Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-11

reformer, whose demands for righteous
ness had attracted the Nation. It
| marked crisis in the Masters life
when He laid down His tools in the car
penter shop and said farewell to the
members of the home, that for rs years
had by its influence, instruction and in
spiration helped mold His character.
Nothing less than the urge Of the Holy
Spirit could have moved Jesus to leave
the silence Of Nazareth to mingle with
the crowd that had been attracted to the
desert place where John preached and
baptized.
Christ's period of secluson and study
was ended when He left His Galilean
home to join His cousin. They prob
ably had never met until Jesus applied
for baptism. The famous desert preach
er recognized that his appeal for men to
repent did not apply to Jesus, who was
without sin. The reformer suggested
that he should be baptized by the Lord,
who insisted that John should baptize
Him. In his answer to John one can
detect the fact that Jesus evidently rec
ogn1Zed that he was superior to John,
but He clearly perceived that 1t was in
accordance with Gods plan that He
should identify Himself with John by
being baptized and thus placing His
approval upon the work of His herald,
who did not know that Jesus was the
Messiah, when he baptized our Lord.
The Masters Baptism.
John had never hesitated before. even
when the leaders in the nations reli-
gious life requested him to baptize them,
put he would have hesitated more had
ne known that the candidate for bap-
tlsm was the promised Messiah. Jesus
was about to enter upon His lifework
and He believed that He was obeying
God when He submitted to baptism.
He Endorsed the ministry of John as a
messenger Of God by being baptized.
lie ldentifed Himself with humanity by
sharing the rite with men. 1t was a
o n;S that showed His sympathy with
SlnIuI men, when He formally conse-
Grated Himself by the rite which He
later enJoined upon His followers.
Ihe Masters baptism became the
occasion OF divine testimonial to His
Sonship. The Scriptures refer to the
heavens being opened only few times,
one was at ChriSt's baptism Luke tells
us That as He was being baptized He
prayed and as He prayed the heavens
were opened. John saw the dove de-
scend upon Jesus. which was the evil
oence that God promised to give him in
pointing out the Messiah. John. then
knew that he had baptized the One for
whose coming he had been commits
stoned TO prepare. Jesus heard the voice
OF tne rather acknowledged Him as HIS
DeloVed Son. Ross has pointed out how
Cne seH-consecration of Jesus was re-
Warded as ours Is today by a clearer
easion OF the purposes of God, by a quiet
consciousness Of endowment with cod
given capacity for work and by a vivid
sense OF holy and filial intimacy with
the Divine Being Himself" When He
enrolled Himself among the followers
OF john Jesus heard His Heavenly Fa-
tners voice acknowledging Him to be
bis well beloved Son.
The Masters Temptation.
Immediately following His ban+;sr,
our Lord felt the necessity of considar,
ing alone In the solitude of the wilder
ness His Mission. Next to His death and
passion, the greatest event recorded in
the gospels occurred in His tenpta-
LON ION. tradition points to q high eleva-
ION northwest OF Jericho, called Mons
e2uarantana (the 40-day mountain). but
tne traditional site Is not of so much
importance as what took place during
tne 4O days that. solitary and alone.
Jesus thought out how He could carry
OUT tne program of establishing the
Kingdom OF God among men. The
people were anticipating a national
restoration OF their national power and
prestlge. Daniel had predicted a world
VIDE dominion. No one excent the
LORD Himself could have informed HIS
disciples OF what took place in that soli-
taFy struggle. IL has been suggested
following his confession of Jesus as the
Messiah and the Lords rebuke of Peters
protest of Christ's plan, SO that the
apostle might understand that He had
rejected that plan when 1t had been
submitted TO Him by Satan himself and
that was the basis Of his saying to Peter,
Get thee behind me, Satan"
There is no time when one Is more
susceptible to temptation than in the
hour OF spiritual exaltation. Tempta-
ton does not reflect upon our char
acters unless we yield to the tempta-
ton and indulge in sin. These trials
should serve TO strengthen our faith and
nelp develop our personalities. The
SPECIFIC temptations that Jesus met in
the wilderness proved conclusively that
He was the Son of God and worthy to
be the Messiah. Satan tried by the
temptations that continued throughout
the 40 days to mislead the Master as to
His mission, SO that Christ would mis-
use His powers.
The Three Temptations.
The three temptations mentioned in the
lesson are similar in character as to those
which men are compelled to face today.
Physical appetites, the pride of life and
the lure Of possession of power are the
temptations that test our fidelity and
are along the lines that try modern
men and women. The first suggestion
that Satan made was that He should
use His power to turn stones into bread
TO satisfy His hunger While the appeal
had the germ of selfshness in 1t, the
real temptation was in the suggestion
that the proposed plan would prove His
Sonship. 1t appealed to Christ's love
for humanity and His desire to assist
them along temporal lines. Labor recog-
nizeS today in its efforts to uplift the
toller that its inspiration has come
from the one who left the Nazareth
carpenter shop to enter upon His work
as spiritual teacher. Jesus knew the
tremendous appeal Of supplying men
with physical needs, and He demon
strated more than once Hi; power to do
it, but He refused to place material in
tereSts first in His work. He Is turning
stones into bread daily, for the disin-
tegration OF the stones supplies the min
erals that make possible our wheat
havreSts, whence comes our bread
The fallacy of many philanthropic en-
deavorS has been due to the fact that
they have put first physical and tenn
poral needs before mans spiritual needs.
Jesus turned aside the first temptation
by quoting from Deuteronomy. While
recognizing bread as an evidence of
Gods love, Jesus insisted that faith in
Gods word should be placed ahead of
any desire for ones daily bread.
Spirituality first was the decision Of
Christ. He determined then to put the
Kingdom of God first at all times. II
Jesus had yielded. it would have sup
piled men with excuses for yielding to
the flesh throughout the ages.
The second temptation, as we have 1t