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From Heaven With Love
a man filled him with apprehension. His selfish soul could not
understand such love. Since he had lost heaven, he was determined
to cause others to share his fall. He would cause them to undervalue
heavenly things, and set the heart upon things of earth.
Satan Determined to Prevail
From the time when the Commander of heaven was a babe in
Bethlehem, He was continually assailed by the evil one. In the
councils of Satan it was determined that He should be overcome.
The forces of evil were set upon His track to engage in warfare
against Him, and if possible to prevail over Him.
At the Saviour’s baptism, Satan heard the voice of Jehovah tes-
tifying to the divinity of Jesus. Now that Jesus had come “in the
likeness of sinful flesh” (
Romans 8:3
), the Father Himself spoke. He
had before communicated with humanity through Christ; now He
communicated with humanity in Christ. Now it was manifest that
the connection between God and man had been restored.
Satan saw that he must either conquer or be conquered. All the
energies of apostasy were rallied against Christ.
Many look on this conflict between Christ and Satan as having
no special bearing on their own life. But within every human heart
it is repeated. The enticements Christ resisted were those we find so
difficult to withstand. With the weight of the sins of the world upon
Him, Christ withstood the test on appetite, on the love of the world,
and on that love of display which leads to presumption. These were
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the temptations that overcame Adam and Eve, and that so readily
overcome us.
Satan had pointed to Adam’s sin as proof that God’s law could
not be obeyed. In our humanity, Christ was to redeem Adam’s failure.
But when Adam was assailed by the tempter, none of the effects of
sin were upon him. He stood in the strength of perfect manhood,
possessing full vigor of mind and body. Surrounded with the glories
of Eden, he was in daily communion with heavenly beings.
It was not thus with Jesus when He entered the wilderness to
cope with Satan. For 4000 years the race had been decreasing in
physical strength, in mental power, and in moral worth; and Christ