been unfavorable to his object; for he knew that what he proposed to the Son of God was not in any sense one of his ways. The tempter did not pretend to seek the death of Christ. The garb he assumed was that of a friend to both the Father and the Son. He would have Jesus exhibit proof of his divine Sonship by casting himself down from the pinnacle of the temple under the assurance that his Father, to protect him from all harm, would engage the ministry of the holy angels. Had Jesus yielded to this device of the enemy, he would have treated God’s providence with lightness and irreverence, and by not taking prudent care of his own life, he would have violated the commandment which says to every man, “Thou shalt not kill,” and forbids the destruction of one’s own life, as much as that of one’s neighbor. Satan’s temptation succeeds on this point with those who by imprudent or intemperate habits injure their health, and as a result go prematurely to the grave. Such deaths are not dispensations of Providence, as they are often said to be. It would have been gratifying to Satan’s malicious spirit could he have prevailed upon the Son of God to throw himself headlong to the ground, for the sake of showing how he trusted in God to save him. To such trust as this our Saviour gave quite a different name. He called it tempting God. Our Heavenly Father may take his own way to try us, and may put our faith to the severest test; but we have no right to try him only in the ways which he has himself appointed for us. In the light of this subject a dangerous snare is revealed, in which many at the present day are taken. They talk of their faith, and willingness to trust themselves in the hands of God, and do not the things which he has commanded. They trample his law under their feet, thereby setting his authority at defiance. They do not seem to realize on whose ground they are standing, but express confidence in God, as though they were pleasing instead of offending him. Satan, as an angel of light, brings to them God’s promises, withholding the conditions upon which they are made. Oh, that God would help souls to recover themselves speedily out of this snare, and learn that his promises insure salvation to those only who secure his favor by yielding obedience to all of his commandments. We do well to inquire of our hearts whether this temptation does not exert some influence over us. Do we not sometimes make the grace of God an excuse for remissness in the discharge of our duty? Are we always willing to accept the straight testimony from the Lord? or do we, like the children of Israel, murmur as we journey along, and feel that God does not require so much of us? Let us not be deceived. The more true faith we have, the more watchful, prayerful, and conscientious our lives will be; and when we are in the path of duty we can claim the precious promises of God, knowing that they are brought home to our hearts by the Holy Spirit. “Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God;” for we want a place at last with those of whom it is said, “They overcome him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.”