<u>The University of Arabia.</u>
The Jordan led to the Wilderness by a straight road. A first step without
slipping leads to the second. Victory opens the way to fresh struggles for
higher victories. The perfect naturalness of Jesus is revealed here, His
human naturalness. He had taken the decisive step into the Jordan waters.
And while absorbed in prayer had become conscious of a new experience. The
Spirit of God came upon Him in unusual measure. The effect of that always
is to awaken to new alertness and vigor every mental power, as well as to
key up every moral resolve. Jesus is _caught_ at once by the grasp, the
grip of this new experience of the wondrous Spirit's control. Keenly alive
to its significance, awakened anew to the part He was to perform, and to a
consciousness of His peculiar relation to God and to man, He becomes
wholly absorbed in this newly intensified world of thought.
Under the Spirit's impulse, He goes off into the solitude of the
wilderness to think. And in this mood of deep absorption, with every
faculty fully awake and every high moral impulse and purpose in full
throb, came the temptation with the recorded climax at the close.
There came an intensifying of all His former consciousness, and
convictions, regarding His own personality and His mission to mankind, as
absorbed from the Hebrew parchments, with the undercurrent, lying away
down, of a tragedy to be met on the way up to the throne.
Jesus was a man of great _intensity_. He could become so absorbed as to be
unconscious of other things. As a boy of twelve, when first He caught
fire, He was so taken up with the flood of thoughts poured into His mind
by the temple visit, that for three days and two nights He remained away
from His parents, simply absorbed in the world of thought awakened by that
visit. He could remain forty days in the wilderness without being
conscious of hunger. The impress of that forty days mentally remain with
Him during the remainder of His human life. Intensity is possible only to
strong mentality. The child's mind, the undisciplined mind, the mind
weakened by sickness or fatigue goes quickly from one thing to another.
The finest mental discipline is revealed in the greatest intensity, while
yet all the faculties remain at normal, not heated, nor disturbed by the
discoloration of heat.
He withdrew into the wilderness to think and pray. He wanted to get away
from man that He might realize God. With the near flaming footlights shut
out, He could see clearly the quiet upper lights, His sure guides. These
forty days gave Him the true perspective. Things worked into proportion.
He never lost this wilderness perspective. The wilderness means to Him
_alone with God_, the false perspective, the flaming of near lights, the
noise of men's shuffling feet all gone. And when He went out among men for
work, that wilderness atmosphere went with Him. And when the crowds
thickened, and work piled up, and dangers intensified, off He would go for
a fresh bit of improvised wilderness.
The temptation follows the natural lines of man's powers. Man was made
with mastery of himself, kingship over nature and all its forces, and
utter dependence, even for his very breath, upon God. While made perfect
in these, he would know them fully only through growth. He had three
relationships, to God, his fellows, and himself. His relation to God would
keep true the relation to himself, and adjust the relation to his fellows.
Keeping God in proper proportion in the perspective keeps one's self in
its true place always. Utter dependence by every man upon God would make
perfect harmony with his fellows. The dominion of nature was through
self-mastery, and this in turn would be only through the practice of utter
dependence upon God.
Now all sin comes under this grouping, the relation to God, the relation
to others, within one's self. Temptation follows the line of exaggeration,
misuse, misadjustment, wrong motive. It pushes trust over into unwarranted
presumption. Dominion over nature crosses the line into the relation to
other men. Fellow-feeling gives way to an ambition to get ahead of the
other man and to boss him. Proper appetite and desire become lust and
passion. The dominion that man was to have over nature, he seeks also to
have over his brothers, so crossing the line of his own proper dominion
and trespassing on God's. Only God is to have dominion over all men. Where
a man is lifted to eminence of rule among his fellows he is simply acting
for Somebody else. He is not a superior. He is a servant of God, in ruling
over his fellows.
John's famous grouping of all sin as "the lust of the flesh, lust of eye
and pride of life," refers to what is out "in the world." It touches only
_two_ of these three: sin in one's self and in relation to his fellows,
with the dominion line out of adjustment. Out in the world God has been
left clean out, so the phase of trust isn't touched upon by John.
Jesus' temptation follows these natural lines. Improper use of power for
the sake of the bodily appetite; to presume on God's care in doing
something unwarranted; to cross the line of dominion over nature and seek
to control men. For, be it remembered, Jesus was here as a man. The realm
of the body, the realm of religion, the realm of wrong ambition, these
were the temptation lines followed then, and before, and ever since.
The going into the wilderness was planned by the Holy Spirit. He was in
charge of this campaign of Jesus to win back the allegiance of man and
the dominion of the earth. Jesus yielded Himself to the control of the
Holy Spirit for His earthly mission, even as later the Holy Spirit yielded
Himself wholly to the control of the exalted Jesus for _His_ earthly
mission.
Here the Spirit proves Himself a keen strategist. He drives hard at the
enemy. He forces the fighting. A decided victory over the chief at the
start would demoralize all the forces. It would be decisive of the whole
conflict, and prophetic of the final outcome. Every demon possessing a man
on the earth heard of his chief's rout that day, and recognized his
Victor, and feared Him, and knew of his own utter defeat in that of his
chief. Having gotten the chief devil on the run, every sub-devil fled at
Jesus' approach.
The Spirit would show to man the weakness of the devil. The devil can do
nothing with the man who is calmly set in his loyalty to God. This new
Leader of the race was led up to the dreaded devil that men might know for
all time his weak spot. The poison of those fangs is completely
neutralized by simple, steady loyalty to God. But the rattles do make a
big scary noise.
It is safe to go where the Spirit of God leads, and not safe to go
anywhere else. The wilderness, any wilderness, becomes a place of victory
if the Spirit of God be leading there. Any temptation is a chance for a
victory when the Spirit leads the way. A man's controlling motive
determines the attractiveness or ugliness of any place. To Jesus this
wilderness barren was one of the mountain peaks. Its forbidding chasms and
ugly gullies and darting snakes ever afterwards speak to Him of sweet
victory. The first great victory was here. He made the wilderness to
blossom with the rose of His unswerving loyalty to His Father. And its
fragrance has been felt by all who have followed Him there. To the tempter
it was a wilderness indeed, barren of anything he wanted. He quit it the
first chance he could make. He would remember the beasts and serpents and
dreary waste. For here he received his first death-thrust.
Every man whom God has used has been in the wilderness. The two great
leaders before Jesus, and the great leader after Him, had each a
post-graduate course in the University of Arabia. A degree in that school
is required for those who would do valiant service for God. Only so can
the eyes and ears be trained away from the glare and blare of the crowd.
They needed it, we need it, for discipline. He, the matchless Man, for
that too, and that He might make it a place of sure victory for us.
<u>Earth's Ugliest, Deepest Scar.</u>
Jesus is the _only_ One of whom we are told that He was led up to be
_tempted_. He was the leader of the race for the regaining of the blurred
image, the lost mastery and dominion. He Himself bade us pray not to be so
tempted. He out-matched the tempter. Any one of us, alone, is clearly
out-matched by that tempter. But we may always rest secure in the victory
He achieved that day. Only so are we safe.
It is noteworthy that the _place_ of the temptation was chosen by the
Spirit, and what place it is He chooses. Mark keenly, the tempter did not
choose it. He was obliged to start in there, but he seized the first
chance to get away to scenes more congenial to himself.
The wilderness is one of the most marked spots on the earth's crust. That
remarkable stretch of land going by swift, steep descents almost from
Jerusalem's very door down to the Dead Sea. It was once described as "the
garden of God," that is, as Eden, for beauty and fertility, like the
fertile Egyptian bottoms. For long centuries no ghastlier bit of land can
be found, haggard, stripped bare, its strata twisted out of all shape,
blistering peeling rocks, scorching furnace-heat reflected from its rocks,
swept by hot desert winds, it is the land of death, an awful death; no
life save crawling scorpions and vipers, with an occasional hyena and
jackal. Here sin had a free line and ran riot. It ran to its logical
conclusion, till a surgical operation--a cauterization--was necessary to
save the rest. Earth's fairest became earth's ugliest. It is the one spot
where sin's free swing seamed its mark deepest in. The story of sin's
worst is burned into the crust of the earth with letters over a thousand
feet deep. This is sin's scar: earth's hell-scar.
There is no talk of the glory of the kingdom here. Yet there had been
once. This is the very spot where that proposition on smaller scale was
made to a man in a crisis of _his_ life, and where, lured by the
attractive outlook, he had chosen selfishly. This is the wilderness, sin's
wilderness, whither the Holy Spirit led Jesus for the tempter's assault.
No man does great service for God till he gets sin into its proportion in
his perspective.
Jesus was tempted. Temptation, the suggestion to wrong, must find some
point of contact within. Therein consists the temptation to the man.
Without doubt there was a response within to the temptations that came to
Jesus. Satan always throws his line to catch on a hook inside. The
physical sense of hunger responded to the suggestion of getting hold of a
loaf. The unfailing breath of Jesus' life was trusting His Father. For the
_way_ a thing should be done, as well as for getting the result, He
trusted His Father. This trust, underlying and permeating His whole life,
furnishes the point of contact for the second temptation.
The ruling of a world righteously--not for the glory of reigning,
ingrained in _us_, but for the world's good and betterment--was ingrained
in Jesus by His birth, and fostered by His study of the Hebrew scriptures,
and by the consciousness of His mission. Here is the point of contact with
the third temptation. At once it is plain that there is nothing wrong here
in the inward response. For instantly it was clear that a response of His
_will_ to these outer propositions would not be right, would be wrong, and
so these points of contact were instantly held in check by His will.
"_Every_ temptation" was brought, we are told: "tempted in _all_ points."
This does not mean that every particular temptation came to Jesus, but the
heart, the essential, of every temptation. Every temptation that comes to
us is along the line of the three that came to Him. By rejecting the
_first_ of each line He shut out its successors. By accepting the first of
a series of temptations a man opens the way for the next, and so on.
Temptations come on a scale descending. There are the first, the initial
temptations, and then all that follow in their train. Rejecting the first
stops the whole line. Not only that, but stops also the _momentum_,
terrific, downward momentum of the whole line.
The first temptation is the door through which must pass all other
temptations of that sort. If that door be opened these other temptations
have a chance. If that door be kept shut, all these others are kept
waiting. Temptation is always standing with its pointed toe at the crack
of the door, waiting the slightest suggestion of an opening. This first
temptation is always the likeliest of its class to get in. It is not
always the same, of course. It is subtly chosen to suit the man. Jesus
kept these doors rigidly shut, key turned, bolts pushed, bar up, chain
hooked. So may we.
The tempting is to be done by "the devil." That is his strong point,
tempting people. It is one way of recognizing some of his kin. It is a
mean, contemptible sort of thing. He had fallen into a hole of his own
digging, and would pull in everybody else. He is never constructive in his
work, always destructive. Best at tearing down. Never builds up. His
allies can often be told by their resemblance to him here. Jesus is to be
tempted by this master-tempter. He is going to prove to all his brothers
that the tempter has no power without the consent of the tempted. The door
into a man has only the one knob. And that's on the inside.
<u>Waiting the Father's Word.</u>
Quite likely the form of the tempter's words suggests the upper current of
Jesus' thought. "If thou be the _Son of God_." Jesus was likely absorbed
with His peculiar relation to His Father, with all that that involved. The
tempter cunningly seeks to sweep Him off of His feet by working on His
mood. It is ever a favorite method with the tempter to _rush_ a man. A
flush of feeling, the mood of an intense emotion tipped over the balance
with a quick motion of his, has swept many a man off his feet. But Jesus
held steady. There was no unholy heat of ambition to disturb the calm
working of His mind.
Why "if"? Did Satan doubt it? Is he asking proof? He gets it. Jesus did
not need to prove His divinity except by continuing to be divine. He
proved best that He was Son of God by being true to His Sonship. He
naturally acted the part. We prove best that we are right by being right,
not by accepting captious, critical propositions. The stars shine. We know
they are stars by their shine. Satan would have Jesus use His divinity in
an undivine way. He was cunning. But Jesus was keener than the tempter was
cunning.
"Get a loaf out of this stone. Don't go hungry. Be practical and
sensible." The cold cruelty of Satan! He makes no effort to relieve the
hunger. The hunger asked for bread and he gave it a stone. That is the
best he has. He is a bit short on bread. He would use the physical need to
break down the moral purpose. He has ever been doing just that. Sometimes
he induces a man to break down his strength in religious activity. And
then he takes advantage of his weakened condition. Even religious activity
should be refused save at the leading of God's Spirit. It will not do
simply to do _good._ The only safe thing is to do _God's will_, to be tied
fast to the tether of the Spirit's leading.
Jesus _could_ have made a loaf out of the stone. He did that sort of thing
afterwards. It was not wrong to do it, since, under other circumstances,
He did it. But it is wrong to do anything, even a good thing, at the
devil's suggestion. He would shun the counsel of the ungodly. The tempter
attacks first the _neediest_ point, the hunger, and in so far the weakest,
the likeliest to yield. Yet it was the strongest, too, for Jesus could
make bread. The strongest point may become the weakest because of the very
temptation the possession of strength gives to use it improperly. Strength
used properly remains strength; used improperly it becomes weakness. The
strong points always need guarding, that the balance be not tipped over
and lost. Strength is never greater than when used rightly; never greater
than when refused to the improper use. The essence of sin is in the
improper use of a proper thing.
The first step toward victory over temptation is to recognize it. Jesus'
quick, quiet reply here touches the human heart at once, and touches it at
its neediest and most sensitive point, the need of sympathy, of a fellow
feeling. He said, "_Man_ shall not live." The tempter said, "God." Jesus
promptly said, "Man." He came to be man, the Son of man, and the Brother
of man. He took His place as a _man_ that day in the Jordan water. He will
not be budged from man's side. He will stay on the man level in full touch
with His fellows at every step of the way.
He was giving to every man, everywhere in the world, under stress of every
temptation; with every rope tugging at its fastenings, and threatening
every moment to slip its hold, and the man be lost in the storm, _to every
man_ the right, the enormous staying power to say, "_Jesus_--a _man
_--such a one as I--was _here_, and as a _man_ resisted--and _won_. He is
at my side. I'll lean on Him and _resist_ too,--and _win_ too--in the
strength of His winning."
Jesus says here, "My life, my food, the supplying of my needs is in the
hands of my Father. When _He_ gives the word, I'll do: not before. I'll
starve if He wishes it, but I'll not mistrust Him; nor do anything save as
He leads and suggests. I'll not act at _your_ suggestion, nor anybody's
else but His. Starving doesn't begin to bother me like failing to trust
would do. But I haven't the faintest idea of starving with such a Father."
"Not by bread alone, but by every word ... of God." Not by a loaf, but by
a word. When a man is where God would have him, he can afford to wait
patiently till God gives the word. A man is never unsteadier on his feet
than when he has gone where he was not led. "_I go at my Father's word."
"I wait_ for my Father's word." Jesus' study of the parchment rolls in
Nazareth was standing Him in good stead now. Through many a prayerful hour
over that Word had come the trained ear, the waiting spirit, the doing of
things only at the Father's initiative. He could make bread, but He
wouldn't, unless the Father gave the word. It was not simply that He would
_not_ act at the tempter's suggestion, but He would not act at all except
at the Father's word. And to this Jesus remained true, whether the request
for evidence came from the tempter direct, or from sneering Pharisee at
the temple's cleansing, or from unbelieving brothers.
Life comes not through what a man can make, but through the Father's
controlling presence: not through our effort, but through the Father's
power transmitted through the pipe line of our ready obedience.
"Just to let thy Father do
As He will.
Just to know that He is true,
And be still.
Just to follow hour by hour
As He leadeth.
Just to draw the moment's power
As it needeth.
Just to trust Him. This is all.
Then the day will surely be
Peaceful, whatsoe'er befall,
Bright and bless├ęd, calm and free."[8]
Jesus held every activity, every power subject to the Father's bidding.
Not only obedient, but nothing else. Waiting the Father's send-off at
every turn: this is the message from Jesus that first tug, and first
victory. Jesus had held true in the realm of the body, in His relationship
to Himself.
<u>Love Never Tests.</u>
Satan shifts the scene. These wilderness surroundings grate on his nerves.
The setting of this place, once first class, is now rather worn. He's
famous at that. It's a favorite device of His; quick scene-shifting. A man
wins a victory over temptation, but a quick change of surroundings finds
him unprepared if he isn't ever alert for it, and down he goes before the
new, unexpected rush, before he can get his wind. The tempter is not a
fool, as regards man. That is, as a rule he is not. In the light of all
facts obtainable about his career, that word _might_ be thought of. Yet no
man of us may apply the word to him. Not one of us is a match for him.
We're not in the same class. In his keen subtlety and cunning he can
outmatch the keenest of us; outwit and befool without doing any extra
thinking. I am not using the word _wisdom_ of him. We are safe only in the
wisdom of our big Brother who drew his fangs in the wilderness that day.
He chooses shrewdly the spot for each following temptation. He's a master
stage manager. He always works for an _atmosphere_ that will help his
purpose. He took Jesus up to one of the wings of the temple in the holy
city. The holy city, and especially its temple, would awaken holiest
emotions. Here it was that Jesus, as a boy, years before, had probably
first caught fire. It is likely that He never forgot that first visit.
Here everything spoke to Him of His Father. The tempter is skilfully
following the leading of Jesus' reply. Jesus had given a religious answer.
So He is given a religious atmosphere, and taken to a religious place. He
would trust the Father implicitly. Here is an opportunity to let men see
that beautiful spirit of trust. Here is a chance for a master-stroke. A
single simple act will preach to the crowds. "You'll come down in the
midst of an open-mouthed, admiring crowd." The devil loves the
spectacular, the theatrical. He is always working for striking, stagy
effects.
How many a man has yielded to the _religious_ temptation! He is taken up
in the air, and seems to float among ethereal clouds. It is better for us
to live in the strength of Somebody else's victory, and keep good hard
earth close to the soles of our feet, or we may come into contact with it
suddenly with feet and head changing places.
The devil "taketh" Jesus. How could he? He could do it only by Jesus'
consent. Jesus yields to his taking. He has a strong purpose in it. He was
going for the sake of His brothers. The tempter cannot take anybody
anywhere except with his full consent. He tries to, and often befools men
into thinking he can. It's a lie. He cannot. Every man is an absolute
sovereign in his will, both as regards God and Satan. God will not do
anything with us without our ready consent. And be it keenly remembered
that the tempter _cannot_. Here Jesus gave consent for His brothers' sake.
The tempter acts his part like an old hand. The proper thing here is some
scripture, repeated earnestly in unctuous tones. Was it from this tempter
that all of us religious folks and everybody else have gotten into the
_inveterate_ habit of quoting verse and sentence entirely out of
connection? Any devil's lie can be proven from the Scriptures on that
plan. If it was he who set the pace, certainly it has been followed at a
lively rate. It was a cunning quotation, cunningly edited.
The angels _are_ ministering spirits. On their hands they do bear us up.
It is all true, blessedly true. But it is only true for the man who is
living in the first verse of that ninety-first psalm, "in the secret place
of the most High." The tempter threads his way with cautious skill among
those unpleasant allusions to the serpent, and the dragon, and getting
them under our feet, and then twisting and trampling with our hard heels.
He knew his ground well, and avoids such rough, rude sort of talk. It was
a cunning temptation, cunningly staged and worded and backed. He was doing
his best. One wonders if he really thought _Jesus_ could be tripped up
that way. So many others have been, and are, even after Jesus has shown us
the way. A dust cloth would help some of us--for our Bibles--and a little
more exercise at the knee-joint, and a bit of the hard common sense God
has given every one of us.
Did Jesus' wondrous, quiet calm nettle the tempter? Was He ever keener and
quieter? He would step from the substantial boat-deck to the yielding
water, He would cut Himself off from His Nazareth livelihood and step out
without any resources, He would calmly walk into Jerusalem when there was
a price upon His head, for so He was led by that Spirit to whose
sovereignty He had committed Himself. But He would do nothing at the
suggestion of this tempter. Jesus never used His power to show He had it,
but to help somebody. He could not. It is against the nature of power to
attempt to prove that you have it by using it. Power is never concerned
about itself, but wrapped up in practical service. There were no
theatricals about Jesus. He was too intensely concerned about the needs of
men. There are none in God-touched men. Elisha did not smite the waters to
prove that Elijah's power rested upon him, but _to get back across the
Jordan_ to where his work was needing him and waiting his touch. Jesus
would wear Himself out bodily in ministering to men's needs, but He
wouldn't turn a hair nor budge a step to show that He could. This is the
touch-stone by which to know all Jesus-men.
He rebukes this quotation by a quotation that breathes the whole spirit of
the passage where it is found. Thou shalt not _test_ God to see if He will
do as He promises. These Israelites had been testing, criticizing,
questioning, doubting God. That's the setting of His quotation. Jesus says
that love never tests. It trusts. Love does not doubt, for it _knows_. It
needs no test. It could trust no more fully after a test, for it trusts
fully now. Aye, it trusts more fully now, for it is trusting _God_, not a
_test_. Every test of God starts with a question, a doubt, a misgiving of
God. Jesus' answer to the second temptation is: love never tests. It
trusts. Jesus keeps true in His relation to His Father.
<u>The Devil Acknowledges the King.</u>
Another swift shift of the scene. Swiftness is a feature now. In a moment
of time, all the kingdoms, and all the glory of all the earth. Rapid work!
This is an appeal to the eye. First the palate, then the emotions, now the
eye. First the appetites, then the religious sense, now the ambition. The
tempter comes now to the real thing he is after. He would be a god. It is
well to sift his proposition pretty keenly, on general principles. His
reputation for truthfulness is not very good, which means that it is very
bad. Who wants to try a suspicious egg? He could have quite a number of
capitals after his name on the score of mixing lies and the truth. He has
a distinct preference for the flavor of _mixed_ lies.
Here are the three statements in his proposal. All these things have been
delivered unto me. I may give them to whom I will. I will give them to
you. The first of these is true. He is "the prince of this world." The
second is not true, because through breach of trust he has forfeited his
rule, though still holding to it against the Sovereign's wish. The third
is not true. Clearly he hadn't any idea of relinquishing his hold, but
only of swamping Jesus. Two parts lie: one part truth--a favorite formula
of his. The lie gets the vote. A bit of truth sandwiched in between two
lies.
He asks for worship. Did he really think that possibly Jesus would
actually worship him? The first flush answer is, surely not. Yet he is
putting the thing in a way that has secured actual worship from many a'one
who would be horrified at such a blunt putting of his conduct. We must
shake off the caricature of a devil with pointed horns, and split hoof,
and forked tail, and see the real, to understand better. From all accounts
he must be a being of splendor and beauty, of majestic bearing, and
dignity. His appeal in effect is this:--These things are all mine. You
have in you the ingrained idea of a world-wide dominion over nature, and
of ruling all men as God's King. Now, can't we fix this thing up between
us? Let's be friendly. Don't let's quarrel over this matter of world
dominion.
You acknowledge me as your sovereign. You rule over all this under me.
I'll stand next to God, and you stand next to me. It's a mere technical
distinction, after all. It'll make no real change in your being a
world-wide ruler, and it will make none with me either. Each will have a
fair share and place. Let's pull together.--The thing sounds a bit
familiar. It seems to me I have heard it since somewhere, if I can jog up
my memory. It has raised a cloud of dust in many a man's road, and blurred
the clear outlines of the true plan--_has_ raised?--_is_ raising.
Jesus' answer is imperative. It is the word of an imperative. He is the
King already in His Father's plan. He replies with the sharp, imperial
brevity of an emperor, a king of kings, "Get thee hence!" Begone! The
tempter obeys. He knows his master. He goes. Biting his teeth upon his hot
spittle, utterly cowed, he slinks away. Only one Sovereign, Jesus says.
All dominion held properly only by direct dependence upon Him, direct
touch with Him, full obedience to Him. No compromise here. No mixing of
issues. Simple, direct relation to God, and every other relation _through_
that. No short cuts for Jesus. They do but cut with deep gashes the man
who cuts. The "short" describes the term of his power, a short shrift.
When the devil has used up all his ammunition--. That's a comfort. There
is an end to the devil if we will but quietly hold on. Every arrow shot.
Not a cartridge left. Yet he is not entirely through with Jesus. He has
retired to reform the broken lines. He'll melt up the old bullets into
different shape. They have been badly battered out of all shape by
striking on this hard rock. He's a bit shaken himself. This Jesus is
something new. When he can get his wind he will come back. He came back
many times. Once through ignorant Peter with the loaf temptation in new
shape, once through His mother's loving fears with the emotional
temptation, and through the earnest, hungry Greeks, and the bread-full
thousands with the kingdom temptation. Yet the edge of His sword is badly
nicked, and never regains its old edge.
But now he goes. He obeys Jesus. The tempter resisted goes, weakened. He
is a coward now. He fights only with those weaker than himself. He
doesn't take a man of his own size. Temptation resisted strengthens the
man. There is a new resisting power. There is the fine fettle that victory
gives. Jesus is Victor. The Jordan experience has left its impress. Every
act of obedience is to the tempter's disadvantage. In Jesus we are
victors, too. But only in Him.
Through Jesus we meet a fangless serpent. The old glare is in the eye, the
rattles are noisy, but the sting's out. He is still there. He still can
scare; but can do not even that to the man arm-in-arm with Jesus. Jesus
keeps true the relationship to all men and to nature by keeping true the
relationship to His Father.
Our Father, lead us not into temptation as Jesus was led. We're no match
for the tempter. Help us to keep arm-in-arm with Jesus, and live ever in
the power of His victory.