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Chapter 13—The Victory
This chapter is based on
Matthew 4:5-11
;
Mark 1:12, 13
;
Luke
4:5-13
.
“Then the devil taketh Him up into the holy city, and setteth Him
on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto Him, If Thou be the Son
of God, cast Thyself down: for it is written,
He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee:
And in their hands they shall bear Thee up,
Lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against
a stone.”
Satan still appeared as an angel of light, and he made it evident
that he was acquainted with the Scriptures. As Jesus used the Word
to sustain His faith, the tempter now used it to countenance his
deception. Satan urged the Saviour to give still another evidence of
His faith.
But again the temptation was prefaced with the insinuation of
distrust: “If Thou be the Son of God.” Christ was tempted to answer
the “if,” but He refrained from the slightest acceptance of the doubt.
The tempter thought to take advantage of Christ’s humanity, and
urge Him to presumption. But while Satan can solicit, he cannot
compel to sin. He said, “Cast Thyself down,” knowing that he could
not cast Him down. Nor could Satan force Jesus to cast Himself
down. Unless Christ should consent to temptation, He could not be
overcome.
The tempter can never compel us to do evil. The will must
consent, faith must let go its hold on Christ, before Satan can exercise
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his power on us. But every sinful desire we cherish is an open door
by which he can enter to tempt and destroy us. And every failure on
our part gives occasion for him to reproach Christ.
When Satan quoted the promise, “He shall give His angels charge
over Thee,” he omitted the words, “to keep Thee in all Thy ways”;
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