THE DEVILS
TACTICS NEVER CHANGE
In this renewal of temptation the enemy passes to that which
lies behind the sanctuary already unsuccessfully assailed. Having endeavored to
seduce Jesus from His position of unswerving loyalty to the will of God, he now
flings all the force of his subtle art against that which was the strength of
His abiding in the will of God, namely, His perfect confidence in God, just as with the
first Adam. There can be no question that the adhesive of strength in Christ’s
resolute steadfastness in the will of God was that of His absolute confidence
in His Father, His quiet and perfect trust. It was this trust which made Him
deliberately choose to suffer hunger which lay within the Divine will, rather
than to satisfy that necessity of His life by deviation from the
Divinely-marked pathway by a hair's breadth. The enemy, having failed to
persuade Him to turn aside from that pathway, now directed his forces against
the principle of strength which was the secret of the previous triumph of
Jesus.
Too much emphasis can hardly be
laid on this introductory thought. God's perfect Man was perfectly victorious,
and that because His trust in His Father was so complete that His relation to the
will of God was something infinitely beyond that of resignation or merely of
determined submission. It was that of delighting in whatever was the will of One
Whom He so absolutely trusted. He knew that He was safer, hungry, in
the will of God, than He could have been, satisfied, outside that will.
This being the objective point, now
carefully mark the terrible subtlety of the approach. "Then the devil taketh Him into the holy city; and he set Him on
the pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto Him, If Thou art the Son of God,
cast Thyself down: for it is written,—
"He shall give
His angels charge concerning Thee:" and, "On their hands they shall bear Thee up, Lest haply Thou dash Thy
foot against a stone." (Matt
4:5-6)
The choosing of the place is first
evidence of the subtlety of the foe. “The
holy city," and in the holy city “the
temple," and in the temple "the
pinnacle." How largely the mind is often influenced by surroundings.
Changes that are no less than marvelous are brought about in the attitude of
the mind by the change of bodily situation. Location constantly stirs the
pulses of patriotism. All the nature is made tender in the neighborhood of the
old homestead, and some of the deepest springs of religious feeling well forth
into new power in some place where long ago the streams of living water
refreshed the thirsty spirit. It is always impossible to revisit any place of
tender, sacred, or holy associations without being profoundly influenced.
How much this place meant to Jesus
we are hardly in a position to understand. Every sentence in the account is
descriptive, and has its own peculiar value: "The holy city." It is doubtful whether we are able to
appreciate just what that meant to a Hebrew. In order in any measure to do so,
we have to go back to Hebrew poetry, and read some of the sentences which throb
with such devotion as we know little of, in these days of many cities and
constant travelling. "Beautiful in
elevation, the joy of the whole earth, the city of the great King,” (Psa. 48:2) “whither the tribes go up," (Psa. 122:4) "as the
mountains are round about Jerusalem." (Psa. 125:2) These and all such sentences minister to our understanding.
Jerusalem was the very center of the deepest life of the nation, and all the
aspirations of the people centered therein. The devout child of Abraham, in
whatever part of the earth he found himself, turned his face towards the
city, as his heart went out to the God of his Fathers in prayer; and concerning
it thousands would join in the prayer of the Psalmist of old:
“If I forget Thee, O
Jerusalem,
Let my right hand
forget her skill." (Psa. 137:5)
Jesus of Nazareth was no exception
to the rule. How He loved the city. He came to it again and again, and when at
last it had finally rejected Him, as He knew, and it was necessary that He
should pronounce its doom, He did so in a voice choked with emotion, so that
the very curse pronounced was wet with the tears of His pity.
To this city the devil conducted
Him. Into the midst of all that reminded Him of God's past dealings with His
people, and of that city which was the center of the promises, Satan brought
the Master when he would attack His trust in God.
If the city was dear to the heart
of the Jew, the temple was much more so. It was the center of the city; indeed,
the city was only great because it contained, and was gathered around, the
temple. The Hebrew nation was theocracy. They were under the immediate
government of Jehovah, and His place of revelation was the temple. That temple
was therefore the peculiar glory of Jerusalem. Even when spiritual values were
at a discount, there still remained in the heart of the people veneration for
the temple, and devout members of the nation ever associated with that temple
all that was highest and best in their history, experience, and hope. It was
indeed the very house of God.
How dear it was to the heart of
Christ is proven in many ways, but most especially, perhaps, by the fact that
at the beginning and close of His ministry He cleansed it from the traffickers.
How often He stood in its courts, and walked in its porches, and addressed
Himself to the multitudes, or held conversation with the smaller groups. To
that center of the national life, the point at which the religion of the
Hebrew had its highest manifestation and expression, the splendid symbol of
that principle of faith in God, upon which the whole nation had been created,
the enemy conveyed the Christ.
And yet once more note the
particular place in the temple where the devil set Him. The word “pinnacle" conveys a false idea. As
a matter of fact there were no pinnacles on that temple. The marginal reading
suggests the word “wing," and in
all probability the point referred to was that of the southern wing of the temple made magnificent
by Herod's royal portico. Josephus tells us that standing on the
eastern extremity of that portico, "anyone
looking down would be dizzy, while his sight could not reach to such an immense
depth." This was the one point in the temple which might be described
as of a great height. It was the most magnificent, the most strategic point
that point to which any one would be taken whom it was desired to impress with
the solemnity and splendor of the city and its temple.
Thus to the heart of the nation,
the city; to the heart of the city, the temple; to the most awe-inspiring
situation of the temple, the devil brought Jesus. How well and subtly chosen,
with what awful cunning and malice. Everything in the surroundings was
calculated to appeal to the sense of trust in God. It would seem as though this
were the last place in which to attack the principle of trust, and yet
considering the enemy's suggestion, the malicious cunning of the foe will be
seen in making such selection of situation.
Now hear the suggestion. Notice,
first, the palpable and actual proposal of the enemy. "Cast Thyself down." (Matt 4:6) It is a direct attempt to force Jesus to act upon that
principle of trust, which has been ministered to by the selection of this
particular place. In the city of the great King, in the house devoted to His
worship, at its most awe-inspiring point, exercise trust in Him by casting
Thyself from this great height. Behind this palpable suggestion lay one
inferred and indirect. It was the suggestion that trust most perfectly
expresses itself in daring something unusual, out of the common, heroic. It was
as if the enemy had said to Jesus, There is no necessity for Thee to cast
Thyself down. It does not come in the ordinary line of duty, but so much the
greater opportunity for a venture of faith,—trust in God most perfectly
expresses itself in the doing of extraordinary things for God. This was the
enemies suggestion that the trust of Jesus should be put to the test and proven
by being placed outside the realm of the commonplace, the attitude of many
false religionists today. Jesus had repulsed the first attack of the enemy in
the strength of His trust, and while the sense of that victory based on trust
is fresh in His soul, the enemy suggests the unusual exercise thereof. "Cast Thyself down." Could
anything be conceived more full of subtleness, more likely to entrap the
unwary, and bring about the overthrow of what had seemed to be an impregnable
life?
The plausibility and force of the
temptation is even more vividly seen in the argument which the devil makes use
of, "If Thou art the Son of God."
(Matt 4:6) This is the same argument
used in the previous temptation, but almost certainly with a different
emphasis. In the first in all probability it lay upon the word "art," "If Thou art the Son
of God." (Matt 4:3) Here it
seems as though it must have been upon the word "God," "If Thou art the Son of God." The
emphasis would be upon the nature of God. In the first temptation He has proved the fact of His
relationship. Now the appeal is to that relationship. He is prepared
to enlarge upon the goodness of God, and the care He bestows upon such as put
their trust in Him.
Foiled and wounded at the first by
the Master's use of the weapon of the Word, he now makes use of the self-same
weapon. Behold the very sword of Christ in the hands of the devil. Its flash is
seen as he says, "It is
written." THE DEVILS TACTICS NEVER CHANGE.
In endeavoring to appeal to the
principle of trust, he made use of Scripture. Jesus had declared that man lived
not by bread alone, but by words proceeding from the mouth of God, and in an
attempt to urge Him to a new exercise of trust, the devil quotes the Word of
God. He now accepts Christ's definition of human life as something more than
animal. He acknowledges that it is the spiritual life that needs to be strong
for the exercise of trust; and moreover, that spiritual life is only strong as
it feeds upon the Word; so he attempts to minister to Him in the realm of that
very spiritual nature. It is a startling and an appalling picture. "It is written,"—. He shall give His angels charge concerning
Thee:”and, On their hands they shall bear Thee up, Lest haply Thou dash Thy
foot against a stone." (Matt
4:6)
That is the very acme of subtlety.
The psalm from which the quotation is made, opens with the words,—"He that dwells in the secret place
of the Most High, Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." (Psa. 91:1)
This is a description of the
perfect safety of the trusting soul. Its rhythm, its music, and its sweetness
have cheered the heart of such as put their trust in God through all the
centuries; and as the enemy now attempts to press the Master towards some new
exercise of trust, from that great psalm of confidence he quotes these words.
So far something has been seen of
the subtlety and force of the attack, and yet the final revelation of that only
comes when our Lord's answer lays bare its inner meaning.
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