^ Let us not undervalue the blessing which would come to us if Jesus Christ were simply one of us, setting forth with marvellous vividness the universal conflict of the world, the perpetual strife of man with evil. Surely that strife becomes a different thing for each of us, when out of our own little skirmish in some corner of the field, we look up and see the Man of men doing just the same work on the hilltop where the battle rages thickest. The schoolboy tempted to tell a lie, the man fighting with his lusts, the soldier struggling with cowardice, the states- man with corruption, the poor creature fettered by the thousand little pin-pricks of a hostile world — they all find the dignity of their several battles asserted, find that they are not unnatural, but natural, find that they are not in themselves wicked but glorious, when they see that the Highest, entering into their lot, manifested the eternal enmity between the seed of the serpent and our common humanity at its fiercest and bitterest.^
When gathering clouds around I view, And days are dark and friends are few, On Him I lean, who not in vain Experienced every human pain; He sees my wants, allays my fears. And counts and treasures up my tears.
If aught should tempt my soul to stray
From heavenly wisdom's narrow way;
To fly the good I would pursue,
Or do the sin I would not do;
Still He, who felt temptation's power,
Shall guard me in that dangerous hour.
If wounded love my bosom swell, Deceived by those I prized too well;
1 Phillips Brooka.
GENESIS III. 15 107
He shall His pitying aid bestow, Who felt on earth severer woe; At once betrayed, denied, or fled, By those who shared His daily bread.
If vexing thoughts within me rise, And, sore dismayed, my spirit dies; Still He, who once vouchsafed to bear The sickening anguish of despair. Shall sweetly soothe, shall gently dry, The throbbing heart, the streaming eye.
When sorrowing o'er some stone I bend. Which covers what was once a friend, 4^nd from his voice, his hand, his smile, Divides me for a little while; Thou, Saviour, mark'st the tears I shed. For Thou didst weep o'er Lazarus dead!
And 0 ! when I have safely past Through every conflict but the last; Still, still unchanging, watch beside My painful bed, for Thou hast died ! Then point to realms of cloudless day, And wipe the latest tear away.^
iL His Work of Redemption.
Jesus was tempted of the Devil and resisted all the tempta- tions. What it cost Him we cannot tell. We know it cost Him much. Angels came and ministered unto Him. He needed their ministrations. But He won His battle. N"o one could convict Him of sin. He is ready now to be the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.
1. His Works. — When He begins His work of Eedemption He can use His powers as the Son of God. The Devil's temptation, " If thou art the Son of God," is a temptation no longer. He begins His works of wonder. He heals the sick ; He preaches the gospel to the poor ; He accepts the cup and drinks it ; He cries, " It is finished."
* Bobert Grant.
io8 THE CONFLICT OF THE AGES
2. Son of Man. — While the Temptation in the Wilderness was the temptation of a mau, the atonement for sin was the atonement of the Son of Man, man's representative ; the atonement of the race in Him, This is the essential thing in the Cross. He took hold of our nature; in our nature He suffered and died. Our nature suffered and died in Him. This is the essential thing, that He made the atonement as Man, that man made the atonement when He made it. After the Temptation in the Wilderness the Devil left Him for a season. When he came back he did not come back to a man. He came back to the race of man, represented and gathered into one in Christ. He came back not to seek to throw one human being as he had thrown so many human beings before. He came to fight for his kingdom and his power. •
3. Victory. — It did seem as if the Devil had won this time. As the fight closed in, Jesus Himself said, "This is your hour, and the power of darkness." The Devil had the whole world on his side in the struggle. The religious leaders were especially active. And the end came — death and darkness. It did seem as if the Devil had won this time, and this was the greater battle to win. But " except a corn of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth alone." Without death Jesus was sinless. In death He gathered many to His sinlessness. Death and the Devil got hold of Him but lost their hold of us. It was the Devil's greatest triumph. It was his greatest defeat.
4. Faith in the Victor. — One thing remains. We must accept Him. The kingdom of heaven is open, but it is open to all believers. He could not have this fair world without the agony ; we cannot have Him without it. For it is love that is wanted. Nothing is wanted but love. It is the love of the heart that makes Paradise. And love must be free. There is no compulsion. Sin must be felt and repented of ; a Saviour must be seen and made welcome. By faith we must become one with Him as He has become one with us.