February 27

1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing; and when they were ended, he alot ward hungers.

3 And the devil said unto him, It thou be the son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

5 And the devil, taking him up into a high

mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them; for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will, I give it.

7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:

10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:

11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season

14 ¶ And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.

15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

Why was Christ thus led up to be tempted? 1. That we might see in His victory over the Evil one, that He really was the Son of God. 2. That we might have the comfort of feeling that we have not an high priest who can not be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, but in all points was tempted like as we are, though He was without sin, and that, having been tempted, He is able to succor those who are tempted. 3. That we might know that with the aid of the Holy Spirit it is possible to overcome temptations the most severe.

The first was a temptation of hunger: what fierce temptations come to hungry men! But every starving wretch can feel that his Lord battled the same pains that torture him, only they were stronger and His temptation greater.

The second was a temptation of fame. The passion to which the devil appealed was the pride of the human heart—mere display. The argument with which he supported it was a quotation of Scripture. Jesus showed that such a test was not true faith—it was presumption.

"Proving God is different from tempting Him."—L. H. Wiseman.

The third was a temptation of ambition. In this we see the danger attending worldly prosperity. In the example of Jesus we have a perfect instance of deadness to the world. His example rebukes covetous and worldly ambition.

"The devil leaveth him." "The devil may suggest: compel he cannot."—St. Chrysostom. All the varied forms of temptation are reducible to three—pride, avarice, and sensuality—three root-passions (1 John ii. 16). So Christ was tempted in all points as we are.

Closet Promise.—In that He Himself hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted.—Heb. ii. 18.

"What a Saviour!" How wonderfully constituted! He was God, as it was necessary He should be; and yet not merely God, but man, too. A Saviour with two natures: one reaching up to God, the other down to us. How wonderful that He should not only have taken our nature, but come down to our condition, and surrounded Himself with our circumstances— become subject to such temptations as we are subject to! Oh, 'what a Saviour!' Why, He knows from experience what pain is; He has had the trials I have; He has been through this vale of tears; He knows how I am tried; He remembers how He was tried. He wept over the very city and people whose soil and hands were about to be stained with His blood. I wonder I love Him so little; I wonder He is not more precious to me; I wonder any should be offended in Him. How can He appear a root out of a dry ground? Why don't all see His form and comeliness?"—Dr. Nevins.