Chapter 44—Overeating and Control of Appetite
The Desire of Ages, 117-118
With Christ, as with the holy pair in Eden, appetite was the ground
of the first great temptation. Just where the ruin began, the work of our
redemption must begin. As by the indulgence of appetite Adam fell,
so by the denial of appetite Christ must overcome. “And when He had
fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward an hungered. And
when the tempter came to Him, he said, If Thou be the Son of God,
command that these stones be made bread. But He answered and said,
It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
From the time of Adam to that of Christ, self-indulgence had
increased the power of the appetites and passions, until they had almost
unlimited control. Thus men had become debased and diseased, and
of themselves it was impossible for them to overcome. In man’s
behalf, Christ conquered by enduring the severest test. For our sake
He exercised a self-control stronger than hunger or death. And in this
first victory were involved other issues that enter into all our conflicts
with the powers of darkness.
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Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 11-12
Jesus, seated on the Mount of Olives, gave instruction to His
disciples concerning the signs which should precede His coming: “As
the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man
be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah
entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them
all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” The same
sins that brought judgments upon the world in the days of Noah, exist
in our day. Men and women now carry their eating and drinking so
far that it ends in gluttony and drunkenness. This prevailing sin, the
indulgence of perverted appetite, inflamed the passions of men in the
days of Noah, and led to widespread corruption. Violence and sin
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