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Testimonies for the Church Volume 1
unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship
the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil
leaveth Him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto Him.”
Here Satan spread the world before Christ in the most attractive
light and intimated to Him that He need not endure so much suffering
to obtain the kingdoms of the earth; Satan would yield all his claims if
Christ would but worship him. Satan’s dissatisfaction first commenced
in heaven because he could not be first and highest in command —
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equal with God, exalted above Christ. He rebelled and lost his estate;
and he, and those who sympathized with him, were turned out of
heaven. In the wilderness he hoped to gain advantage through the
weak and suffering condition of Christ, and obtain from Him that
homage which he could not obtain in heaven. But Jesus, even in His
faint and exhausted condition, yielded not to the temptation of Satan
for a moment, but showed His superiority and exercised His authority
by bidding Satan: “Get thee hence”—or, Depart from Me. Satan was
baffled. He then studied how he could accomplish his purpose and
receive the honor from the human race which was refused him in
heaven and by Jesus upon earth. Could he have succeeded in tempting
Christ, then the plan of salvation would have failed, and he would
have succeeded in bringing hopeless misery upon mankind. But that
which Satan failed to effect in coming to Christ he has accomplished
in coming to man.
If Satan can so befog and deceive the human mind as to lead mor-
tals to think that there is an inherent power in themselves to accomplish
great and good works, they cease to rely upon God to do for them that
which they think there is power in themselves to do. They acknowl-
edge not a superior power. They give not God the glory which He
claims, and which is due to His great and excellent Majesty. Satan’s
object is thus accomplished, and he exults that fallen men presumptu-
ously exalt themselves as he exalted himself in heaven and was thrust
out. He knows that if man exalts himself, his ruin is just as certain as
was his own.
Satan failed in his temptations to Christ in the wilderness. The
plan of salvation has been carried out. The dear price has been paid for
man’s redemption. And now Satan seeks to tear away the foundation of
the Christian’s hope and turn the minds of men into such a channel that
they may not be benefited or saved by the great sacrifice offered. He