The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1898-01-07

to succor them that are tempted -fieD z'lo
TIME.-Probably about January A ID.
q, directly after His baptism.
LESSON NOTES.
The Initiatory Battle and Testing
AS the first Adam. the head of the race,
must be tempted and tested at the be-
ginning of his career, so must the Sec
ond Adam. the head of the redeemed
people of God. be tempted and tested at
the beginning of his work
/. "Then: Immediately after His bap-
tism and full of the Holy Ghost" was
Jesus led up of (byl the Spirit" Under
some constraining influence that
showed Him what He ought to do. ITO
be tempted of the devil:" The SANDER
er, the false accuser, one who seeks by
false and lying means to injure others.
misrepresenting God. distorting the
truth.
Temptation Through the Appetite
2. Pasted forty days and forty
nights:" Both Mark and Luke say He
was tempted all these forty days, prob
ably in the same general way as the
last three great assaults now to be de-
scribed. He was probably thinking,
praying. planning. HE was afterward
q hungered:" When the reaction has
begun. hunger asserts its claims with
force SO terrible that (as has been
shown again and again in human ex-
perience) such moments are fraught
with the EXTREMIST peril to the soul.
3. 'sThe tempter came to Him." Sa-
tan made his severest assault in the
time of Jesus greatest weakness. He
still watches his time. and attacks us
when weary. sick, troubled, disheart-
ened, nervous and weak. "If thou be
the Son of Gods" if you really are Gods
Son, and hence are possessed of mirac-
ulous powers. command that these
stones be made bread" The wrong
was not in turning stones into bread,
but in doing it when He ought not to, at
the instigation of Satan. at the expense
of higher things. 1t would have de-
stroyed His power and mission as a
Saviour of men. He could not then be
tempted like as we are if He used His
supernatural power to save Himself
from hunger. forwe have no such power.
f. sit is written:"in Deut. $50. quoted
from the Greek translation. MAN shall
not live by bread alone:" By food for
the body.
The Temptation to Gain Good Things
by False and Presumptuous Faith
VS.. 81. 5. ''Taketh Him up into the
holy city," Jerusalem, literally, or in
spirit. son (the) pinnacle Cor rather,
wing) of the temple"
6. "If thou be the Son of Cod" Thus
planting doubt in His mind. "Cast
Thyseif down." Into the court of the
temple among the crowds. 1t was pre-
sented as showing His faith in God. and
giving the assurance that He was the
Son of God, if God sent His angel to
care for Him. Then, too. the people,
seeing Him coming down safely from
the height. would hail Him as prophet
and make Him king, as they tried to do
after He fed the 5000. For it IS writ
ten" (Psa. 91:11): He quotes this pas
sage, and misapplies it, to show that
Jesus could do it safely. and succeed
in proving His Messiahship. Many a
temptation has come from misapplying
Scripture.
z. at is written (Deut. 6:16) AGAIN."
On the other hand, as explaining the
words you quote. "Thou shalt not
tempt the Lord thy Cod" That is,
distrust God or test His power pre-
sumptuously.
Temptation to Gain Success, Even
Good Objects, by Wrong Doing.-8.
1.-THE devil taketh Him up into an ex-
eeeding high mountain" Probably in
spirit, in vision. for there is no noun
tain so high that all the Kingdoms of
the earth can be seen by the bodily
eye. It was in some kind of vision that
Satan showed him, in moment of
time, "all the Kingdoms of the world,
and the glory of them:" The kingdom
of power and law in Rome, with its
splendid court and triumphant armies;
the kingdoms of literature, art and Gull
ture in Greece; the ''barbaric gems of
gold" of the ORIENT; and possibly a
vision of the future with its glorious
civilizations, with its redeemed peoples,
fulfilling all that the prophets foretold,
or John on Patmos saw of the new
heavens and the new earth.
o. "All these things win give thee: ;"
In a measure Satan did have these
things. Christ later called him the
prince of this world. "H thou wilt fall
down and worship Me-" Satan does
not mean bald act of worship, a bend
ing in outward reverence to the grim
King of Darkness. Rather, Satan
asked such an act of worship as men
give when they worship money. by low
ing it better than God; when they wor-
ship success. by placing it before duty;
real. not formal, worship. Satan is
too shrewd to insist on the form if he
can gain the heart.
10. Get thee heEce, Satan:" It was
by this proposal that Satan revealed
himself. For it is written (Deut. 6:13).
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy Cod"
There is none other worthy of worship.
GfrT11