The Globe-republican., 1894-08-10
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

Temptation OF JesuS-MAttheW A:1.11.
| Especially Arranged from Peloubet's Notes.l
GOLDEN TExT:-In all points tempted like
- We are. yet without sin.-Heh 4:lA
OLD TESTAMENT PARALLEIs.-Moees Ex
S4:2S) and Elijah Il Kings 1873 ~ representing
!! the law and the prophets on the Mount Of
TRANSPORTATION. each spent forty days fasting
! In the wilderness
TnR-Probably about January, A. D. q. d..
rectly after His baptism
PLAOk@There II no hint given ss TO the
place where Jesus went to be tempted, but
most authorities incline to the northern part OF
tho wilderness Of Judca. between Jerusalem
ana Jericho on the west.and the Jordan and the
upper part Of the Dead sea on the east Tradi.
ton places It In Mount Quarantanis, not far
from Jericho. near the Jordan. It was named
QuArantanis (Which means Q space of forty
oays). because Jesus was supposed 70 have
passed his forty days Of fasting In ono OF its
caves
CRCUHsfANCEsG-Ast the first Adam the head
Of the race. must be tempted and tested at the
beginning Of his career, 20 must the second
Adam. the head Of the redeemed people OF God,
be tempted and tested at the beginning Of his
work The nrst Adam failed. and changed par
the victory. and ehangd desert into paradise
FORTY DAYS OF TEMPTATION.
Then" Immediately after His bap.
tism, when He was full of the Holy
Ghost" luke, and thus best fitted to
meet temptation and to enter upon His
work. God prepares US beforehand for
the storms and labors Of life. "Jesus
led up of the Spirit by some constrain:
Ing impulse of the Holy Spirit, proba-
bly, in the same way that we are led by
the Spirit. He did not seek or run heed
lessly into temptation. He obeyed the
principles in His own prayer: LEAD us
notinto temptation" but He also obeyed
the Holy Spirits impulses, and went
where He was hidden to 60, even though
it brought Him into temptation. Into
the wilderness" GA painless desert,
dusk with horrid shades, "-Milton):
where in solitude He could be absorbed
in intease meditation, and fight for
Himself the great battle with tempta-
ton. Mark says He was with the
wild beasts" i. e., without human COM
partnership or help, ito be tempted
of the devil for the whole forty
days, according to Luke. 1t was
not merely one sudden assault.
It was not probable that Jesus
lived thirty years in Nazareth without
enduring many temptations and over
coming them; but this period of temp
tation was in reference to His great
work as the Messiah. D God was put
ting it to the test whether Jesus was
qualified for His office-whether He
would remain true to the spiritual idea
of the Messiah. (2) In order to be the
Saviour of tempted mankind, it was
necessary that He Himself should be
tempted in all points like as we are,
yet without sin (Heb. 4:15). It was
necessary that Jesus should not only
be exposed to the same temptations as
we are, but that He should gain the
victory over them, and by the same
means which are available to US. (9
There was no doubt a preparation
needed in the human Lord Jesus. He
needed to feel and realize His great
work, and grapple with the great
difficulties in the way; to see clearly
the course that lay before Him, and de-
liberately put aside every hope and joy
which would hinder His mission, and
accept every danger and trial. If
Jesus should enter safely upon His
work as the Messiah, then the king
dom of God would come and Satan's
kingdom be broken for ever, and Satan
could not let this crisis pass without
exerting every possible power to de-
feat the Son of God and His mission Of
salvation.
The Tempter. The Greek word is
diabolos, slanderer, accuser; the He
brew, Satan, is one who opposes, an adj
ways with the article and always in
the singular number. Whenever the
plural, devils" is used, it is the trans
lation Of another word, demons" It
Is no more unreasonable to believe in a
personal devil than in bad men, bad
leaders on earth. To deny the exist
ence Of the devil is to lay much heavier
charges of evil on the nature of man
than does the belief in Satan.
The Reality Of the Temptation.-The
of Christ was a real tempta-
ton, as real as our temptations, and
without miraculous aids to victory, but
only such aids as we all may possess.
For why was He tempted by a sa-
gacious temper if He could not by any
possibility be led into evil? And. if He
Himself knew that He could not sin,
what could the transaction have been
to Him but a mere Formally? Or how
is He an example to us, if His tempta-
ton is an unreality? No! They dishonor
Christ's work who think thus."-Presi-
dent Theodore D. Woolsey.
The Method of the Temptations.-(D
The temptations must have come from |
without, and not from the mind Of
Jesus, If He was sinless. 1.-The notion |
that the illicit suggestions sprang up
in the heart of Jesus; that
the devil was in Him and of Him; that
the battle was with His own appetite,
His own vanity, His own personal am
bition, Is inddelity in its worst form"
Lyman Abbott. But (2) this does not |
imply that Satan came as
Satan, a. Apollyon to Bunyan's Pill
grim, with horrible form, and sulphur
Gus and flaming breath; for that would |