And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
Man does not live by bread or physical food alone, but by God and by every word that proceeds from Him. It is Christ's answer to the first wilderness temptation before His ministry began, after forty days and nights without food when He suffered keenest hunger. Though faint He refused to use divine power to relieve Himself or prove His Sonship, but trusted His Father's time to provide and met the tempter with Scripture alone. As humanity's representative and the second Adam He passed over the ground where Adam fell, enduring hunger without relief and overcoming where indulgence had lost Eden, so that man's salvation hung on that victory over appetite. Believers are therefore to meet temptation in the same way, answering with It is written, bringing appetite under control and uniting weakness to His strength for victory.
Wilderness Temptation Setting
It was the answer to the first temptation in the wilderness before the ministry began, after forty days and nights without food when weak and faint and feeling the keenest pangs of hunger as truly as death on the cross. The battle was so severe that He appeared to be fainting and dying, yet angels afterward strengthened Him and brought food. Satan boasted he would make the second Adam fall through appetite as the first Adam fell, knowing men are led astray through appetite sooner than in any other way, as Eve fell though surrounded with every good fruit. He expected to overcome on this point because through indulgence of appetite he had controlled Adam's descendants until God destroyed them by the flood, and had led Israel to let appetite control reason into grievous sins that awakened God's wrath so they fell in the wilderness, having almost entire control of the world upon appetite.
While hungry He was urged to work a miracle for Himself to appease hunger and prove He was the Son of God by commanding stones to become bread. The tempter came disguised in the form of a heavenly angel claiming commission from the Father with word that He need no longer hunger. He came as a beautiful young man more like a monarch than a fallen angel, with Scripture in his mouth, taking advantage of the weak and suffering condition. He concealed his real character as an angel of light and Heaven-sent friend, and though clothed with the livery of heaven he offered the most flattering inducements of honor, riches, and glory to bribe acknowledgment of his claims.
The conflict followed the baptism in Jordan, where after coming up out of the water He bowed on the banks and pled with the Eternal for strength to endure the conflict with the fallen foe, and the opening of the heavens and descent of glory with the Father's voice declaring Him the beloved Son attested His divine character and close relation to the Infinite Majesty. Led by the Spirit He withdrew into a desolate wilderness apart from the busy scenes of life, because His mission was soon to begin. There fasting and prayer prepared Him for His mission, and He must first bear the threefold test of temptation in behalf of those He had come to redeem, meeting the devil who had once been an honored angel and covering cherub, who became ambitious for the more exalted honors bestowed on the Son, became envious of Christ, asserted he should be exalted equal in honor with Him, drew sympathizing angels into rebellion, fell from high and holy estate, and was expelled from heaven with them. After fasting forty days and overcoming the devil's temptations He returned to the Jordan without drawing attention to Himself or displaying His special work.
Those wilderness temptations were the decisive contest for Satan's empire over the world, with his right disputed and his power to be broken. Satan knew through prophecy that a Saviour was predicted whose 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 and would embrace all the kingdoms of the world. That kingdom would break Satan's power, end his glory, and bring his retribution for the sins he introduced into the world and the misery he brought upon man. He knew everything concerning his own prosperity hung on succeeding or failing to overcome Christ in the wilderness, and that his case was hopeless if he failed, while success would gain victory over the entire race and establish his life and kingdom. Christ's success or failure under those temptations was decisive to whether Satan's power would be broken, and the destiny of the human race was at stake.
Satan adapted the temptation to Christ's circumstances and surroundings to make it almost overpowering. He sought by every means to overcome the Redeemer by offering an easier way to gain His object than the path of trial and suffering He had entered. He urged Him to avoid the hunger and suffering ahead in carrying out the plan for humanity's redemption. In every temptation he presented some bribe or apparent good to be gained.
He brought to bear upon Christ every artifice and force of powerful temptation to allure Him from allegiance, with his strongest, fiercest, and most subtle efforts, yet prevailed nothing. Jesus repulsed the enemy and forced him to depart as a conquered foe, disappointed and enraged. The tempter left Him only for a season, and angels ministered grace and strength from God to Him. That victory unmasked the character of the great deceiver and uprooted him from the affections of heavenly angels and the loyal universe. Satan then turned to strategy and worked through human agents to oppose the ministry, hunting Jesus from place to place, contesting every claim, seeking to hinder His work by sophistry and falsehood, employing men to fill His life with suffering and sorrow, inspiring priests and people to reject His love and at last cry for His crucifixion, with hatred, envy, malice, and revenge bursting forth on Calvary while all heaven gazed in silent horror. He spent the three years of the ministry preparing to return for the last fearful struggle in Gethsemane, where mastery of the world, power over the human race, his own overthrow, and his hope of mastery were at stake, and where if he failed the kingdoms of the earth would finally become Christ's, who would bind the strong man and cast him out.
It belongs to the threefold temptation in the wilderness, a subject in Christian theology that is neglected yet most important, carrying practical lessons on Christian temperance and revealing the great work of the Redeemer in carrying out the plan of salvation and bearing on every life.
Meaning of Every Word
Human life does not rest on bread or physical food alone but on God and on every word that proceeds from Him. When urged in hunger to command stones to become bread, the answer was trust in the Father's word rather than use of power for self-relief or for proof of sonship. The declaration of sonship already given was enough to sustain through fasting and suffering, leaving no need to convince the adversary of identity or authority. Believers are to meet temptation in the same way, living by God's Word rather than depending on any human being.
To live means more than having temporal food, for lacking food is a lesser calamity than incurring God's disapproval. Obedience to God's will matters more than securing food or preserving life by compromise, so provision is to be waited for in God's time as Israel was sustained with manna when ordinary food failed. As man's representative the trial was endured in humanity without relief, in perfect faith and trust setting the example of reliance on Scripture. Those who trust and walk in His ways are taught that He will not forsake them, and they are to obey His commands and trust His promises.
The life-giving utterances are the Father's law, the words spoken from Sinai, which are the conditions of life. Obeyed, they will give man again free access to the tree of life forfeited by disobedience, a transgression that made needful the reconciling death for fallen man. God's word so nourishes spiritual life that it is better to suffer material poverty than to disobey and lose fellowship. In the wilderness strength to resist and to carry out the work for humanity came by being fed with truth through prayer and communion with the Father, the same spiritual food that sustains tempted seekers of God's aid for delivery from temptation. The words received are spirit and life, and receiving them is connected with eternal life and resurrection at the last day.
Life is not found in getting rich but in abiding by simple truth even if poverty is the portion, and that abiding is the way to enter into life and the legacy of peace left to followers. Living by every word requires gaining thorough knowledge of every point of truth, giving Bible study the best mental effort and most sanctified ability, especially by youth who would be workers. It requires going to the Bible to seek truth and light, giving candid hearing and thorough investigation to doctrine not yet understood before condemning it, testing it from the Word, and striving earnestly to receive the precious light God has to give at the present time. It forbids shutting away new light when presented, refusing to hear from prejudice against message or messenger, condemning what has not been heard and understood, or entrenching in the belief that the whole truth has already been unfolded and the Infinite One has no more light for His people. Neglect of the Word puts momentous issues at stake, while searching the rich mine finds precious jewels not to be discarded, lest any be found in the day of God among those who have not lived by every word.
Living by every word means putting belief into practice rather than displacing it by self-indulgence and love of worldly possessions. It means yielding to the Holy Spirit's convictions, accepting the truth, and following God's commandments. It means following God's word rather than taking inspiration from people bitter against the truth, with a regenerating spiritual life needed by workers in health institutions.
Christ's Trust and Refusal
Though faint with hunger after forty days without food, He refused to turn stone into bread to relieve His own suffering, for to use divine power for Himself was not the Father's plan. To escape the hunger and suffering that humanity must meet would have broken His pledge to meet difficulty as man, so He would work no miracle for His own sake nor to give proof of Sonship. His miracles were for the good of others, not for self-relief, as shown when He later fed multitudes rather than send them away unrefreshed or let them faint by the way. In resisting appetite He passed over the ground where Adam fell and overcame where indulgence had lost Eden, and that victory gives moral power and hope to humanity, which cannot overcome by its own strength.
The Father's declaration that He was the beloved Son was enough to sustain Him through fasting and suffering. He had no need to convince Satan of His identity or authority by a miraculous proof, nor to prove that He was the Messiah. Human life depends not on bread alone but on every word God gives, and He rested on that written word.
He met the tempter with Scripture alone, speaking only the words God had given through holy writers. Though able to answer with logic and eloquence, He did not depart from God's word into argument, reasons, or His own words, and Satan's temptations did not draw Him into dispute. Arguments and reasons are useless against Satan, while It is written alone repels him and puts feet on solid, immovable rock. All things written in the law and in the prophets are true and carry the proof of it in themselves, and the life-giving utterances are the Father's law spoken from Sinai, the conditions of life which, obeyed, will give man again free access to the tree of life forfeited by disobedience.
He relied on that word and waited for God's time to provide, as Israel had been taught in the wilderness when ordinary food failed and God sustained them with manna to show He would not forsake those who trusted Him and walked in His ways. To lack temporal food is a lesser calamity than to incur God's disapproval, and obedience to God's will matters more than securing food or preserving life by compromise. As humanity's representative He endured hunger in perfect faith and submission, trusting His Father and setting an example of faith. Firm reliance upon Thus saith the Lord is greater than all miracles and is an unanswerable sign of divinity, so that so long as that position is held the tempter can gain no advantage.
With will wholly submitted to the Father's will He yielded not for a moment, though buffeted forty days and tempted in every way more strongly than any disciple has ever been tempted. When He resisted, Satan left Him for a season and angels ministered grace and strength from God to Him. His response rested on dependence on God's word rather than bread alone, and His fast in the wilderness had its object as a lesson. He instantly rejected the enemy's offer rather than accepting his suggestions, and His example teaches that when feelings are stirred it is safe to answer with God's written word and to keep silent rather than speak in a way that gives ground to the enemy.
Temptation must not lead a person to abandon obedience and integrity for earthly advantage, for He resisted appeals to appetite and ambition and would not worship Satan to gain worldly power or wealth.
Redemption Won for Humanity
As humanity's representative and the second Adam, Christ passed over the ground where Adam fell and began the work of redemption where ruin began. Though faint with hunger after forty days without food, He would not use divine power to turn stone to bread for Himself, because that was not the Father's plan, and He endured hunger without relief. Where Adam lost blissful Eden through indulging intemperate appetite, Christ overcame through self-control stronger than hunger or death, and His victory in that sore need gives moral power and hope to those who cannot overcome by their own strength.
His humanity alone could never have endured the test, but His divine power combined with humanity gained an infinite victory in man's behalf. As man's representative He thereby raised humanity in moral value with God.
The salvation of man was in the balance to be decided by that trial on appetite. If Christ conquered there was a chance for man to overcome, but if Satan conquered man would remain bound in chains of indulgence with no moral power to break. In that lone contention the Redeemer, not Satan, came off conqueror.
His anguish concerned more than hunger, for He bore the pressure of Adam's guilt and his descendants' sins and the guilt of the world's sins pressing upon Him. The wilderness temptation He endured was a hundredfold stronger than any temptation ever brought upon the race, yet He was not overcome by the enemy's strong temptations. He overcame this and the other leading temptations on humanity's behalf, gaining a righteous character people could not gain for themselves, and His fast of nearly six weeks stands as a lesson to fallen man for all time.
The trial was foundational to the plan of salvation and to the plan of redemption, endured to save those brought low by indulgence and to be able to help the tempted. His loyalty to God in the conflict showed that Satan had not gained complete control of humanity and that his claim to the world was false. That contest unmasked the character of the great deceiver and uprooted him from the affections of heavenly angels and the loyal universe, and it gives fallen man the key whereby in Christ's name he may overcome.
Those battles were fought in behalf of humanity to break the power of appetite and the bondage upon human beings, to elevate man, and to work out a glorious victory that makes strength and grace available. Christ will give strength to all who seek it, so each person may in his own action and on his own behalf, with divine intelligence cooperating, deny appetite, stand in moral integrity free from all slavery of perverted appetite and passion, and follow the divine Pattern courageously though such nearness marks him for attack. Satan may distress and cause agony but cannot control the will, contaminate, defile, or force the soul to sin without consent. Yet His priceless victory will not benefit anyone unless personally appropriated, for it does not profit by another but only as each individually overcomes for himself in Christ's name.
Satan's wilderness temptation failed to draw minds from Christ to human authority.
Appetite Temperance and Health
The first and fiercest trial was upon appetite, endured after forty days and forty nights of fasting, where victory was won in behalf of the race over the ground where Adam fell through intemperate appetite and lost blissful Eden. That victory proves appetite can be resisted rather than indulged, and that the children of Adam may through temperance in all things regain Eden. Appetite must not be allowed to rule but must be denied, brought under control, and governed by reason and obedience to what God has spoken, for its power can be overcome and temptation met by trusting God. His anguish concerned not only hunger but the danger that indulgence would make appetite an idol, lead people to forget God, and obstruct their salvation, and His overcoming of this leading access of the enemy shows it is one of the chief ways temptation seeks entrance.
Indulged appetite can excite the nervous system and weaken the brain, making calm, rational thought difficult and turning the higher faculties toward bodily desires instead of sacred, eternal interests. Self-indulgence in eating harms mental and physical vigor, and gratifying taste by eating when there is no need and at irregular periods brings suffering on the stomach and weariness on others, injures health and intellect, and takes away power to appreciate the plan of salvation, to have exalted views of God, and to realize the claims of His law. Indulgence can weaken the mental and moral powers so that people cannot value eternal things, dulls the ability to discern sacred things, and sensual excess can erase the soul's likeness to God. Few when tempted on appetite have moral strength to firmly stand the test, but sacrifice principle to indulge taste, and His suffering to break Satan's power stands as a warning against yielding to appetite and joining in drinking that rejects God and harms oneself and others. Though brought to great physical suffering and met by the tempter clothed with the livery of heaven, He refused to yield a single point of integrity notwithstanding the most flattering inducements of honor, riches, and glory offered to bribe Him.
His long fast and self-denial were an example to humanity, teaching the necessity of self-denial and temperance beginning at the table and extending to every part of life, with restraint and control through self-denial. That fast of nearly six weeks in the wilderness was a lesson to fallen man for all time, endured to begin the work of overcoming just where ruin began, and it broke the power of bondage. His victory showed that appetite's hold can be overcome and made it possible for every member of the human family to resist temptation, so that people are not beyond help and cannot gain the victory alone but can overcome through strength from Him, for He came to help in weakness and is ready to help. All who would live godly lives may overcome as He overcame, and His enduring without being overcome gives encouragement for every soul struggling against temptation and passion.
Through His name, strength, and merits those enslaved to liquor and tobacco can break the slavery of habit and become victors, living the added graces of temperance and sanctification, for He is the sinner's only hope as Redeemer and His victory elevated man in the scale of moral value. He fasted forty days and forty nights to break the power of appetite upon human beings and to work out for them a glorious victory, making it possible for people in their own action and on their own behalf, with divine intelligence cooperating with them, to stand in moral integrity free from all slavery of perverted appetite and passion. Followers are laborers together with God to restore the moral image of God in the human agent, and fathers are to tell their children this story.
That fast and victory were for man, to leave an example of self-denial, to convict of the sinfulness of indulged appetite, and to expose the sinfulness of the very pleasures men love and the very things in which they take pleasure. Christians who realize that victory will see church socials, festivals, picnics, and amusements for overindulgence of appetite and levity and forgetfulness of God as without sanction in His example, and comparing life earnestly with His life as the only safe pattern and true standard turns them in disgust from them. He did not gain that victory in scenes of gaiety and feasting but in a desolate wilderness after forty days and forty nights without food, suffering the keenest real pangs of hunger, where as soon as suffering began the tempter was at hand with temptation fitted to His condition, presenting indulgence of appetite and pleasure as a bribe of apparent good while quoting Scripture clothed as an angel of light. Where professed followers weak in moral power are fascinated by that bribe and yield on appetite and worldly pleasure, even sustaining churches by appeals to appetite and amusement whose offerings cannot be accepted because they are not given from love but from idolatry of self, He resisted, showing that in His name complete victory over vigilant, adapted devices is possible. The same tempter still throws a religious garment over delusive pleasures and unholy revelings in professedly Christian gatherings to give them the appearance of sanctity and to quiet consciences because means are raised by them to defray church expenses, while men who refuse to give for love will part with money for love of pleasure and indulgence of appetite for selfish considerations.
The threefold temptation in the wilderness is a neglected yet most important subject, bearing a practical appeal touching Christian temperance and revealing the great work of the Redeemer in carrying out the plan of salvation.
Believers Meet Temptation Likewise
Believers are to meet temptation in the same way Christ did, by answering the tempter with God's word rather than with arguments, reasons, eloquence, or words of their own. Arguments and reasons are useless against Satan, while It is written alone repels him and puts the feet on solid, immovable rock. All things written in the law and in the prophets are true and carry the proof of it in themselves, and Scripture unlocks Scripture, so its lessons must be learned and hung in memory's hall to be ready for the conflict. The Word must be searched, its promises taken into personal life, its lessons studied and followed, and spare time used to commit something from it to memory instead of reading foolish stories. When the enemy besets, the answer is to be a plain It is written, spoken in season to those around, which baffles the great enemy, brings strengthening, perfects character for transfer to the future immortal life where there will be no danger of being overcome, and refuses dependence on any human being.
God's Word plainly guides in His will, and receiving and obeying it helps resist wrong tendencies. It is a haven and a tower of strength and safety, armed with which the strongest temptations can be met and overcome. It exposes deception and enables withstanding Satan, and it has power on hearts and power to fulfill the commission to preach the gospel to all nations. Failure in the field does not mean the commission cannot be fulfilled or the word has less power, but that God's people have failed and men have chosen to disobey. Christ's wilderness victory over appetite is an example that strengthens weak purposes and resolves to remain faithful to principle.
Temptation need not overcome, because victory comes through continual resistance and reliance on Christ, uniting human weakness to His strength and resisting in His name. People cannot gain the victory alone and are not to attempt it by their own strength, but through faith in Christ they can overcome, for He bore the test Adam failed and resisted on humanity's behalf. His victory broke the power of bondage, shows none are beyond help, and makes divine grace and strength available to overcome appetite and temptation in His name. Christ gives strength to all who seek it, and His victories were fought in behalf of humanity to make it possible for followers to conquer sin.
No one can be overcome by Satan without his own consent, for the tempter has no power to control the will or to force the soul to sin. He may distress but he cannot contaminate, he can cause agony but not defilement. All who seek to follow Jesus will be brought into conflict with this relentless foe, and the more nearly one imitates the divine Pattern the more surely he becomes a mark for Satan's attacks. The fact that Christ has conquered should inspire His followers with courage to fight manfully the battle against sin and Satan. Yet a quotation from Scripture alone does not prove its use truthful or safe, for Satan came with Scripture as part of a temptation designed to overthrow, using scriptural words to disguise temptation, make evil appear good, gain confidence, and then mislead.
The conquest in the wilderness gave authority over the prince of darkness and the prince of the power of darkness in His own person. Jesus had conquered the arch-enemy there before meeting him again in the synagogue. The evil spirit that tempted Him there was the same demon He later faced in the possessed man in the synagogue at Capernaum and in the deliverances at Gadara, though assuming another form. The freeing of the writhing captive and the wresting of the captive from Satan's grasp was therefore a renewed face-to-face confrontation with the same evil spirit, won on the ground of the triumph already achieved and showing that same wilderness victory continuing over the enemy.
Man does not live by bread or physical food alone, but by God and by every word that proceeds from Him. It is Christ's answer to the first wilderness temptation before His ministry began, after forty days and nights without food when He suffered keenest hunger. Though faint He refused to use divine power to relieve Himself or prove His Sonship, but trusted His Father's time to provide and met the tempter with Scripture alone. As humanity's representative and the second Adam He passed over the ground where Adam fell, enduring hunger without relief and overcoming where indulgence had lost Eden, so that man's salvation hung on that victory over appetite. Believers are therefore to meet temptation in the same way, answering with It is written, bringing appetite under control and uniting weakness to His strength for victory.
Wilderness Temptation Setting
It was the answer to the first temptation in the wilderness before the ministry began, after forty days and nights without food when weak and faint and feeling the keenest pangs of hunger as truly as death on the cross. The battle was so severe that He appeared to be fainting and dying, yet angels afterward strengthened Him and brought food. Satan boasted he would make the second Adam fall through appetite as the first Adam fell, knowing men are led astray through appetite sooner than in any other way, as Eve fell though surrounded with every good fruit. He expected to overcome on this point because through indulgence of appetite he had controlled Adam's descendants until God destroyed them by the flood, and had led Israel to let appetite control reason into grievous sins that awakened God's wrath so they fell in the wilderness, having almost entire control of the world upon appetite.
While hungry He was urged to work a miracle for Himself to appease hunger and prove He was the Son of God by commanding stones to become bread. The tempter came disguised in the form of a heavenly angel claiming commission from the Father with word that He need no longer hunger. He came as a beautiful young man more like a monarch than a fallen angel, with Scripture in his mouth, taking advantage of the weak and suffering condition. He concealed his real character as an angel of light and Heaven-sent friend, and though clothed with the livery of heaven he offered the most flattering inducements of honor, riches, and glory to bribe acknowledgment of his claims.
The conflict followed the baptism in Jordan, where after coming up out of the water He bowed on the banks and pled with the Eternal for strength to endure the conflict with the fallen foe, and the opening of the heavens and descent of glory with the Father's voice declaring Him the beloved Son attested His divine character and close relation to the Infinite Majesty. Led by the Spirit He withdrew into a desolate wilderness apart from the busy scenes of life, because His mission was soon to begin. There fasting and prayer prepared Him for His mission, and He must first bear the threefold test of temptation in behalf of those He had come to redeem, meeting the devil who had once been an honored angel and covering cherub, who became ambitious for the more exalted honors bestowed on the Son, became envious of Christ, asserted he should be exalted equal in honor with Him, drew sympathizing angels into rebellion, fell from high and holy estate, and was expelled from heaven with them. After fasting forty days and overcoming the devil's temptations He returned to the Jordan without drawing attention to Himself or displaying His special work.
Those wilderness temptations were the decisive contest for Satan's empire over the world, with his right disputed and his power to be broken. Satan knew through prophecy that a Saviour was predicted whose 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 and would embrace all the kingdoms of the world. That kingdom would break Satan's power, end his glory, and bring his retribution for the sins he introduced into the world and the misery he brought upon man. He knew everything concerning his own prosperity hung on succeeding or failing to overcome Christ in the wilderness, and that his case was hopeless if he failed, while success would gain victory over the entire race and establish his life and kingdom. Christ's success or failure under those temptations was decisive to whether Satan's power would be broken, and the destiny of the human race was at stake.
Satan adapted the temptation to Christ's circumstances and surroundings to make it almost overpowering. He sought by every means to overcome the Redeemer by offering an easier way to gain His object than the path of trial and suffering He had entered. He urged Him to avoid the hunger and suffering ahead in carrying out the plan for humanity's redemption. In every temptation he presented some bribe or apparent good to be gained.
He brought to bear upon Christ every artifice and force of powerful temptation to allure Him from allegiance, with his strongest, fiercest, and most subtle efforts, yet prevailed nothing. Jesus repulsed the enemy and forced him to depart as a conquered foe, disappointed and enraged. The tempter left Him only for a season, and angels ministered grace and strength from God to Him. That victory unmasked the character of the great deceiver and uprooted him from the affections of heavenly angels and the loyal universe. Satan then turned to strategy and worked through human agents to oppose the ministry, hunting Jesus from place to place, contesting every claim, seeking to hinder His work by sophistry and falsehood, employing men to fill His life with suffering and sorrow, inspiring priests and people to reject His love and at last cry for His crucifixion, with hatred, envy, malice, and revenge bursting forth on Calvary while all heaven gazed in silent horror. He spent the three years of the ministry preparing to return for the last fearful struggle in Gethsemane, where mastery of the world, power over the human race, his own overthrow, and his hope of mastery were at stake, and where if he failed the kingdoms of the earth would finally become Christ's, who would bind the strong man and cast him out.
It belongs to the threefold temptation in the wilderness, a subject in Christian theology that is neglected yet most important, carrying practical lessons on Christian temperance and revealing the great work of the Redeemer in carrying out the plan of salvation and bearing on every life.
Meaning of Every Word
Human life does not rest on bread or physical food alone but on God and on every word that proceeds from Him. When urged in hunger to command stones to become bread, the answer was trust in the Father's word rather than use of power for self-relief or for proof of sonship. The declaration of sonship already given was enough to sustain through fasting and suffering, leaving no need to convince the adversary of identity or authority. Believers are to meet temptation in the same way, living by God's Word rather than depending on any human being.
To live means more than having temporal food, for lacking food is a lesser calamity than incurring God's disapproval. Obedience to God's will matters more than securing food or preserving life by compromise, so provision is to be waited for in God's time as Israel was sustained with manna when ordinary food failed. As man's representative the trial was endured in humanity without relief, in perfect faith and trust setting the example of reliance on Scripture. Those who trust and walk in His ways are taught that He will not forsake them, and they are to obey His commands and trust His promises.
The life-giving utterances are the Father's law, the words spoken from Sinai, which are the conditions of life. Obeyed, they will give man again free access to the tree of life forfeited by disobedience, a transgression that made needful the reconciling death for fallen man. God's word so nourishes spiritual life that it is better to suffer material poverty than to disobey and lose fellowship. In the wilderness strength to resist and to carry out the work for humanity came by being fed with truth through prayer and communion with the Father, the same spiritual food that sustains tempted seekers of God's aid for delivery from temptation. The words received are spirit and life, and receiving them is connected with eternal life and resurrection at the last day.
Life is not found in getting rich but in abiding by simple truth even if poverty is the portion, and that abiding is the way to enter into life and the legacy of peace left to followers. Living by every word requires gaining thorough knowledge of every point of truth, giving Bible study the best mental effort and most sanctified ability, especially by youth who would be workers. It requires going to the Bible to seek truth and light, giving candid hearing and thorough investigation to doctrine not yet understood before condemning it, testing it from the Word, and striving earnestly to receive the precious light God has to give at the present time. It forbids shutting away new light when presented, refusing to hear from prejudice against message or messenger, condemning what has not been heard and understood, or entrenching in the belief that the whole truth has already been unfolded and the Infinite One has no more light for His people. Neglect of the Word puts momentous issues at stake, while searching the rich mine finds precious jewels not to be discarded, lest any be found in the day of God among those who have not lived by every word.
Living by every word means putting belief into practice rather than displacing it by self-indulgence and love of worldly possessions. It means yielding to the Holy Spirit's convictions, accepting the truth, and following God's commandments. It means following God's word rather than taking inspiration from people bitter against the truth, with a regenerating spiritual life needed by workers in health institutions.
Christ's Trust and Refusal
Though faint with hunger after forty days without food, He refused to turn stone into bread to relieve His own suffering, for to use divine power for Himself was not the Father's plan. To escape the hunger and suffering that humanity must meet would have broken His pledge to meet difficulty as man, so He would work no miracle for His own sake nor to give proof of Sonship. His miracles were for the good of others, not for self-relief, as shown when He later fed multitudes rather than send them away unrefreshed or let them faint by the way. In resisting appetite He passed over the ground where Adam fell and overcame where indulgence had lost Eden, and that victory gives moral power and hope to humanity, which cannot overcome by its own strength.
The Father's declaration that He was the beloved Son was enough to sustain Him through fasting and suffering. He had no need to convince Satan of His identity or authority by a miraculous proof, nor to prove that He was the Messiah. Human life depends not on bread alone but on every word God gives, and He rested on that written word.
He met the tempter with Scripture alone, speaking only the words God had given through holy writers. Though able to answer with logic and eloquence, He did not depart from God's word into argument, reasons, or His own words, and Satan's temptations did not draw Him into dispute. Arguments and reasons are useless against Satan, while It is written alone repels him and puts feet on solid, immovable rock. All things written in the law and in the prophets are true and carry the proof of it in themselves, and the life-giving utterances are the Father's law spoken from Sinai, the conditions of life which, obeyed, will give man again free access to the tree of life forfeited by disobedience.
He relied on that word and waited for God's time to provide, as Israel had been taught in the wilderness when ordinary food failed and God sustained them with manna to show He would not forsake those who trusted Him and walked in His ways. To lack temporal food is a lesser calamity than to incur God's disapproval, and obedience to God's will matters more than securing food or preserving life by compromise. As humanity's representative He endured hunger in perfect faith and submission, trusting His Father and setting an example of faith. Firm reliance upon Thus saith the Lord is greater than all miracles and is an unanswerable sign of divinity, so that so long as that position is held the tempter can gain no advantage.
With will wholly submitted to the Father's will He yielded not for a moment, though buffeted forty days and tempted in every way more strongly than any disciple has ever been tempted. When He resisted, Satan left Him for a season and angels ministered grace and strength from God to Him. His response rested on dependence on God's word rather than bread alone, and His fast in the wilderness had its object as a lesson. He instantly rejected the enemy's offer rather than accepting his suggestions, and His example teaches that when feelings are stirred it is safe to answer with God's written word and to keep silent rather than speak in a way that gives ground to the enemy.
Temptation must not lead a person to abandon obedience and integrity for earthly advantage, for He resisted appeals to appetite and ambition and would not worship Satan to gain worldly power or wealth.
Redemption Won for Humanity
As humanity's representative and the second Adam, Christ passed over the ground where Adam fell and began the work of redemption where ruin began. Though faint with hunger after forty days without food, He would not use divine power to turn stone to bread for Himself, because that was not the Father's plan, and He endured hunger without relief. Where Adam lost blissful Eden through indulging intemperate appetite, Christ overcame through self-control stronger than hunger or death, and His victory in that sore need gives moral power and hope to those who cannot overcome by their own strength.
His humanity alone could never have endured the test, but His divine power combined with humanity gained an infinite victory in man's behalf. As man's representative He thereby raised humanity in moral value with God.
The salvation of man was in the balance to be decided by that trial on appetite. If Christ conquered there was a chance for man to overcome, but if Satan conquered man would remain bound in chains of indulgence with no moral power to break. In that lone contention the Redeemer, not Satan, came off conqueror.
His anguish concerned more than hunger, for He bore the pressure of Adam's guilt and his descendants' sins and the guilt of the world's sins pressing upon Him. The wilderness temptation He endured was a hundredfold stronger than any temptation ever brought upon the race, yet He was not overcome by the enemy's strong temptations. He overcame this and the other leading temptations on humanity's behalf, gaining a righteous character people could not gain for themselves, and His fast of nearly six weeks stands as a lesson to fallen man for all time.
The trial was foundational to the plan of salvation and to the plan of redemption, endured to save those brought low by indulgence and to be able to help the tempted. His loyalty to God in the conflict showed that Satan had not gained complete control of humanity and that his claim to the world was false. That contest unmasked the character of the great deceiver and uprooted him from the affections of heavenly angels and the loyal universe, and it gives fallen man the key whereby in Christ's name he may overcome.
Those battles were fought in behalf of humanity to break the power of appetite and the bondage upon human beings, to elevate man, and to work out a glorious victory that makes strength and grace available. Christ will give strength to all who seek it, so each person may in his own action and on his own behalf, with divine intelligence cooperating, deny appetite, stand in moral integrity free from all slavery of perverted appetite and passion, and follow the divine Pattern courageously though such nearness marks him for attack. Satan may distress and cause agony but cannot control the will, contaminate, defile, or force the soul to sin without consent. Yet His priceless victory will not benefit anyone unless personally appropriated, for it does not profit by another but only as each individually overcomes for himself in Christ's name.
Satan's wilderness temptation failed to draw minds from Christ to human authority.
Appetite Temperance and Health
The first and fiercest trial was upon appetite, endured after forty days and forty nights of fasting, where victory was won in behalf of the race over the ground where Adam fell through intemperate appetite and lost blissful Eden. That victory proves appetite can be resisted rather than indulged, and that the children of Adam may through temperance in all things regain Eden. Appetite must not be allowed to rule but must be denied, brought under control, and governed by reason and obedience to what God has spoken, for its power can be overcome and temptation met by trusting God. His anguish concerned not only hunger but the danger that indulgence would make appetite an idol, lead people to forget God, and obstruct their salvation, and His overcoming of this leading access of the enemy shows it is one of the chief ways temptation seeks entrance.
Indulged appetite can excite the nervous system and weaken the brain, making calm, rational thought difficult and turning the higher faculties toward bodily desires instead of sacred, eternal interests. Self-indulgence in eating harms mental and physical vigor, and gratifying taste by eating when there is no need and at irregular periods brings suffering on the stomach and weariness on others, injures health and intellect, and takes away power to appreciate the plan of salvation, to have exalted views of God, and to realize the claims of His law. Indulgence can weaken the mental and moral powers so that people cannot value eternal things, dulls the ability to discern sacred things, and sensual excess can erase the soul's likeness to God. Few when tempted on appetite have moral strength to firmly stand the test, but sacrifice principle to indulge taste, and His suffering to break Satan's power stands as a warning against yielding to appetite and joining in drinking that rejects God and harms oneself and others. Though brought to great physical suffering and met by the tempter clothed with the livery of heaven, He refused to yield a single point of integrity notwithstanding the most flattering inducements of honor, riches, and glory offered to bribe Him.
His long fast and self-denial were an example to humanity, teaching the necessity of self-denial and temperance beginning at the table and extending to every part of life, with restraint and control through self-denial. That fast of nearly six weeks in the wilderness was a lesson to fallen man for all time, endured to begin the work of overcoming just where ruin began, and it broke the power of bondage. His victory showed that appetite's hold can be overcome and made it possible for every member of the human family to resist temptation, so that people are not beyond help and cannot gain the victory alone but can overcome through strength from Him, for He came to help in weakness and is ready to help. All who would live godly lives may overcome as He overcame, and His enduring without being overcome gives encouragement for every soul struggling against temptation and passion.
Through His name, strength, and merits those enslaved to liquor and tobacco can break the slavery of habit and become victors, living the added graces of temperance and sanctification, for He is the sinner's only hope as Redeemer and His victory elevated man in the scale of moral value. He fasted forty days and forty nights to break the power of appetite upon human beings and to work out for them a glorious victory, making it possible for people in their own action and on their own behalf, with divine intelligence cooperating with them, to stand in moral integrity free from all slavery of perverted appetite and passion. Followers are laborers together with God to restore the moral image of God in the human agent, and fathers are to tell their children this story.
That fast and victory were for man, to leave an example of self-denial, to convict of the sinfulness of indulged appetite, and to expose the sinfulness of the very pleasures men love and the very things in which they take pleasure. Christians who realize that victory will see church socials, festivals, picnics, and amusements for overindulgence of appetite and levity and forgetfulness of God as without sanction in His example, and comparing life earnestly with His life as the only safe pattern and true standard turns them in disgust from them. He did not gain that victory in scenes of gaiety and feasting but in a desolate wilderness after forty days and forty nights without food, suffering the keenest real pangs of hunger, where as soon as suffering began the tempter was at hand with temptation fitted to His condition, presenting indulgence of appetite and pleasure as a bribe of apparent good while quoting Scripture clothed as an angel of light. Where professed followers weak in moral power are fascinated by that bribe and yield on appetite and worldly pleasure, even sustaining churches by appeals to appetite and amusement whose offerings cannot be accepted because they are not given from love but from idolatry of self, He resisted, showing that in His name complete victory over vigilant, adapted devices is possible. The same tempter still throws a religious garment over delusive pleasures and unholy revelings in professedly Christian gatherings to give them the appearance of sanctity and to quiet consciences because means are raised by them to defray church expenses, while men who refuse to give for love will part with money for love of pleasure and indulgence of appetite for selfish considerations.
The threefold temptation in the wilderness is a neglected yet most important subject, bearing a practical appeal touching Christian temperance and revealing the great work of the Redeemer in carrying out the plan of salvation.
Believers Meet Temptation Likewise
Believers are to meet temptation in the same way Christ did, by answering the tempter with God's word rather than with arguments, reasons, eloquence, or words of their own. Arguments and reasons are useless against Satan, while It is written alone repels him and puts the feet on solid, immovable rock. All things written in the law and in the prophets are true and carry the proof of it in themselves, and Scripture unlocks Scripture, so its lessons must be learned and hung in memory's hall to be ready for the conflict. The Word must be searched, its promises taken into personal life, its lessons studied and followed, and spare time used to commit something from it to memory instead of reading foolish stories. When the enemy besets, the answer is to be a plain It is written, spoken in season to those around, which baffles the great enemy, brings strengthening, perfects character for transfer to the future immortal life where there will be no danger of being overcome, and refuses dependence on any human being.
God's Word plainly guides in His will, and receiving and obeying it helps resist wrong tendencies. It is a haven and a tower of strength and safety, armed with which the strongest temptations can be met and overcome. It exposes deception and enables withstanding Satan, and it has power on hearts and power to fulfill the commission to preach the gospel to all nations. Failure in the field does not mean the commission cannot be fulfilled or the word has less power, but that God's people have failed and men have chosen to disobey. Christ's wilderness victory over appetite is an example that strengthens weak purposes and resolves to remain faithful to principle.
Temptation need not overcome, because victory comes through continual resistance and reliance on Christ, uniting human weakness to His strength and resisting in His name. People cannot gain the victory alone and are not to attempt it by their own strength, but through faith in Christ they can overcome, for He bore the test Adam failed and resisted on humanity's behalf. His victory broke the power of bondage, shows none are beyond help, and makes divine grace and strength available to overcome appetite and temptation in His name. Christ gives strength to all who seek it, and His victories were fought in behalf of humanity to make it possible for followers to conquer sin.
No one can be overcome by Satan without his own consent, for the tempter has no power to control the will or to force the soul to sin. He may distress but he cannot contaminate, he can cause agony but not defilement. All who seek to follow Jesus will be brought into conflict with this relentless foe, and the more nearly one imitates the divine Pattern the more surely he becomes a mark for Satan's attacks. The fact that Christ has conquered should inspire His followers with courage to fight manfully the battle against sin and Satan. Yet a quotation from Scripture alone does not prove its use truthful or safe, for Satan came with Scripture as part of a temptation designed to overthrow, using scriptural words to disguise temptation, make evil appear good, gain confidence, and then mislead.
The conquest in the wilderness gave authority over the prince of darkness and the prince of the power of darkness in His own person. Jesus had conquered the arch-enemy there before meeting him again in the synagogue. The evil spirit that tempted Him there was the same demon He later faced in the possessed man in the synagogue at Capernaum and in the deliverances at Gadara, though assuming another form. The freeing of the writhing captive and the wresting of the captive from Satan's grasp was therefore a renewed face-to-face confrontation with the same evil spirit, won on the ground of the triumph already achieved and showing that same wilderness victory continuing over the enemy.