The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-02-19
SABBATH SCHOOL,
INTERNATIONAL LESSON Fol
FEBRUARY %.
Lesson Text: "The Temptation o,
Jesus" Luke iv., 1-13--Golden
Text: Heb. IL, 1S-Com-
mentary. -....

which told us OF tho baptism OF Jesus by
John in Jordan, and OF tho descent OF thf
Holy Spirit upon Him in the form Of dovea
We emight, with much profit, stop to speak Of
to pass over into the promised Land, when the
Ark-type of the Same Lord Jesus-stood In
tho midst on the priests shoulders till every
one had passed over; divided again for Elijah
and Elisha, and third time for Elisha; but
both the Ark Of the Covenant and the priests
who bare il, Elijah and Elisha, and all tho
prophets, as well as all the Bible and the his
tory contained in it, Eoint Us to Him whom,
in this lesson, we see returning from Jordan,
the chapter was included in our lesson, we
would then say that the lesson begins and
ends with . record Of Jesus returning from
certain places filed with the Spirit, first to
be tried and then to minister; and If we arc
not willing to be filed with the Spirit for:
trial, can we expect that God viii I'LL us with
His spirit for services
l, Q. "And was led by the spirit into the
wilderness being forty days tempted Of the
birth Of Christ, and at His baptism, and now
we see Him filing the leading Christ; and.
whether we see Christ preaching, teaching, ,
working miracles, Offering Himself sacri-s
fee, or rising from the dead, It Is the Spirit
in Him that does it all.
"And in those days He did eat nothing;
and when they were ended, He afterward
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. OF 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 eat bread nor drink
water Deut. IL, 9, 19, and Of Elijah it is
written that he went in the strength OF thst
meal (which the angel had prepared forty,
days and forty nights unto Horeb the Mount
6 God q. Kings xix, 81. 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 wo shall do,
well day by day to see no man save Jesus
only Matt. xvii, 81.
8. "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 q
Door carpenter from Nazareth, making pro
tensions Of being some great one, and that
He had better return to His humble home OF.
else give some token Of His power. It Is o
Door thing for the Son Of God to be hungry
when he can, by word, turn stones into
bread. Let Him satisfy His hunger. Does
not the reader ff he or she be Christian)
recognize in this tempter the same one who
has often whispered to you: III you were q
child of God, would He let you want for this
or that which you certainly needl Can As
deny YOU the very necessaries Of life, or keep
from you this little gratifcationT 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.
4. "Itis written that man shall not live by
bread alone, but by 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 -
81. ssIf Thou therefore wilt worship me,
all shall be Thine" The statements Of these
verses that the devil took Him to an hight
mountain and showed Him all the Kingdoms
of the world in moment of time, cannot be
understood or explained by us, but can bere-
ceived, on the authority Of the holy Spirit,
who, through the servant Of God, wrote
these things, and implicitly believed. The
full power Of the devil we are not familiar
with (nor do we want to be), Eor is it fully re-,
yealed. Jesus elsewhere calls him the price
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 vain
one. This world is the Lords by creation; BE
gave it to Adam, but Adam, by his sin, gave
the devil a claim to it which he has not failedto
make use Of, and it is true to-day that THE
whole world lieth in the evil one" II John ".
10, R. w. This statement is true not only OF
heathendom, but also Of Christendom, and,
in some measure, of the Christian church. II
the manifest works of the devil indicate ms
property, then that which he does not con-
troll is small section Of earth and 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 tho
saints Of the Most High dan. vii, !3 a.
On. and this temptation was to obtain by
short cut and apart from suffering that which
in due time win be all His. (Ses Rev. n,
Is, 1S).
g. ssGet thee behind me, Satan; for it is writ
ten, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy GOD,
Is victor, and the sword of the Spirit is the
successful weapon. The Word Of God is more
to Jesus than all the glory of all the kingdoms
of this world, and eagerness to do the Will OF
God crowds out all else.
gill. sIf Thou be the Son Of God cast thy
self down from hence" The conflict Is now
in Jerusalem, the Holy City, and, on pin
nacle of the temple, and in presenting this
temptation the adversary also seeks to wleid
the sword of the Spirit but he did as SO many
do to-day, quoted only the part OF the passage
which seemed to suit his purpose, omttm4
that which would have condemned him. Ths
words quoted are given in the Psalm (Ps. xci.,
918 as the result Of making the Lord, the
Most High, ones Refuge and Habitatlon: 10
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. the promise would be forfeited
Abiding in Christ and in the love OF God we
need fear no evil, but are perfectly safe M
His keeping. -, ...
him It is said, Thou shall not tempt the
Lord thy God" Again the sword OF tho
Spirit flashes, and this time it IS word
from Deut. vi, 16, the context OF which is:
I'VE shall diligently keep the command,
ments of the Lord your God, 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 IN Ills slgEt.
Listening to any other voice but bis, even 20
the voice of the best Of men, we are apt 70 %
13. "And when the devil had ended all the
Temptation, he departed from Him for q sea-
son.h Matthew and Mark add that angels
came and ministered unto Him A!tnougn
10 human ewes witnessed this connlct, VINO
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
pelled to stand aside till the enemy was van
auished. 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
hv thew NAV oerchance obtain q victory over
this Holy One of God. And now We are In