c Ps. XXX. 6, 7. ^2 Cor. xii. 7.
^ Matt. xvi. 17—19, 22, 23.
GodV who alone can render any thing available for our real
good.
Having failed in this, Satan urged him to an opposite extreme, even to a j)resumj)tuous tempting of the Fathers power. He took our Lord, doubtless with his own concur- rence, as one man would take another, to a pinnacle or battlement of the temple, and urged him, in proof of his Messiahship, to cast himself down from thence, which he told him he might safely do, because God, on whom he seemed so confidently to rely, had promised to "give his angels charge over him, that he should not dash his foot against a stone *^." But, in citing this Scripture, Satan withheld that part which restricted the promise to persons walking in the path of duty. For any person to expose himself to danger without necessity, in order to see whether God would preserve him from injury, would be the highest act of presumption. It would be, in fact, to tempt the Lord. And therefore our Lord repelled the temptation by adducing another passage of Scripture, more appositely and justly quoted, " Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God\"
What Satan could not do by deceit he now endeavoured to effect by the greatness of his offers, whereby he would induce our Lord to an idolatrous rejection of his Fathers authority. He took our Lord to an exceeding high mountain, and " shewed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of" them," most probably the kingdoms in and around Canaan, from whence the glory of all other kingdoms might be inferred ; and pro- mised to " give him all, if only he would fall down and worship him\" This would have been, in fact, to renounce his heavenly Father, and to give to Satan the honour due to God alone. How offensive such a proposal must be to our blessed Lord, we may well conceive. But, though filled with indignation, our Lord still had recourse only to the written word for the re- pelling of this impious proposal, and, bidding him to depart, he gave him this as the rule to which every creature must adhere, " Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God; and him only shalt thou serve''."]
The issue of these temptations comes now in the last place to be mentioned —
[Satan, foiled, was obliged to leave the field. He could not withstand the authoritative command of Jesus. Abashed and confounded, he, for the present, desisted from his enterprize. True, he departed only for a season, as the Evangelist informs us\ and as the subsequent history of our Lord attests". But
f ver. 4. with Deut. viii. 3. • g ver. 6. with Ps. xci. 11, 12.
^ ver. 7. with Deut. vi. 16. • ver. 8, 9,
^ Deut. X. 20. 1 Luke iv. 13. m John xiv. 30.
1286.J Christ's temptation. 39
on the present occasion the victory was gained by our blessed Lord ; and, as I shall shew under my next head, immense ad- vantage was obtained for the followers of Christ in all ages.
Now too, that evil spirit being vanquished, other spirits came down from heaven to succour and congratulate our victorious Lord. Whether they administered to his bodily wants, we are not informed : but they doubtless were God's messengers to liim to console his fainting spirit, and to animate him to all future conflicts.]
We may now proceed to consider, II. What interest we have in this mysterious occur- rence—
The account here given us is of far greater import- ance than we in general are apt to imagine —
1. It is a record of what the Lord Jesus Christ has effected /or us —
[Satan, by overcoming the first Adam, had caused him and all his posterity to be excluded from Paradise, and to be con- signed over to the curse due to sin. But Christ, the second Adam, by vanquishing for us that great adversary, has re- opened for us the gate of Paradise, and caused his holy angels not only to abstain from prohibiting our entrance with a sword of fire**, but to aid us, and encourage us in our endeavours to regain the blessedness we have lost. From that time they have been " sent forth to minister unto the heirs of salvation", to uphold them under any difficulties to which they may be ex- posed in life, and to attend them in the hour of death for the purpose of bearing their departing spirits to the realms of bliss p. We before mentioned that Satan left him but for a season. At a subsequent period, he returned again to the charge, at- tended with innumerable hosts, even with all " the powers of darkness 1." Yea, and he prevailed to *' bruise the heel" of our most adorable Lord. But our Lord " bruised his head"" :" and even " by death overcame him that had the power of death, that is, the devil':" yes, he then "spoiled principalities and powers, triumphing over them openly on his very cross S" and in his ascension, "led captivity itself captive^;" thus "judging and condemning the Prince of this world''," and leaving us nothing but a vanquished enemy to contend with. To appre- ciate this mercy aright, we should look all around us, and see what evil that wicked fiend has occasioned to the whole human race from the very beginning of the world; and then look down