The Missouri messenger., 1900-01-26

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S:17. =.
Christ
THE LESSON TEXT.
Matt 41-11)
l. Then was Jesus led up OF the spirit
into the wilderness to be tempted OF tho
devil.
q And when He had tasted forty days
and forty nights he was afterWaro an nun
! gered.
| 3. And when the tempter came to Him.
| he said: If Thou be the Son or Co., com
mand that these stones be MADE Dreao:
4. But He answered and said: 1t Is writ
ten, Man shall not live by bread aione.
but by every word that proceedetn out OF
the mouth Of God.
K Then the devil taketh Him up into the
holy city. and setteth Him on pinnacle
6 And saith unto Him: If Thou be the
Son of God, cast thyself down: Tor II Is
written, He shah give His angels cnarge
concerning Thee; and in their hanos tney
shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Ihou
dash Thy foot against a stone.
z Jesus said unto him: 1t Is written
again, Thou shalt not tempt the Loro IhS
God. -,
an exceeding high mountain and shoWetn
Him the kingdoms of the Worio' anu the
glory of them;
9 And saith unto Him, All these things
will give Thee, if Thou wilt fan down
and worship me.
TO- The saith Jesus unto MIN, Get thee
hence, Satan; for it is written, Ihou smart
worship the Lord thy God, and Him only
II. Then the devil leaveth Him, and.
behold. angels came and miniStered unto
iiiA'' NOTES AND SUGGESTIONS.
Jesus Baptism.-John had been
baptizing, probably for about SIX
months, when Jesus presented Him.
self as a candidate for the rite. he
set out from His home in Nazareth to
be baptized-not to hear John preach
or to determine the nature of Johns
mission. 1t seems to be limited in
Luke 1921 that Jesus presented Him.
self somewhat privately, at the close
of days work. If so, we may find
in the fact an explanation of what ap-
pears to be the truth that the visible
coming of the Holy Spirit was evident
only to John and to Jesus, and that
only they heard the voice from the
sky. AS to the reason for the baptism,
it seemed necessary 10 Jesus in order
that He might fulfill all righteous
ness" The righteousness which He
wished to fulfill may well be under
stood as equivalent to the rites OF
initiation into the priesthood. Those
rites included baptism, amounting with
oil, and sacrifice. Jesus was baptized
By John rather than by priest, His
amounting was in the descent of the |
Spirit upon Him, and His sacrifice was
to come when He should offer Himself |
upon the cross.
The Temptation.-The first evidence
of this presence of the Spirit was
Jesus departure into the wilderness
to be tempted. The temptation con-
sisted not merely in the three attacks
of which we have record, but doubt
less in many an unrecOrded suggestion
to Jesus during the 40 days in which
He tasted. The purpose of the retire
ment to the wilderness was, of course,
to give Jesus opportunity for concen-
trated thought upon the public work
to which He felt Himself called-its
purpose, its method, and it's results
If we may insist upon the exact mean.
ing of Matt. 4:2; Luke Az, the alb
Straction of Jesus during the 40 days
was so great that He was not con-
Bcious of hunger. The pangs, of
which the devil tried to take advan-
tage in the first temptation, must have
been very severe. The account of the
must have been given by
Jesus to His disciples in the course OF
the private teaching which occupied
much of the last six months of His
life. The order given in Matthew is
the more logical one, though the
probably framed them.
selves to Jesus less separately and
than they appear in the &C.
count. 1t is not necessary to sup
pose that Jesus was bodily transport
ed, nor yet that the temptation was
entirely within Himself. The truth
may lie between these two extremes
Note the plausibility of the tempta,
ions. The first promised relief from
lunger and the other two assured
success in work by manner much
easier than that which it was proper
% take. Observe that the quotations
rom Scripture with which Jesus re.
1els the temptations are all from the
book of Deuteronomy. The first two
temptations enticed to a misuse of Di.
'ine power; the third to a concession
hat the devil holds the world as by
light. The freedom from temptation
which followed the great conflict here
described was only "for a season."
Luke abb
The Place of Temptation.-A tradi-
ion, said to be no older than the time
Il the crusades, fixes the scene of the
emptation at mountain not far from
ericho, which from this circumstance
as received the name of Quarantania.
Naked and arid like a mountain of
nalediction, it rises precipitously from
scorched and desert plain, and looks
ver the sluggish, bituminous waters
4 the Sodomitic sea-thus Offering a
harp contrast to the smiling softness
Il the Mount of Beatitudes and the linn
I'D crystal of the Lake of Gennesareth.
Imagination has seen in it fit place
be the haunt of evil infiuences-a
lace where, in the language of the
rophets, the owls dwell and the satyrz
ance.-Canon Farrar.
PRACTICAL.