And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.
After forty days without food in the wilderness following His baptism, Jesus was faint and suffering hunger when Satan came disguised as a bright angel friend and pointed to a loaf-shaped stone. His words questioned whether Jesus was truly the Son of God and pressed Him to prove it by using divine power to turn the stone into bread for Himself and escape suffering apart from the Father's will. Jesus refused to work a miracle for His own relief and instead met the test with It is written, standing in trust and obedience without giving Satan any opening. As the second Adam He was passing over the ground where Adam fell through appetite, and the destiny of the human race hung on His victory in that trial. His conquest proves the power of God's word and leaves the pattern for all to overcome appetite by that word in His strength through self-denial and temperance.
Wilderness Setting and Tempter
After His baptism Jesus was led by the Spirit into a desolate wilderness to be tempted by the devil before His mission began. On Jordan's banks He had bowed pleading with the Eternal for strength to endure the conflict with the fallen foe, and the opening of the heavens with the descent of glory and the Father's voice declaring Him the beloved Son attested His divine character and close relation to the Infinite Majesty. He withdrew there to prepare through fasting and prayer for His mission and the path ahead, and to bear the threefold test in behalf of those He came to redeem. The unceasing battle between Christ and Satan thus broke out at the beginning of His public ministry in the forty days and nights of long fasting in the wilderness of temptation.
After forty days and forty nights without food or drink He hungered and thirsted and truly suffered the pangs of hunger. He was pale, emaciated, suffering, and alone with wild beasts, fainting and apparently near death and dying from hunger and warfare. Satan judged this the best time to tempt Him and saw a good chance in that weakened, suffering human condition. He took advantage of that humbled humanity as a man and came to gain victory as soon as the suffering began.
He did not appear as a fallen angel but concealed his real character and disguised himself as an angel of light, a Heaven-sent friend. He came clothed with the livery of heaven and in light as a messenger direct from the throne, in the form of a beautiful young man more like a monarch. He contrasted his own attractive appearance and power with Christ's distress and weakness, boasting that he was stronger. He hid his character as humanity's friend and benefactor while betraying it by casting doubt on God's care and on Jesus' identity. The stone he pointed to was just the shape of a loaf of bread that Christ was told to command to be made bread.
The demand belongs to Satan's first temptation upon appetite in the threefold test in the wilderness. It is one of the three leading temptations by which people are often overcome. That threefold temptation is an important but neglected subject, bearing on Christian temperance and on the Redeemer's great work in carrying out the plan of salvation.
Through forty days of being tempted and buffeted His will remained submitted to the will of His Father and governed by God, not by Satan. He yielded not for a moment to the will of the enemy, although tempted in every way more strongly than any of His disciples have ever been tempted. After the forty days Satan left Him for a season, having prevailed nothing and failed completely, disappointed and enraged yet not without hope of succeeding at some future time in the period of His ministry. Then angels came and ministered to Him with nourishing food and with grace and strength from God, and His Father's blessing rested on Him, though the conflict had left Him fainting and apparently near death.
Challenge to Prove Sonship
The little word if was itself the sting, a pretended doubt of His divinity, mission, authority and integrity as the Son of God and Messiah. It questioned His sonship and demanded a sign and evidence of it, a miraculous proof that He was what heaven had declared Him to be. The doubt was not to be accepted but to be met on the affirmative, for those with a work to do must take the affirmative and keep to it. Behind the challenge lay the insinuation that God had abandoned Him in the wilderness, seeking to make Him doubt the Father's testimony and care, to draw Him into dispute and to disbelieve the baptismal voice. It was a snare to draw Him into acting on Satan's terms, letting the tempter dictate how He would show His identity.
The command to make the stone become bread urged Him to use divine power to satisfy His own hunger and obtain food for Himself. That would have been to relieve Himself by miracle, to escape the trials, self-denial and suffering required in the plan of redemption, and to act independently of the Father's will and apart from reliance on God. His miracles in earthly life were for the good of others, not for His own benefit, and to work one for Himself would have broken His pledge not to use divine power to escape difficulty or suffering that human beings must face. The test was therefore of obedience and trust, whether He would step out of the path of submission to prove Himself at Satan's bidding.
The temptation was deliberately adapted to His emaciated, suffering condition after the long fast, when He was pale, weakened and in keen hunger. Satan contrasted his own attractive appearance and power with Christ's distress, boasting superior strength and daring Him to contend. He claimed Christ was a fallen exalted angel rather than the King of Heaven, asserted a right to demand evidence of sonship, and sought to make Him disbelieve the words spoken from heaven at His baptism. Disguised as an angel of light, a Heaven-sent friend and messenger direct from the throne, he claimed God did not require Jesus to endure the trial, offering an easier way to gain His object than the path of trial and suffering He had entered. The tempter presents an apparent good as a bribe, adapting temptation to circumstances, and works with a specious bewitching influence that leads men to obey the worst impulses of the human heart while believing God is leading them.
He pressed the demand with Scripture in his mouth, saying It is written, to gain confidence. His temptations can be subtle and appear good or noble, even when he uses Scripture to deceive, to overthrow, and to make temptation appear good. He disguises himself as humanity's friend while using deceptive arguments designed to mislead.
Refusal to Use Power
Though truly hungry and needing food, He would not use divine power to satisfy His own hunger or appease appetite by turning stone to bread, for that was not God's plan. To have relieved Himself by miracle would have broken His pledge not to use divine power to escape the difficulty and suffering that human beings must face. His miracles in earthly life were for the good of others, as when He freely provided so the hungry multitude would not lack or faint, and He likewise refused to work miracles to satisfy curiosity or to prove divine favor, as when on trial He would not gratify Herod and Pilate. He refused to let Satan dictate how He would show His identity, and as man's representative endured hunger and humiliation without seeking escape, giving an example of faith and trust in the Father and showing that temptation need not be obeyed nor lead into grasping after worldly power and wealth.
He had nothing to prove to Satan about divinity, identity, authority, or Messiahship, for Satan already had sufficient evidence of His exalted station and authority and was shut out of heaven only by his own unwillingness to yield to it. The challenge sought to draw Him into dispute, insinuating that God had abandoned Him in His weak suffering condition, making Him doubt the Father's testimony and care given at baptism and accept that doubt by using power for His own relief. Sustained by the assurance that He was the beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased, He remained steadfast with His will submitted to the Father's will and governed by God, yielding not for a moment though tempted more strongly than any disciple. After the forty days Satan left Him for a season, and angels ministered to Him with grace and strength from God.
He gave Satan no opening but met the test from point to point always on the affirmative with It is written, speaking only words inspired through holy men of old and quoting what God had inspired them to write. Argument and reason would have been of no use, but It is written puts the tempted on solid immovable rock and shows acquaintance with the Scriptures. Though weakened by fasting through forty days and nights in severe mental suffering under the most fearful assaults of the prince of darkness, whose fiery darts were surely aimed, they found no lodgment in Him. The demand for a miracle as a sign was thus answered by Scripture instead, leaving Satan no advantage, teaching that temptation is to be answered by God's Word, that those who live by the Word must not depend on any human being for spiritual life, and that those with a work to do must take the affirmative and keep to it, that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word proceeding out of the mouth of God, showing the power of grace in humanity. These lessons are to be learned from the Word, hung in memory's hall, and used as the only repulsing weapon against Satan, for all written in law and prophets is true and carries proof in itself.
The temptation ended in victory over the powers of evil, and He returned to the Jordan without drawing attention to Himself or publicly displaying His special work. His resistance under trial proved Him a sure foundation, able to bear the burdens and griefs of those who trust in Him. He remained faithful to the Father's will and His appointed path to Jerusalem even though His work was still beginning and many needed His help, refusing later as at first the same foe's urging to abandon that path and save Himself from death.
Second Adam Reverses Fall
The command to turn stone to bread was an attack on appetite repeating the first temptation in Eden by which Eve fell and Adam through intemperate appetite lost blissful Eden. It was the same means by which indulgence controlled Adam's descendants until their iniquity provoked destruction by the Flood, and by which Israel let appetite control reason and fell in the wilderness under awakened wrath. Jesus as the second Adam passed over the very ground where Adam fell and endured amid real hunger and suffering the test Adam failed, revealing a spotless character. His nearly six-week fast strengthened Him to endure and was appointed to teach where ruin began. Appetite holds controlling power as a leading point of attack, a channel used to weaken mental and moral powers, deaden discernment of sacred eternal things, exploit hardship, shake trust in God, and draw the soul from God. Unrestrained appetite becomes an idol that makes men forget God, weakens mind and body, obstructs salvation, corrupts and degrades, and seeks to erase the soul's likeness to God, so appetite and passions must be kept under reason and self-control is essential. Humanity alone could never have endured that test, but His humanity joined with divine power gained an infinite victory on humanity's behalf. As man's representative in that victory He raised humanity in the scale of moral value with God and broke the chain of bondage and Satan's power, and if He had been as weak in moral power as man there would now be no salvation. The salvation and destiny of the human race hung in the balance to be decided by that trial. If Christ was victor on appetite there was a chance for man to overcome, but if Satan gained victory through subtlety man would remain bound by appetite in chains of indulgence without moral power to break. His success or failure was bound up with breaking Satan's power over the world, contesting his empire, dominion, glory and claimed right, ending his power and establishing the promised kingdom that embraces all kingdoms. That conflict and victory is the foundation of the plan of salvation and gives fallen man the key and way to overcome in Christ's name. It leaves an example of self-denial, temperance and moral strength, convicts professed Christians of the sinfulness of indulgence in the very things men delight in, encourages those struggling with appetite, and works out a righteous character for those who could not work it for themselves while He bore the guilt of the world's sins. The conflict was watched with intense interest beyond human comprehension by holy angels over their loved Commander. His human nature fainted and He appeared dying from hunger and warfare, but angels lifted His fainting head, served nourishing food, and ministered to Him. Heaven rejoiced with hosannas when the fallen chief who had deceived even angels and drawn a third of heaven left a conquered foe, a test so severe as will never come upon man.
Scripture Links and Echoes
The voice heard at the Jordan held Him through the trial, for the opened heavens and the descent of glory with the Father's declaration that He was the beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased had attested His divine character and His close relation to the Infinite Majesty, and that assurance answered the doubt pressed upon His hunger and suffering. He had no need to prove to the adversary that He was Messiah and Saviour of the world by turning stone to bread for His own relief, because the tempter already possessed sufficient evidence of His exalted station and authority and was shut out of heaven only by unwillingness to yield to it.
The same demand for proof by a miraculous act met Him again at the cross, when mockers urged Him to save Himself and come down. He did not deliver Himself or yield there, because the purpose of His mission had not yet been accomplished and the angels were not permitted to rescue Him.
The tempter overcome in the wilderness was the same evil spirit, the prince of the power of darkness and arch-enemy, later met in the possessed man in the synagogue at Capernaum, though assuming another form and working by different devices to pursue his purpose. That wilderness conquest was a direct, personal victory gained in His own person, and He knew the enemy's identity in both encounters. That earlier victory is the ground of His power to meet the enemy again with authority and calm fearlessness, to stand and command rather than flee, to wrest the writhing captive from his grasp and set him free and gain another victory. The demon fought with all hellish power to keep control of his victim, because to lose ground there would give Jesus another victory.
The wilderness conqueror saw the tempter leave Him for a season, and the adversary spent the three years of ministry preparing to return for the last fearful conflict in Gethsemane, where everything was again at stake and the destiny of the human race again hung in the balance. There as a man, without calling His divinity to His aid, He must meet the prince of the power of darkness. If He had failed, human nature would have been overcome, the human race would have been irrecoverably lost, Satan would have been victor and the earth his kingdom; but by Satan's failure his hope of mastery was lost, the kingdoms of the earth would finally become Christ's, who would bind the strong man and cast him out.
The contest through the earthly ministry unmasked the character of the great deceiver and displayed cruel warfare upon the Redeemer in which every claim put forth by the Son of God was contested. Satan exerted all power and cunning to destroy Jesus because he saw that mercy and love, compassion and pitying tenderness were representing the character of God to the world. The daring blasphemy, presumptuous boldness, malicious intent and unsleeping malice of that warfare, in hunting Jesus from place to place and inspiring priests and people to reject His love and at last to cry for His crucifixion, excited the amazement and indignation of the universe and uprooted Satan from the affections of the heavenly angels and the whole loyal universe. Everything for his own prosperity hung on overcoming Christ in the wilderness, for he knew what he had lost and feared his empire over the world was to be contested, his claimed right disputed, and his power broken. He knew through prophecy that the predicted Saviour's kingdom would not be established in earthly triumph with worldly honor and display, but would be established upon the earth by the Prince of Heaven, would embrace all the kingdoms of the world, would cause his power and glory to cease, and would bring him retribution for the sins he introduced and the misery he brought upon man.
Pattern for Believers Today
His victory in the wilderness proved the power of the word of God and proved His full ability and power to fulfill His commission to preach the gospel to all nations. When the word does not have power upon hearts as it should, it is because men have chosen disobedience, not because the word has less power. He met the demand for a miracle as proof with Scripture instead of arguments and reasons, which would have been of no use, standing upon solid immovable rock and leaving the tempter no advantage by firm trust in God's word. His acquaintance with the Scriptures shows believers are to learn these lessons, hang them in memory's hall, commit the Word to memory rather than waste time on foolish stories, and meet Satan with the only weapon that will repulse him, It is written. All things written in the law and in the prophets are true and carry the proof in themselves, and It is written spoken in season baffles the enemy, brings strength, keeps the tempted from giving advantage by words, and perfects character for immortal life where there is no tempter.
Those battles were fought in behalf of humanity, and those victories make it possible for followers to conquer sin and Satan. He gives strength to all who seek it to overcome even the strongest temptation, so that temptation need not overcome and cases struggling with appetite are not beyond recovery. By joining human weakness to His enduring strength through continual resistance and faith, victory over appetite and temptation is possible. The tempter has no power to control the will or force the soul to sin without consent; he may distress and cause agony and suffering, but he cannot contaminate or defile, and the fact that Christ has conquered gives courage to fight manfully against sin and Satan. All who seek to follow Jesus will be brought into conflict with the adversary, and the more nearly one imitates Christ the more surely he makes himself a mark for attack.
His priceless victory in behalf of man will not benefit anyone unless he also gains victory on his own account by individually overcoming in Christ's name and strength. All are personally exposed to the very same temptations that assailed Him, and each must fight personally, for others may pray but cannot fight for another. Many fall where He overcame while few engage with Him, yet strength to resist is provided in the all-powerful name of the great Conqueror. By that victory over appetite worked out for them, men and women acting for themselves with divine intelligence cooperating can stand in moral integrity free from slavery to perverted appetite and passion. Fathers should tell this story to children, and those who profess to follow Him should labor together with God to restore the moral image of God in man.
His denial of appetite during the long fast calls to self-denial and temperance beginning at the table and extending to self-control in every part of life. As Adam fell through intemperate appetite and lost blissful Eden, the children of Adam may through Christ overcome appetite and through temperance in all things regain Eden. The divine power that enabled Him to withstand temptation can also enable people to overcome, for His victory broke the chain of bondage and elevated man in moral value. Through His name and strength and merits those enslaved to liquor and tobacco can break the slavery of habit and become victors, living out temperance and sanctification step by step from faith to charity. Indulging perverted appetite deadens ability to discern sacred eternal things, so self-control is essential to overcoming evil.
That suffering and victory was gained for believers to convict of sinfulness and expose the sin of the very indulgences of appetite and pleasure in which men delight. Those who eat when they have no need and indulge taste at the expense of health and powers of intellect cannot have exalted views of God, cannot appreciate the conflict, and cannot realize the claims of His law and the plan of salvation brought within reach by humiliation, anguish and suffering. Loving gaiety, pleasure, feasting, levity and forgetfulness of God blunts perception of the conflict and its bearing on life and character. His example gives no sanction to church gatherings for pleasure and the socials, festivals and picnics that tempt appetite to over-indulgence, lead to levity and forgetfulness of God, and clothe delusive pleasures in religious garments. The temptation warns against departing from principle to gratify appetite, including the depraved appetites of others, calling instead to compare life with the true standard, copy Christ as the only safe pattern, and reject Satan's suggestions and the world's methods and inducements.
The encounter shows the devil has real power to confront Christ with personal, cunning temptations, even taking Him to the temple pinnacle and a high mountain, though God alone limits that power. He failed to draw the Son from faithfulness to God, in contrast to his greater success in leading fallen people astray.
After forty days without food in the wilderness following His baptism, Jesus was faint and suffering hunger when Satan came disguised as a bright angel friend and pointed to a loaf-shaped stone. His words questioned whether Jesus was truly the Son of God and pressed Him to prove it by using divine power to turn the stone into bread for Himself and escape suffering apart from the Father's will. Jesus refused to work a miracle for His own relief and instead met the test with It is written, standing in trust and obedience without giving Satan any opening. As the second Adam He was passing over the ground where Adam fell through appetite, and the destiny of the human race hung on His victory in that trial. His conquest proves the power of God's word and leaves the pattern for all to overcome appetite by that word in His strength through self-denial and temperance.
Wilderness Setting and Tempter
After His baptism Jesus was led by the Spirit into a desolate wilderness to be tempted by the devil before His mission began. On Jordan's banks He had bowed pleading with the Eternal for strength to endure the conflict with the fallen foe, and the opening of the heavens with the descent of glory and the Father's voice declaring Him the beloved Son attested His divine character and close relation to the Infinite Majesty. He withdrew there to prepare through fasting and prayer for His mission and the path ahead, and to bear the threefold test in behalf of those He came to redeem. The unceasing battle between Christ and Satan thus broke out at the beginning of His public ministry in the forty days and nights of long fasting in the wilderness of temptation.
After forty days and forty nights without food or drink He hungered and thirsted and truly suffered the pangs of hunger. He was pale, emaciated, suffering, and alone with wild beasts, fainting and apparently near death and dying from hunger and warfare. Satan judged this the best time to tempt Him and saw a good chance in that weakened, suffering human condition. He took advantage of that humbled humanity as a man and came to gain victory as soon as the suffering began.
He did not appear as a fallen angel but concealed his real character and disguised himself as an angel of light, a Heaven-sent friend. He came clothed with the livery of heaven and in light as a messenger direct from the throne, in the form of a beautiful young man more like a monarch. He contrasted his own attractive appearance and power with Christ's distress and weakness, boasting that he was stronger. He hid his character as humanity's friend and benefactor while betraying it by casting doubt on God's care and on Jesus' identity. The stone he pointed to was just the shape of a loaf of bread that Christ was told to command to be made bread.
The demand belongs to Satan's first temptation upon appetite in the threefold test in the wilderness. It is one of the three leading temptations by which people are often overcome. That threefold temptation is an important but neglected subject, bearing on Christian temperance and on the Redeemer's great work in carrying out the plan of salvation.
Through forty days of being tempted and buffeted His will remained submitted to the will of His Father and governed by God, not by Satan. He yielded not for a moment to the will of the enemy, although tempted in every way more strongly than any of His disciples have ever been tempted. After the forty days Satan left Him for a season, having prevailed nothing and failed completely, disappointed and enraged yet not without hope of succeeding at some future time in the period of His ministry. Then angels came and ministered to Him with nourishing food and with grace and strength from God, and His Father's blessing rested on Him, though the conflict had left Him fainting and apparently near death.
Challenge to Prove Sonship
The little word if was itself the sting, a pretended doubt of His divinity, mission, authority and integrity as the Son of God and Messiah. It questioned His sonship and demanded a sign and evidence of it, a miraculous proof that He was what heaven had declared Him to be. The doubt was not to be accepted but to be met on the affirmative, for those with a work to do must take the affirmative and keep to it. Behind the challenge lay the insinuation that God had abandoned Him in the wilderness, seeking to make Him doubt the Father's testimony and care, to draw Him into dispute and to disbelieve the baptismal voice. It was a snare to draw Him into acting on Satan's terms, letting the tempter dictate how He would show His identity.
The command to make the stone become bread urged Him to use divine power to satisfy His own hunger and obtain food for Himself. That would have been to relieve Himself by miracle, to escape the trials, self-denial and suffering required in the plan of redemption, and to act independently of the Father's will and apart from reliance on God. His miracles in earthly life were for the good of others, not for His own benefit, and to work one for Himself would have broken His pledge not to use divine power to escape difficulty or suffering that human beings must face. The test was therefore of obedience and trust, whether He would step out of the path of submission to prove Himself at Satan's bidding.
The temptation was deliberately adapted to His emaciated, suffering condition after the long fast, when He was pale, weakened and in keen hunger. Satan contrasted his own attractive appearance and power with Christ's distress, boasting superior strength and daring Him to contend. He claimed Christ was a fallen exalted angel rather than the King of Heaven, asserted a right to demand evidence of sonship, and sought to make Him disbelieve the words spoken from heaven at His baptism. Disguised as an angel of light, a Heaven-sent friend and messenger direct from the throne, he claimed God did not require Jesus to endure the trial, offering an easier way to gain His object than the path of trial and suffering He had entered. The tempter presents an apparent good as a bribe, adapting temptation to circumstances, and works with a specious bewitching influence that leads men to obey the worst impulses of the human heart while believing God is leading them.
He pressed the demand with Scripture in his mouth, saying It is written, to gain confidence. His temptations can be subtle and appear good or noble, even when he uses Scripture to deceive, to overthrow, and to make temptation appear good. He disguises himself as humanity's friend while using deceptive arguments designed to mislead.
Refusal to Use Power
Though truly hungry and needing food, He would not use divine power to satisfy His own hunger or appease appetite by turning stone to bread, for that was not God's plan. To have relieved Himself by miracle would have broken His pledge not to use divine power to escape the difficulty and suffering that human beings must face. His miracles in earthly life were for the good of others, as when He freely provided so the hungry multitude would not lack or faint, and He likewise refused to work miracles to satisfy curiosity or to prove divine favor, as when on trial He would not gratify Herod and Pilate. He refused to let Satan dictate how He would show His identity, and as man's representative endured hunger and humiliation without seeking escape, giving an example of faith and trust in the Father and showing that temptation need not be obeyed nor lead into grasping after worldly power and wealth.
He had nothing to prove to Satan about divinity, identity, authority, or Messiahship, for Satan already had sufficient evidence of His exalted station and authority and was shut out of heaven only by his own unwillingness to yield to it. The challenge sought to draw Him into dispute, insinuating that God had abandoned Him in His weak suffering condition, making Him doubt the Father's testimony and care given at baptism and accept that doubt by using power for His own relief. Sustained by the assurance that He was the beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased, He remained steadfast with His will submitted to the Father's will and governed by God, yielding not for a moment though tempted more strongly than any disciple. After the forty days Satan left Him for a season, and angels ministered to Him with grace and strength from God.
He gave Satan no opening but met the test from point to point always on the affirmative with It is written, speaking only words inspired through holy men of old and quoting what God had inspired them to write. Argument and reason would have been of no use, but It is written puts the tempted on solid immovable rock and shows acquaintance with the Scriptures. Though weakened by fasting through forty days and nights in severe mental suffering under the most fearful assaults of the prince of darkness, whose fiery darts were surely aimed, they found no lodgment in Him. The demand for a miracle as a sign was thus answered by Scripture instead, leaving Satan no advantage, teaching that temptation is to be answered by God's Word, that those who live by the Word must not depend on any human being for spiritual life, and that those with a work to do must take the affirmative and keep to it, that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word proceeding out of the mouth of God, showing the power of grace in humanity. These lessons are to be learned from the Word, hung in memory's hall, and used as the only repulsing weapon against Satan, for all written in law and prophets is true and carries proof in itself.
The temptation ended in victory over the powers of evil, and He returned to the Jordan without drawing attention to Himself or publicly displaying His special work. His resistance under trial proved Him a sure foundation, able to bear the burdens and griefs of those who trust in Him. He remained faithful to the Father's will and His appointed path to Jerusalem even though His work was still beginning and many needed His help, refusing later as at first the same foe's urging to abandon that path and save Himself from death.
Second Adam Reverses Fall
The command to turn stone to bread was an attack on appetite repeating the first temptation in Eden by which Eve fell and Adam through intemperate appetite lost blissful Eden. It was the same means by which indulgence controlled Adam's descendants until their iniquity provoked destruction by the Flood, and by which Israel let appetite control reason and fell in the wilderness under awakened wrath. Jesus as the second Adam passed over the very ground where Adam fell and endured amid real hunger and suffering the test Adam failed, revealing a spotless character. His nearly six-week fast strengthened Him to endure and was appointed to teach where ruin began. Appetite holds controlling power as a leading point of attack, a channel used to weaken mental and moral powers, deaden discernment of sacred eternal things, exploit hardship, shake trust in God, and draw the soul from God. Unrestrained appetite becomes an idol that makes men forget God, weakens mind and body, obstructs salvation, corrupts and degrades, and seeks to erase the soul's likeness to God, so appetite and passions must be kept under reason and self-control is essential. Humanity alone could never have endured that test, but His humanity joined with divine power gained an infinite victory on humanity's behalf. As man's representative in that victory He raised humanity in the scale of moral value with God and broke the chain of bondage and Satan's power, and if He had been as weak in moral power as man there would now be no salvation. The salvation and destiny of the human race hung in the balance to be decided by that trial. If Christ was victor on appetite there was a chance for man to overcome, but if Satan gained victory through subtlety man would remain bound by appetite in chains of indulgence without moral power to break. His success or failure was bound up with breaking Satan's power over the world, contesting his empire, dominion, glory and claimed right, ending his power and establishing the promised kingdom that embraces all kingdoms. That conflict and victory is the foundation of the plan of salvation and gives fallen man the key and way to overcome in Christ's name. It leaves an example of self-denial, temperance and moral strength, convicts professed Christians of the sinfulness of indulgence in the very things men delight in, encourages those struggling with appetite, and works out a righteous character for those who could not work it for themselves while He bore the guilt of the world's sins. The conflict was watched with intense interest beyond human comprehension by holy angels over their loved Commander. His human nature fainted and He appeared dying from hunger and warfare, but angels lifted His fainting head, served nourishing food, and ministered to Him. Heaven rejoiced with hosannas when the fallen chief who had deceived even angels and drawn a third of heaven left a conquered foe, a test so severe as will never come upon man.
Scripture Links and Echoes
The voice heard at the Jordan held Him through the trial, for the opened heavens and the descent of glory with the Father's declaration that He was the beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased had attested His divine character and His close relation to the Infinite Majesty, and that assurance answered the doubt pressed upon His hunger and suffering. He had no need to prove to the adversary that He was Messiah and Saviour of the world by turning stone to bread for His own relief, because the tempter already possessed sufficient evidence of His exalted station and authority and was shut out of heaven only by unwillingness to yield to it.
The same demand for proof by a miraculous act met Him again at the cross, when mockers urged Him to save Himself and come down. He did not deliver Himself or yield there, because the purpose of His mission had not yet been accomplished and the angels were not permitted to rescue Him.
The tempter overcome in the wilderness was the same evil spirit, the prince of the power of darkness and arch-enemy, later met in the possessed man in the synagogue at Capernaum, though assuming another form and working by different devices to pursue his purpose. That wilderness conquest was a direct, personal victory gained in His own person, and He knew the enemy's identity in both encounters. That earlier victory is the ground of His power to meet the enemy again with authority and calm fearlessness, to stand and command rather than flee, to wrest the writhing captive from his grasp and set him free and gain another victory. The demon fought with all hellish power to keep control of his victim, because to lose ground there would give Jesus another victory.
The wilderness conqueror saw the tempter leave Him for a season, and the adversary spent the three years of ministry preparing to return for the last fearful conflict in Gethsemane, where everything was again at stake and the destiny of the human race again hung in the balance. There as a man, without calling His divinity to His aid, He must meet the prince of the power of darkness. If He had failed, human nature would have been overcome, the human race would have been irrecoverably lost, Satan would have been victor and the earth his kingdom; but by Satan's failure his hope of mastery was lost, the kingdoms of the earth would finally become Christ's, who would bind the strong man and cast him out.
The contest through the earthly ministry unmasked the character of the great deceiver and displayed cruel warfare upon the Redeemer in which every claim put forth by the Son of God was contested. Satan exerted all power and cunning to destroy Jesus because he saw that mercy and love, compassion and pitying tenderness were representing the character of God to the world. The daring blasphemy, presumptuous boldness, malicious intent and unsleeping malice of that warfare, in hunting Jesus from place to place and inspiring priests and people to reject His love and at last to cry for His crucifixion, excited the amazement and indignation of the universe and uprooted Satan from the affections of the heavenly angels and the whole loyal universe. Everything for his own prosperity hung on overcoming Christ in the wilderness, for he knew what he had lost and feared his empire over the world was to be contested, his claimed right disputed, and his power broken. He knew through prophecy that the predicted Saviour's kingdom would not be established in earthly triumph with worldly honor and display, but would be established upon the earth by the Prince of Heaven, would embrace all the kingdoms of the world, would cause his power and glory to cease, and would bring him retribution for the sins he introduced and the misery he brought upon man.
Pattern for Believers Today
His victory in the wilderness proved the power of the word of God and proved His full ability and power to fulfill His commission to preach the gospel to all nations. When the word does not have power upon hearts as it should, it is because men have chosen disobedience, not because the word has less power. He met the demand for a miracle as proof with Scripture instead of arguments and reasons, which would have been of no use, standing upon solid immovable rock and leaving the tempter no advantage by firm trust in God's word. His acquaintance with the Scriptures shows believers are to learn these lessons, hang them in memory's hall, commit the Word to memory rather than waste time on foolish stories, and meet Satan with the only weapon that will repulse him, It is written. All things written in the law and in the prophets are true and carry the proof in themselves, and It is written spoken in season baffles the enemy, brings strength, keeps the tempted from giving advantage by words, and perfects character for immortal life where there is no tempter.
Those battles were fought in behalf of humanity, and those victories make it possible for followers to conquer sin and Satan. He gives strength to all who seek it to overcome even the strongest temptation, so that temptation need not overcome and cases struggling with appetite are not beyond recovery. By joining human weakness to His enduring strength through continual resistance and faith, victory over appetite and temptation is possible. The tempter has no power to control the will or force the soul to sin without consent; he may distress and cause agony and suffering, but he cannot contaminate or defile, and the fact that Christ has conquered gives courage to fight manfully against sin and Satan. All who seek to follow Jesus will be brought into conflict with the adversary, and the more nearly one imitates Christ the more surely he makes himself a mark for attack.
His priceless victory in behalf of man will not benefit anyone unless he also gains victory on his own account by individually overcoming in Christ's name and strength. All are personally exposed to the very same temptations that assailed Him, and each must fight personally, for others may pray but cannot fight for another. Many fall where He overcame while few engage with Him, yet strength to resist is provided in the all-powerful name of the great Conqueror. By that victory over appetite worked out for them, men and women acting for themselves with divine intelligence cooperating can stand in moral integrity free from slavery to perverted appetite and passion. Fathers should tell this story to children, and those who profess to follow Him should labor together with God to restore the moral image of God in man.
His denial of appetite during the long fast calls to self-denial and temperance beginning at the table and extending to self-control in every part of life. As Adam fell through intemperate appetite and lost blissful Eden, the children of Adam may through Christ overcome appetite and through temperance in all things regain Eden. The divine power that enabled Him to withstand temptation can also enable people to overcome, for His victory broke the chain of bondage and elevated man in moral value. Through His name and strength and merits those enslaved to liquor and tobacco can break the slavery of habit and become victors, living out temperance and sanctification step by step from faith to charity. Indulging perverted appetite deadens ability to discern sacred eternal things, so self-control is essential to overcoming evil.
That suffering and victory was gained for believers to convict of sinfulness and expose the sin of the very indulgences of appetite and pleasure in which men delight. Those who eat when they have no need and indulge taste at the expense of health and powers of intellect cannot have exalted views of God, cannot appreciate the conflict, and cannot realize the claims of His law and the plan of salvation brought within reach by humiliation, anguish and suffering. Loving gaiety, pleasure, feasting, levity and forgetfulness of God blunts perception of the conflict and its bearing on life and character. His example gives no sanction to church gatherings for pleasure and the socials, festivals and picnics that tempt appetite to over-indulgence, lead to levity and forgetfulness of God, and clothe delusive pleasures in religious garments. The temptation warns against departing from principle to gratify appetite, including the depraved appetites of others, calling instead to compare life with the true standard, copy Christ as the only safe pattern, and reject Satan's suggestions and the world's methods and inducements.
The encounter shows the devil has real power to confront Christ with personal, cunning temptations, even taking Him to the temple pinnacle and a high mountain, though God alone limits that power. He failed to draw the Son from faithfulness to God, in contrast to his greater success in leading fallen people astray.