Matthew 4:9, commentary and pictures

Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in their glory from a high mountain and promised to give their power, riches and honor if Jesus would fall down and worship him in allegiance to his supremacy. This was the third and final temptation in the wilderness after forty days of fasting, testing love of the world after appetite and presumption, and it offered a way to gain dominion without suffering and death. Jesus refused any compromise and answered that worship and service belong to the Lord God alone, commanding Satan to depart and meeting him with Scripture alone. Had He yielded the plan of salvation would have failed and the earth would have become Satan's kingdom forever, but by prevailing in humanity's place where Adam failed He secured redemption and broke Satan's hold. The same bargain still comes to people when profit, honor, comfort or worldly advantage is offered on condition of disobeying God, and it is overcome as He overcame by relying on God's Word and power.

Setting and Terms Offered

The saying records Satan offering Jesus all the kingdoms of the world with their glory, power, riches, honor, pleasures and dominion, on condition that Jesus fall down in worship, homage and allegiance acknowledging Satan's supremacy. The price was worship in exchange for worldly kingdoms and wealth, a demand to honor Satan as superior and to turn from allegiance to God. Jesus faced it as part of taking fallen humanity's place, enduring the test where Adam failed in order to redeem those He came to save.

The offer was made from an exceedingly high mountain, where the whole world was shown in a moment in its glory. Satan caused the kingdoms to pass before Him in panoramic view in their most attractive light, with sunlight on splendid cities, marble palaces, templed cities, fruitful fields and vineyards, while hiding all traces of evil. It was presented as a bribe to yield integrity and divert loyalty from God.

The verse belongs to Christ's wilderness trial after baptism and forty days and nights of fasting and prayer and before beginning His mission. It is the third and final leading temptation, on love of the world, after appetite and presumption or love of display. Into this crowning effort Satan threw all his beguiling power with fascinating, serpent-like charm, striving to bend Christ's will to himself.

Christ endured it in weakened humanity after long abstinence, with real hunger, thirst, emaciation, physical suffering, mental anguish, faintness and desolate solitude. Satan sought to exploit that weakest condition, attacking through human weakness with fiercest assaults to shake trust in God and thwart salvation. Though He suffered the keenest pangs of hunger, He remained steadfast and overcame on behalf of the race.

Satan appeared not as a hideous monster but disguised in beautiful, attractive, heavenly form as an angel of light, more like a monarch than a fallen angel, as the prince of darkness doing good and hiding his true character. He quoted Scripture, claimed only to test fidelity, and used deceptive pretensions, insinuating distrust, commending steadfastness, and urging still another evidence of faith. Yet he can only solicit and urge and cannot compel departure from the Father's will without consent, nor cast down nor force to sin.

Jesus looked only a moment at the outward beauty and then turned away, seeing beneath it the world in wretchedness and sin apart from God under a tyrant. He saw earthly dominions under oppressive power, humanity full of woe and defiled by hatred, revenge, malice, lust and murder, with misery resulting from turning from God to worship Satan. He was filled with longing to redeem what was lost, to restore more than Eden beauty and place men on vantage-ground with God. He counted everything else insignificant beside the one object before Him, the saving of souls bound under Satan's power, and not even all the kingdoms and their glory would cause Him to turn aside a step from the path leading directly to the cross.

The offer was especially tempting because His life had been marked by hardship, poverty and homelessness, with no place to lay His head. It promised power without suffering or danger in exchange for a single act of allegiance acknowledging Satan as superior. A decision made in a moment to yield for worldly honor could fix condition forever.

The account is connected with the devil taking Him into the holy city and setting Him on a pinnacle of the temple. That illustrates temptation toward presumption, which God does not want people to invite by putting lives in peril, because they belong to the Lord. The wilderness victories happened soon before Christ presented Himself in His true character at Nazareth where He was known as an unpretending mechanic.

Satan's Claims and Motives

Satan claimed that power over the kingdoms of the world had been delivered to him and that he could give it to whomever he chose, presenting himself as though they had become his by right through Adam's sin and as their rightful and lasting ruler as though he had created them. In truth his authority was usurped and not rightful ownership, for he was offering what was not his to bestow and what was soon to be wrested from him, while the kingdoms would become Christ's everlasting lawful possession only through the way appointed by His Father. Jesus refused the exchange of worship for that promised surrender of possession, choosing suffering and death rather than disloyalty, and rebuked Satan while standing for righteousness rather than entering into controversy.

Satan had once stood as an angel next to Christ in majesty in the heavenly courts, desiring Christ's place, becoming jealous, originating sin and revolting in ambition to be equal with God and exalted above Christ. The demand for worship in the wilderness sought from Jesus the homage he had failed to obtain in heaven, renewing on earth the controversy begun in heaven. Though Jesus was weary and fainting for lack of food, He did not yield for a moment but resisted at every point, commanded Satan to depart, and left the devil to seek from humanity the honor Jesus refused him.

The offer promised a way to gain earthly dominion and to avoid the suffering, conflict and death required by His mission, holding out rule without suffering or peril if Jesus would take the kingdoms by Satan's gift. Its purpose was to keep His kingdom from Him, to prevent redemption through death, to thwart God's plan, and to give rebellion its victory in the great controversy. Had Satan succeeded the plan of salvation would have failed, but Jesus refused to worship anyone but His Father and chose the appointed path of suffering and death, thereby becoming the lawful heir to whom Satan himself would ultimately be given and destroyed.

Satan as prince of this world pointed to his success, enumerated the principalities and powers subject to him, and declared he had done what Jehovah's law could not do, seeking to turn Christ from allegiance to God from fear that Christ would break his power over the world. Christ had come to dispute that sovereignty and break Satan's hold, to stand loyal to God, to disprove the claim of complete control over the human race, to set free all desiring deliverance, and to recover the dominion Adam lost. While Satan presented the kingdoms in great external grandeur, Christ saw them as they were, earthly dominions under a tyrant with humanity full of woe under oppressive power and defiled by hatred, revenge, malice, lust and murder, with fiends possessing bodies and souls of men.

The blasphemous demand to be worshiped exposed Satan's real purpose, presumption, deception, malice and hostility, and his desire for the homage due to God alone and to be acknowledged as superior and supreme. It revealed the deceiver to the loyal universe in contrast to an obedient Son who worshiped God alone, refused the bargain, and defeated Satan in the temptation. The flattering inducement of honor, riches and glory called for yielding integrity and acknowledging Satan's claims, but Christ remained faithful and would not give him the homage owed to God alone.

Satan knew that prophecy foretold a kingdom established on earth by the Prince of Heaven embracing the world's kingdoms, whose establishment would end his power and glory and bring him retribution for the sin and misery he had introduced. He therefore made Christ's success or failure under temptation decisive to his own future and sought to have Him take rule without peril and abandon the purpose to establish a kingdom of righteousness. Jesus would not be bought by homage to the principles of evil, but chose suffering and death as the appointed way to redeem the kingdom from Satan and receive it as an everlasting possession, while Satan's power would ultimately be taken away and he would be destroyed.

Satan sought to overthrow Christ and control Him through intense worldliness as he controls men, thinking Christ's humanity would be easily overcome on this point of love of the world. His method is to fill mind and heart with worldly attractions until heavenly things have no room and men will commit any sin for worldly advantage. Christ was unmoved and met the offer only with weapons justifiable for human beings, the word of Him who is mighty in counsel, answering It is written.

Satan presents an apparent good or bribe suited to circumstances, making worldly glory and the splendors and power of kingdoms appear attractive in order to turn people from worshiping God. He appeals to reason, imagination and affection by wily insinuations, falsehood and sophistry and even Scripture to undermine confidence in God, and without divine protection people can be deceived. It is unsafe to follow his suggestions into wrong paths, but victory over his devices is possible in Christ's name by meeting temptation as Christ did in the desolate wilderness in real hunger rather than in scenes of gaiety and feasting.

Satan attacked through human weakness, bringing fierce temptations when Christ was at His weakest and seeking to shake trust in God when strength fails. He takes advantage of the weakest points in defense and makes his fiercest assaults there, exerting even greater power over people far weaker than Christ who venture onto his ground. Christ met the tempter with It is written, standing securely in the protection of Thus saith the Lord and barricaded by Scriptural support with no weak points in defense, showing that meeting temptation as He did brings escape while parleying with the enemy gives him advantage.

Christ's Refusal and Victory

Jesus was unmoved by the offer of all the kingdoms of the world and their glory for worship, refusing the bribe without yielding any point or entering into compromise. He answered that worship and service belong to the Lord God alone, and with authority commanded Satan to depart from Him. That summary dismissal left Satan with no power to resist the command and forced him to withdraw from the Redeemer's presence in humiliation and rage as a conquered foe. His victory over this crowning temptation was complete, as complete as Adam's failure had been.

Every temptation in the wilderness was met with It is written, and Scripture alone was the weapon that defeated the enemy and fixed his limit. He did not use His own reasoning or authority, did not argue or enter into controversy on Satan's ground, but stood on the written Word as His sword of the Spirit. He held ever to the affirmative and never repeated Satan's words, so the enemy had no word to misinterpret, and His answer showed that ambition and desire for power must yield to obedience to God's commandments rather than the world's treasures. The same method is the unerring guide for disciples under trial, who must be as true as steel to principle and accept no strange doctrine or learned opinion unless it has It is written for its foundation in harmony with God's teaching.

In human weakness He laid hold of God, and divinity flashed through humanity so that He stood revealed as Commander of heaven speaking with all power. That revelation gave Satan proof he could not gainsay that Jesus was the Son of God, and Satan could not resist His command. He remained humble, relied on God and His Father's words, discerned the meaning of Satan's wiles, gave him no place, and clung more firmly to His Father's hand the more mercilessly wrath fell. The assault only brought out His spotless character in purer light, and He could not be led into sin, discouraged, or turned from His work.

He met the offer only with weapons justifiable for human beings to use, the word of Him who is mighty in counsel, through rigid self-denial and perfect submission to His Father's will. By keeping His soul untainted by sin and living a spotless life, His final triumph through death opened salvation to humanity and broke Satan's hold over the kingdoms of the world. The pressure of the conflict left Him fainting as if dying and as one dead on the field of battle after forty days of fasting and prayer, weak and emaciated from hunger and worn with mental agony. Then angels came and ministered to Him, encircling Him, resting His head upon the breast of the highest angel, giving Him food, sustaining Him in suffering, and filling His soul with divine consolation.

The wilderness victory was Satan's first manifest defeat in the warfare, where the Prince of life gained victory in behalf of the human race fulfilling the enmity between the serpent and the woman's seed, and all heaven rejoiced with joy at the defeat of the enemy. Satan departed for a season disappointed and enraged, yet not without hope of future success against Christ during His ministry by stirring unbelief and hostility and using the Jewish people against Him. He did not perform a miracle in response to Satan's insinuations, nor use divine power to satisfy Himself or prove His identity.

Salvation at Stake

Mighty issues for the world were at stake in the conflict over worship for the kingdoms, and had Satan succeeded in overcoming Christ the plan of salvation would have failed and the human race would have been lost, with the earth becoming Satan's kingdom forever under the wicked one, but by Christ prevailing the plan went forward and the price of redemption was paid. The wilderness trial was the foundation of the plan of salvation, giving fallen people the key and means to overcome temptation in Christ's name, yet that victory benefits no person unless he also overcomes for himself. Joy filled heaven when the fallen chief left the wilderness a conquered foe, for Christ refused to yield on a single point and gained an infinite victory, and all are personally exposed to the same temptations and must individually overcome through the all-powerful name of the great Conqueror. The salvation of man was in the balance to be decided there, and Christ's victory on appetite kept open man's chance to overcome, for if Satan had gained the victory man would have remained bound by appetite in chains of indulgence without moral power to break them. Christ in humanity alone could never have endured the test, but divine power combined with humanity gained an infinite victory in behalf of man, and as man's Representative He raised humanity in the scale of moral value with God.

Jesus faced the temptation in humanity's place to endure the test where Adam failed, and His complete victory matched Adam's complete failure and redeemed Adam's disgraceful fall, elevating humanity in moral value and linking fallen humanity to the Infinite. In weakness He laid hold of God so that divinity flashed through humanity and He stood revealed as Commander of heaven speaking with all power when He dismissed Satan and commanded worship and service to God only, giving Satan proof he could not gainsay that Jesus was the Son of God and forcing him to withdraw in humiliation and rage with no power to resist. He passed over the same ground where Adam fell and bore the test Adam failed to endure, overcoming every temptation single-handed with divinity clothed in humanity, while angels watched the trial of their loved Commander with intense interest. His victory made it possible for people to overcome Satan, but only through His name and grace, beginning the work of redemption and showing that with divine help and earnest prayer people can overcome the enemy's temptations.

Christ passed over the same ground where Adam fell through disobedience to the law of God, meeting Satan's declaration that no man can keep God's law, and He placed Himself in man's stead and endured temptation stronger than ever was or ever will be brought upon the human race. He resisted in the same manner in which every tempted soul may resist, by referring the tempter to the inspired record with It is written, overcoming as a man by relying solely upon the word of God, and His victory reveals that men through divine power can keep the law of God. The first Adam stood with the advantage of perfect manhood in full vigor of body and mind, surrounded by the glories of Eden and in daily communion with heavenly beings with none of the effects of sin upon him, yet believed Satan's lie and did not reach above his humanity for divine power. The second Adam met Satan after four thousand years of decreasing physical strength, mental power and moral worth, having humbled Himself to take man's fallen nature with its infirmities, weaknesses, degeneracy and sins as they existed when He came, in a desolate gloomy wilderness in a far less favorable position than Eden. He did so in order to rescue man from the lowest depths of degradation, to reach fallen man where he was and elevate and bring him up, and He would not become the enemy's bondslave. His example shows that it is possible to overcome and leads those who follow Him to obey God's commands.

The kingdoms would become Christ's everlasting lawful possession through the way appointed by His Father, for Jesus refused to honor Satan as superior and chose suffering and death rather than disloyalty to God. Satan made the offer to keep his own claimed kingdom and prevent Jesus from completing the work of redemption through death, imagining that if he could thwart God's plan he would reign against God, but Jesus refused to worship anyone but His Father. By choosing suffering and death in the way His Father appointed He became the lawful heir to the kingdoms of earth and received them as an everlasting possession, while Satan too would ultimately be given into Jesus' hands and destroyed. Satan knew from prophecy that Christ's kingdom would not come through earthly triumph, worldly honor or display, but the kingdom foretold for the Prince of Heaven would embrace the kingdoms of the world, end Satan's power and glory, and bring his retribution for the sin and misery he had introduced. Christ refused because He had come to establish a kingdom of righteousness and would not abandon that purpose for worldly success at the cost of integrity and conscience.

Everything for Satan and for the plan of salvation hung on the result, with all heaven watching the conflict with intense interest and angels standing on guard ready to act in Christ's 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 and their love and sympathy could no longer be restrained. The controversy was watched by heavenly angels and unfallen worlds as the honor of the law was vindicated, and by the confederacy of darkness hoping for victory, with the outcome to settle the controversy forever not only for this world but for the universe of heaven. Satan knew that if Christ bore the test Adam failed to bear the plan of salvation would be carried out to its fulfilment and his own destruction would be certain, so he must either conquer or be conquered, and he rallied all the powers of apostasy against the Son of God. In man's behalf Christ resisted without entering into controversy but meeting Satan with the Word of God, clinging more firmly to His Father's hand the more mercilessly wrath fell, bringing out His spotless character in purer light after forty days of fasting and prayer until weak and emaciated from hunger and worn and haggard with mental agony. By this victory the human race was placed on vantage ground with God, so that for time and eternity man is able to resist satanic agencies, keep the law of God, and become victor over the powers of darkness by partaking of the divine nature through Him who took the penalty of sin upon His own divine soul. Christ's victory shows the greatness of the work of overcoming that lies before humanity, for had he failed Satan thought his life and kingdom would be established with victory over the human race.

The assault belonged to an unbroken war against Jesus from His appearance as a babe in Bethlehem through the desert to Calvary, for in Satan's councils it was determined that Christ should be overcome and the conflict was too great to entrust to confederate angels, so Satan himself personally confronted Him and made Him the mark of every weapon of hell. It sought in every possible way to prevent a perfect childhood, a faultless manhood, a holy ministry and an unblemished infinite sacrifice in yielding up His life without a murmur for the sins of men, seeking to lead Him into sin, discourage Him, drive Him from the work He came to do, and oppress and overwhelm Him. The more mercilessly the storm of wrath fell from the desert to the cross, the more firmly the Son of God clung to His Father's hand and pressed on in the blood-stained path before Him, so that the attack only brought out His spotless character in purer light. Step by step He advanced in the path of humiliation and self-sacrifice, and all Satan's attempts to inspire Him with his own attributes failed, so that through His sacrifice men receive power to meet the wily foe, discern falsehoods, confess sin and be pardoned.

The wilderness conquest was followed by a second face-to-face meeting when Jesus freed the demon-possessed man in the Capernaum synagogue, for Jesus knew the identity of the same evil spirit though it assumed another form, and wrested the writhing captive from his grasp. Satan later used different forms and devices to pursue the same aim, working through human agents to oppose Christ's ministry and through Jews who rejected Jesus while disguising their motives with an appearance of piety and learning. Satan could not lead Him into sin, discourage Him or turn Him from His work, and the temptation's failure only revealed Christ's spotless character more clearly.

Victory for Fallen Humanity

Christ took human nature with all its possibilities, combining the human and the divine, and overcame not by using divine power for Himself but by divine power united with humanity through obedience, reliance solely on God's Word, and power from above in answer to prayer and fasting, proving that people can overcome and keep God's law. In the third great leading temptation, love of the world after appetite and presumption, Satan openly revealed as prince of the powers of darkness took Him to the top of a high mountain and showed all the kingdoms of the world in the most attractive light, with sunlight on splendid cities, marble palaces, fruitful fields and vineyards, bringing worldly honor, wealth and the pleasures of life to allure and deceive on condition of bowing down in worship. Jesus looked on the scene for a moment and then turned away, looking beneath the outward beauty to see the world in wretchedness and sin apart from God with all its misery the result of turning from God to worship Satan, and He was filled with longing to redeem what was lost, to restore the world to more than its Eden beauty and place men on vantage-ground with God. For them He withstood the temptation to be an overcomer so that they might overcome and be equal with the angels and worthy to be acknowledged as sons of God, repelling the foe and coming off victor to show how to overcome where no man will ever be tried with temptations as powerful as those that assailed Him.

In His humanity Christ had the same free will Adam had in Eden and could have yielded as Adam yielded, commanding stones to be made bread, casting Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, or yielding to worship Satan, taking fallen but uncorrupted human nature capable of yielding and facing the same test as Adam and Eve. The offer of all things in exchange for worship was met by the Son of God standing in the sinner's stead on the ground where Adam fell and enduring in the wilderness a temptation a hundredfold stronger than ever has been or ever will be brought upon the human race. Though tempted in all points like as we are in a real and fierce test, with hunger, thirst and human weakness, His will was ever kept on the side of God's will in perfect obedience, and no sinful desire in Him gave temptation a foothold, not even a thought leading Him to yield, so the assaults could not turn Him from loyalty to God. At every point He met the tempter with It is written, referring Satan to the Inspired Record in the same manner every tempted soul may resist, showing that Adam by believing God and being a doer of His word could have resisted as Christ resisted. By that victory He 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.

Christ met and repulsed Satan in every conflict while bearing the terrible weight of the sins of the world and Adam's guilt in humanity weakened by four thousand years of decrease in physical strength, mental power and moral worth, taking the infirmities of degenerate humanity with all its liabilities, withstanding the test in far greater degree and coming off more than conqueror as a tried stone and sure foundation. His hunger during the forty days was real and Satan began tempting Him as soon as that suffering commenced, expecting to succeed as he had with Adam and others and seeking to exploit hunger and weakness to defeat Him and thwart salvation, offering an apparent benefit or bribe suited to circumstances. Jesus faced this temptation to turn from integrity for the world's attractions and conquered it on humanity's behalf, and His victories were won on behalf of His followers to make it possible for them to conquer, giving an example that strengthens resolve and courage to fight sin and Satan. Victory over his devices is possible in Christ's name, and His divine power can lift fallen people to share His throne.

Jesus was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness to be alone, to contemplate His mission and brace Himself by fasting and prayer, not inviting temptation, and Satan knew He had gone there and thought it the best time to approach Him. Mighty issues for the world were at stake in this conflict between the Prince of Light and the leader of the kingdom of darkness, rooted in Satan's claim that the earth was his as prince of this world after tempting Adam and Eve to sin, conforming them to his nature, holding dominion through control of men and declaring men had chosen him as sovereign. Christ had come as the Son of man to stand loyal to God and disprove Satan's claim, showing Satan had not gained complete control of the human race, setting free all who desired deliverance from his power, and recovering the dominion Adam had lost through sin. The trying situation did not mean the Spirit had misled Him, for God brings trial with a purpose to accomplish for good, and Jesus did not go unbidden into temptation presuming on God's promises, nor when temptation came give up to despondency or lose courage.

Christ conquered on behalf of people because they could not conquer for themselves, bearing the test for humanity though in great physical suffering refusing to yield any point or compromise integrity, and had He yielded the salvation of the human race would have been lost. As Overcomer He gives people the advantage of His victory so they may overcome as He overcame by uniting human weakness to His enduring might and overcoming through His merits and name, receiving grace and strength from the Father to overcome Satan's temptations. He vanquished the mighty foe upon every point and came off victor in every contest, overcoming appetite and every temptation through obedience and self-denial and gaining a priceless victory in behalf of man. That victory will not benefit man unless he also gains the victory on his own account, for man now has the advantage over Adam in having Adam's disobedience and fall to warn him to shun his example and Christ's life as an example of obedience and self-denial, so if he stumbles and falls under Satan's temptations he is without excuse, and to him that overcomes as Christ overcame will be granted to sit with Christ in His throne even as Christ overcame and sits with the Father in His throne.

Because He endured what humans bear in far greater degree as His character is superior, He knows the strength of temptations and knows how to deliver those tempted, and can succor everyone who leaves evil for God's service when Satan assaults them, for the controversy is repeated within every human heart. He can help all who call sincerely and sympathizes with human weakness, providing divine power to work with human effort to lift them from their fallen condition, so that even at greatest weakness temptation need not separate a person from God. His victory gives those struggling against temptation hope and help to overcome through trust in God, showing how man may overcome the seductive snares of Satan by making Christ his trust, so that in Christ's name and through Christ's merits even the vilest sinner may have pardon and gain heaven through a life of obedience. Though He had divine power He did not use it for Himself but met the tempter at every step with God's word, leaving the example of resisting through Scripture which believers should study and know so they can stand against the enemy and overcome through God's promised grace.

Jesus was tempted not only in the wilderness but throughout His life from childhood to manhood and throughout His ministry to the cross, resisting temptation in every form and giving humanity a perfect example, and His temptation and suffering were for us. Satan assailed Him in His greatest weakness in the wilderness, coming as an angel of light with deceptive offers to try to turn Him from His mission, yet Christ resisted and kept moving forward to rescue a world perishing in sin, enduring attacks throughout His ministry and agony on the cross for humanity. Satan, clothed with the livery of Heaven, pressed Christ in the wilderness with manifold temptations and offered all honor, riches and glory to bribe Him to yield His integrity and acknowledge Satan's claims as Son of the Infinite, but Christ though brought to great physical suffering refused to yield on a single point and stood firm, gaining an infinite victory. The scene of trial was the foundation of the plan of salvation and gives fallen man the key whereby in Christ's name he may overcome, for Christ has power from His Father to give divine grace and strength to man, and joy filled heaven when the fallen chief left the wilderness a conquered foe. The ingenuity of the temptations required holding ground on every point, for had He failed on a single point the battle would have been lost, and the same tempter who failed to rob Christ of His integrity remains the adversary of every person to the end of time, so all are personally exposed to the same temptations and must individually overcome through the all-powerful name of the great Conqueror, not treat the conflict as a common warfare between two kings with no bearing on their own life and character.

Overcoming as Christ Overcame

Christ's repulse of Satan in every conflict was won on behalf of His followers to make it possible for them to conquer, giving them courage to fight sin and Satan, strength to overcome appetite and unholy passions, and grace and strength from the Father through His name to resist flattering worldly prospects that would induce abandonment of principle and sacrifice of integrity for ungodly approval. He refused to yield any point or compromise His integrity despite great physical suffering, vanquishing the foe upon every point through obedience and self-denial and gaining a priceless victory in behalf of man that preserves the chance of salvation. That victory will not benefit anyone unless he also gains the victory on his own account, for man now has Adam's disobedience and fall to warn him to shun his example and Christ's life of obedience and self-denial as example, so if he stumbles and falls he is without excuse. To him that overcomes as Christ overcame will be granted to sit with Christ in His throne even as Christ overcame and sits with the Father in His throne, and eternal life and the reward are secured only by overcoming as He overcame, patiently and determinedly in His name, by long and persevering effort, sore discipline, stern conflict, self-denial and perseverance proportionate to the infinite value of the object pursued.

The wilderness temptation came immediately after the heavens opened and the Spirit rested upon Him and after He had held close communion with God, showing that even after rich blessings and a clear experience of God's presence a severe trial may follow and victory requires combat. His experience encourages believers to draw near to God in prayer and fasting and to overcome through His strength, by Christ's strength and humble reliance on God's word.

Satan comes to every tempted soul with his temptations as he came to Christ, placing the worst view before the mind and strengthening unbelief in the care of the heavenly Father to make loyalty to God look perplexing and costly. His followers, especially those working to rescue people from Satan's snares, may also experience the same wilderness assault and seasons of buffeting for forty days, which does not mean God has abandoned the tempted person. When met as Christ met it with Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve, and by relying on God's Word and Jesus' grace and remaining steadfast, Satan's power is broken, he leaves the field conquered, God steps in between Satan and the afflicted one to rebuke his cruel power, and angels come and minister as they did to Jesus, followed by grace and strength from God imparted through His angels and deep comfort. Satan may distress and cause agony, but he cannot control the will or force anyone to sin or defile the soul without consent, and Christ gives strength to those who seek it because He endured temptation so He could help the tempted and identifies with those who suffer under it.

Safety is to be shielded by the grace of God every moment and to close and guard the avenues of the soul against evil without hesitation or argument and without putting out spiritual eyesight to call evil good and good evil, constantly watching unto prayer. Victory comes only by having no weak points and being barricaded by the support the Scriptures give to the one doing God's will, standing securely in the protection of a thus saith the Lord and meeting the tempter with It is written as Christ did when Satan made one of his fiercest assaults at a weak point to win worship by promise of gain. Holding to the affirmative was essential, for had Christ failed to do so He would have lost all He sought to gain. He met it as man's representative, with divinity clothed with humanity, reaching man with a human arm while grasping the throne of the Infinite with a divine arm and resting wholly on the power of God, because human strength is weakness and human judgment is foolishness and man alone could not stand against such powerful, degrading influence but would be overcome and perish without help. The only hope of victory is continual resistance of Satan's attacks by uniting human weakness to Christ's enduring might, resisting even the strongest temptation in His all-powerful name and overcoming as He overcame, looking to Christ, resisting and praying as He did while bearing human nature with no sinful desire giving temptation a foothold, not even a thought leading Him to yield.

The same victory is given to those who are tempted when they heed the light God has given, humble the heart, denounce Satan, turn to the Lord through repentance, confess with lips and repent with a heart that needeth not to be repented of, change all business management, and make the Lord God of heaven their superior. Those who make Christ first in everything, feel their own weakness and dependence on God, refuse to lean to their own understanding, daily seek strength and wisdom from above, and keep God in all their thoughts and keep the Word abiding in the soul will not be betrayed by wiles and subtleties into sinful neglect of duty but will meet the adversary as Christ did, answering with Scripture and repulsing Satan with direct rebuke, fighting day by day. His victory gives humanity another trial and makes it possible to overcome temptation through the merits of Jesus Christ, for Christ brings moral power to resist appetite and break slavery to habitual indulgence, and the living Saviour is ready and willing to aid those who face temptation. Through His name, strength, and merits, people enslaved by liquor or tobacco can break their habits and become victors, for His victory raised humanity's moral value and shows Christ as the sinner's only hope.

The great trial in the wilderness on the point of appetite was endured to leave man an example of self-denial, convicting men of the sinfulness of the things professed Christians indulge in and showing the sinfulness of the very things men take pleasure in. The salvation of man was in the balance to be decided by that trial, for Christ's victory on the point of appetite kept open man's chance to overcome, whereas if Satan had gained the victory man would have remained bound by appetite in chains of indulgence without moral power to break them. Christ in humanity alone could never have endured the test, but divine power combined with humanity gained an infinite victory in behalf of man, and as man's Representative in that victory He raised humanity in the scale of moral value with God. Emaciated with fasting, suffering the keenest pangs of hunger for necessary food in the fullest sense with physical suffering and mental anguish, He was steadfast and overcame in behalf of the race to rescue mankind from the degradation of the fall and thwart Satan's aim to assail and overcome the Son of God. His example in overcoming appetite points out the way for His followers to overcome and finally sit with Him on His throne, in contrast to mankind who generally have all needed to sustain life yet like the first parents desire what God withholds because it is not best for them, since indulgence of intemperate appetite creates unnatural desires in fallen man that prove his ruin. The lesson begins at the table and extends to every part of life: through the strength Jesus brings, people cooperating with divine intelligence can stand free from slavery of perverted appetite and passion, denying and overcoming in the name of the Conqueror through self-denial and moral power such enslaving indulgence as tobacco that controls, perverts the senses, and is disgusting, health-destroying and soul-polluting, with liquor and gluttony, by temperance. The battle for that victory is now personal and must be fought wholly by the individual, for resolving and re-resolving alone does not accomplish it and no one can fight it for another, though others can pray.

His endurance of temptation showed the way of self-denial and brought the divine help people need to overcome, teaching that following Him toward eternal life may require resisting one's inclinations and accepting conflict, hardship, self-denial, and sacrifice rather than choosing the world. Those seeking eternal life should therefore not shrink from conflict, hardship, or sacrifice, and should not by careless neglect of Christian duties leave themselves vulnerable to temptation rather than victorious. Enduring physical suffering and fierce temptation and overcoming the powers of evil, His victory is an example of overcoming through self-denial and shows the greatness of the work of overcoming that lies before humanity, whose victory in the temptation Satan thought would mean victory over the human race and establishment of his life and kingdom.

Meeting the tempter with the words of Scripture is the example for children who become familiar with God's word to use it to resist Satan's devices. Christ resisted the enemy with the weapon It is written when Satan fought his way to pre-eminence by offering all things for worship, and those who proclaim the third angel's message must resist Satan in the same way, putting on the whole armor of God to stand bravely at their post in the face of detraction and falsehood and fighting the good fight of faith. His example in discerning Satan's deceptive approaches and giving him no place calls believers to be watchful against the tempter's wiles and to follow Christ's upright conduct, copying His resistance by following all light and studying the Word of God instead of story magazines, with angels strengthening understanding, in order to fully meet its requirements before the day when every case will be forever decided. It is written is the test that must be brought home to every soul, for Christ's teachings contain truth to convict and convert souls, and proclaiming in Christ's simplicity the truths He came to proclaim carries power that makes itself felt, while theories or tests that Christ never mentioned and that have no foundation in the Bible must not be advocated, for there are grand, solemn truths for the people. When called to violate God's law, people 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 with wisdom from above and God present they will pass through perplexing ordeals as firm as a rock to principle, obeying God rather than man, bringing victories that lack of faith had regarded as hopeless and impossible, definite instructions written for admonition for those upon whom the ends of the world have come.

The young can overcome through watchfulness and prayer as Christ overcame the enemy's temptations in the wilderness when Satan approached while appearing to be a heavenly angel.

Same Temptation Toward People

Satan still makes the same offer he made to Christ, holding out money, gain, land, power, honors, riches, business success and life's pleasures in exchange for yielding integrity, blunting conscientiousness and indulging selfishness. It is the third great leading temptation, love of the world, presented after appetite and presumption, bringing worldly honor, wealth and pleasure in the most attractive light to allure and deceive on condition of bowing down in worship. No person will ever face temptations as powerful as those that assailed Christ, yet He repelled the foe and came off victor to show how to overcome, while Satan has better success with people. Devotion of heart and life to worldliness satisfies Satan and gives him all the homage he asks, charming and alluring to ruin and opening the door to impatience, love of self, pride, avarice, overreaching and every evil. For those placed with responsibility in God's work it means temptation to be bought or sold and to surrender sterling integrity for gain, yet nothing offered at the cost of fidelity to God is worth receiving. Through God's grace principles can be kept pure and unwavering in truth and justice regardless of what gifts are offered.

Choosing profit, favor, comfort or approval by disobeying God's commandments rather than losing income or facing opposition is in effect bowing to Satan and accepting his will instead of God's claims. The offer is a bribe to turn from God, representing earthly gain, favor or comfort that draws devotion to what separates from God. Christ resisted by choosing holiness over worldly glitter, and those who worship God alone must likewise refuse the bribe and obey even when doing so costs income, brings inconvenience and reproach, or makes them stand apart and unpopular. Such yielding acknowledges Satan's supremacy and chooses his way and will instead of God's way and will, making the person liable to the penalty for transgression of God's holy law. No worldly honor or favor can compensate for even one hour or one act of disobedience to God, for disobedience is dishonor and disaster while the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and in keeping His commandments there is great reward. Resisting requires standing on a single text of the Bible, meeting Satan with It is written, placing oneself on the Lord's side in every place, and refusing to act against truth and justice for the world's approval.

The same bargain is still pressed when pressure comes to give up the seventh-day Sabbath for Sunday in order to be in harmony with the world and avoid being singular. The offer of ease and acceptance is Satan's bribe, and yielding to the man of sin who commands the first day is bowing the knee to Satan. True worship of God is choosing naked duty and obeying His commandments even when the multitude is against it, including keeping God's seventh-day Sabbath rather than accepting a substitute. That bowing happens especially when a person disobeys a plain Thus saith the Lord in order not to lose profit and increase of riches, as by refusing to keep the Sabbath specified in the fourth commandment and keeping business open on Saturday, the busiest and most profitable day. It also happens when a person seeks a loftier place and favor with transgressors of God's law in order to escape inconvenience, opposition and reproach. The offer asserts Satan's claim to be possessor, lord and sovereign of the world against God as Creator, Lord and Sovereign whose memorial is the day He pronounced blessed and holy, springing from hatred of Christ because Christ was preferred before him and was rolling back the hellish darkness thrown over the Sabbath by traditions and customs that made it of no force and a rigorous burden instead of a delight.

The words all this will I give you tempt a person uneasy to prove himself a successful businessman to rush into enterprises on his own hook and take his own way instead of seeking the will of God. The enemy presents a flattering outlook of business success and prosperity, and when surrender to God is delayed he frames a scheme that looks very flattering and unobjectionable to lead the person in his way and bring him under supervision and control. He works through natural inclination toward what is agreeable and pleasing, cumbering with earthly armor by entering into business enterprises for financial gain that prove financial loss. The promise is false because Satan is a liar and a murderer. The right response is to refuse binding engagements made in self-confidence, cut every tie binding soul, body and spirit to self-managed business, go to the Lord for counsel without delay in consecration of soul, body and spirit, and seek help from God rather than any human source. The same kind of worldly appeal confronts those beginning to receive Bible truth and can draw them into self-serving motives or compromise of integrity even when conduct appears lawful by worldly standards, damaging Christian influence and under pressure transforming character, and it must be resisted rather than accepted on another's terms to end conflict at cost of fidelity.

For men with responsibility in God's work the offer must be refused, for it profits nothing to gain the whole world and lose the soul, all must stand before the judgment seat of God and render an account, and he who loses his life for Christ's sake secures it unto eternal life. Satan's present method is to allure Christians away from strict integrity for personal prosperity and advantage, even with promise of trifling gain, in exchange for pleasing him by a compromised word or deed and departing from duty to fellow men. Yielding darkens the soul, hurts the one who yields, and brings darkness upon the church and upon other minds. To gain the world with its pleasure and glory while losing the soul is eternal loss, while to overcome as Christ overcame is infinite gain, and heaven is cheap enough at any cost of overcoming. It is better to die, go without, or hunger than to sin, defraud or lie for prosperity, and accepting large wages at the cost of principle repeats the appeal to earthly treasure, fostering pride and vanity by display and risking loss of the heavenly unless there is repentance.

Money cannot bring the peace Christ gives, so the hidden pearl and the jewels of truth must be sought and worldly ambitions must not be allowed to ruin prospects of heaven. To accept Satan's offer is to give him the supreme affection of the heart, for the whole Christian life is preparation for the future immortal life and under any circumstances a person may be happy by being true to God and to self. Covetous people accept the offer when love of the world overcomes love of God, making wealth an idol and leading them to give up the truth. The temptation can be resisted by overcoming selfishness and covetousness and dedicating possessions to God's work and to helping people in need. Those who love Jesus and look to Him as author and finisher of faith refuse to yield to flattering promises and bribes, knowing such offers are not worth receiving, and through Christ's power and grace they can keep principles pure, remain steadfast in truth and justice, resist temptation and overcome sin.

The temptation to seek worldly gain and glory still draws people away from God's service when the prospect of gain absorbs them, for success can feed greed, weaken spirituality, and eclipse love for Jesus, the truth and the immortal inheritance. The same temptation comes under different guises to God's ministers today to make them false to their trust by seeking to be rich, when it is not God's will for them to seek riches but to flee these things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and meekness. Had Christ accepted, the world would never have been ransomed. The lesson applies to sanitarium managers, who must not depart from principle to please wealthy patients or friends, for compromising the right course for worldly advantage harms institutional influence and undermines efforts to reform and lead people to Christ. The same temptation bids even those with means to look sharply after their own interest, to reject liberality with means for mission work, and to use money to gratify pride and ambition and make a name great through display such as fine buildings, and victory comes by looking unto Jesus and becoming strong in His strength.

Devotion and attention given to things that separate mind and heart from God is worship of Satan, and many yield and bow down to anything and everything but the Lord God who created the heavens and the earth. People worship him when they become wholly absorbed in gaining wealth or following worldly fashions, and when they give greatest care, anxiety and labor to worldly interests their works reveal how strongly earthly treasures hold their affections. By drawing people to love worldly possessions, rank and position, Satan wins the devotion he directly asked Christ to give Him. Those who put worldly interests before eternal concerns may surrender loyalty to Satan and lose their souls, corrupting faith and departing from God, even though the whole world is not worth sacrificing the hope of heaven or spiritual and immortal interests. Christ was tempted in all points like humans are, but He desired the beauty of holiness and an uncorrupted heart more than any earthly glitter and tinsel, and refused by commanding Satan away because only the Lord God is to be worshiped and served.

The same bribe draws people to serve mammon instead of Christ, for love of riches can lead them to prize worldly honor and possessions above Christ's self-denial, changing allegiance so gradually that they may still claim to be Christians while no longer serving Him. The temptation includes love of the world, desire for power and pride, urging setting aside truth and honesty for riches, honor and happiness through wrongdoing and ambition to possess and excel. Following that counsel is worshiping Satan rather than God and brings misery and ruin, degrading human faculties and bringing them into captivity to sin when integrity is yielded and conscience dulled for power, honor, riches and sinful pleasure. Christ resisted the ambition and desire for power that had ruined many, answering with God's word and choosing obedience to God's commandments over the world's treasures, showing that worldly gain must not be chosen at the cost of worshiping God. Choosing Satan's bribe to gain temporal wealth costs spiritual life and the hope of heaven.

Satan still works by bribes and baits offered in advance, putting one attraction after another before the soul on condition of worship to gain worship and delay obedience and laying hold of grace. The same offer is pressed upon sinners to make them put off securing grace now without a moment's delay and refuse Christ's voice inviting to drink of the water of life, which alone can avail because the end is near on the very borders of the eternal world. The danger is waiting until too late with no oil in vessels, with lamps going out for lack of the oil of grace on the very borders of the eternal world. He still presents glowing expectations before human minds to seduce into one ambitious project after another, and his offer stands for the ambitious plans, projects and methods of the world and suggestions to unite with the world. Beholding and studying those worldly plans blinds as the world is blind so truth's beauty cannot be seen, making a person more favorable to worldly methods and willing to listen to Satan and take his bribes, while believers need daily prayer, divine light and strength to withstand continually changing, new and unexpected assaults. Jesus when tempted instantly rejected Satan's bribes, and the same temptation must be instantly rejected instead of accepting union with the world, whether coming under appearance of light to test whether trust will be in God or bondage to the world rather than moral independence and reliance on the Lord.

The offer teaches that integrity and principle must never be surrendered for earthly advantage, and that power and riches obtained at the expense of honesty and principle prove a terrible curse. Christ refused to manifest a grasping spirit for earthly possession and refused to worship Satan to gain worldly wealth, leaving an example to strengthen weak purposes and resolves to remain true to principle and Christian honor. People who worship Satan for freedom to use dishonest business practices and increase wealth follow the opposite course, doing what Christ refused to do because it gives more freedom to engage in satanic practices in business transactions to add to riches. The same kind of temptation leads to pursuing profitable ventures that compromise integrity and to accepting another's terms to end conflict at cost of fidelity, and must be instantly rejected as Jesus rejected it. Those who fail to connect with God to receive wisdom and grace to refine and elevate life will be judged for the good they might have done but failed to perform because they were content with earthliness of mind and friendship with the unsanctified, and every soul failing to obtain victory carries others down through influence and does not fall alone.

Prophecy History and Connections

Worship belongs to the God who made the world alone, and He has given no human being power to claim homage for himself or to become an object of worship. Finite man is not to be placed where God should be, honored as a god, or bowed down to, so pope, prelate, or cardinal has no right to receive worship. The worship Satan sought from Christ is now given to the man of sin in the pope and his representative the cardinal, whose claims to power and authority repeat the power and authority Satan claimed in the heavenly courts. The same demand for homage is made through the Church of Rome when the pope claims divine titles and supreme authority, while Christ's answer shows worship and service belong to God alone. The same satanic character is seen in religious leaders who claim to be Christ's representatives on earth while holding His spirit not at all.

Christ rejected worldly power in exchange for worship and acknowledgment of Satan's supremacy, but the same temptation succeeds with people when the church seeks worldly gain, honor, and the support of powerful rulers at the cost of rejecting Christ. Seeking the favor of earthly rulers led the church to reject Christ and give allegiance to Satan's representative, submitting to the bishop of Rome. The Roman church's claim that the pope holds supreme authority and deserves homage repeats Satan's demand for the allegiance that belongs to God.

The same temptation will be presented to people in the final conflict, when Satan will display the kingdoms in their glory and promise them to those who worship him. He will make his own kingdom appear to be the kingdom of God, claim heaven's authority, and even present God's kingdom as his own, but that claim is false and seeks to bring people under his rule. Had Christ worshiped Satan, the kingdoms of the world could never become the kingdoms of God and of Christ, yet Christ rejected the bribe and overcame, winning a victory that enables His followers to resist. In the last conflict Satan uses the same kind of bribe and coercion, threatening to withdraw protection under the laws of nations unless people worship him contrary to God's law. This pressure is tied to the Sabbath commandment, for the Sabbath identifies God as Creator while human laws exalt a counterfeit sabbath and demand worship contrary to God's law, so that yielding for worldly gain risks losing the soul.

Satan still promises worldly power and glory to those who worship him, seeking to bring them under his dominion, to make himself like God, and to destroy those who oppose his power. The world's acceptance of his power as divine repeats the wilderness scene. Having failed to gain Christ's worship, he now uses deceitful wonders and practices to lead people into deception and worship that belongs to him. He appears as a benefactor, works supposed cures, leads people to receive his instructions as heavenly, and turns them to worship him and away from faith in the Bible and in Christ.

The wilderness offer of an earthly kingdom was repeated when the multitude fed from five loaves and two fishes tried to take Him by force and make Him king. The enthusiasm of the people and the swelling expectations of the disciples voiced Satan's suggestion, and Satan worked on that occasion through Judas, whose selfish hope of an earthly kingdom received its death blow. The temptation was real with real conflict in Christ's mind, but He promptly and decisively refused the honor, constrained His disciples to take the vessel across the lake, dismissed the multitude, and went alone into the mountain to pray, which was saying to Satan, Get thee behind Me.

The same temptation to abandon humiliation and sacrifice for worldly dominion was pressed again through Peter, whose appeal against suffering would have turned attention away from the cross. When Peter urged Jesus to avoid going to Jerusalem and facing death, Jesus rebuked him with the same words, Get thee behind me, Satan, because Peter's affectionate counsel opposed God's purpose of grace as Satan's temptation had. Jesus did not yield or alter His course to save Himself, for His life was governed by the Father's will, and had He yielded Satan's forces would have triumphed and the world would have been lost. His victory over every wilderness temptation, after which Satan left defeated, is an example for His followers, to whom God gives power to stand firm and be victorious in the conflict between Christ and Satan.

After failing in the fiercest wilderness temptations, Satan departed for a season while angels fed and strengthened Jesus, then planned to attack Him during His ministry by stirring unbelief and hostility among people and using the Jewish people against Him, hoping to discourage Him from His mission as Savior. After that defeat he also sought to bring sorrow to Christ by attacking John the Baptist. In the wilderness Satan could assume an appearance that deceived others, and he could likewise take Samuel's form, so the apparition at Endor was produced by Satan, not by the prophet.

Jesus remained steadfast against the offer of the world's glory for worship, and Jerome followed his Master's example by refusing the brilliant prospects offered as reward for renouncing opposition to Rome. Satan failed to turn Jesus from God, yet later succeeded more readily in drawing fallen people away from Jesus, helping corrupt Christianity and leading people to seek pardon from religious leaders instead of Christ. The chapter belongs to presenting the mission and work directly before wealthy men and women, great men and rulers, and all who have means in banks or speculative lines in their power, showing that those entrusted with earthly treasure and the Lord's goods are to be approached personally and asked to help advance preparing a people in all parts of the world to stand before God and giving the gospel to all nationalities. That temptation account is connected also to the physician's danger of facing Satan's fiercest temptations and falling into spiritual darkness without daily grace, and draws a parallel to tempting a husband in time of weakness.

The offer is a deceptive attempt to make Satan's claims seem like genuine religious truth, and Christ's answer is no: do not accept Satan's devising or use worldly policy to avoid betrayal and suffering. The same temptation pressures everyone who serves God to serve Satan's plans to gain wealth, pleasure, happiness, or honor, and to set aside honesty and benevolence for self-interest. Satan may test people as he tested Christ, disguising his approach as an angel of light, so binding oneself to the world rather than trusting God is that danger. Christ endured Satan's tests concerning appetite, ambition, and love of the world, defeated the tempter, and proved false the claim that people cannot keep God's commandments, for by taking human nature He became humanity's representative and surety and demonstrated that through cooperation with divine power people can obey, have His righteousness imputed through faith, and share the divine nature. There the destiny of the human race was at stake and Christ was conqueror, yet Satan returned in Gethsemane for the last fearful conflict after preparing during the three years of ministry, with everything at stake, for if he failed there his hope of mastery was lost and the kingdoms of earth would finally become Christ's, who would bind the strong man and cast him out. Those struggling with appetite can look to His wilderness victory as theirs, and His endurance of suffering, including thirst on the cross, shows He faced what people can bear.