SEKMON III.
Tlten the devil taketh Mm up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou he the Son of God, cast thyself down : for it is ivritten, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee ; and in their hands they shall hear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. — Mat. IV. 5, (I,
In this second temptation I shall give you — (1.) The history of it; (2.) Observations upon it. I, The history of it. There,
1. What Satan did,
2. What he said.
3. The soreness of the temptation,
1. What he did : ' Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple.' There — (1.) Take notice of the ground which the devil chose for the conflict : ' He tak- eth him up into the holy city, and setteth him on the pinnacle of the
Mat. IV. 5, 6.J Christ's temptation. 277
temple.' By the holy city is meant Jerusalem, for this name is given to it in other scriptures : Isa. Iviii. 2, ' They call themselves of the holy city.' And Isa. lii. 1, '0 Jerusalem, the holy city;' and in many other places. It was so called, because it was the seat of God's worship, and the place where God manifested his gracious presence with his people. If you ask why now it was called the holy city, since it was a city of blood, the seat of all wickedness, in which the law of God was depraved, their religion corrupted, their religion polluted ? I answer, Yet there was the temple of the Lord. Some relics of good and holy men, some grace yet continued, and the only place that owned the true God, though with much corruption. The more espe- cial place which the devil chose for the conflict was Trrepvyiov rov tepov, ' the pinnacle of the temple,' or ' the wing of the temple ; ' meaning the border round about the flat covering of the temple to hinder any one from falling off easily, which might be adorned with pinnacles and spires, from whence one might easily fall. (2.) How the devil got him there ? Whether Christ was carried through the air, or went on his feet, following him of his own accord ? The last seem- eth to be countenanced by Luke ; that he led him to the pinnacle of the temple, Luke iv. 9, Tjyayev avrov ; yet the former is preferred by most ancient and modern interpreters, and not without reason. For Christ voluntarily to follow the devil, and to go up to the top of the temple, and stand on one of the pinnacles thereof, it seemeth impro- bable, and would take up more time than could be spent on this temptation. He that would not obey the devil persuading him to cast himself down, that he might not tempt God, would not volun- tarily have gone up with him, for that would have been the beginning of a temptation, to yield so far. Most probably, then, Satan was per- mitted to carry him in the air, without doing him any hurt, to Jeru- salem, and one of the pinnacles of the temple and battlements thereof. But how Christ was carried in the air, visibly or invisibly, the scrip- ture showeth not: it afflrmeth the thing, but sets not down the manner. We must believe what it asserteth, reverence what it con- cealeth. Here was a real translation, a transportation from place to place, not imaginary, for then Christ had been in no danger. And again, not violent, but voluntary — a carrying, not a haling — a leading, not a forcing, as the wrestler is drawn on to the combat. As he suf- fered himself to be drawn to death by Satan's instruments, so by the devil to be translated from place to place. The oflicei-s of the high priest had power to carry him from the garden to Annas, from Annas to Caiaphas, from Caiaphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, from Herod to Pilate again, and then from Gabbatha to Golgotha, which could not have been unless this power had been given them from above, as Christ himself telleth Pilate, John xix. 11. So God, for his greater glory and our instruction, permitted this transportation ; tlierefore this translation is not to be imputed to the weakness of Christ, but his patience, submitting thus far that he might experience all the machinations of Satan ; and the transporting is not to be ascribed to the tempter's strength, but his boldness. Christ did not obey liim, but submitted to the divine dispensation, and would light witli him not only in the desert, but in the holy city: and no wonder if Christ
278 Christ's temptation. [Ser. III.
suffered Satan to carry him, who suffered his instruments to crucify him.
2. What he said to him, ver. 6, where take notice — (1.) Of the temptation itself, ' If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down.' (2.) The reason alleged to back it, ' For it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee/ &c.
[1.] The temptation itself: ' If thou be the Son of God, cast thj'self down.' Mark what was the mote in the devil's eye, that Christ was declared to be the Son of God, the Messiah and Saviour of the world. He would have him to put it to this proof in the sight of all Jerusalem, wherein, if he failed, and had died of the fall, the Jews would think him an impostor ; if he had escaped, he had submitted to the devil's methods, and so had run into the former sins mentioned before in the first temptation, his doing something at the devil's direction ; his dis- belief of the divine oracle, unless manifested by such proof as Satan required ; and besides a tempting of divine providence — the ordinary way was down stairs. He would have him leap, and throw himself over the battlements. It would be too long to go down stairs ; he will teach him a nearer way : to cast himself down and fear no hurt, for if he were the Son of God he might securely do so. But chiefly Christ was not to begin his ministry by miracles, but doctrine — not from a demonstration of his power, but wisdom. The gospel was to be first preached, then sealed and confirmed by miracles ; and Christ's miracles were not to be ludicrous, but profitable — not fitted for pomp, but use — to instruct and help men, rather than strike them with wonder. Now this would discredit the gospel, if Christ should fly in the air ; besides, we must not fly to extraordinary means, where ordinary are present.