A DIVIDED
PRIZE OFFERED
Here again in examining the attack of the enemy, the
objective point is the first thing to be discovered.
This is no longer the ruin of the
Man Himself, but the prevention of His accomplishment of that work for which He
had been preparing, and for which, but forty days ago, He was solemnly
anointed. As has been seen, at the passing of Jesus into the waters of baptism, He
signified His consent to be numbered with the transgressors, and therefore His
willingness to tread the pathway that must issue in death, in order that a new
highway of life out of death might be opened for the ruined race. It
is against the carrying out of this program and the accomplishment of this
purpose, that the present temptation is directed. Having failed utterly in his
attempt TO RUIN THE SERVANT, he now WOULD INTERFERE WITH HIS SERVICE. Here, as
always, there is blindness and foolishness about evil and Satan does not seem
to understand that the strengthening of the perfect Servant, resulting from
His victory under temptation, is yet increased guarantee of His perfect victory
in the pathway of appointed service. Satan just doesn’t get it as the old
saying goes.
Examine now the avenue of his
approach. Conveying Him to some high mountain peak, he showed Him “all the kingdoms of the world, and the
glory of them." (Matt 4:8)
What that meant, it is not easy to comprehend, and yet for a moment, think of
the statement. By some strange power, at the command of the enemy, he made to
pass before the vision of Christ a gorgeous and magnificent scene. He revealed
to Him the kingdom(s) of the world, and the glory of them. Not merely the few
and imperfect kingdom(s) of Palestine, but all the kingdoms of the world, the
great Roman empire, Greece, Pergamos, Bithynia, the Bosphorus, Syria, Pontus,
Judea, and Egypt, all the known kingdom(s) of the world. And yet more than
this, for the statement has no such limitation as that indicated by the word
made use of: "known kingdoms,"
all the kingdom(s) of the world, the great unexplored lands with their thousand
nations and tribes. Any literal interpretation contradicts the real story. Luke
tells us that the devil gave Christ the vision of these “in a moment of time." (Luke
4:5) It is evident that having taken Him to some great mountain height,
where instinctively the mind would be impressed with the sense of greatness and
of splendor, he flashed upon Him in one swift and supernatural manifestation, a
vision of the kingdom(s), and their glory. The possibility is that Christ saw
more than the devil knew. SATAN IS NOT OMNISCIENT, and though in the marvelous
wisdom of his created intelligence he may be able to forecast the issues of
certain lines of action, beyond such forecasting, which is ever presumptive
rather than positive knowledge, he is not able to go. The God-man on the other
hand, while standing only in the realm of His manhood for testing and
temptation, may yet have been conscious of all the prospective grandeur of
these self-same kingdom(s). He saw that day the glory of them as they were, the
wealth, the strength, the cities where the treasures of the nations were
gathered, all the resources of the far-spreading lands, the teeming populations,
the scientific victories, and artistic achievements, the glory of the kingdoms
of the world. It was a truly magnificent and overwhelming spectacle. I make no
attempt to explain how the devil flashed the vision upon the consciousness of
the Christ. That remains a mystery, but the fact is plainly stated that he
showed Him all the kingdom(s) of the world, and the glory of them.
With the dazzling spectacle upon
the mind of the Master, the enemy uttered the actual words of the temptation, "All these things will I give Thee, if
Thou wilt fall down and worship me." (Matt 4:9) Notice here particularly the claim the devil set up, and
let it not be forgotten that the claim was made in the presence of Jesus. He
claimed some right to the kingdom(s) of the world, and the claim was based upon
certain
unquestionable facts. These kingdom(s) had become what they were
(extremely divided), largely under his control. They were at the moment submissive to his sway,
obedient to his laws, being led captive by him at his will. For the
larger part, the whole of them were blindly asleep in the arms of the wicked
one. By the very temptation, Satan seems to lay claim to a title, which Jesus
Himself gave him incidentally at a later period, “the prince of this world." (John 12:31) The fact of his sway is undisputed. He was then as he is
today, exercising authority over all those who are in darkness, and he is
perpetually paying his price to those who serve him. If Judas
desires thirty pieces of silver, the devil will find them for him, on
condition. If men will but serve him, he will give them what they ask.
Wealth, fame, position, power are
all in the gift of the devil. He holds them, and he actually dispenses them, in
order to attain ends upon which his malice is set. What these gifts are worth,
in the last analysis, is another question, which will be answered in the
process of this consideration.
And so in effect he declared to
Christ that whether the people knew it or not, they were under his sway, that
he was the prince of the world, and he offered to give Jesus the whole of the
kingdom(s), and the glory of them, if there on the lone mountain peak He would
but render worship to him, and receive them as his gift. ALL OTHER MEN had
submitted to his direction in order to gain some imagined advantage, and now he
boldly suggested to Christ that He should do the same.
The real point and force of the
temptation can only be understood as the inspiring and magnificent Psalm of the
King is remembered. In that Psalm it is declared that God's anointed King shall
be His Son. "Yet have I set my King
Upon My holy hill of Zion. I will tell of the decree: Jehovah said unto Me,
Thou art My Son; This day have I begotten Thee." (Psa. 2:6-7)
At the baptism Jesus was identified by the Divine pronouncement,
"This is My beloved Son." (Matt 3:17) Reverting again to the
Psalm, the promise of God to the anointed King is given.
"Ask of Me, and I
will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance, And the uttermost parts of
the earth for Thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou
shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." (Psa. 2:8-9)
Thus Jesus is God's chosen King, to
Whom He has promised the nations for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of
the earth for a possession. But He promised these to the King, when He shall
ask them of God. That asking is to be along the line of a Divinely appointed
approach, which includes the pathway through death, symbolized by, the baptism,
which had preceded the identification of Jesus as the King.
Here on a mountain peak of the
enemy's choosing, in contrast to the holy hill of Zion upon which God will
establish His King, this anointed One was offered the selfsame kingdom(s) of
the world. (Divided) All that God has promised Him was here seen in the
dazzling splendor of that momentary vision. There were the nations, there were
the uttermost parts of the earth, the things guaranteed to the King by the
covenant with Jehovah. (But God would give them to Him united-not kingdom(s), but THE
Kingdom of God). The devil having surely understood something of
the suggestiveness of the Jordan baptism, and the consequent uttering of the
voice of God, now suggested to Jesus that He might miss that deeper baptism and
passion, and yet possess these kingdom(s). He pointed out a short cut to a
Divine destination. He was willing to hand over his right and claim, if all
might but be received from him, instead of from God. One act of fealty, one
recognition of the devil's ownership, one moment of bending the knee, and all
the kingdom(s) were promised. Sometimes one wonders whether there did not lurk
in the temptation a revelation of the devil's cowardice. The fact that he revealed
the kingdom(s) in a moment of time may have been due to his fear, lest if this
Man should have lingered to examine them, He might discover THEIR WORTHLESSNESS.
His suggestion, moreover, that Christ should take the kingdom(s) as his gift,
may have been due to dark and gloomy fear of the conflict with Him, through
which Christ would yet win them. Here the very element of the primal fall of
Satan flames out. Not merely for the ruin of this Man, but for the saving of
himself from defeat, and the maintenance of the false position he has occupied,
would he shun the terrible conflict that lies ahead.
And yet the temptation meant more
to Christ than even Satan in the deepest reaches of his subtleness could
possibly comprehend. The terrible nature of the suffering through which Jesus
had yet to pass, could not be perfectly understood of Satan, neither did he
absolutely know the measure of defeat that waited for him. Christ knew that
these kingdom(s) were assured to Him in the program of His Father's will, but
He knew also that in that same program lay the unutterable agony of the
immeasurable darkness and the fierceness of the temptation lay in the
suggestion that all the splendors of these possessions might yet be His,
without the pathway of shame and suffering and death. Not that He
entertained or meditated for a single moment the possibility of yielding to the
foe, but He saw into the very heart of the meaning, and understood even as the
tempter could not, the infinite cost at which He was yet to possess.
Sorry Satan but the kingdom that the Father is giving Me is
THE Kingdom of God, not a divided mess with no unity concerning truth and
righteousness.
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