The Temptation of CHRIST.
MATTHEW iv. 1‒11.
_Then was JESUS led up of the spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterwards an hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of GOD, command that these stones may be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of GOD. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of GOD, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. JESUS said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the LORD thy GOD. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them: and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith JESUS unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the LORD thy GOD, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him._
DEARLY beloved, to-day you are invited to take a walk into the wilderness, to behold, sympathize with, and get instruction and comfort from a Saviour tempted. In the conflict, he approves himself to be GOD’s beloved Son; and the Father gives demonstrable evidence, that with, and in him, he is indeed well pleased. Let us with serious attention consider, when, where, and how, our great _Michael_ fought with and overcame the dragon. The Evangelist _Matthew_ is very particular in relating the preparations for, the beginning, process, and issue of this glorious and important combat.
“Then was JESUS led up of the spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil.” In the close of the foregoing chapter we are told, that the blessed JESUS had been publicly baptized, and was also solemnly inaugurated to his mediatorial office, by the opening of the heavens, by the Spirit of GOD descending on him like a dove, and by a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased;” and then it was, when he came from the solemn ordinance of baptism; when he was about to shew himself openly unto _Israel_; when he was full of the Holy Ghost (_Luke_ iv. 1.); even _then_ was he led, with a holy unconstrained violence, as a champion into the field, to engage an enemy, whom he was sure to conquer. But whither is this conqueror led? Into a lonesome, wide, howling wilderness: probably, says Mr. _Henry_, into the great wilderness of _Sinai_; a wilderness, not only lonesome, but inhabited by wild beasts. _Mark_ i. 13. Hither was our LORD led, not only that he might prepare himself by retirement and prayer, but also that he might be alone, and thereby give Satan all the advantages he could desire. In this combat, as well as that of his last agony, “of the people, there was to be none with him.” Neither does he content himself with praying, but he fasts also, and that “forty days and forty nights,” (verse 2.): as _Moses_ and _Elias_ had done, many years before, it may be, in the very same place. All these fasts were miraculous; and therefore, though we are taught hereby, that fasting is a christian duty, yet, to pretend, in an ordinary way, to imitate them, by fasting for so long a term together, is no doubt superstitious, presumptuous, and sinful: but few people, I believe, need such a caution.