Matthew 4:4, commentary and pictures

Human life depends not on physical bread alone but on every word that comes from God, and obedience to what He has said is more essential to life than temporal food.
This was the lesson God taught Israel when He humbled them with hunger and fed them with manna in the wilderness, and Christ then practiced that same lesson Himself by waiting for His Father's time to bring relief rather than making bread at Satan's suggestion.
After forty days and nights of fasting He was hungry and faint, yet He refused to work a miracle to relieve Himself, because as man's substitute and representative He would endure trial as humans must and work miracles only for the good of others.
He met temptation by answering It is written, using Scripture alone rather than human argument or controversy, and firm reliance on what God has said cannot be overthrown.
God's word so received is spiritual food and the Bread from heaven that builds up mind and soul as food builds the body, breaks the power of appetite where Adam fell, and gives weakened people divine strength to overcome as Christ overcame.

Wilderness Setting and Temptation

After baptism Jesus was led and driven by the Spirit into the wilderness to be alone, to contemplate His mission and to brace Himself by fasting and prayer for the path before Him, remaining forty days and forty nights with wild beasts eating nothing and drinking nothing. It was there that Matthew 4:4 was spoken to the tempter after the baptism at Jordan, when having fasted the full time He met Satan's challenge with appeal to what is written.

At the close of the fast He became hungry and faint and weak and emaciated, with visage marred, bearing physical suffering, mental anguish, grief and torture, apparently dying and bearing marks of the ordeal when He came from the wilderness. He was weary and worn, strained as one dead and fainting on the field of battle, His distressed appearance and unpleasant surroundings contrasting with the tempter's attractive appearance. His humanity was left as one dead from the terrible strain, yet He remained obedient and overcame.

Satan approached questioning whether He was the Son of God and urging Him to command stones shaped like loaves to be made bread, hoping to shake confidence in the Father who permitted want and to lead Him out of the Father's hands. He claimed a right to demand evidence of Sonship and sought to make Him doubt the voice spoken from heaven at baptism, adapting the temptation to His emaciated and suffering condition of keenest hunger. The appeal was upon appetite to escape hunger and suffering and to satisfy hunger by His own act rather than by waiting for God's time.

Satan came not as a hideous monster but disguised as a heavenly friend, bright angel of light from God's throne on a merciful errand, claiming God only designed to prove willingness as with Abraham and offering an easier way to achieve His purpose. Enshrouded in light as an angel from God's throne, he claimed God did not require self-denial and the sufferings before Him but only designed to prove willingness to endure, only to set foot in the blood-stained path without traveling it, as Abraham was tested to show perfect obedience. He claimed to be the angel who stayed Abraham's hand from slaying Isaac and now come to save Christ's life from painful hunger and death by starvation and to help bear part of the work of salvation, flattering himself his assumed character could not be discerned while feigning doubt of Christ's divinity.

The tempter was Lucifer, once an angel next to Christ in majesty, exalted for beauty, who from jealousy wanted Christ's place, originated sin, made war in heaven and was expelled, and in the wilderness met Christ again after planning attack for four thousand years since the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. Once next to Christ in majesty and glory in the heavenly courts, exalted because of beauty, he wanted the place of Christ who was one with the Infinite God, and becoming jealous originated sin by wishing to change the government of God and set his own seal to the rules of God's kingdom, working in secrecy and telling falsehood for truth until war commenced against Christ. There Christ met and overcame the same foe with whom there had been war in heaven, in personal encounter with Christ as Head of the kingdom he came to overthrow, knowing failure meant he was lost, in direct conflict between the Savior's active energy and the destroyer's that continues until the close of earth's history.

This was the first of three great leading temptations assailing man — appetite, presumption and love of the world — with manifold temptations growing out of these three, including appeals to appetite and ambition and refusal to worship Satan to gain worldly kingdoms, wealth or power. Satan sought to overcome Christ through hunger, using the same kind of temptation by which he had led people into sin, having almost entire control of the world on appetite after overcoming Adam on this point and controlling his descendants through indulgence and leading Israel to let appetite control reason. The outcome would decide whether Satan's power over the world was broken, for Christ faced this threefold test after baptism in behalf of those He came to redeem before beginning His mission.

All heaven watched with intense interest with angels on guard ready to act should Satan pass his prescribed limit, and after Satan was defeated angels encircled Him, rested His head, gave Him food, strengthened Him with divine consolation and the Father's blessing rested on Him. Angels stood ready to intervene, burning with love as they beheld their loved Commander apparently in the power of His foe until divinity flashed through humanity, and though He appeared alone He was not alone for angels were round Him just as angels are commissioned to minister to those under fearful assaults. Then angels ministered unto Him with arms encircling Him, His head resting upon the breast of the highest angel, provided with food with divine consolation flowing into His soul, so that seasons of trial for His followers likewise are followed by grace and strength from God imparted through His angels.

After victory He returned to the Jordan without outwardly seeking attention, soon came to Nazareth known as an unpretending mechanic, and shortly after turned water into wine at Cana. After fasting forty days He won the victory over temptation and returned to the Jordan, and having gained victories over Satan soon after came to Nazareth and presented Himself in His true character where He was known as an unpretending mechanic. His victory shows that children too can overcome.

Even immediately after great blessing and communion with God at baptism, severe temptation may follow and victory comes through dependence on God. The wilderness temptation came immediately after the heavens opened and the Spirit rested on Him, following close communion with God, showing that even after receiving great blessings a person may face severe temptation and trial. Christ's experience teaches that His strength enables those who follow Him to overcome, and by experiencing in Himself the strength of Satan's temptation and of human sufferings and infirmities He would know how to succor those who put forth efforts to help themselves.

Refusing Divine Power for Self

After fasting forty days and forty nights He refused to work a miracle to prove He was the Son of God and to satisfy His own hunger, answering Satan's urging to command stones to be made bread with the written Word of God. Having taken humanity He was bound by the covenant made in heaven not to work miracles in His own behalf but to stand as a man among men, so He would not use divine power to escape a difficulty or suffering that people must face in their humanity. He answered by relying on God's written word, not by using His own words or working a miracle to meet His own need, teaching that life depends on every word from God and that resisting temptation means trusting God rather than taking a presumptuous way out of difficulty. His firm reliance on God's word was a sign greater than a miracle, and while He held to it Satan could gain no advantage and He would not enter into controversy even with the devil. As man's substitute conquering where man had been vanquished, He repulsed Satan while suffering humiliation, hunger and contempt with the same scripture He had bidden Moses repeat to rebellious Israel, refusing to manifest divine power to relieve His own suffering because fallen man can work no miracle to save himself from pain, so as man's representative He must bear trial as a man and leave an example of perfect faith and trust in His Heavenly Father.

Fallen man can work no miracle to save himself from pain, so Christ left an example of perfect faith and trust, working miracles only for the good of others and never for His own benefit or to supply His own necessities. He had purposed to bear in humanity every temptation of appetite that besets the human family and to stand the test on every point, refusing after a fast of about six weeks that left Him feeble under humanity to work a miracle to avoid His own suffering. His victory gives every person a way of salvation and access to divine help and strength, bringing moral power within the reach of man so that all who are pressed sore with temptation may overcome as He overcame and become partakers of the divine nature, leaving no excuse for faltering or failure.

His refusal to work a miracle for Himself stands in contrast to His willingness shortly after to turn water looked upon in the jars into wine for others at the wedding feast, when He was weak and emaciated after forty days and forty nights without food. He would not command the stones to become bread to satisfy appetite, but answered the temptation with Scripture that life depends on God's word, while at the marriage feast He did work a miracle to meet the need of others and show that marriage is sanctioned by God. His action at Cana was left on record to show He does not fail in the perplexity of others, yet He would not use that same power for self-relief, and His refusal did not mean He was indifferent to physical need for He later provided food for the hungry multitude. The setting therefore shows refusal to secure earthly advantage at the cost of obedience to God, refusing to worship Satan to gain wealth or power and refusing to use divine power to satisfy His own hunger a few days before Cana.

He would not prove His identity or Messiahship at Satan's demand to turn stone into bread, nor explain His Sonship or answer reviling taunts, for the Father's declaration at baptism that He is the beloved Son was sufficient to sustain Him through suffering. He relied on God's word rather than using divine power to relieve His hunger or proving His divinity by a miracle, trusting His heavenly Father and leaving an example of faith. The Father's words at His baptism were precious assurance of approval and love which He did not doubt despite suffering and hunger, for His mission was not to use divine power for Himself but to suffer as humanity's substitute and save others.

He remained steadfast to carry out the plan of redemption in every particular, refusing to escape hunger by acting outside God's plan and accepting the human trial as part of His mission to save others. Though His long fast had debilitated Him and He could have satisfied His gnawing hunger, He remained steadfast in His purpose to carry out the divine plan, for it was no part of His mission to exercise divine power for His own benefit which He never did in His earthly life, since His miracles were all for the good of others. Satan hoped to shake His confidence in His Father who had permitted Him to suffer extreme hunger and weakness in the desert and to lead Him to take Himself out of His Father's hands, coming enshrouded in light as an angel from God's throne on an errand of mercy claiming God only designed to prove willingness as with Abraham, yet Christ turned from these artful temptations and did not cherish temptation for a moment nor doubt His Father's love amid inexpressible anguish, keeping unshaken confidence and integrity with His will anchored in the Father's will. God's word assured Him of His divine mission and connection with heaven, and firm reliance on what God had spoken was a greater sign than a miracle, providing an example of faith and submission in temptation.

Wanting temporal food is a much less calamity than meeting the disapprobation of God, so suffering whatever might come was less harmful than departing from God's will. Lacking temporal food is a much smaller calamity than losing God's approval, and He would not get food by following Satan's suggestion because to make bread for Himself would have been out of harmony with the plan of salvation and would have taken Himself out of the hands of His heavenly Father. Departing from God's purpose even in the smallest degree would be worse than hunger or death, for life depends not on physical food alone but on every word God speaks, and He refused to act on the tempter's insinuation that He should prove He was God's Son.

Appetite Conquered Redeeming Adam

Appetite was the ground of the first great temptation, where Adam failed through appetite by trusting the words of a stranger instead of God's words, bringing ruin, loss of Eden, misery, crime and death. Where Adam fell, Christ endured the test and won the victory on behalf of the human family, making it possible for people to overcome as He did. Adam and Eve would not have fallen if they had lived by God's word, and those who live by it now will be brought back to the Eden home.

Where Adam fell in Eden under most favorable circumstances, with communion with God and angels and without condemnation of sin, Christ stood where Adam fell and endured the test on the point of appetite after a long fast of forty days and nights, denying appetite while weakened by hunger. After a fast of about six weeks that left Him feeble under humanity, He refused to work a miracle to avoid His own suffering, because He had purposed to bear in humanity every temptation of appetite that besets the human family and to stand the test on every point. His resistance while weakened by hunger was part of His preparation as Redeemer and an example for people facing temptation, and His point-by-point victory brings moral power within reach so that all pressed sore with temptation may overcome as He overcame and become partakers of the divine nature, leaving no excuse for faltering or failure.

Christ began the work of redemption just where ruin began, upon appetite, and where Adam's indulgence had brought ruin His self-denial began redemption and redeemed Adam's disgraceful failure and fall. He began redeeming humanity by reforming its physical habits, and His victory broke appetite's power for those who accept the divine aid on which He relied, making it possible to live a Christian life. His victory over appetite was for humanity's benefit and gives encouragement to people struggling against appetite.

His long fast of nearly six weeks broke appetite's hold and made temperance possible, showing that appetite can be brought under control, ruled rather than allowed to rule, denied and overcome through self-denial and restraint even when restraint causes suffering. Appetite must be controlled by reason and must not become an idol that leads people to forget God or obstructs their salvation. Every wrong desire must be overcome because indulgence weakens the body and beclouds the mind so Satan can more easily deceive and destroy.

Indulgence of taste excites the nervous system and enfeebles brain power so calm, rational thought becomes impossible, the mind is unbalanced, its higher, nobler faculties are perverted to serve animal lust, and sacred, eternal interests are not regarded. When appetite is gained, Satan can come with his two other leading temptations, presumption and love of the world, and find ready access, and his manifold temptations grow out of these three great leading points. Indulging appetite regardless of result impairs the faculties God gave, violates the laws of being, and makes it impossible to discharge obligations to God and fellow men, with the brain as the capital of the body benumbed by intemperance of any kind so eternal things are not discerned. Those who would have clear minds to discern Satan's devices must have physical appetites under control of reason and conscience, with enlightened intellect holding animal propensities in subjection to moral powers, and then Satan's power to overcome with temptation is very small.

As Adam's intemperance led to loss of Eden, temperance in all things through Christ points to Eden's recovery, and only through the same denial Christ practiced is there hope of regaining Eden. His victory over Satan's temptation of appetite was won on behalf of the human race, showing that people may overcome appetite through Him. Abstemiousness in diet and control of all the passions preserves the intellect and gives mental and moral vigor, enabling men to bring all propensities under control of the higher powers and to discern between right and wrong, the sacred and the common.

His victory gives both the example and the power to break slavery of habit and indulgence at expense of health, and victory over established taste for narcotics and stimulants comes in the name of Christ alone when man takes hold of divine power and with determination and perseverance resists Satan as Christ did. This includes slavery to tobacco that perverts the senses and is disgusting, health-destroying and soul-polluting, and enslavement to liquor or intoxicating drink, through whose merits those enslaved can overcome. God will not save man against his will from Satan's artifices; man must do his part as co-worker with Christ, must overcome as Christ overcame, and the battle belongs to each individual so no one can fight it for another though others can pray.

His example rebukes dissipation, gluttony and gratification of harmful appetites, and teaches that appetite must be controlled rather than allowed to weaken moral power to resist temptation. A true sense of Christ's sacrifice leads to cheerful denial of self and choice to be partakers with Christ of His sufferings. The socials, festivals, picnics, indulgent gatherings and amusements that tempt the appetite to overindulgence and lead to levity, excess and forgetfulness of God can find no sanction in His example and are turned away from by comparing life with His standard.

Christ's victory over appetite is the true and only safe pattern for strictest temperance for those representing Christ, giving light on temperance reform and essential to the Bible's teaching on temperance. Engaging in the work of overcoming on the point of appetite secures precious victories, while neglect leaves a person a slave to appetite and lust, which are filling the cup of iniquity of those who dwell on the earth. Christ endured real hunger during His wilderness fast and resisted Satan's temptation to satisfy appetite in a wrong way, and that victory over wrong satisfaction of real hunger was for humanity to show how to overcome. The contrast is between necessary food and intemperate appetite, which creates unnatural desires for things that bring ruin.

Meeting Temptation with Scripture

Christ's answer gives the pattern for meeting temptation, objections to truth, and erroneous teachings by answering with what is written rather than entering into controversy or argument, lingering over temptation, acting on a dare, or putting oneself in peril. After fasting forty days and forty nights and becoming weary and worn and hungry, He was tempted to prove sonship by commanding stones to be made bread, and He refused to work a miracle for His own benefit but quoted Scripture to authorize refusal that life depends not on bread alone but on every word from God. He recognized Satan behind the insinuation of distrust though he came as an angel of light, and refused both the challenge and the temptation, standing firmly by God's word rather than lingering over or arguing with it as the way to resist the enemy and receive promised power for life and godliness. His example teaches searching Scripture beforehand and taking its promises to heart so as to withstand assaults, making His answer the model for defending truth without being drawn into distracting arguments.

He would not enter into controversy of words even with the devil, would not argue on the tempter's terms or repeat the enemy's claims, but quoted God's words to authorize refusal, holding to affirmative truth without repeating opposition. He met Satan's temptations with It is written, not with impetuous human speech or words of His own, though weakened by the long fast, showing obedience to God's word matters more than satisfying appetite. In answering doubt about sonship He relied on Scripture rather than debating the claims, giving a simple guide to religious life to follow God's Word. His answer left the enemy nothing to seize for controversy because firm reliance on what was said was held.

He answered point by point with It is written, speaking words God inspired holy men of old to write, using Scripture alone rather than human argument, reasoning, words of His own, or His own infinite wisdom. He joined issue with Satan because Satan's authority had become almost supreme and it was necessary to dispute it, meeting temptation never with human words but always with Scripture, and by this He conquered after the forty days and nights in the wilderness. His words in the wilderness were His own words that He had inspired holy men of old to write, spoken while surrounded by demons in deceptive pretension as angels from heaven using seducing attractions and wily insinuations to undermine confidence, destroy faith and trust, and strain the mind constantly as with Adam and Eve. Weakened by fasting with mental suffering that made the ordeal most severe, He endured this strain forty days and forty nights under fearful assaults of the prince of darkness whose fiery darts found no lodgment, resisting without yielding. He endured the test on humanity's behalf because people could not overcome in their own strength, and His victory makes overcoming possible through earnest prayer bringing Him as helper, while steadfast resistance brings comfort with angels ministering as they did to Him, showing severe temptation does not mean abandonment by God.

Firm reliance on what God has said is greater than any miracle and cannot be overthrown, so while that position was held Satan could gain no advantage and had no word to seize for controversy. Christ answered the demand for bread with reliance on God's word rather than performing a miracle for Himself or proving divinity or explaining humiliation, and that firm reliance on a thus saith the Lord was a greater and undeniable sign that showed He did not accept Satan's doubt. Where Adam failed through appetite, Christ endured and won victory on behalf of the human family, making it possible to overcome as He did. The answer repeats what He had bidden Moses repeat to rebellious Israel more than fourteen hundred years before, when God humbled them with hunger and fed them with manna to teach that while they trusted God and walked in His ways He would not forsake them, and He now practiced that same lesson, trusting the same word that succored the Hebrew host to succor Him and waiting for God's time rather than obtaining food by Satan's suggestion. Remaining in the wilderness in obedience and testifying before the universe, armed with faith and memory of the words spoken at baptism, He showed wanting temporal food is a much smaller calamity than meeting God's disapproval or departing in any way from His will, and as man's substitute bearing trial as man must He would not manifest divine power to relieve His own suffering because fallen man can work no miracle to save himself, leaving an example of perfect faith and trust and the lesson that holding no converse with Satan spares defeat.

God's Word is the sword, weapon, shield and unfailing defense that repels temptation, exposes devices, gives discernment of deception and power to withstand Satan, and its full strength is available to keep from sin. Through prayer and searching the Scriptures this It is written defense exposes Satan's devices whether he comes with soft pleasing flattery or fierce destructive attack, covering weak points of character unknown to self but known to Satan. Christ overcame by the Word alone because in Him was nothing responding to sophistry, not even a thought yielding to sin, fitted by humanity united with divinity and indwelling of the Spirit, and believers are to live the same way by every utterance, claiming every promise to become partakers of divine nature and escape corruption through lust. When temptation comes they are not to look to circumstances or weakness of self but to power of the Word, whose full strength is theirs to keep them from sin and from paths of the destroyer, with hiding it in the heart keeping from sin and victories coming through power imparted in answer to prayer. Scripture rather than human argument is the sure foundation and weapon sufficient and true, to be learned and remembered, and Christ's enduring the test makes overcoming possible through His name and grace with earnest prayer bringing Him as helper.

Believers are to search Scripture beforehand, store the mind with truth, commit it to memory, take promises to heart and hide God's word in the heart, so they can answer It is written and receive promised grace to overcome. The mind stored beforehand with heavenly treasures makes possible remembering, searching and obeying all God has spoken, keeping life hid with Christ through belief and obedience and overcoming as He overcame and bearing the proving test in affliction. His wilderness refusal after the forty days' fast authorizes refusal now, proving temptation is overcome by the Word and giving the pattern by which all can successfully overcome. Answering doubt by holding to God's Word rather than repeating or debating the enemy's claims is the simple guide to follow God's Word, showing obedience matters more than appetite and Scripture is the answer.

Safety lies in meeting Satan only on Bible ground, having as little as possible to do with opposing arguments, presenting plain evidence and speaking only God's words, answering each assault with Scripture's authority without retaliation. Christ met assaults only with It is written, standing immovable on truth in full allegiance, refusing to argue or swerve even when offered the whole world and its glory for worship, repeating Satan's sentiments as seldom as possible. As He was tempted on all points in human nature and resisted to the end, those accepting Him as personal Saviour can in His strength meet the tempter without being overcome by craft and presumptuous presentations, for the same way He was tempted every soul is now tempted to be held under Satan's reasoning. His example when hungry and suffering was to answer with the Lord's words without railing, restraining natural impulse to speak harshly, and His meekness, humility and reliance left Satan without chance to triumph or turn Him from allegiance. Following that example means answering provocation without retaliation, keeping close to Jesus, with only words from Scripture coming from the lips to sustain trust which Satan aimed to undermine but found no lodgment.

Satan is a diligent student of Scripture who knows what is written better than many professed Christians, quotes it to mislead, perverts truth into disobedience and mixes truth with falsehood so truth becomes ineffective, and his words did not come from God and therefore could not direct to make bread. His work is to pervert truth, draw the mind from God's words, weaken and confuse memory so men forget and disobey and neglect searching, until his words are taken as God's words and evil angels confederate with disobedient men. Making bread at his suggestion would have given him advantage by allowing similar evidence of power, so Christ answered with Scripture rather than controversy, affirming what God said rather than being drawn into argument. Quoting Scripture can thus be part of deceptive temptation when used to mislead, for truth and thoughts appearing elevating and noble can be perverted for evil, with Satan coming as an angel of light disguising temptations under goodness to seem friend rather than enemy and bewildering with specious deceptions. Against such misuse followers must meet Scripture with Scripture as Christ met Satan's ready quotation, relying on God's Word rather than worldly arguments.

When called to violate God's law or when every species of error comes, believers are to answer as Christ did with the written word in gentleness and humble love, speaking as few words of human arrangement as possible while supplied with God's words. Controversy with holders of false theories is unprofitable and not required; believers keep close to the Word and let Jesus and His messengers testify, resisting by the Word when errors seek to make God a nonentity, spiritualistic sophistries come from various sources, fables are exalted above pure eternal truth, and pillars of truth are assailed. Ministers beset by men urged on by Satan who quote Scripture readily like their master must not be unequal to Satan's servants in handling inspiration, but awake, search daily like the Bereans, study with humble prayer for understanding, and teach the way more perfectly with counsel, prayers and example a savor of life. Those proclaiming the third angel's message must stand on great sacred truths as foundation, putting on the whole armor to stand bravely against detraction and falsehood, making the Word the dependence so the enemy is repulsed and has no power, as Christ taught because He would not always be in human form.

Children who become familiar with truths of God's word early erect a barrier against ungodliness and can meet the foe with Christ's same answer, so truth must be taught early and learned by proclaimers of truth. Early familiarity bars the way against Satan's devices, enabling children and youth to answer from what is written as He did. He used God's Word rather than divine power or His own words, leaving an example, and studying and following Scripture prepares to meet temptation and resist Satan. Human disobedience, not any weakness in God's word, explains why it does not have its proper effect on hearts, though Christ proved its power to meet temptation and sustain obedience. In the wilderness He used the written word against the strongest temptations, proving its power, and its lack of effect is due to disobedience rather than defect in the Word.

Meaning of Living by Word

Human life does not depend on physical bread or food alone but on every word that comes from God, and obedience to what He has said is more essential to life than temporal food. Jesus met the temptation to turn stones into bread after His fast by answering with Scripture rather than using divine power for Himself or acting at the tempter's prompting to prove His Sonship. That firm reliance on what God has said is greater than any miracle and cannot be overthrown, and while that position is held Satan can gain no advantage. His victory gives every person a way of salvation and access to divine help and strength to overcome as He did.

The verse repeats what Christ Himself had spoken to Israel more than fourteen hundred years before, when God humbled them with hunger and fed them with manna in the wilderness. It was first given through Moses to teach them that while they trusted God and walked in His ways He would not forsake them, and that God's requirements take priority over physical wants. Christ then practiced that same lesson Himself, trusting the same word that had succored the Hebrew host to succor Him. He waited for God's time to bring relief rather than obtaining food by Satan's suggestion, remaining in the wilderness in obedience and testifying that it is a smaller calamity to suffer whatever may come than to depart in any way from the will of God.

Living by God's words requires remembering, searching and obeying all that God has spoken, with the mind stored beforehand with heavenly treasures of truth. It means accepting His word by living faith, meditating on it and practicing its principles so it becomes a vital part of life and is woven into character. Receiving it into the heart means accepting its truths as personally applicable, hearing with hungry desire, giving earnest attention to its instruction, and letting it reform the heart to prepare for faithful service and to benefit others. Living thus hid with Christ in God keeps from taking the enemy's words as God's words.

It means more than professing to know truth, for God's word must be brought into life and put into practice to shape character. Those who claim to keep God's commandments but do not live by His word will be exposed by their actions when circumstances reveal true character. Claiming to know and teach truth without obeying it does not make laborers together with God, and those who do obey belong to the church of the living God in contrast to apostasy that breaks His law. Being doers and not hearers only requires heeding even its plainest enjoined words of love and oneness rather than passing by inattentive and careless.

It means letting its truths become settled convictions that shape actions, mind, spirit, words, temper and dealings, purify the soul, and produce personal holiness and sanctification through the Spirit. A life so formed has Christ formed within and reveals faith and God to the world, with faith working through love. Without its light there can be no life. It calls for daily consecration of soul, body and spirit, laying hold of Christ's righteousness, having a new conversion every day, receiving the implanted word with meekness, and studying it with earnest prayer to know day by day what it means to be made holy through truth.

No part of God's instruction may be disregarded even if it seems small, for willingly breaking one command makes a person guilty of breaking the law. Obedience surrounds like a protective hedge, and breaking even one point tears down that protection and opens a way for evil to bring harm and ruin. To obey one word and disregard others dishonors God, and being a Bible reader is not enough without also doing God's word. To live by every word is to obey God's Word and sacred law and commandments, including the law spoken at Sinai and written on stone and kept in the heavenly ark, by which at judgment people will be judged according to deeds.

That obedience includes sanctification of the seventh day with no right to substitute another day, the command against idolatry, believing and trusting Him and loving His law, with accountability according to light given bringing freedom in Christ. It is the life pledged in the baptismal vow avouching Jehovah as Ruler, merging life with Father, Son and Holy Ghost, walking in newness of life and seeking things above. Disobedience brought death through Adam and destruction before the Flood and in the wilderness, whereas obedience would have brought blessing, health and entrance as a healthy happy people. God's word is to guide all things and its eternal truth must be lived daily with principles followed firmly even when doing so brings poverty, hardship or loss of human support and temporal things.

It is better to have poverty in temporal things and abide in Christ than to gain bread by disobedience, for His word is spirit and life and counsel of eternal wisdom. Those who obey have promise of all things needed for present life and also for future life, for God governs events, sees the end from the beginning, brings order out of confusion and brings the upright to peace while the wicked pass away. When His people obey fully His good words and promises are fulfilled to them, but falling short of perfect obedience forfeits their fulfillment. Living by every word means hearing and obeying not merely hearing, doing the word and bringing it into daily practice.

Those who so build on the rock stand when everything shakable is shaken, while hearers only build on sand and fall. It requires working out salvation with fear, putting on the armor, watching unto prayer, searching Scriptures, avoiding temptation, and having faith continually. Every teacher must be a doer, for refusing light is walking into self's opinions. It means entire surrender of the will to God, doing the Father's will, trusting in darkness as in light, walking by faith not sight, relying with unquestioning confidence and resting in His love, for holiness is not rapture or ecstasy.

Even a single disobedience can obstruct light, and its truth sanctifies small daily choices to discipline for greater responsibilities. It means no one can serve God and mammon at once but must deny self, lift the cross, turn from self-pleasing and self-indulgence, and follow with the self-sacrificing Spirit of Christ. Life depends on eternal truth rather than temporal gain, so means are to be used with sacrifice to send truth beyond rather than wasted on bicycles, dress and other needless things and self-gratification. No one is to believe only part, choosing easiest places or pleasing truths while rejecting what cuts across inclination and calls for cross-bearing, and teachers especially must first be learners in obedience.

God prescribes terms for receiving His gifts, and in admitting weak, ignorant, helpless and sinful beings as co-laborers He conditions success on receiving counsel from God and diligently obeying every word, with thoroughness determining integrity of religious life. Election is only to be saved by meeting its conditions, and those elected continually trust and obey every word through faith in Christ. Living by every word requires abiding with the Lord, hearing His words, yielding all to God and truly believing so its power is felt. Those who separate to follow worldly pleasures, customs and spirit walk in false paths and do not live by it, and the word Christ has spoken will judge rejecters at the last day.

God's word is truth to be believed and obeyed that purifies from error and idols, while rejecting it for a lie leads away from God. Living by every word requires obedience in every department however humble, including strict cleanliness and order in home, bodies, clothing, atmosphere and premises, elevating humble duty by heaven-established order to fit for dwelling with pure beings. Living by every word means trusting and obeying God's promises, placing a person on Christ's side where His Spirit and grace work with human effort to bring others to know God's will.

Word as Life and Nourishment

Man has another life besides the physical life sustained by temporal food, a spiritual life sustained by every word proceeding from God, just as the body is built up from what is eaten and drunk so the spiritual nature is sustained by what the mind dwells upon. The mind and soul are built up by what they feed on, so people can choose what occupies thought and shapes character, while neglect of Christ's teaching through failure to hear attentively and do brings lack of spiritual health and vital life. Receiving Christ's words in faith strengthens the spiritual nature and leads to everlasting life, and searching the word with a hungry heart leads to faith, obedience to its commands, sanctification and righteousness. Receiving Christ's words is receiving Christ's life, for His words abide in followers and nourish union with Him as eating His flesh and drinking His blood represents, so that as His life lives in them they bear fruit like His.

God's word is the bread of life and bread from heaven foreshadowed by manna, which is Christ Himself identified with His flesh and blood, and feeding on it sustains the soul and guards it from being lost. Those who feed continually receive grace and strength to obey and live righteously, the word becomes part of the soul's life, equips to meet temptation, and bears fruit in good works. Children must therefore be fed daily with truth and knowledge of God, with moral culture and sound doctrine instilled to meet multiplying errors that deny Bible doctrines, obscure prophecy, and drift from old landmarks, teaching the great pillars of faith and reasons for distinct peculiar peoplehood in simple language for the young and deeper lessons as capacity grows until foundations are broad and deep, after the pattern of telling sons of bondage in Egypt, deliverance with a mighty hand, signs and wonders, bringing into the promised land, and keeping statutes for good, preservation of life, and righteousness by obedience. People must receive God's words as daily spiritual nourishment and acknowledge their authority in order to have eternal life, receiving and following Christ's words as they learn from His life and works.

Receiving Christ's words in faith is receiving His life, for His words abide in followers, nourish union with Him and bear fruit like His. When Christ's visible presence is withdrawn His word remains the source of power, for His life-giving word healed the sick, cast out demons, stilled the sea and raised the dead, and the whole Bible makes Him known. The life of Christ that gives life to the world is in His word, spoken as through all the prophets and teachers of the Old Testament, and He desires to fix faith on the Word so it is the source of power. The bread of life by which people live must be kept before them in preaching, for dry theories and Christless discourses leave souls starving and are neither required nor accepted.

Feeding on Christ's word destroys the natural earthly nature and imparts new life in Christ, and through the Holy Spirit and transforming grace God's image is reproduced so hatred gives way to love and the heart takes on God's likeness, which is eating the Bread that comes down from heaven. Accepting and living by every word unites the soul with Christ, which is eating His flesh and drinking His blood, so that one wars against all transgression and every approach of sin, becomes daily more like a bright shining light, more victorious, going from strength to strength not weakness to weakness. This living means accepting the enmity placed between man and the serpent, refusing separation from Christ, and holding fast to eternal reward and everlasting life instead of neglecting the great salvation, in contrast to eating the serpent's meat of selfishness, hypocrisy, evil-surmising and suspicion, envy and covetousness, declaring in Christ's strength to be a conqueror not overcome by Satan's devices. Those who so live gain a clear understanding of what it means to be one with Christ, choosing God's word and Christ's way rather than earthly selfish desires.

Living by every word is daily eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God by receiving, believing and living Christ's words, knowing by personal experience that His words are spirit and life, and only those who do this have life in themselves, even eternal life. Christ's words are spirit and life and give eternal life with promise of resurrection at the last day, so abiding in Christ and being nourished by His Word is better than having temporal riches without Him. God's word is to guide all things and faithfulness must remain even if obedience brings poverty or loss, for physical bread alone cannot sustain life. This life produces belief that Christ is soon to return, bending every power to prepare by first taking heed to self and then to doctrine for the world, making it divinely natural to serve the living true God, wait for His appearing, and work with earnestness and perseverance for conversion of souls.

Those who search with hungry heart and feed continually receive grace and strength to obey and live righteously, leading to faith, obedience and sanctification, with the word becoming part of the soul's life and bearing fruit in good works. Eating and drinking the words of eternal life means receiving and doing them, for the Bible as food for the soul purifies and strengthens mind and character. Character in spiritual lines corresponds to gospel truths taken in, received, eaten and digested, refreshing spiritual strength so receivers become partakers of divine nature having overcome corruption through lust, with nutritious properties like the strength-restoring leaves of the tree of life for healing of nations. A true believer so receiving and believing has character transformed and bears fruit in holy speech and good works to God's glory.

Spiritual life must be sustained by communion with Christ through His Word, with mind dwelling upon it and heart filled with it, the Word laid up in the heart and sacredly cherished and obeyed through Christ's grace. That grace can make man right and keep him right where every human influence and earthly invention is powerless to give strength and wisdom, restrain passion, correct deformity of character, or keep conscience from warping unless truth controls the heart. Worldly societies are detrimental to the soul because they turn the mind away from the Word and do not lead men to make it study and guide of life, while worldly influences and inventions cannot provide that strength or wisdom. In the wilderness Christ was nourished by truth through earnest prayer and communion with the Father, His attention to mission and reliance on God's strength leaving Him unaware of hunger until forty days ended, and the truth He received was truth to give people to deliver them from temptation, by which tempted seekers of God's aid are likewise fed.

God's words are heaven's bread meeting soul's needs, and no word concerning eternal salvation is to be neglected or allowed to go unused or lost. People must receive them fully and make them part of daily life as bread and drink sustain life in order to have eternal life, acknowledging without reserve their truth, power and authority. Each person must receive the word and make it part of himself, for provisions do not strengthen, invigorate or produce growth unless partaken, and without this nourishment as God's revealed will the soul cannot grow nor character develop in balanced way. The Word of inspiration is to be received as daily food and is the source of life.

Reception and practice nourishes spiritual life, purifies and strengthens mind, sharpens intellectual powers, shapes heart and character, and prepares for service, turning from misleading amusements and making better able to learn and use knowledge. Living by the Word means receiving its pure truth, practicing it, letting it reform the heart, leading to conversion and faithful service, while without it the old nature continually reasserts itself in need of the Holy Spirit's redeeming grace to change old habits separating the soul from God. When continually guiding life and decisions the Word is valued above worldly policy and fallible assertions and leads into every good holy way. Not living in daily experimental knowledge leaves senses clouded by spiritualistic fog under Satan's deceptive power, led by the enemy, captivated by deceptive presentations, twisting from way to way and dressing wrong plans in deceptive garments so associates are blinded onward in wrong course, ending in certain deception as with Adam and Eve, a danger pressing not only inexperienced youth but mature men and women and men in responsibility in danger of changing leaders.

Each person must receive and study the word personally rather than relying only on another's understanding, asking the Holy Spirit for help, dwelling on each verse's thought until understood and made one's own. Everyone truly believing in Christ as personal Saviour must search Scriptures perseveringly for himself, coming directly to Thus saith the Lord and keeping mind free from the chaff of They say, with effort stimulated by earnest prayer and vigorous mind in sound body kept by correct habits of industry combining physical exercise with mental work. God's provisions do not strengthen unless partaken, and the Bible as highest education must not be neglected for any other interest because no other food builds spiritual life. God's Word is to be each person's counsellor rather than leaving spiritual experience to minister or physician.

God's Word as spiritual food must be taken into heart and life, not merely read, for it is truth giving knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, making duty clear, guiding in safe paths, with precepts to govern whole life and prepare for the future world, while neglect leads to losing waymarks. Living by it means practicing every word, not merely possessing knowledge or theory, bringing the will under Christ's authority instead of living to please self and indulge desires. It is to be taken in and searched, its revealed truth meant to nourish and transform the soul, but when meaning is distorted or treated as dead letter its power to move conscience and cleanse is made ineffective. Unlike newspapers it nourishes the soul and directs life, plainly setting duties and privileges as God's child and vital instruction about eternal welfare and what must be done to be saved, each answerable for own soul with another's actions unable to save or condemn. Its principles are to become elements of character as meat and drink, human sayings laid aside until the Bible is obeyed, so those living on it know better how to receive counsel, finding out what the Lord God of Israel says and then doing it, exalting the precious word.

Believing every word means putting it into practice by active abiding faith that discerns God's will, receives promises, and benefits from truths, depending on Christ not own righteousness or works. It means denying self, resisting worldly treasure and self-pleasing, and supporting carrying truth to others. Believers must keep advancing in light and knowledge of truth, for when they stop walking by faith they fall into darkness.

God's word becomes soul food bringing joy and comfort to the converted, for human life depends on every word from God not physical food alone. Every passage nourishes the mind, becoming a living pasture and source of life for the converted heart. The Word of God is meat and drink sustaining life, and making it one's own nourishment gives ability to present it clearly to others.

Obedience Applied to Daily Duty

Life depends not on bread alone but on obedience to everything God has spoken, and that word is the rule to be followed in all things. This includes His directions for modest dress and the training of children, and the worldly dress and disobedient example of many Sabbathkeepers gives no excuse for parents to do the same. Parents and ministers set as shepherds to watch for souls must themselves live by that standard and teach it to children by precept and example, refusing fashionable dress, vanity, display, human custom and worldly polish in order to seek moral worth with God.

Living by every word was exemplified by John Huss in refusing to accept the council of Constance as infallible or to let its voice stand above God's voice in His Word. The righteous through many centuries have done the same in contrast to the workings of evil, and their registered experience is a legacy of great value because God recalls the doings of different ages and repeats them in the present generation. When history is repeated, when great men will not come to the Bible for light and evidence and truth, when the commandments of men are exalted above the commandments of God, and when obeying God rather than the laws of men is regarded as a crime, their examples show the path so believers do not tread it without guides who have gone before. It is a life-and-death struggle over worship and conscience in which followers take the Bible and the Bible alone as foundation until it scatters human tradition, refuse to let church authority joined with national power be conscience for them, rise above littleness and self-preservation, and are ready to lose life if necessary for the sake of truth. God's written Word is the sure authority for meeting temptation and resolving difficult questions, more reliable than the claims or decisions of human leaders, and it gives spiritual life to be followed faithfully even when obedience brings persecution or death.

God's people live by every word with His law written in their hearts as the only authority they can acknowledge or consent to obey. The words and commands of God written in the soul are spirit and life, with power to bring into subjection and enforce obedience. Therefore they obey the laws of the land and conform to every good law, because the ten precepts are the foundation of all righteous and good laws. Obedience to human rulers holds in ordinary affairs of this life where loss or gain has nothing to do with salvation, and fidelity to civil authority can remain firm. The exception is that no man is to be subject to man in what pertains to eternal life, for the Word of God has authority over eternal life and is the limit of earthly authority. If rulers require what conflicts with the laws of God they must obey God rather than men and sooner disobey all men than deviate in the least from the commandment of God, for subjection in spiritual things is real worship and worship is to be rendered only to the Creator. For this reason they cannot engage in war, because it is opposed to every principle of their faith and would bring continual violation of conscience.

Studying the Bible teaches how to live to God's glory, since human life and learning depend not on physical food or human knowledge alone but on every word from God. Applied to education, students are to learn to live by every word Christ has given, with the Word of God as their chief book and chief subject of study. God's word gives light and understanding to guide and instruct in practical life, and when it is received as guide, welcomed, followed and put into practice, God opens the understanding and heavenly wisdom surpasses the learning of the world's greatest schools and helps prevent spiritual backsliding after divine light has been received.

Parents are to seek an understanding heart to receive, believe and follow God's Word and to use it as the standard for teaching and training children. Children must be fed daily with truth and knowledge of God, with moral culture and sound doctrine instilled to meet multiplying errors that deny Bible doctrines and obscure the great truths of prophecy that show position in world history. This requires teaching the great pillars of faith and the reasons for being Seventh-day Adventists as a peculiar people, a holy nation, separate and distinct like Israel, in simple language for the young and deeper lessons as capacity grows until foundations are broad and deep. It follows the command to tell sons of bondage in Egypt, deliverance with a mighty hand, signs and wonders, bringing into the promised land, and keeping statutes for good, for preservation of life, and for righteousness by obedience. Every word from God is to be treated with sacred respect and obeyed, and children should be taught this respect as soon as they can understand what God requires them to do and avoid, for obedience to God's law forms beautiful character and converts the soul. God's words must be laid up in heart and soul, bound as a sign, taught at home and by the way and night and morning, written on the house, and diligently kept by loving the Lord and walking in His ways and cleaving to Him, bringing blessing and multiplied days, while turning aside to other gods brings a curse, a warning reaching to the present time because the danger remains. Studying and practicing the words of Christ guards against delusive sentiments and sophistries, while those occupied with scientific problems and false science find Christ's teaching tame, follow another counselor who deceived angels in heaven, and are in danger of undermining faith and exchanging simplicity of truth for infidel sentiments.

Living by every word applies in married life, where husbands and wives who do what God's Word says honor their Redeemer. The Lord does not require what is impossible, but all are to be doers of the word and not hearers only, and there would be no unhappy families if all lived so. In marriage the two who unite their interests keep distinct characteristics and individual responsibilities, each doing his or her own work, with the wife graced as wife and companion and not valued as a beast of burden. Husbands in particular are to show Christlike love, tenderness and care toward their wives and families.

Even people with many talents must remain closely joined to Christ, keep proportionately near the Saviour and yoked with Him, and live by every word from God. Christian life and successful work depend on accepting God's plans and living by every word, not on human wisdom, talent, knowledge, fluency, business ability or plans. Practicing Christ's words and works keeps His life and love in the believer, while neglecting them risks losing Christ and the spirit of His message. God cannot use the self-sufficient but can use humble and contrite workers willing to be molded, as when fishermen were chosen, and when those with many gifts live by every word their endowments become a rich blessing instead of being used for selfish ordering, directing, rule-making and judging of others. Each worker in medical institutions must have regenerating power and spiritual life by striving to live by every word, which gives education after the divine mind and will, refusal to receive inspiration from those bitter against the truth, refusal to criticize and judge brethren whom Christ teaches to respect, love and esteem better than self, and learning the first principles of loving one another as Christ loved. The physician, who faces intense temptation and may lack rest and religious privileges, needs a fresh daily supply of grace to keep hold of God.

Every word God speaks demands earnest attention and obedience, and no departure from Christ's words is without sin. Living by every word means diligently seeking thorough knowledge of truth in Scripture and not rejecting a message before investigating it, and those who fail will face that failure in the day of God when every person is judged according to what is written in the books. That obedience includes heeding God's warnings and counsel, such as the warning not to suppose safety in seeking education in Battle Creek after God removed two large institutions there, just as Christ warned Bethsaida and Capernaum. It means answering Christ's call to repent by humbling the heart and confessing sins to be pardoned and forgiven, while refusing to confess for fear of showing weakness leaves a person without pardon and without Christ as Redeemer, going on in transgression and adding sin to sin until facing condemnation.

Cosmic Battle and Salvation Plan

The encounter in Matthew 4:1-11 is foundational to the plan of salvation, with mighty issues for the world and the destiny of the human race at stake. In it Christ faced temptation as a man who took human nature with all its possibilities, proving to angels and to men that man may overcome and that in every emergency the powers of heaven are ready to help, so that there is nothing to endure that He has not endured. He had returned from Jordan full of the Holy Ghost and was led and driven by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days with the wild beasts, eating nothing, to be alone to contemplate His mission and work and by fasting and prayer to brace Himself for the blood-stained path He must travel, not inviting temptation, while Satan knew He had gone there and thought it the best time to approach Him. His long fast and victory on appetite show the sinfulness of indulgence and leave an example of self-denial, won by divine power joined with His humanity as an infinite victory on humanity's behalf that strengthens Christians as they compare their lives with His example. That victory gives fallen people a model for overcoming Satan in His name, yet it does not benefit a person unless that person also overcomes individually, for everyone faces the temptations He overcame and strength to resist is provided in His name with strength and grace from the Father.

Against Satan's claim to the earth as prince of this world after tempting man to sin and conforming Adam and Eve to his nature and holding dominion through control of men, as Son of man Christ would stand loyal to God to disprove the claim. He would show Satan had not gained complete control of the human race and his claim was false, set free all who desired deliverance from his power, and recover the dominion Adam had lost through sin. He came to earth in person at that time because Satan's authority had become almost supreme and it was necessary to dispute it, joining issue with Satan, meeting temptation never with human words but always with Scripture, and by this He conquered after fasting forty days and forty nights in the wilderness. His steadfast resistance to Satan's effort to turn Him from His Father's will kept the plan of redemption on course, for unlike Adam and Eve He remained faithful, choosing suffering and death to reclaim the kingdoms and ultimately defeat Satan. With glory hidden after humbling Himself and taking human nature to stand at the head of the humanity Satan had deceived and to fight their battle for them, Satan met Him there in determined personal contact as a beautiful angel of light, not as a hideous monster, using great deceiving power to draw Him away from allegiance to God and to undermine His principles, bringing Him mental anguish, grief and torture of mind with temptations fitted to His exalted character and aimed at the strongest mark Satan ever attacked, so deep and forceful they can only be partially comprehended even by revelation.

The first temptation was decisive, for victory there would secure Christ on all the rest, and if Satan had overcome Christ he would stand as conqueror and prince of the world and sustain his false claims to the kingdoms of the world. Christ stood in Adam's place in the desolate wilderness to bear and overcome the test Adam failed to endure in Eden, overcoming in the sinner's behalf four thousand years after Adam turned from light, with the weaknesses, sins, infirmities and physical, mental and moral degeneracy of fallen humanity upon Him, single-handed against Satan where man would be assailed, though Adam had stood without taint of sin in perfection, in the image of God, with every want supplied and all faculties balanced, while Christ took fallen human nature and humbled Himself to the lowest depths of human woe to reach fallen man where he was and bring him up from degradation. The warfare was that foretold in Genesis 3:15, and Satan's failure to overcome Christ in the wilderness of temptation was his first manifest defeat, where the Prince of life gained a victory in behalf of the human race over which all heaven rejoiced. Tempted by the same enemy on the same ground where Adam fell yet steadfast, Satan came with specious temptations to induce Him to question the plans and law of God and to occupy an independent position, but Christ resisted the devil and was Conqueror in behalf of the human race, and the universe of heaven triumphed, entering into no controversy with Satan but meeting the enemy of God only with the Word of God. The one who had conquered the prince of darkness there is the same who later faced him again in the possessed man in Capernaum and in the synagogue on the Sabbath, meeting and conquering him again with authority to set the captive free and wrest dominion from Satan to deliver those bound by him.

In human nature Christ met and exposed as false Satan's misrepresentations of God's character, in a world disloyal to God and seared and marred by the curse of rebellion where men were corrupted by Satan's inventions and led astray while Satan claimed for himself mercy, goodness and truth and attributed his own attributes to God. He took man's place on the same ground where Adam disobeyed God's law to prove that men through divine power can keep God's law, against Satan's claim that no man can keep it, enduring temptation stronger than ever was or will be brought upon the human race, a hundredfold stronger than will ever come upon the human race, yet resisting as a man in the same manner in which every tempted soul may resist, by referring the tempter to the inspired record and relying solely upon the word of God. He placed Himself in the sinner's stead and overcame the temptations as a man, tempted in all points like human beings are, humbling Himself and overcoming on behalf of humanity to show how to overcome, binding His interests with humanity by the closest ties. His victory redeemed Adam's disgraceful failure and fall and testified to fallen humanity and to all unfallen worlds that man can keep the commandments of God through divine power granted from heaven, giving positive assurance that none will be tempted above what they are able, for with the temptation a way of escape is made. Though tempted by Satan in a hundredfold severer manner than Adam and under circumstances in every way more trying, with the deceiver presenting himself as an angel of light, Christ withstood the temptations and redeemed Adam's disgraceful fall and saved the world, so there is hope for all who come to Christ and receive Him as personal Saviour.

He was led by the Spirit to meet Satan as the representative of fallen humanity, not for His own benefit, overcoming every temptation on humanity's behalf and standing at the head of the fallen race, taking the place of fallen humanity and facing Satan's temptations on the ground where Adam had failed in a test of the same character yet more severe, tempted without sin. In His human nature He could be strongly tempted and could yield, undergoing the test on the ground where Adam and Eve had fallen in order by enduring it on behalf of the fallen race to redeem Adam's failure, facing temptation as a human being and not yielding at any point, so that through the same divine provision by which He overcame, people may stand firm against temptation and cultivate what is good. It was a real battle in which He humbled Himself to human nature perfectly identical to man's except without taint of sin, fallen but not corrupted, bone, brain and muscle, capable of yielding to temptation, with a test far greater than that of Adam and Eve. He would have been corrupted only by receiving Satan's words in place of God's words, but by living by what God says and keeping allegiance to God as a garment, He did not yield, was not degraded by liability to temptation, kept His purity and holiness uncorrupted, and was not reckoned with the transgressor. His victory proves human nature united with the divine nature by faith can be strong and withstand Satan, and makes Him a perfect example and help to human beings, answering Adam's fall and redeeming that failure and placing the human family on vantage ground with God so that through the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour people can overcome for themselves.

Where the first Adam fell though created pure and upright after God's character with no corrupt principles or tendencies to evil, Christ in His human nature withstood Satan's assault on His dignity, authority and allegiance to His Father. Watched with intense interest by heaven with angels standing ready to intervene, He refused to be moved from allegiance by taunts and by the offer of the world and its glory for worship, and overcame as more than conqueror, leaving Satan a conquered foe though His humanity was strained as one dead, after which angels encircled Him, rested His head, gave Him food and poured divine consolation into His soul. Man could not stand against Satan's powerful temptations that degrade human nature, so Christ pitied human weakness, clothed His divinity with humanity to reach man with His human arm while with His divine arm He grasped the throne of the Infinite, and rested wholly upon the power of God. Satan knew everything depended on his success or failure, that if Christ bore the test Adam failed to endure the plan of salvation would be carried out to fulfillment, his power would be taken away, and his destruction would be certain. After four thousand years of Satan working against the government of God and gaining strength and experience, with fallen men separated from God and with less and less wisdom to understand and power to resist temptation until appetite and passion had become great branches of evil, Christ achieved a victory in behalf of the race upon the point of appetite, making it possible for man in all future time in His name to overcome the strength of appetite on his own behalf.

The stand of the second Adam was against the sophistry and lie by which Satan had charmed the first Adam, who believed Satan's words instead of reaching above his humanity for divine power and became the enemy's bondslave, which the second Adam would not become, meeting in combat in the wilderness in the weakness of humanity with apparently not a friend to aid Him while Satan worked by subtlety and falsehood with all the power he possessed to lead the Son of Man to swerve a hair's breadth from allegiance to God, for if he prevailed the world would pass under his control. Christ met this test at far greater disadvantage than Adam, who was assailed with none of the effects of sin upon him in the strength of perfect manhood with full vigor of body and mind, surrounded with the glories of Eden and in daily communion with heavenly beings, while Jesus entered the wilderness to cope with Satan after four thousand years of decreasing physical strength, mental power and moral worth, taking upon Him the infirmities of degenerate humanity in order to rescue man from the lowest depths of degradation. By that human victory the human race was placed on vantage ground with God, for time and eternity able to resist satanic agencies by becoming partaker of the divine nature and to keep the law of God, since every advantage Christ had in the conflict He made possible for man to have. When the Commander of heaven came in human humiliation and was assailed by the prince of darkness with His dignity questioned, His authority disputed and His allegiance to His heavenly Father attacked, all heaven watched with intense interest, with angels standing on guard ready to act in His behalf should Satan pass his prescribed limit, burning with love as they beheld their loved Commander apparently in the power of His foe, until divinity flashed through humanity. He gave evidence that taunts could not call Him from allegiance to His Father though the very purity of His principles was assailed, and He overcame as Captain of salvation so Satan left the field a conquered foe, with terrible strain leaving His humanity as one dead, then angels ministered unto Him with arms encircling Him, His head resting upon the breast of the highest angel, provided with food with divine consolation flowing into His soul.

His obedience demonstrates that people can overcome temptation as divine power works through humanity and that, through faith, they may share in the divine nature, elevating and ennobling humanity so that through His name, grace, merits and exalted divine nature it is possible to overcome the degradation caused by the fall and be linked to the Infinite, and He endured the severe conflict to be a perfect example that the eternal reward is not won by any easy or common effort. The church stands in and through Him who took the penalty of sin upon His own divine soul. His endurance of the nearly six-week fast and His struggle against fierce temptation show that overcoming temptation is worth more than gaining the world, and that His example offers a pattern for those who seek to overcome. As head and example for men He conquered Satan in the wilderness of temptation to show man how he may overcome, leading out in self-denial and sacrifice and bidding His followers follow Him, so that Satan's power was to be contested and overcome by Christ and also by His followers in the same warfare. His bearing the test in the wilderness of temptation proves He is the coming One foretold by the sure word of prophecy.

After that defeat in direct, personal conflict Satan withdrew from direct personal effort and turned to strategy, counseling with his confederate angels to still further blind the minds of the Jewish people so they would not recognize their Redeemer. Working through human agencies in the religious world by imbuing them with his own enmity against Christ, leading them to reject Christ and to make His life as bitter as possible in hope of discouraging Him in His mission, the leaders in Israel became instruments of Satan in warring against the Saviour. Though Satan prevailed nothing against Jesus in the manifold temptations in the wilderness and was left disappointed and enraged, the defeat did not end his hope, for he looked forward to the period of Christ's ministry to try his power and artifices against Him again, laying plans to blind the understanding of the Jews, God's chosen people who were anxiously expecting the Messiah, and to fill their hearts with envy, jealousy, hatred and unbelief that Jesus was the promised Redeemer, so as to prevent faith in Christ, discourage Jesus in His mission, make His life on earth as bitter as possible, and secure the Jews as his agents to carry out his purposes.

The contest between Christ and Satan during Christ's earthly ministry unmasked the character of the great deceiver, and Satan's cruel warfare upon the world's Redeemer uprooted Satan from the minds and affections of the heavenly angels and the whole loyal universe more effectually than anything else could. His daring blasphemy in demanding that Christ pay him homage, his presumptuous boldness in bearing Him to the mountain summit and the pinnacle of the temple, his malicious intent in urging Him to cast Himself down from the height, and his unsleeping malice in hunting Him from place to place and inspiring priests and people to reject His love unto the cry to crucify Him excited the amazement and indignation of the universe. Satan prompted the world's rejection of Christ and exerted all his power and cunning to destroy Jesus because he saw that Christ's mercy and love and compassion and pitying tenderness were representing the character of God to the world, contesting every claim put forth by the Son of God and employing men as his agents to fill Christ's life with suffering and sorrow. Christ's chosen weapons in His conflict with Satan were the words of Scripture, and against Satan's falsehood and deception Christ dealt in straightforward truth, honesty and integrity, holding to truth at the cost of everything, even His own life. This stand, watched by the heavenly universe, exposed Satan as the bearer of rebellion, accusation, cunning, secrecy, intrigue, enmity and revenge, and revealed the true relation of the Father, the Son and Lucifer to each other, leaving heaven amazed at God's long forbearance toward Satan, securing God's government and proving His law faultless. Christ's ministry began with a conflict with Satan, and He repeatedly referred to Satan's kingdom as opposed to God's kingdom.

Power to Overcome Today

Christ's victory gives weakened people hope that even long-established appetite and passion can be overcome in His name through reliance on God, with divine grace and strength making resistance possible as He resisted while weakened by hunger. His victory broke appetite's hold, so Christians can overcome temptation and evil with divine help joined to human effort, pointing the way for followers to resist as He remained steadfast on humanity's behalf. That victory does not benefit a person unless that person also individually overcomes, for everyone faces the temptations He overcame and the battle is personal though others can pray, requiring self-denial and moral power exercised in the Conqueror's name.

Satan can distress and tempt but cannot control the will or force sin without consent, and human weakness united to Christ's might can resist the strongest temptation, for Christ is mightier than Satan and gives strength to those who seek it. Being severely tempted does not mean abandonment by God; those steadfast through Jesus' grace will bear victory, gain comfort and have angels minister as they did to Jesus, with trial followed by grace and strength from God. When God brings people into trial He has a purpose for good, so trying situations give no reason to doubt His leading, and believers should neither presume on promises by going unbidden into temptation nor despair when temptation comes.

Temptation meets people in their circumstances and weak points, and following Jesus' example of standing on God's word and trusting God to provide in His own time helps escape defeat without parleying with the enemy. Weakness, hunger or distress is no reason to distrust or depart, so following Him avoids defeat when Satan exploits weak points. When human weakness gives an opening, following His example helps escape defeat, and parleying gives advantage.

Workers exhausted and vulnerable may also overcome by relying on Him while using discretion to preserve health and strength, and those preaching may likewise overcome when exhaustion leaves them vulnerable. Faith must be grounded in every word with the Bible as foundation to avoid deception when Satan comes in glory claiming to be Christ, for miracles alone do not substantiate faith. Christ met Satan depending only on God and His Word while working no miracle, and that record was written for help today against signs and wonders including fire from heaven, for those firm on the Word will conquer through the Spirit's working which is stronger than miracles.

God's word is the unerring guide with no guesswork, the firm foundation every doctrine must have instead of human suppositions, so disciples stand as true as steel to principle and accept no opinions unless fully agreeing with God's word. Living by every word protects against Satan's deception claiming to be a sanctified pure angel, requiring complete obedience, for those turning from hearing the law prove children of disobedience whose carnal hearts are not subject to God's law. God's word arms with divine power when studied, trains souls by holding to Christ to face stronger tests and recognize devices, and gives assurance since it does not fail.

Christ overcame only by taking hold of divine power and meeting the enemy with the Bible until Satan had no power, and believers overcome the same way thereby becoming partakers of the divine nature with corruption worked out until changed into Christ's likeness. Jesus endured hardship to show the way and bring divine help needed to overcome, suffering in behalf of humanity the severest test to break appetite's power, with His whole life an example of self-denial. Christ resisted while hungry without railing, answering with the Lord's words and restraining natural impulse to speak harshly, teaching victory by meekness, humility and reliance on Scripture rather than yielding or reasoning.

Christ's human will stayed on the side of God's will when tempted as humans are with the same free will Adam had, and followers must crucify obstinate will into unison with God's will, keeping ever to the affirmative without accepting any ifs. Jesus treated God as Father affirming every provision wise and loving, resting in the Father's love with memory of words spoken at baptism, showing trust supports faithful living even when the wicked prosper because God governs bringing the upright to peace. The Spirit's testimony in sanctified lives is a living commentary, and receiving truth in this life prepares for judgment and partaking of heaven's bread.

Truth and thoughts appearing noble can be perverted, for Satan as angel of light disguises temptations under goodness to seem friend, requiring minds filled with pure love lest men fall into self-deception. Satan tempts people to love the world and pursue gain, presents worldly advantages to seekers of truth and distracts from eternal things by temporal concerns, but temptation must be firmly resisted without trading integrity and met with immediate rejection. Temptations to Christ are brought to believers bidding look after interest and treat liberality as whimsical, with victory by looking to Jesus as author and finisher of faith.

Christ's wilderness resistance teaches self-sacrifice, patience under affliction and consecration in preparation for sacred work, and His lifelong fierce struggle free from defilement shows no human is called to live holy amid conflict as fierce as His. Christ conquered the same evil spirit in the wilderness who later possessed the man in Capernaum, and His wilderness victory is recalled when He frees the demoniac, showing precedent for power over the enemy. Christ bore for man the test Adam failed, weak and emaciated with world's sins laid on Him, enduring reproach and shameful death that man might have eternal life, and fiercer temptation only brought spotless character into purer light.

Man could not overcome in own strength so Christ came in person from glory to bear the test, pitied weakness, clothed divinity with humanity to reach man while grasping the Infinite throne, deciding salvation and Satan's destruction. Christ volunteered for feeble moral power to bear the burden alone with none to help, showing self-denial stronger than hunger and death, and disputed Satan's authority on this world's battlefield watched by intelligences. Christ met Satan alone as destroyer and Redeemer after baptismal glory was replaced by sorrow under world's sins, volunteering to bear burden for feeble moral power.

Christ faced real temptations on great points without yielding in any particular, remaining without sin, meeting strongest temptations by relying on what God has spoken and gaining victory through power from above in answer to prayer. Satan repeatedly tempted but every temptation failed to turn from loyalty or stain purity, resisting with steadfast moral power. Satan's deceitful temptations did not accomplish purpose and his strongest efforts failed leaving him disappointed, yet he continues presenting them to people and comes in human form with entrancing words unless kept by God's power.

Christ in truly human hunger, weakness and dependence tempted without sin demonstrated humans may depend on God and receive divine strength, and endured in weak suffering humanity answering with God's word. Christ's long fast for humanity elevated moral value and He is sinner's only hope through whose merits those enslaved by liquor or tobacco can overcome, with tried stone bearing guilt proving safe foundation giving relief to broken hearts. Perfect obedience made Jesus the Redeemer bringing earth back to favor, testifying man can keep commandments through heaven-granted power with a way of escape, redeeming the fall to vantage ground.

Christ passed over where Adam fell to show men need not follow Adam, redeeming disgrace as Sin-bearer bearing undeserved condemnation so receivers stand justified with imputed righteousness. Christ stood in Adam's place overcoming for sinners four thousand years after with degeneracy upon Him single-handed where man assailed, though Adam stood perfect with wants supplied. Christ resisted far more severely than Adam faced, redeeming the fall and making second trial possible, essential to Bible temperance teaching.

In human nature He conquered in behalf of the fallen race and placed humanity on vantage ground with God. His obedience as a man shows people can overcome as divine power works through humanity and through faith share the divine nature. The church stands in and through Him who took the penalty of sin upon His own divine soul.

Without deep reception one lacks sure foundation and may turn when tested, while continual reception sanctifies understanding, heart, actions and conscience into right relation with God. Knowing the Word's truth is necessary for life and discernment between righteousness and unrighteousness, purifying through love to reveal God and improving mental and moral capabilities. Without experimental living senses are clouded by spiritualistic fog under Satan's power, twisting plans and blinding associates toward certain deception as with Adam and Eve, endangering youth and responsible men in danger of changing leaders.

Obeying and keeping commandments marks belonging to the church of the living God in contrast to apostasy breaking law, with heavenly bread requiring daily reception and obedience. God's people in last days live by every word obeying present truth to sanctify, overcome besetting sin and stand through difficulties, with truth guarding against last-days deceptions. Surrender wholly trusting dark as light, walking by faith and resting in love, with decision made amid infirmities and severe tests, placing in God's hands when faith is tested.

Life depends on God's revealed word to be kept, assimilated and obeyed rather than human suppositions, requiring diligent prayerful study not light reading to receive light. Christ met treacherous advances by God's authority to be meekly received and followed to resist evil, and His weapon is to be used by truth proclaimers against falsehood and discouragement because He would not remain in human form. It is written is the test to bring home to every soul, so teaching must rest on God's written word not theories Christ never mentioned, requiring Christ's message in simplicity without supplementing tests lacking foundation.

While loyal Adam lived by every word in trustful obedience, after sin God could no longer communicate as while sinless, teaching disobedience is never merit and transgressors are not entitled to rewards. The most important lesson is control of appetites and passions, for through intemperance Satan destroys mental and moral powers and seeks to blot likeness to God, reflected in refusal to work miracle for hunger though feeding the multitude. Christ condescended to bear temptation on appetite exercising self-control while suffering hunger, leaving work in human hands to rescue souls and wrestle in supplication, requiring individually controlling appetite to God's glory.

Jesus answered with God's word but Satan also used Scripture to support deception, trying to turn trust into demand for further proof, so truth mixed with falsehood can lose effect. He clung to the Father and pressed on without being discouraged or diverted, remaining steadfast even when it meant death and enduring every test without failing while bearing human guilt. From the desert Satan sought in every way to prevent perfect childhood, manhood, ministry and sacrifice but was defeated, and from desert to Calvary wrath beat with Son clinging to Father's hand.

He steadfastly resisted as He continued mission to save the lost, leaving without excuse and calling followers to continue struggle, with God expecting resistance as Jesus did. His example shows defenders of God's honor may face severe conflicts and stand almost alone, receiving through faith strength, moral sensibility and integrity like Moses, proving faith-united humanity can withstand Satan. As shepherd going before sheep He overcame so followers may overcome, dying to save and still guarding from heaven so not one following sheep can be taken.

Yielding to the Holy Spirit as to truth and seeking peace is required to live by every word, with belief full not partial, proved by works and finding strength in God. He came as poor man enduring temptation so none can claim He did not know poverty, and His steadfastness whom no threat intimidated teaches character higher than fallen man can attain in own strength. God's word is necessary spiritual food unlike newspapers, plainly setting duties and eternal welfare with each answerable for own soul, and must be received with hunger, faith and earnest attention then practiced and passed to others.

Believing God's word gives confidence He clears difficulties and gives daily light and strength, for as today's food cannot sustain tomorrow present blessings cannot be relied on for future temptations. Against falsehood He dealt in straightforward truth holding to truth at cost of life, and against worldly kingdoms offered for worship He used It is written, the word of Him mighty in counsel. After temptations ended angels brought food, and Christ's victory over strongest efforts freed Him for a season, though leaving was temporary while tempter prepared to return in ministry for last conflict.

Feeding upon the word and bringing will into subjection to Christ is required not merely theory, while living to please self and seeking pleasure leaves youth unfit for mission and judgment standard. People must depend on every word not own wisdom, with believing guiding workers as they present truth, and Scriptures must be searched diligently including directions from pillar of cloud about love to brethren and strangers. The bread of life must be kept before people in preaching, for dry Christless theories leave souls starving and are neither required nor accepted.

Truly living is believing everything God says, using faith to take hold of unseen blessings and go forward upward refusing satisfaction with present spirituality. God's word is given as what people live by calling for gratitude expressed by helping others understand it, and its value calls for sharing light so truth reaches hearts with power. God gives light to be shared, truth reaching hearts with power.

A determined purpose to obey everything is required especially of school leaders to exalt Christ's kingdom law, given intellect to see righteousness with faith working by love. Human life depends on every word, and God's word limits earthly authority so fidelity to civil duties remains but spiritual submission belongs to God alone because such submission is worship. God's words give eternal life and salvation, sustain life and His purposes as verified where wicked pass while upright come to peace.

Life depends not on bread alone but on every word Christ gives applied to education and enthroning Bible in heart, giving heavenly wisdom surpassing world's schools. Life depends not on food alone but on every word Christ gives applied to education with Word chief study giving understanding beyond schools. God's Word to serve as counselor and chief book in education for eternal life, welcoming helps keep students from turning back.

The only way to overcome is believing all God has spoken receiving whole Bible not detached portions, searching with awe and watching unto prayer, for cherished precepts are a wall of fire. Living by every word means diligently seeking thorough knowledge and not rejecting a message before investigating, with failure to face in day of God. God's word is truth by which people must live; rejecting it for Satan's lies destroys, and at judgment choice will be recognized without ability to turn back.

Life with God depends on every word not merely bread, requiring practice as well as teaching, for claiming without obeying does not make laborers together with God. The wilderness temptation lays bare workings of darkness from Satan's fall to present; Satan came quoting Scripture and will come clad in angel robes, and unless life is hid with Christ he will bind souls in unbelief. Christ repulsed tempter in every conflict and victories make conquering possible, giving courage and strength where Satan may distress but cannot force defile without consent.

Those preparing to serve must live by it, study earnestly and remain open to further truth rather than assume all revealed. Believers must overcome as Christ did through patient determined effort, self-denial and guarding soul, bringing eternal reward through Conqueror. Accepting every word unites soul with Christ going from strength to strength not weakness to weakness.

His experience of hunger and want prepared Him to sympathize with needy who trust helpless lives to His care and to help strugglers, qualifying Redeemer for reaching depths of woe to succor those striving to help themselves. Its wording about resisting appetite and remaining faithful to principle is not further explained here, and it belongs to resisting Satan's attempts while clinging to the Father without further explanation of words. Worldly influences cannot provide strength, and worldly societies are detrimental because they turn mind away from the word.

God's Word is to be reverenced, its voice recognized and precepts practiced as guide for life, with principles learned and lived in everything as Israel was taught. God's word is means to withstand evil spirits and fight principalities not flesh and blood, essential in ongoing conflict, but when distorted it loses power to defend. Christ took man's place where Adam disobeyed to prove men through divine power can keep God's law, enduring stronger temptation and referring tempter to inspired record as every soul may resist.

Christ appeared alone but was accompanied by angels commissioned to minister to those facing assaults, and there overcame. God's words have deeper significance and are to be obeyed by applying searching truths, while departing for human theories leads to confusion. Jesus would enter controversy with no man because He had work to do, and that victory on appetite gives every soul example to follow.

Christ resisted while hungry without railing, and His faithful obedience exemplifies education believers receive by studying teachings daily. Christ answered giving no other word to seize even while Satan pressed as reading thoughts surrounded by demons using seducing attractions, enduring forty days whose fiery darts found no lodgment. Christ endured test because people could not overcome in own strength, providing moral power so though degraded through faith made complete and enabled to obey law.

Christ was tested to use power to deliver from danger but resisted inclination to escape peril, overcoming on humanity's behalf. God's people should know Bible for themselves and use plain statements to resist Satan who twists teachings, with Bible as detector testing deceptive claims. Like Master followers live by every word, with Christ speaking through prophets and whole Bible manifesting Christ to fix faith on Word.

Those teaching need Scripture as weapon whose truth reaches hearts, and workers arm with It is written quoting correctly pressing forward. Believers meet discouragement with promises gaining victory through trust not own righteousness or experiences, with written word as staff against unbelief. Christ's example teaches representatives to answer every attack with living word rather than deceptive arguments, relying as defense cannot be overcome.

Christ resisted through rigid self-denial showing perfect submission to Father's will during fast. Life depends on every word as body depends on food, for words are heaven's bread none concerning salvation to be neglected or lost. Facing changing temptations requires depending on God for each new temptation through constant prayer and communion.

Spiritual life depends on coming to Christ holding fast as Saviour, taking as counsel and feeding by faith, only so heaven reached. God's word answers temptations confounding deceiver exposing false promise of submitting to Satan, directing to trust rather than accept worldly advantage. Christ met appetite test demonstrating humanity cooperating with divine power can obey, with imputed righteousness making obedience acceptable.

Jesus' victory shows believers must patiently resist and overcome through dependence on Conqueror who overcame on behalf. In human strength denying clamors is impossible with Satan exploiting hereditary weakness, but Christ passed man's ground even to thirst on cross so none disadvantaged, and strugglers must look there for victory through trust. Christ's example in meeting Satan is pattern for teaching truth acting not in self-sufficiency but speaking pure righteousness.

Christ's testing shows God's people should expect testing and must trust Lord. Soul must be nourished not merely physically, eating eternal words means receiving and doing with Bible purifying mind. Christ wrestling single-handed tracked to cross with hell leagued, with priests joining to catch in words but failing, teaches meeting foe demands more than intellect and comes only through sacrifice.

God's word to be received and diligently obeyed requires workers submit ways to Christ rather than insist on own methods. Righteous live by every word as standard not displaced by human authority even when obedience brings persecution, with past faithful experiences preparing for when human commands exalted. True believer lives by every word with receiving transforming character bearing fruit in holy speech to God's glory.

Every word to be treated with sacred respect, taught to children as soon as they understand, forming beautiful character. Obeying every word shows word savingly received remains as instrument of salvation. Christian lives by word from which comes ever-growing knowledge, light and faith working by love given for redemption to stand faultless through Christ's victory.

Those not led by Spirit depart from word following own judgment and so not living by it. Word gives direction requiring every worker receive instructions, with success depending on faith and earnest effort not human ambition. Men must live with no selective obedience since obeying one and disregarding others dishonors God, including plainest words enjoining love and oneness.

Christ's overcoming as true human not God tempted but Majesty become man keeping law as humanity can by faith bridging gulf enables men to partake divine nature. God's words stand forever unchangeable and relying keeps from confusion by Satan's reasoning enabling overcoming through Christ. God's word essential for life and continual advancement means obeying light with growth corresponding to blessings, where greater light brings greater responsibility.

Obeying truth unites soul to Christ elevating character sufficient to stand in evil times, not departing but letting word sanctify rather than nominal profession. Christ came as wonderful teacher in independent goodness, and living by word means receiving instruction as stewards beholding changes into likeness. When assailed He relied with It is written rather than human argument, teaching God's word not human wisdom is sure basis for choosing rightly.

True religion is knowing and doing will according to every word, obedience to law in heavenly ark by which at judgment people judged by deeds. Life depends on obeying everything making wise unto salvation, so teachers must be doers and refusing light is walking into self's opinions. Christians must have Christ's mind building on Him crucifying self so principles agree with words, standing in tempest hearing call higher separating from idols.

Living by faith learned as little child at Jesus' feet learning self-denial gives rest, in contrast to unbelief occasioning all sin. Being grounded means words practiced shaping righteous principles in every part of life. Christ's work was to present Word as life not convert by miracles, so He charged healed to tell home circle not world.

Jesus met long fast where appetite at issue enduring to break power and give strength against every passion. Life sustained by obeying all without adding human inventions as Jesus as child demanded Scriptural authority refusing rabbinical requirements exalting human words. God's Word as guide repulses enemy who has no power over one trusting testimony.

Knowing word equips to meet with It is written, with promises surrounding like wall of fire. Christ resisted so strugglers can look to Him for victory is theirs, while appetite controlled by reason since indulgence hinders discernment and consecration. Each victory contributes to good's final triumph over evil.

Satan's temptations did not accomplish purpose with Jesus. Christ relied on written word rather than human teaching setting Scripture above tradition using Scriptures to answer and proclaim asking what is written. Christ met each temptation with word giving strength to resist, trusting promises gives power to obey commandments.

Prayer and Bible study help remember promises with angels bringing truths to mind in great need. Life depends on more than food, so as people share bread they should share hope and Christlike love. Christ resisted satisfying hunger by letting appetite rule, making possible to overcome through temperance and control of passion.

What people spend on may fail to nourish: money on holidays and pleasures is spent on what is not bread drawing young toward what Word condemns. Feeding on Word strengthens while human words are chaff beside it. God's word was spiritual meat of Daniel who studied, prayed and practiced as faithful Christians.

God's words must be laid up, bound, taught to children and diligently kept bringing blessing and multiplied days, guarding against delusive sophistries while false science undermines faith. There is duty to believe every word proceeding from God. Jesus supported teaching answering It is written carrying light wherever He went.

Human life depends on Bread from heaven essential as food, and living means welcoming it as counselor giving light enabling students to serve. Life depends not on material provision alone but on every word as counsel of eternal wisdom, so even if truth brings poverty it must be kept. Life depends on God's word not merely food; in wilderness He overcame on humanity's behalf pointing way to resist so through power they can overcome.

Spiritual life like physical sustained by word requires close attention dwelling on each verse until made one's own. Life and salvation depend on living by every word not merely bread; saved stand on Scripture letting Christ's beauty shape character preparing for companionship in heaven. Life depends on every word, so sure prophecy must not be added to or diminished from.

Human life depends on communion with One who gives life keeping heart in motion, deserving reverence, especially giving Son as propitiation. Recognizing God's claims would check murders and tyranny, while forgetting God leaves world in sin as antediluvians. Receiving God's word as necessary for temporal and spiritual life enables knowing Christ and receiving Holy Spirit in measure able to accept, while rejecting leaves spiritually hungry.

Neglecting teaching by failing to hear attentively and do brings lack of spiritual health. Putting worldly possessions first discards Bible giving worldly power place of God, for words are eternal wisdom. Trust in word supports faithful living even when wicked prosper because God governs bringing upright to peace.

Spiritual life preserved by each going to God for self rather than depending on ministers, so those embracing third angel's message must have individual experience freeing workers for new fields. Workers especially with talents must keep yoked with Christ, for God cannot use self-sufficient but humble workers, giving medical workers divine education and love for brethren. Living by every word with simple faith drawing near to Christ living His life by faith means having everything enabling triumph over lower nature.

Soul health depends on eating every word through active obedience empowered by Spirit preparing for eternal life healing like tree of life, while without it heart diseased and appetite depraved. Christ's words treasured above wealth guide and sustain, with every Scripture word treasured above maxims and policy. Attention leads to respecting all commandments, and workers must seek expressed will without careless disregard.

Claiming to live requires obeying clear commands including seventh day and questioning spending Lord's money multiplying pictures of heavenly things. Eating means receiving as spirit and life testifying God is ruler pursued by following plain instruction with temperament controlled. Belief must be full taking in greatness calling for prayer proved by works, with humble worker finding sufficiency in God.

Reliance is daily coming opening heart sustaining hope of eternal life. Receiving word in faith depends on pure atmosphere kept by avoiding evil association and fellowship with meek followers. Verse belongs to nearly six weeks battle overcoming not for self but humanity making possible to overcome through sinlessness merit.

Verse shows steadfastness whom no threat intimidated from duty. Verse belongs to fierce conflict after baptism before Cana endured alone unwilling for eye to behold agony. Humble Spirit-filled workers proclaim message from Scriptures presenting God's word through It is written.

Conflict teaches self-sacrifice, patience, consecration and preparation for sacred work. Temptations offered provide example people may accept yielding to darkness, and to live without God is fatal deception with no honor compensating disobedience. God's written word is authority on which to stand against wrong principles speaking and acting from that word.

Christ's answer is example: those knowing truth keep Bible at hand answering false teachings with It is written. Living by everything gives richest grace through surrendering worries refusing to lead self but being led and sanctified, throwing gloom overboard taking oars of faith drawing nigh to God and one another. Living with no confidence in self clothes with armor of truth to do only right without wounding Christ.

Written word is means of help with assurance resting on word rather than feelings. Christian life depends on accepting God's plans rather than human wisdom keeping joined to Christ so gifts bless others. Those striving must search truth with implicit trust working by faith believing and doing without departing, interpreting without distorting, with proclaimers testifying by obeying not worldly maxims.

Consistent implicit obedience lived not merely heard shapes mind and speech sanctifying small choices, with even single disobedience obstructing light. Life sustained by searching to learn requirements: mere profession does not transform but received and obeyed purifies mind and with Spirit sanctifies, God revealing necessary not all, guarding against unbelief. Living means nourished by Christ taking Word into nature like stalk connected, requiring not devoting time to useless reading.

Just as body needs suitable food soul depends on God's words as Bread from heaven guiding mind in submission, applied by Spirit forming new nature against old for faithful service. Christ continued steadfast because He came to rescue perishing world and seek lost. People may live through sharing divine nature, for sinless Christ took infirmities showing possible union resisting all attacks open to all.

Feeding brings will under Christ's authority instead of pleasing self. No one is to believe only part choosing easiest or pleasing, making excuses or rejecting what cuts across inclination, teachers especially must first be learners in obedience. Determined obedience brings discernment faith working by love renewing whole being once deformed.

God's principles to be learned in everything as Moses taught Israel. Satan substituted misleading statements, and those misquoting to support error follow example. During temptation Satan worked to confuse mind obstructing understanding revealing method diverting inquiring mind.

Fast had definite object teaching temperance including abstinence from tobacco weakening body confusing brain, belonging in temperance discussion. Victory requires connection to receive wisdom while contentment with earthliness fails dragging others and judged for undone good. Christ faced real temptations on great points point by point without yielding remaining sinless bringing spotless character clearer.

Christ remained faithful without allowing evil unrebuked, Satan could wound but not gain victory unless false to God. Satan brought fierce temptation in weakest moment after fasting using strategy gaining many victories, part of what suffered for humanity. Christ faced alone giving hope knowing ground able to deliver those calling in faith.

Same testing will come with Satan as angel of light. Satan tempted with earthly kingship repeated when multitude tried to force kingship, facing real mental conflict but refusing dismissing multitude to pray. Christ would not accept offer at cost of departing, showing temptation firmly resisted can be overcome without trading integrity.

Jesus is pattern to copy exact in principle upright alert discerning making strict in dealings tender charitable meek. God's word rather than inventions, ministers or councils is sure authority for eternal matters which Jesus obeyed using true meaning against imposed teachings. God's word must abide stored ready to recognize and answer relying on Christ, thereby winning appetite victory as example.

Word is defense against devices to gain preeminence, and third angel proclaimers must stand on sacred foundation putting on armor against falsehood. Living means hearing with hunger receiving in faith practicing in small and great transforming character governing speech temper proving belief by works. Spiritual life depends on taking words into nature through Spirit enabling growth.

Resisting as Christ did requires following all the light and studying the Bible more fully to meet its requirements, laying aside story magazines, with angels strengthening understanding, bringing God into families and schools.