Evening star., 1922-10-21

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that are tempted.-Matthew, 2.1S.
History's greatest battles have been
fought. not on the battletields OF
blood, but in the human heart, where
the invisible forces OF Satan have
besieged the citadel Of the soul to
drag down and destroy. The decisive
battles Of the world have been deter
mined by their effect upon the for
tunes Of successive generations. Hal
lam has pointed out that there are
q few battles of which a contrary
event would have essentially varied
the drama of the world in all its sub
sequent scenes" Probably the great
est conflict Of the ages was fought
out In the wilderness where the
Spirit guided our Lord after His bap.
lism to be tempted. During period
of forty days the Master met Satan
I'm struggle SO profound. testing
SO difficult. that day after day and
night after night He was involved In
a titanic spiritual battle" that tested
Christ's power and loyalty.
The wilderness conflict was IN
evitable. The moment there was
given to Jesus the evidence which
clearly established His relation to
Jehovah and confirmed Him in His
determined to turn Him aside from
His efforts to reveal the Fathers
| love to man and to seek to save the
lost. While the Master may have
planned to return to the carpenter
shop when He left Nazareth to be
baptized Of John, the revelation that
came to Him at His baptism and His
enduement with power called for Him
to meet Satan. His temptation was
| no afterthought of God. but part
| OF the Lords preparation for HIS pub
| lie ministry. No one has ever dedi-
Gated himself to live for the glory
by the evil one in an effort to prevent
Of conservation. Jesus. having COM
pletely identified Himself with hu-
manity by His baptism. selected the
probability was Quarantania (Jebel
KaranteD. just west OF Jericho. We
may not be able to understand how
| He was tempted. but the fact 10 be-
yond question that He was tempted
| in all points. like as we. yet without
SIM" He could not have understood
our temptations so as to help US un-
less He had me. Satan in Il test OF
spiritual power. "ln that He himself
hath suffered being tempted, He Is
! able to succor them that are tempt
| cd" The Savior who was tried and
conquered Satan is the Savior OF
assures US that In our battles we can
| win. He fought alone, but He draws
near TO aid us In our hours Of trial
and temptation.
We are indebted to our lord for the
story of His struggle that went On
| continuously for forty days and
nights. No one else could have given
to His disciples the story of that
epochmaking conflict that Jesus
| fought alone. except for the presence
! OF the wild beasts. in the wilderness.
He was trying to work out the pro-
gram which He would use to estab-
, nized that He could not delay His
public ministry any longer after the
| public approval that was given Him
at His baptism. He would not try
to enter upon His life's work with
out thinking through His duty and
of procedure. Most men fall in pub
lilo life because they lack the secret
preparation. Moses In the desert,
Elijah in the cave. John in the will
derness. and Paul. like our Lord.
fought out in secret spiritual strug
work. We fail to receive the help
that ought to come to US from the
temptations Of Jesus because we do
not realize that temptation increases
with the development OF power and
personality.
crisis in the conflict with Satan came
after Christ commenced to experience
the pangs OF hunger. Adam was led
through "the lust of the flesh, the
lust Of the eyes and the yainelory
~
where the first failed. When the
Master conquered Satan in tempta-
ton such as caused the first Adam
to fall He would be prepared to un
dertake the work Of redeeming man.
Our Lord entered that conflict un-
tainted by sin. He recognized that
the question Of our salvation. the
fulfillment of all Righteousness de-
pended upon the outcome Of that
spiritual struggle. He had responded
to the heavenly call to be the Mes
siah. He came forth from the Jor-
dan conscious Of His power, but be-
istry Jesus had to settle how He
would use His power in establishing
the kingdom Of God among men.
The devil sought to mislead Christ
SO that He would misuse His power
for selfish purposes. Around this
0ucoIlOA SOuICACu SuC kClApkoItoAS "a
Jesus. 1t is the center Of our
temptations. We have to determine
how we shall use the power God has
intrusted to US. whether for self or
His glory.
Satan's strategy and subtlety is
seen in the fact that he tried with
all Of his power to master Jesus,
when He was weakened by His forty
days fast and was hungry, by his
threefold attack. The first sugges-
tion that the devil presented to the
physically exhausted Christ was that
the Lord should use His power to
transform "these stones" which were
probably the "siliceous accretions"
that looked like the loaves used by
the natives. into bread to supply His
physical needs. While the sugges-
ton of Satan appealed to Christ's
physical needs and had in 1t the germ
of selfishness, the real temptation
contained In its proposal was that
He should prove that He was the Son
of God by material means. He SYM
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