Wilderness of Temptation
By W. A. Alway
THE SUPREMACY OF THE PREVIOUSLY WRITTEN WORD.
II. Christ and the Written Word.
CHRIST Himself taught most emphatically the abiding, authoritative supremacy of the ancient Scriptures. In his reproof of the Pharisees He pointed out the sad truth that the reason for their blindness of heart which resulted in their rejection of His divine mission, lay not so much in their refusal to believe in the marvelous works which attended His ministry as in their unbelief of the Old Testament scriptures, which testified of Him. It was their rejection of the authoritative character of the previously written word which made it impossible for them to believe Christ. "For," said Jesus, "had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me; for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words." John 5:44-47. The Pharisees, in order to enhance their own selfish desire, to exalt themselves to the position of spiritual dictators in the church, had encouraged unbelief in the minds of the people concerning the word of God to such an extent that the traditions of those who sat in Moses' seat were exalted not only above the word of the prophets, but also above the Ten Precepts which God had spoken with His own voice. See Mark 7. How different the personal attitude of Christ to the previously written word! Of Him it had been foretold long centuries before His appearance in the flesh: "He will magnify the law, and make it honorable." Isa. 42:21. The psalmist declares: "Thou hast magnified Thy word above all Thy name." Ps. 138:2. Consistent with these predictions of Holy Writ, we read in the record of the Sermon on the Mount: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." Matt. 5:17. All that was involved in that "fulfilment" to the Son of God can only be faintly realized as we trace His weary pilgrimage thru a strange and hostile land, over the rugged, thorny pathway of His human experience, thru Gethsemane's deep shadows to Calvary's cross. Let us linger a moment near the to note His attitude to the Father's word uttered fifteen long centuries before thru mortal lips. For forty days He had suffered the pangs of hunger, and now the demands of appetite reenforced by the temptation of an artful foe combine to drive Him from His heaven-appointed pathway of suffering service. Isaiah 53. What is it that puts to flight the wily foe?—Ah, it is the sword of the Spirit: "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matt. 4:1-3. He did not quibble over the lapse of centuries since that word was written. He did not destroy the sword's keen edge and neutralize its prevailing power by adding, "as far as they are correctly translated." If the previously written word marked out for Him a pathway of sorrow, a life of unappreciated service, a crown of thorns and a death of shame (Isaiah 53), He would not seek an easier way. Rather He would uncover His head in its sacred presence, and in kingly submission to its supreme authority say, "Thy will be done." But perhaps the most striking example of Christ's devotion to the Old Testament Scriptures is recorded in Matthew's account of the thrilling scenes connected with by the mob. The blood stains of the agonizing struggle of Gethsemane were upon His brow, as, emerging from the garden, He was met by Judas and the rabble. The traitor-kiss is bestowed, and as that murderous mob binds without resistance those noble hands, Jesus says to His impulsive, belligerent disciple: "Thinkest thou that I can not now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels?" Matt. 26:53. Why did He not do it? Why did that prayer of simple justice falter and die upon His pale lips? Listen, reader, and mark well the reply: "But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be?" Matt. 26:53, 54. What8supreme reverence for the word of the prophets! He could surrender those innocent hands to the disgrace of criminal bands; He could bare that kingly brow to the shame of spitting; He could permit that royal form to be mockingly robed in the faded purple, and crowned with a wreath of thorns; yea, He could humiliate Himself and become "obedient unto death, even the death of the cross;" but He would not raise so much as a finger to prevent the fulfilment to its sad and tragic end of one jot or tittle of those simple prophetic utterances. Dear reader, if Jesus, the exalted Son of God, displayed such supreme reverence for the Scriptures, with what awe and heart-searching should dying mortals approach their sacred pages? How sad, methinks, must be our risen Lord, after having endured so great "contradiction of sinners against Himself," that He might crown with unfading glory and immortal honor "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," to behold in His professed followers such indifference to its teachings, such neglect of its admonitions, and warnings; to actually find some of us willing to adopt the dishonest quibbles and tactics of infidelity rather than crucify the worldly lusts which the requirements of that word demand? May we rather say with the poet in the presence of the Christ-life and example:
"What truth and love Thy bosom fill!
What zeal to do Thy Father's will!
Such zeal and truth and love divine,
I would transcribe and make them mine."
—W. A. ALWAY.