Matthew 4:6, commentary and pictures

Satan set Christ on the pinnacle of the temple and dared Him to prove He was the Son of God by throwing Himself down and trusting angels to catch Him. To make the dare seem lawful he quoted God's promise of angelic charge and bearing up, but left out its limiting condition that the keeping is in all appointed ways of duty and obedience. The demand was to presumption, which claims the promise while willfully entering unbidden danger to force God to show saving power, and this is tempting God rather than trusting Him. Jesus refused to leave His Father's way or work a miracle for Himself, answering only by what is written and leaving rescue to God in the path of obedience. Meeting as man at the head of humanity where Adam fell, He gained a complete victory that broke Satan's claimed dominion and supplies power for all who resist by the Word in faith.

Wilderness Setting and Sequence

Matthew 4:6 belongs to the second of the three wilderness temptations that followed the baptism, when Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness and then set by Satan on a pinnacle of the temple in the holy city of Jerusalem before being taken to a high mountain. There He had fasted forty days and forty nights, and Satan challenged Him if He was the Son of God to cast Himself down, supporting the demand by quoting the promise that God would give His angels charge concerning Him and in their hands bear Him up lest He dash His foot against a stone. That wilderness conflict tested His trust in the Father in the place of fallen humanity and in behalf of those He came to redeem, as part of His work of meeting the test where Adam had failed. After the long fast and severe conflict He lay as if dying on a battlefield, and angels came to minister to Him. The promise was misquoted by leaving out to keep Thee in all Thy ways, which means in all the ways of God's choosing, so that angelic protection applies in the path of obedience and not when one unbidden puts himself in danger to force God to intervene or to work a miracle for his own benefit.

It occurred during nearly six weeks of fasting forty days and forty nights with nothing eaten, leaving Him hungered, weakened and emaciated, enduring physical suffering, physical want, mental anguish and humiliation before beginning public ministry. Satan exploited that weakened human condition, pressing severe assaults through forty days and nights, yet his attacks found no lodgment. The trial began the work of redemption where humanity's ruin began, in appetite, to break the power of appetite for human beings and work out a glorious victory for them. His endurance and self-denial in denying appetite and overcoming its power is presented as an example of mastery over appetite and passion, teaching self-denial, temperance and resistance to indulgence. By taking up the work themselves with divine intelligence cooperating with them, those who accept the divine aid on which He relied can stand in moral integrity as men free from all slavery of perverted appetite and passion and live a Christian life, and fathers should tell this story to their children.

The conflict came immediately after heaven opened and the Spirit rested on Him, showing that a rich blessing and revealed presence and favor may be followed by severe trial. Being brought by God into a trying situation is no reason to doubt God's leading or lose courage, because God brings trial for good purpose. The right course is neither presumption before temptation by going unbidden into trial to test the promise, nor despondency and despair when real temptation comes upon Him. Victory comes through drawing near to God and relying on Christ's strength, fighting by faith with God's Word as armor, weapon and sword to answer wisely and firmly without being drawn into argument.

It was fought at the beginning of His ministry when the kingdom of God stood opposed by Satan's kingdom, soon after which He presented Himself in His true character at Nazareth. It was endured during His nearly six-week fast with suffering and love, when He was at His weakest and faced the fiercest temptation from Satan as part of what He suffered for humanity. Some accounts give only the setting of the temptation in the wilderness without explaining the specific temptation or the words about the angels, while showing God's great gift to the world and giving ground for temperance and for keeping Christ uplifted. In that setting Satan approached Him as an angel of light with lying suggestions, and Christ in human nature stood against them on the ground where Adam had fallen and came off conqueror without yielding at any point.

Tempter and His Challenge

The speaker is Satan, the fallen foe and prince of darkness and of the powers of darkness, who retains great power and subtlety after his fall and has grown more artful and powerful in tempting people. He was once a glorious angel next to Christ and one with God, but through jealousy over Christ's place originated sin, drew a third of the angels, was expelled, and now disputes sovereignty as prince of this world. He can confront and tempt even Christ, carrying Him to the temple pinnacle and to a high mountain, which shows his formidable strength and wisdom against human beings who are far weaker than Christ even in His human nature.

He came in disguise as a beautiful angel of light clothed in the livery of heaven, as a heaven-sent friend from God's presence who knows Scripture and its meaning. He claimed sympathy and desire to relieve suffering and save life, denied that God required self-denial and death, and offered an easier path, while hiding murderous purpose and feigning doubt because of Christ's emaciated, weary, worn, hungry, suffering appearance. He is known not by appearance but by words of distrust, and his deceptive supernatural appearance and apparent wonders do not prove a power comes from God, so believers will likewise be tested and require watchfulness and prayer.

With the words about being the Son of God he cast doubt on Christ's sonship, dignity, authority, mission, Messiahship and integrity as the Son of the Infinite, questioning His dignity, disputing His authority and assailing His allegiance to His heavenly Father. He challenged Him to prove identity by casting Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple in the holy city at Jerusalem, from a dizzy height down into the surging crowds below, demanding a sign, a wonderful work and a display of power and protection, including performing a miracle to vindicate Himself and to indicate entire confidence in the Father's preserving care. The renewed test pressed Him to prove trust in God by another act and to answer the doubt, taunting superior strength and seeking to make Him question God's plans and law, abandon integrity, and take an independent position.

The demand sought a reckless public leap before crowds to create a sensation, win popular confidence as Saviour, and exalt self through display of divine power and reliance on angelic rescue, trusting the Father to keep Him from harm and save Him from injury by exercise of divine power. It was an appeal to display, ambition, and worldly honor, to gain popular favor and establish His claim, the same appeal later repeated when crowds wanted to make Him king and when He was urged to turn aside and save Himself. Christ refused to do this to gain popular favor, and His refusal proves He never worked a miracle to help Himself or to supply His own necessities.

He pressed the challenge when Christ was weakened by hunger, weariness, want, physical suffering, anguish and humiliation after fasting forty days and forty nights, hoping as with people to shake confidence, undermine trust in God's love, provoke distrust and independent action, and allure from duty. He used new and unexpected suggestions fitted to the moment of greatest need, admitting His right course in the wilderness in order to urge one more proof of faith, with manifold temptations, seducing attractions, artful sophistry and flattering inducements to rob Him of integrity. Yielding and flinging Himself down to prove His claim to the Father's protection would have exhibited the weakness of human nature.

The act reveals presumptuous boldness, malice and deception, disputing allegiance and seeking to push perfect faith and confidence over the line into presumption, which lies close beside it. Satan can invite but cannot compel to sin, cannot himself throw Jesus down or force Him to throw Himself down or to depart in the slightest from His Father's will, and God would have delivered Him from Satan's violence, so defeat was impossible without Christ's own consent. His power to carry Christ shows he can exercise power over human beings, and Satan's fall did not destroy his powers of strength and subtlety.

In connection with this temptation he also showed all the kingdoms of the world in attractive glory with splendid cities, marble palaces, fruitful fields, vineyards and their glory, and offered them with all honor, riches and glory for worship and acknowledging his claims, seeking compromise for worldly advantage at the cost of obedience. His promises are deceptive and his temptations are to be answered with the word of God, for he sought to lead into sin by presenting advantages and appealing to ambition rather than gaining worldly power or riches through compromise. While Christ saw beneath the outward beauty a world in wretchedness and sin apart from God and misery from turning from God to worship Satan, He was filled with longing to redeem what was lost, to restore the world to more than its Eden beauty, and to place men on vantage-ground with God.

Misused Promise of Angels

To press the demand to cast Himself down, the tempter met Him on Scripture ground with God's promise to give angels charge over Him and to bear Him up in their hands lest He dash His foot against a stone, making a self-chosen risk appear justified. The challenge was laid after the baptism at Jordan and the leading by the Spirit into the wilderness with forty days and forty nights of fasting and hunger, when He was taken up into the holy city and set on a pinnacle of the temple with the words, If Thou be the Son of God. The urging was to throw Himself down on the ground of that promise of angelic protection, daring Him to demand miraculous rescue from the temple height. He answered that one must not tempt God.

The quotation was false and incomplete because it omitted the limiting words to keep Thee in all Thy ways, which confine angelic keeping to all the ways of God's choosing. That condition means protection holds only while staying in the path of duty, obedience, and the work God appoints, where the enemy can gain no advantage. Casting Himself down was not in the Lord's way, not the way to obtain supremacy, and not a path God had appointed but a path devised by the tempter, so the promise gave no right to claim rescue for willful danger or to act on His own behalf. To go outside obedience and place Himself unbidden in peril that would necessitate the Father's interposition to save Him from death would be distrust, forcing providence, putting God's word to the test after God had already testified He was His Son, and failing to give man an example of trust and submission. While manifesting perfect trust in the Father, He would not leave obedience or work a miracle in His own behalf to deliver Himself from emergency, but met it at the head of humanity as a human being and partaker of the divine nature, divinity and humanity combined, without violating one precept and without blot or stain.

He used Scripture selectively and deceptively to disguise temptation, turning trust into a demand for proof and encouraging presumption and pride in display while presenting himself as friend rather than enemy. Coming as an angel of light who knows Scripture and its meaning, he covered deception with the promise and pressed a renewed test prefaced by doubt about sonship, urging another act to prove trust and to answer the doubt. He can invite but cannot compel to sin, cannot himself throw down or force a casting down or force departure in the slightest from the Father's will, and God would have delivered from violence, so defeat was impossible without consent. The episode warns against accepting a dare to prove the truth or using Scripture to justify a self-chosen risk, since God protects His people as they travel the path of duty, not a path devised against them.

Quoting Scripture does not make a message trustworthy, for truth interwoven with falsehood through misconstruction, misapplication, twisting, and mingling with delusion can serve error, gain confidence, and lead astray. Plain statements of Scripture are the weapons against such delusions, and standing on God's word rather than yielding to presumption is required when the promise is perverted to support deception. The same perversion appears when the promise is used to justify indulgence of appetite and worldly pleasure, disguising evil as good under an appearance of goodness. By enchanting sentiments and thoughts that appear elevating and noble, and by coming as an angel of light, he beguiles with subtle temptations and bewilders with specious deceptions to make men believe he is friend rather than enemy.

This misuse continues through human agents, for he misconstrues the Scriptures and applies them to serve his own purposes, working through every divided heart, every unchristlike trait, and every tendency to wrong to confuse judgment and weaken faith. Ever since Eden he has carried on the work begun there, afflicting bodies and then through his agencies relieving oppression so his agents can declare a miracle has been wrought, with falsehoods and deceptive arts undiscerned by human wisdom. Truth joined to error thereby loses its effect, and persuasive reasoning beside the tempted seeks to confuse judgment and weaken the sense of right and fairness. His temptations are overcome through faith, while attempting to overcome in human strength leaves a person a prey to his devices.

Presumption Contrasted With Faith

The temptation is to presumption, a leading temptation that lies close beside perfect faith. It is claiming the promises while recklessly rushing into danger, violating the laws of nature and disregarding the prudence, judgment and reason God has given. To deliberately imperil life and then expect divine power to save is presumption, not faith, for lives belong to the Lord and are not to be placed in peril. Satan urged proving sonship and Messiahship by throwing the body from the temple, misusing the Scripture promise of angelic protection to make a self-chosen risk and display appear justified, but that promise did not authorize creating needless danger or demanding a display of protection. Trusting God means relying on His care without testing Him.

The dare shows how Satan can lead people, especially children seeking honor, to risk mind and body under his influence. His quotation was incomplete, omitting “in all thy ways,” which limits angelic keeping to the path of duty, obedience and God’s choosing. Trust in the care of the heavenly Father does not go where He does not send or do what He has forbidden, and to disobey on the ground that God is merciful and ready to forgive is presumption. God forgives all who seek pardon and turn away from sin, but those who choose to disobey He cannot bless. Jesus refused to force providence or put His Father’s love and faithfulness to a needless trial, and His victory gives His people a pattern of unwavering confidence through danger without manufacturing danger to demand protection.

God’s promises of angelic charge, protection and guardianship are conditional on faith and obedience in the appointed path, giving strength for every required duty and continual guardianship where danger is not willfully chosen. They apply as He keeps people in all their ways, the paths laid out for them according to the light of His Word, and belong only to those who trust God, follow His way and meet its conditions. There is no promise of miracle or rescue to one who needlessly places himself in peril, follows his own way while claiming the promises, deliberately enters fire or sin, throws himself down, or risks life. The promise is no warrant to place oneself needlessly in danger or on the enemy’s ground, for when people go where sin is they cannot count on angels to preserve them from its evil influence. God works on behalf of His people when it is necessary, but Jesus would not leave the path of obedience or demand that His Father rescue Him from a danger chosen without command. Asking God for proof of His care, or for what He has not promised, expresses distrust and tests Him; His promises are to be trusted, not put to the test.

True faith shows perfect confidence and entire dependence without presuming on mercy to force God to display saving power. Christ knew God could indeed bear Him up if required, but to act unbidden by His Father and merely because Satan dared Him would not have shown strength of faith. It would have put His Father’s faithfulness and love to a needless trial and presumptuously experimented upon providence, which is tempting God. To have yielded would have shown the weakness of human nature, while refusal even in the hands of the enemy in extreme difficulty and peril showed unwavering integrity and perfect faith in promised care. That victory leaves a perfect pattern and example of faith and firm trust, showing that safety in all trials and perils is firm, unwavering confidence in God rather than placing oneself in needless peril to make divine display necessary.

Safety is in walking in accordance with God’s Word and not opening the door to the enemy’s suggestions and sudden unreasonable impulses. God’s promises do not excuse reckless conduct, and claiming divine protection while deliberately entering danger is presumption. Scripture must guide conduct rather than be misused to justify self-chosen danger, for the tempter uses a biblical promise to disguise temptation to presume on divine care. Men and women influenced by his suggestions are in danger of calling presumption faith, since the path of presumption lies right beside the path of faith. Sudden impulses leading professed followers to act unreasonably and inconsistently are not genuine faith but the outworking of presumption, while meditation and prayer help avoid placing oneself where a miracle is needed to escape unharmed, and God will do much more for His people when they walk in His way. Christ overcame this temptation and left an example of resisting Satan with Scripture.

The right course is neither presumption before temptation by going unbidden into trial to test the promise, nor despondency under trial brought by God for good. Jesus refused to go unbidden into temptation to test God’s promise, and He did not give up to despair when real temptation came upon Him. Being brought by God into a trying situation is no reason to doubt His leading or lose courage, because God brings trial for good purpose.

Christ's Refusal and Victory

Jesus knew His Father could uphold Him if duty required it, yet He refused to step outside obedience into a path God had not appointed in order to compel a rescue from death. To cast Himself down from the pinnacle would have been to leave the way of God's choosing, where alone the promise of angelic charge in all appointed ways holds good, and to force providence to interpose. After heaven had already testified that He was the Son, to demand such proof by risking life would have been distrust, putting the Father's faithfulness and love to needless trial and experiment. His trust was therefore joined with submission, giving humanity an example of confidence without presumption.

He would not work a miracle in His own behalf to deliver Himself from emergency, relieve His own necessity, supply His wants, gain favor, or please the devil, though He had power to do so. All His wonderful works were for the good of others and to relieve suffering, and to use divine power for Himself would have broken His agreement to live as a probationer for the race. Casting Himself down was not in the Lord's way, nor the way to obtain supremacy or to show what God will be to those who resist the enemy. He met the dare standing at the head of humanity as man partaking of divine nature, without violating one precept and without blot or stain.

Yielding and flinging Himself down to prove His claim to protection would have exhibited the weakness of human nature and presumed on His Father's mercy. It would have risked His life before His mission was complete and threatened the plan of salvation and His agreement with the Father. Such a reckless display to win confidence by sensation confuses rash presumption with intelligent confidence in God. Where danger is not willfully chosen, integrity may expect deliverance by an angel if necessary, with entire confidence that the Father will not suffer temptation above strength to endure.

A leap witnessed only by Satan and God's angels, without a special purpose honoring God, would not have glorified the Father. It would have been tempting God to display power before His bitterest foe and yielding to the very enemy He came to conquer. Disputes and trials are therefore to be borne patiently, and God is to be called upon to defeat enemies only when it can directly honor and glorify Him. Christ's refusal is the pattern for refusing such a demand.

The same demand to prove Sonship by miraculous self-rescue was repeated at the cross, when enemies mocked Him to come down and save Himself, with Satan and his angels again present working through them. As in the wilderness He did not come down or save Himself, and by refusing He made pardon and favor with God possible for sinners. The same foe later urged Him to turn aside from His course to spare suffering and leave His work unfinished, and the same appeal to display and worldly honor arose when crowds wanted to make Him king, which He firmly refused, dismissing them to pray alone. From desert to cross He would not vindicate Himself by display.

Satan could invite but could not compel to sin, could not himself throw Jesus down or force Him to throw Himself down, nor force Him to depart in the slightest from His Father's will. God would have delivered Him from Satan's violence if Satan passed his prescribed limit, so defeat was impossible without Christ's own consent. There was nothing in Christ that responded to the sophistry, and not even by a thought did He yield to temptation. He failed to draw Him away from God.

He overcame by the Word of God alone, resting upon His Father's wisdom and strength and answering only It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. He never met temptation with human wisdom or arguments of His own, nor entered into controversy of words or repeated the opponent's claims, but held to the affirmative, which stops the enemy and lets truth reach the understanding. The Word is the unerring guide leaving no room for guesswork, and doctrines must have It is written for foundation rather than human supposition. So armed, believers may live by every word proceeding from God's mouth, looking not to circumstances or self-weakness but to the power of the Word.

All heaven watched the conflict with intense interest, with angels standing on guard ready to undertake in Christ's behalf should Satan pass his limit, burning with love as they beheld their Commander apparently in His foe's power. The trial concerned humanity's salvation as He contended single-handed with the prince of darkness. Afterward He lay as if dying on the battlefield, as one dead under the terrible strain, and angels ministered to Him with food, encircling Him in their arms and bringing divine consolation and strength. Being severely tempted as His followers may be, especially those rescuing others from Satan, does not mean abandonment, for when Satan is resisted he leaves and angels minister grace to the steadfast.

He resisted through rigid self-denial and perfect submission while weakened by forty days and nights of fasting with severe mental suffering, surrounded by Satan and demons under deceptive pretensions as angels from heaven. They pressed seducing attractions with most deceiving and artful sophistry, wily insinuations against God to undermine confidence, destroy faith, keep the mind on constant strain, and allure Him into controversy as if reading unspoken thoughts. He gave no word to lead them on, answering each point only with His own inspired words, and though the fiery darts were surely aimed in the most fearful assault, they found no lodgment. His whole life showed such submission in contrast to Satan's disloyalty.

The same foe He conquered there later confronted Him in the demon-possessed man in the synagogue and in the man at Capernaum through different devices and appearances, where holding ground and freeing captives gave further victory. The assaults that began in the desert continued to Calvary, yet Satan could not turn Him from His work or overcome Him or stain His purity. He remained faithful to His Father and loyal to God under every attempt. The same evil spirit later controlled unbelieving rejecters under appearance of piety.

After failing to overcome Him, Satan in rage turned to other strategies against His ministry, fostering unbelief and hostility among the Jews to hinder His mission. Defeated in enticing Him from unreserved surrender, he determined to bring sorrow upon Him by striking John the Baptist. He spent the three years of ministry preparing to return for a last fearful conflict in Gethsemane, staying on His track to the cross, where everything was at stake for his hope of mastery. Yet Jesus was not discouraged or driven from His work, but clung to His Father, and the attacks brought His spotless character into clearer view.

Representative Victory for Humanity

He met Satan as a man standing at the head of humanity, taking human nature with all its possibilities, with divinity clothed in humanity and combined with it and fitted for the conflict by the indwelling of the Spirit. To do this He laid aside His royal robe and kingly crown and divine glory and came to live as a man among men and to meet humanity even in its most sinful and corrupt form, because sinners could not have stood in His presence had He come in full divine power. In that humiliation His dignity was questioned, His authority disputed and His allegiance assailed by a fallen foe who showed superiority over Him, yet He would not violate one precept and came forth without blot or stain, more than conqueror, placing the race on vantage ground with God.

He was truly capable of yielding to the call to cast Himself down, taking fallen but uncorrupted human nature like ours, without sinful corrupt propensities and without unavailable angelic powers, on Adam's ground. The union of divine with human nature made yielding possible, and He would only have been corrupted by receiving Satan's words in place of God's words, holding fast to God and His word without giving Satan any response to build on. To deny that He could have yielded would make the battle a fable, degrade the force of this most eventful part of His humiliation, and rob Him of His greatest glory and men of instruction, help and a perfect example. United with divinity by faith, human nature can withstand Satan, and through the provision He made He helps men resist by joining divine power with human effort.

He stood in Adam's place single-handed under conditions far more severe than Eden, after four thousand years of decreasing physical, mental and moral strength, bearing the race's sins, infirmities, weaknesses, degeneracy and degradation to the lowest depths. Adam stood without taint of sin in the strength of perfection with all organs and faculties equally developed and harmoniously balanced, surrounded with everything his heart could wish in glorious Eden with no sin and no decay, yet fell by sophistry without reaching for divine power, while Christ with the weaknesses of fallen man upon Him endured temptation a hundredfold stronger than ever was or ever will be brought upon the race. He endured the pressure of Adam's guilt and the guilt of his posterity without failing, in a world disloyal to God and seared by rebellion where God's character was falsely represented, meeting and exposing those misrepresentations as false.

The conflict was a contest between the Prince of Light and the leader of the kingdom of darkness with mighty issues for the world at stake, a living battlefield watched by the universe with intense interest by angels for their loved Commander. It was fought to disprove Satan's claim as prince of this world, to show as the Son of man standing loyal to God that Satan had not gained complete control and his claim was false, to dispute his sovereignty, to remove false impressions of God, to recover the dominion Adam had lost, and to set free all who desired deliverance, deciding Satan's rule and Christ's kingdom. Man's salvation was at stake in whether Satan or the Redeemer would come off conqueror, for Satan sought a victory he thought would establish his life and kingdom and thwart God's plan to save humanity.

His complete victory where Adam failed redeemed Adam's disgraceful failure and fall that had plunged the race into hopeless misery, broke claimed dominion, bruised the serpent's head, left Satan's case hopeless, exposed the deceiver, carried out salvation and paid redemption's price through a stainless life. Divine power combined with His humanity gained an infinite victory that raised humanity's moral value, placed men on vantage ground with God that they might be equal with the angels and worthy to be acknowledged as sons of God, and revealed the Father's inexpressible love in giving His Son to shame and agony to bring many to glory. That victory gives ground for temperance and for uplifting Christ, showing the longing to redeem what was lost and restore the world to more than its Eden beauty.

What He overcame makes it possible for followers to overcome, for tempted in all points like humanity yet without sin and sympathizing with weakness, He supplies moral power, grace and strength so that in His name, by His Word and through living connection, prayer and cooperation of human effort with divine influence, people can resist, keep the law, conquer appetite and every passion, partake of the divine nature and be acknowledged as sons of God. The same victory is possible by the Word of God without entering into controversy, for He overcame by the Word alone, resting on His Father's wisdom and strength, and so long as men are united to Him by faith sin has no more dominion and they may attain perfection of character by living by every word from the mouth of God. Yet the victory benefits no one unless personally overcome, for the battle to deny appetite and gain victory must be fought personally in the name of the Conqueror, and if man stumbles under Satan's temptations with Adam's fall as warning and Christ's life as example he is without excuse.

He knows the strength of temptation and can help the tempted, having been declared God's beloved Son yet not exempt from trial, meeting it as a poor man in flesh and blood as the seed of Abraham made like His brethren, without relying on angelic privilege or special power unavailable to people, praying earnestly and understanding trials. As merciful and faithful high priest who Himself suffered being tempted He is able to succor the tempted, binding His interests to humanity with assurance that none will be tempted beyond what can be borne because with the temptation a way of escape is made. The test upon love of display that overcame Adam and Eve was urged on Him in far greater degree as His character is superior and with the terrible weight of the sins of the world upon Him, and the same controversy is repeated within every human heart turning from evil to God's service. His victory on the point of appetite by self-denial and self-control while suffering the gnawing pangs of hunger broke appetite's power where ruin began, rebukes dissipation and gluttony, and teaches temperance, mastery over passion, and abstinence from enslaving substances including tobacco that benumb perception, subject higher powers to animal passions and unfit minds for duty. As the tried foundation stone He bore every test including that pressure of guilt without failing and came off more than conqueror, so guilty hearts falling broken upon this rock find relief and those who trust and build upon Him rest in perfect security without disappointment.

Warning and Pattern for Believers

The encounter is a warning to every child of God not to accept any challenge of the enemy, not to repeat or entertain his doubts, not to parley or argue, but to hold to truth, rely on God, and instantly reject his suggestions and bribes. Meditation and prayer would preserve from danger by leading to shun the critical, dangerous position instead of giving Satan advantage through listening. Beholding and studying the world's ambitious plans makes the mind favorable to worldly methods, and uniting with the world blinds like the worldling who cannot discern Jesus nor see the beauty of truth.

Those who profess to follow Christ and to be enlisted against all evil frequently plunge without thought into temptations from which it would require a miracle to bring them forth unsullied. With this presumption Satan assails men and obtains the victory nine times out of ten. A dare can lead people, especially children seeking honor, to risk mind and body under Satan's influence.

Placing oneself unbidden on the enemy's ground and claiming God's protection while rejecting God's guidance brings no saving from wounds and no imparted power. The self-sufficient one who acts as if he knows more than his Lord is left to go on in supposed strength, and then come suffering and a crippled life, or defeat and death. Those who realize their weakness and trust in a power higher than self and look to God, doing His will barricaded by the assurances Scripture gives, have Satan with no power over them. Victory comes to the tempted soul who follows Christ's example in meeting the tempter with It is written, standing securely in a Thus saith the Lord.

His refusal is an example for Christians when tempted or when their rights are disputed to bear such trials patiently and not call on God to display His power merely to defeat enemies. Such a request is justified only when there is a special purpose through which God can be directly honored and glorified. Safety for the tempted is that same course of answering always with Scripture, keeping the tongue from uttering any words but those He uttered, uttering not one word when feelings are stirred even to answer a provoking question. Lest Satan stir human passions to retaliatory words, loss of vantage ground with God must be avoided, for that places the tempted on the enemy's ground to be overcome.

Every thrust of the enemy is to be answered with the word of God, without making a railing accusation, for Scripture is the defense and the means of resisting temptation. Christ met the enemy with God's word and was not overcome, never meeting temptation with human words or human wisdom but always with It is written, quoting His own words He had inspired holy men of old to write. He gave Satan no word to lead him on and entered no controversy or allure into dispute, though surrounded by demons under deceptive pretensions as angels from heaven with seducing attractions and artful sophistry, wily insinuations against God to undermine confidence, destroy faith and trust, and keep the mind on constant strain. Christ did not use His power to work miracles for Himself, and His repeated appeal to what is written shows the Word as His defense in the conflict He faced on humanity's behalf and that people must face throughout life. Keeping close to the Word abiding in the soul gives sharp perception to discern the wiles of the host of hell, brings unseen heavenly agencies to work for the tempted, lifts up the standard against the enemy, sets his boundary, and proves power for mission.

Study of God's word and earnest prayer are the means God has provided to resist temptation, and those who make that word their study arm themselves with weapons of divine power against the attacks of the foe. If children early become familiar with the truths of God's word, a barrier against ungodliness is erected in them, barring the way against Satan's devices and enabling them to resist the foe in the same way. Resisting as He did requires laying aside story magazines and fictitious reading that weakens interest in Scripture and leaves less ability to study it, and instead studying the Word to know the Bible and fully meet its requirements. Angels of heaven are right around those who study at such times to strengthen understanding, and this preparation is needed in families and in schools so children and students learn the things of God and escape the corruption in the world through lust, because in the day when every case is forever decided many will wish they had studied their Bibles more.

God's Word is the sure guide when facing temptation, and relying on its living testimony drives Satan back, for no human authority can replace it. God's Word, not the assertions of ministers, councils, or other people, is the ground for faith, and in matters of eternal importance people are to rely on its truth rather than human opinions. That use of It is written is the pattern for those founded on great and sacred truths who proclaim solemn messages, who must put on the whole armor of God and with It is written stand bravely at their post, fight the good fight of faith, and resist every device set in operation to fight its way to pre-eminence. It is written is the test to be brought home to every soul, for truth as presented in Christ's teachings convicts and converts, and proclaiming in His simplicity the truths He came to proclaim makes the power of the message felt. It forbids advocating theories or tests Christ never mentioned that have no foundation in the Bible, because there are grand, solemn truths for the people. When called to violate God's law, ministers and all others are to answer in the same way, echoing God's words with pen and voice and speaking as few words of their own as possible, with hearts supplied from God's furnishing and wisdom from above. Those who have God with them will pass through perplexing trials firm as a rock to principle, obeying God rather than man, and this stand will bring victories that lack of faith regarded as hopeless and impossible. Christ used the words It is written as weapons against the enemy's lies, so they could find no place in the soul.

Satan can use Scripture to tempt people, and unless their life is hidden with Christ in God, his use of it can bind them in unbelief. Quoting Scripture does not by itself make an argument trustworthy, for deceptive reasoning can use biblical words, so God's people must know the Bible and test what they hear. The recorded experience reveals Satan's methods and plans for confusing people who seek to understand God's word and diverting them from truth.

The contest was recorded for the help and encouragement of God's people today, in which Christ worked no miracle and gave no sign, depending only on God and His Word. In the future Satan will come with great power, signs and wonders, including bringing down fire from heaven to prove his authority to those who have left the Word of God, and God's people must meet him with the same weapon Christ used, It is written. Standing firm on the Word of the everlasting God and meeting deception with Scripture will have more power than the working of miracles, and God's people will conquer through the Holy Spirit's working, which is stronger than miracles or anything else, for power is to be obtained from the Word.

His followers, especially those working to rescue people from Satan, may also experience severe temptation like the wilderness, and physicians facing fierce temptation share the same conflict. Being tempted and appearing alone does not mean abandonment by God, for angels were round Him just as angels are commissioned to minister to those under fearful assaults. When Satan is resisted he leaves, and angels minister grace and strength to the steadfast as they did to Jesus, even after being buffeted for a season. Those who preach may likewise overcome temptation when exhausted, and those who remain unshaken can overcome through Christ's grace and reliance on God's Word.

Dependence on God rather than self-confidence enables resistance to Satan's wiles, for Christ met the adversary with the simple weapon of Scripture. Victory requires feeling personal weakness and depending on Christ and not on self, with the treasure of Scripture giving perception. Continued earnest prayer of faith brings light and strength to withstand fiercest assaults, for one day's light and strength cannot meet the next day's new positions, new and unexpected temptations, any more than today's food sustains tomorrow. Weak and sinful man is safe only as God daily manifests His light, imparts strength, and reveals His will even in small daily concerns where great results depend on small occurrences. The living Christian lives by living prayer with the path shining more and more unto the perfect day, going forward from strength to strength, from grace to grace, and from glory to glory, receiving increased divine illumination corresponding to growth in Bible truth to meet new temptations, heavier responsibilities, untried scenes, new dangers, and constant assaults.

Securing eternal life costs long and persevering effort, sore discipline, stern conflict, self-denial and perseverance proportionate to the infinite value of the object pursued. Temptation must be met without hesitation or argument by being shielded by the grace of God every moment, closing and guarding the avenues of the soul against evil and keeping spiritual eyesight clear so as not to call evil good and good evil, because one wrong hasty step brings terrible consequences. Christ repulsed every temptation, and His victories won on behalf of humanity make it possible for His followers to conquer, giving courage to resist sin and Satan and strength to those who seek it, though Satan may distress them he cannot force them to sin or control their will.

Christ met temptation without failing on a single point and held His ground, where had He failed on one point the battle would have been lost. His holding ground opens the way for one under temptation to heed the light God has given, humble the heart, denounce Satan, turn to the Lord in repentance, receive the victory the Lord gives, confess with lip and heart, change business management, and make the Lord God of heaven superior. Those conscious they are not fully doing the will of the Lord must not delay to make peace with Him, but keep the heart pure and holy and free from every vestige of selfishness and be kept by the power of God. Accepting Satan's false representations gives him a foothold in the mind, where he works with all deceptive power to lead in false paths away from God and cause a fall. Those who stand in defense of the honor of God and maintain purity of truth at any cost will have manifold trials and severe conflicts and will frequently have to stand almost alone, yet those in harmony with God receive strength through faith to resist wrong with keen and clear moral sensibility, moral powers able to withstand wrong influences, and integrity of purest character like Moses, and precious victories belong to those who make God their dependence with His grace as strength.

His resistance of temptation is an example of the highest education, showing the power that comes through human nature united with the divine to follow His teachings. That conflict teaches self-sacrifice, patience under affliction, solemn consecration to God, and fitting preparation for holy work. Despite powerful delusions from an obstinate foe, the path of truth can be made plain.

His temptation and victory in the wilderness was suffered and gained for man and is the true standard and only safe pattern to copy to overcome as He overcame. Church gatherings for pleasure and indulgence of appetite stand in marked contrast to His life of obedience and self-denial. Numerous socials, festivals, and picnics that tempt appetite to overindulgence, and amusements that lead to levity and forgetfulness of God, can find no sanction in His example. Christians who understand the mystery of godliness, who have a high and sacred sense of the atonement, who realize in His sufferings in the wilderness a victory gained for them, are greatly strengthened by earnestly and frequently comparing their lives with His life, and see the contrast so clearly that they turn in disgust from scenes of revelry.

The same foe who tempted Christ to love the world and to place Himself in the way of temptation comes to believers in the same way, telling them they may invest with profit in this or that enterprise until in good faith they follow his direction and are drawn to swerve from integrity for gain. The same enemy tempts believers to pursue their own interests and worldly recognition, and looking to Jesus gives strength to resist. The same temptations come through human agents with most entrancing words, seeking self-advantage by movements that place others in sore trial. Without Christ's pure, unselfish love there is danger of being deceived and falling under Satan's power when temptation sounds entrancing and urges presumptuous action. True disciples who have received Christ's love, the true light He came to bring, perform no deceptive action, while minds and hearts not filled with pure, unselfish, sanctified love fall under Satan's power into self-deception to do and say and write strange, deceptive things.

As he approached Christ in temptation under deceptive appearance disguised as an angel of light with high religious profession, Satan likewise draws sincere people away from the right path through false professions of reform. The same method is used upon honest hearts convinced of present heresies, not satisfied with the spiritual condition of the churches, and with true hearts desiring change for the better and a coming up to a higher standard. Men professing new light and claiming to be reformers gain great influence over this class, and as Satan came to Christ they come disguised as angels of light and draw inquiring souls still farther from the path of right. It is the same false spirit as the first great rebel who with pretentious claims thought to deceive the Son of God, as priests and rulers claiming to be exalted of God and men claiming to be Christ's representatives.

Temptation must be firmly resisted in whatever form it comes, for the tempter offered the world's Redeemer things not worth even the least departure from what God had said. Christ's example is to not meet Satan with his own manner of weapons of impure contention but to speak only words of pure truth and righteousness. Losing sight of that example and failing to pattern after His manner of teaching makes men self-sufficient to go forth to meet Satan with his own manner of weapons, which the enemy knows well how to turn back upon those who use them. Many accept temptations to disobey God by conceding to the powers of darkness, yet no honors or favors of the world are sufficient compensation for one hour or one act of such disobedience, for disobedience brings dishonor and disaster rather than reward.

When tempted Jesus gave no place to Satan, remaining exact in principle and upright in conduct and wide-awake to discern the tempter's wiles, and He is the Pattern to copy by walking and working as He worked, with strict transactions with believers and unbelievers and with tenderness, charity, and meekness and lowliness of heart learned from Him. His victory in resistance on humanity's behalf stands as an example to strengthen weak human purposes and resolves against temptation. Those who fail to connect with God to receive wisdom and grace to refine and elevate their lives will fall by Satan's temptations, will drag others down with them by influence, and will be judged for the good they might have done but failed to perform because content with earthliness of mind and friendship with the unsanctified.

His temptations show how He resisted Satan and gained victory, teaching believers to study how He met temptation and to follow Him in resisting the devil. He conquered Satan and showed people how they may overcome temptation, giving an example of obedience and self-denial for people facing temptation. He withstood the fallen angel by relying on God's word, and believers are to overcome by that same word and strength, taking hold of the Conqueror's strength rather than their own.