The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1890-02-21
SUNDAY SCHOOL,.
INTERNATIONAL Lesson. For
FEBRUARY %. y
Lesson Text: "The Temptation Cf
jesus" Luke Nv. t-fS Golden Text:
Heb. a., fS Commentary on
the Lesson


to pass over into the promised land, when the
Ark--type of the same Lord Jesus-stood I'm
tho midst on the priests shoulders till every
one had passed over; divided again for lijah
and Elisha, and n third time for Elisha: but
both the Ark of the Covenant and the priests
who bare IL, Elijah and Elisha, and all the
prophets, well rs all the Bible and the his.
tory contained in it, POINT us to Him whom,
in this lesson, we see returning from Jordan
filled with the Spirit. If the 14th verse of
the chapter was included in our lesson, we
would then say that the lesson begins and
ends with a record of Jesus returning from
certain places filed with the Spirit, first to
be tried and then to minister; and IL we are
not willing to be filed with the Spirit for
trial, can we expect that God will fll lis with
His spirit for service.
1,9 "And was led by the spirit into the
wilderness, being forty days tempted of the
ws:; " sss Eis=a aii ~ 8 Co.
working miracles, offering Himself -
flee or rising from the dead, &c As tho Spirit
in Him that does IL all.
"And in those days He did eat nothing;
hungered." The forty days fast reminds us
Of the fastings of the two men who after
wards appeared with Him on the Mount OF
TRANSPORTATION. or Moses it is written, in
reference to both periods of forty days and
nights when he was in the mount with God,
that he did neither cat bread nor drink
water Deut. ix., O. 1S), and of Elijah 1t is
written that he went in the strength OF that
meal (which the angel had prepared forty
days and forty nights unto Horeb the Mount
r-tGod q. Kings xix, S) There is no doubt
more in the forty days fast of these won
derful three than we have yet seen or shall
see till the kingdom comes; but we shall do
well day by day to see no man save Jesus
only Matt. xvii, s..
3. ''If Thou be the Son of God command
this stone that it be made bread" The ia
ther of lies insinuates that perhaps He is not
the Son of God, but only mere man, Just
poor carpenter from Nazareth, making pre-
tensions of being some great one, and that
He had better return to His humble home or
else give some token of His power 1t Is
poor thing for the Son of God t" be hungry
bread. Let Him satisfy His hunger. Does
not the reader Gf he or she be Chrstian)
recognize in this tempter the same one who
has often whispered to you: "If you were
child of God would He let you want for this
or that which you certainly needg Can He
really love YOU as you think He does and
deny you the very necessar'es or iife or keep
from You this little qualification" Thus the
tempter Of Eve and of Christ still seeks to
overcome the children of God by leading
them to question the love of God or to doubt
that they are His children.
a. 1T is written that man shall not live by
bread alone, but hy every word Of God"
This is the reply of Christ to the tempter.
The outward indications were that God had
failed him, but Jesus places the word of God
against all other evidences and rests un-
moved on what is written. Believing is bet
ter than seeing.
50 "If Thou therefore wilt worship me-
all shall be Thine" The statements of these
verses that the devil took Him to au high
mountain and Showed Him all the Kingdoms
of the world in moment of time, cannot be
understood or explained by us hut can beTe-
ceives!, Oil the authority Of the Holy Spirit
who, through the servant of God, wrote
these tn, tninss Z, and sAicitx heisyed The
with (nor do we want to bel. nor is5szslIyrsr,
vealed Jesus elsewhere calls him the prince
of this world, and Paul speaks of him as the
prince of the power OF the air and the god OF
| this world, while John, in Revelation, speaks
of a time when the devil will give to Anti
! christ that which in our lesson he offered to
Christ; so that his boast in his temptation
does not seem to have been altogether a vain
one. This world is the Lords by creation; He
gave it 10 Adam. but Adam, by his sin, gave
the devil claim TO it which he has not failed to
make of, and il is true to-day that "Ihe
whole world lieth in the evil one IL John V.
10. r. W. This statement is true not only of
heathendom. but also of ChrstendonI, and
i'm some measure of the Christian church. If
the manifest works of the devil Indicate his
property, then that which he does not con-
troll is a small section of earth and q small
number of people. But Daniel saw in vision
the kingdom and dominion under the whole
heaven given to the Son of Man and to the
saints of the Most High dan. vii. 13, II,
20, and this temptation was to obtain by n
short cut and apart from suffering that which
in due time will be ali His. CSee Rev, xi +,
l5, lS).
S. "Get thee behind me, Satan; for it is writ
tsa xAa W of fhe sne Spirit 1T is the
successful weapon. The Word of God is more
to Jesus than all the glory Of all the Kingdoms
| of this world and cagernesS to do the will of
God crowds out all else.
4 rl,,N,, L,t h.
self down from hence" The conflict is now
in Jerusalem, the Holy City, and, on a pin.
nacle of the temple, and i'll presenting this
temptation the adversary also seeks to WELD
the sword of the Spirit but he did as many
do to-day, quoted only the part of the passage
which seemed to suit his purpose omittng
that which would have condemned him. The
words quoted are given in the Psalm Qps. xci
9-13 as the result of making the Lord, tho
Most High, ones Refuge and nabitation To
do as the devil suggested would surely be
ceasing to abide under the shadow of the AL
mighty, or To make the Most High ones habi
tation, and therefore, the conditions being
broken, tn" promise would be forfeited
Abiding III Christ and in the love of God we
need fear no evil, but are perfectly safe in
His keeping.
12. "And Jesus, answering, said unto
him, 1t is said, Thou shall not tempt tne
Lord thy God" Again the sword of the
S,,sit -asshas ;aRb sife cofite2tlv is ,.erel
"Ye shall diligently keep the command
mcnts of the Lord your God, u . and
thou shalt do that which is right and good in
the sight of the Lord If we would not be
guilty of tempting the Lord, let us keep His
comma ndmentS and do right i'm His sight
listening to any ot Ter voice but His even to
the voice of the best of men, we are apt to bc
led aStray.
13. And when the devil had ended all the
temptation, he departed from Him for n sea
SON Matthew and Mark add that angels
came and ministercd unto Him. Although
no human eyes witnessed this conflict, who
can tell what hosts Of angels, good and bad,
were present the bad in full sympathy with
their leader and eager for his victory the
good in full sympathy with Christ, but com
PEELED to Stand aside till the enemy was van
quished. With joyful hearts they now re-
fresh Him as victorious. He accepts their
cheerful ministry; while satan and his fol-
lowers retire to plan some new device where
by they may perchance obtain victory owe:
this Holy One of God. And now We are IN
daily conflict with this Saihc adversary
For we wrcStlc not against flesh and blood
but against principaliticS, against powers,
against the world rulers of darknpss,
against the spiritual hosts of wickaness in