VII.

MARK i. 13.

"And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan."

In the economy of grace Satan is cast out, the sin of the world put away, the enmity slain, and all things restored. Nevertheless, we are tempted, that we may have the crown of life, and a far more and eternal weight of glory in another and better world.

According to Matthew and Luke, it appears that the Lord having fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards hungered, when Satan came tempting Him. But here it would appear that He was tempted during the whole forty days, which doubtless was the fact, and that towards the close the temptation was most intensive.

Thus, from the nature and character of the Lord's temptation, it is evident that, so long as we are in this world, we shall be exposed to all the fiery darts of the enemy; and that, as our course runs on and we are faithful, they will not be diminished, but rather, as we reach the end of it, they will increase; but we shall be more than conquerors through Him that loved us, though all the power of the enemy be concentrated against us.

How, then, are we to understand the temptation of Him who was made like unto His brethren, and in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin? How shall we interpret this very important event in the earthly history of Christ, associated with the mystic number of forty days? The covenant

provides not only for the chief of sinners, but also against the whole temptation of Satan, who we now see in all his concentrated power, in all his subtle and malignant working, assaulting the Holy One of Israel.

As Jehovah Elohim led His people for forty years in the wilderness, to which history the Lord in His temptation refers, to humble and to prove them, to know what was in their hearts, whether they would keep His commandments or not; so was the Lord Jesus driven of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And we, if we have tasted that the Lord is gracious, have entered the wilderness-have put off our Egyptian bondage in Christ, and are exposed to all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

The history of the world is the fruit, the outcoming of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,-not of good only, or evil only, but of good and evil. In the temptation the woman describes the tree as good for food, an earnest desire for the eyes, and to be sought for to make one wise. In these three forms the depraved nature of man has developed itself, as in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. In those words of Eve we read the history of the world. And we shall see continually to the end of time the fruit of this tree; and our experience will be, that, as the world rolls on to the end, temptation will be intensified.

The history of the world, as the fruit of this tree, presents distinctly its three characteristic features, which respectively have their corresponding epochs prominently reaching a climax in the order in which the woman declared the fruit to be acceptable to her. To each of these epochs there is a crisis. The lust of the flesh was fully exhibited in the days of Noah. It characterised his time, as the Lord says, 66 They did eat, they drank, they married, and gave in marriage."

Things in

themselves lawful, yet expressive of a time when the fleshly appetites and desires gave unmistakable evidence that the men of that day turned the blessings of God, which witnessed to Him as the author and sustainer of the true life, to the mere enjoyment of their carnal nature as their Paradise and good. By a terrible judgment the truth was revealed that the filth of the flesh must be washed away, even in the world's deluge. The lust of the eyes took a higher form, it assumed a religious habit: it was godliness without the power; the power of Christ was not there. It paraded itself in a sanctimonious demeanour or religious asceticism. A visible hierarchy was the centre of unity, and man, in self-complacency, trod the sacred precincts of the temple, crying, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we." All their works were to be seen of men, and in this they had their reward. It was, indeed, the end of their desire. This condition, characteristic of the world at this time, did not abolish the former condition, but rather strengthened it, and a terrible visitation taught them that this must be put away. Although the Holy One, coming in the fulness of time, was made sin, and tasted death for every man, yet was He rejected. His work, however, was not without effect even from the beginning, as it will be to the end of time, and throughout eternity. Then, since they would not have Christ, but took delight in that which was visible, an outward visible judgment removes it the temple is destroyed, and the Jews are scattered throughout all nations, a by-word and a reproach. In them, who were to have been a true temple, is every stone cast down and trodden under foot. Then was fulfilled the word of Jehovah, "I will profane their sanctuary, the excellency of their strength, the desire of their eyes, whereupon they set their minds."

There is yet a third epoch, when we shall see not only the lust of the flesh in all its strength, and the desire of the eyes claiming, alas! the sanction of the Word of God, even to a godless Christianity, but also the pride of life. The tree was good to make one wise. The wisdom of this world is the pride of life. All worship it, even in the house of God. Men are looking forward to an early period when their intellect shall be a marvel to themselves. Even now, as it revels in the sciences, it seeks to cast down from its just supremacy the Word of God. This will and must be so, that Antichrist may be fully revealed, whom the Lord will destroy with the brightness of his coming. This will be the final crisis-the full manifestation of the truth, and the banishing into outer darkness of all that is not of it. Thus the Word of God not only declares what has been, but predicts what will be, in antagonism to the covenant of God.

The Lord Jesus must be regarded as the very impersonation of His work of redemption and of the Father's blessing. In the temptation His whole work is anticipated-how that He died, was buried, had ascended into Heaven, and poured out His Spirit upon all flesh, attested by His own baptism, and the descent of the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove. It was the covenant made with all flesh realised by and in Him. He was not only the covenant, but, as a Christian man, the expression of it. Without regard, then, to His own immaculate and unsullied purity-without taint or defilement of sin, we behold in Him, as redeemed and blessed, one in whom Satan hath no part. The enemy is external to Him, and is, so to speak, cast out; for if His baptism has any meaning at all, it signifies that He is, as the result of His own work, dead to sin, alive to God, and filled with the Spirit without Thus He appears as a believer, and as He is, so are

measure.

we in this world. Having the love of God perfected in us, we walk in the light as He is in the light, and we are righteous as He is righteous.

The Lord Jesus is now tempted by Satan through all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, all which is not of the Father, but of the world. He is crucified to all, and they are powerless. Paul emphatically exclaimed, "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom I am crucified to the world, and the world to me." The Lord Jesus walks according to the will of God, in the Kingdom of His Father. Though in the world, He is not of it, and is kept from the evil that is in it by the covenant, which is every man's birthright.

The covenant, then, does not prevent temptation. It not only permits it, but the sevenfold Spirit, the Spirit of the covenant, leads us up to be tempted; for, in the economy of grace, it is only thus that our Christian life develops and strengthens itself; not, indeed, in submitting to the Tempter, but in overcoming him and standing equipped in the panoply of God.

Temptation is of the devil, who is cast out. It comes to us by the same means as it came to Eve, only with this difference, she inverted creation's law, we redemption's. What she could scarcely apprehend we plainly see. The Lord was tempted on all points, as we are, but without sin. He stood in creation's as in redemption's law. Sin is essentially against the paternity of God. It would annihilate the Sonship, and so break the everlasting covenant. It tempts the Lord to desire what is not of the Father. In desire we present the receptivity for sin. The subtle attempts of Satan are to provoke the desire; but if foiled, he is overcome. Transgression consists, not in gross sins, but in the flesh being