Bible Lessons

The Temptation of Jesus. MATTHEW iv. 1-11.

Jesus’ baptism was the dividing line between his preparatory days and his public mission. He stood upon the threshold of a great work. He had been baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist, thus, at the very outset, meeting the world on its own basis of thought, that he might lead mankind gently from the old to the new dispensation, — from the symbol (the water-baptism) to the true baptism, complete submersion in Truth, the heavenly baptism.

Golden Text: For in that he hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. HEBREWS, ii. 18.

Time: About January, of the year 27, according to our reckoning; very soon after Jesus’ baptism.

Place: The Wilderness of Judea, between Jerusalem and Jericho on the west, and between the Jordan and upper part of the Dead Sea on the east. Tradition places it in a place called Mount Quarantania, near the Jordan. This Latin word means a space of forty days, because Jesus is supposed to have fasted forty days in one of the caves of this place; but this name was given to the locality much later in its history.

PARALLEL ACCOUNTS: MARK i. 12, 13; LUKE iv. 1-13.

Introduction. John’s was the water-baptism, or purity. Jesus baptized with the Holy Ghost, Divine Science. John was cousin to Jesus, and also Jesus’ forerunner. Purity is the herald of Truth, and a near relative to the Perfect Idea.

Immediately after Jesus’ baptism he was led into the Wilderness to be tempted. The realization of his awful responsibility dawned upon him. He saw what he must accomplish in his mission. He realized that he alone could emancipate mankind from worldly thraldom. Jesus knew materiality to be the antipodes of spirituality; hence that spirituality was forever hidden from those whose conceptions were material.

As Jesus entertained no material conception, he discerned the higher sense of Life. He knew he must demonstrate the problem of Life. He realized that his followers could rise to no greater height than himself, and that if he made a single mistake in his demonstration, the result would be fatal to them. Jesus foresaw the dreadful consequences of a single deviation from the one true pathway. The veil must be rent in twain, not partially, but from top to bottom.

Jesus determined to prove man’s oneness with God. What a contest was before the mighty Nazarene. Single-handed he must conquer the world. All its pleasures, as well as woes, must be annihilated. Jesus knew it was not against flesh and blood he must battle, but “against principalities and powers,” against the darkness of this world, against “spiritual wickedness in high places,” against those who might profess friendship, but who in times of need would betray with a Judas kiss, against professed followers of God, and against their religious teachers. He knew full well the power of belief.

Satan, material belief, had for thousands of years held despotic sway over mankind, oppressing them with burdensome and cruel tasks. The lash of tyranny was held above mankind, and in fear and trembling they offered homage to error’s demands. Not a victorious opponent appeared to thwart Satan’s advances, until Mary’s pure conception of right and justice was manifested to mankind in the birth of Jesus, who was destined to wield the sword of Spirit, and conquer the Prince of this World. Man was to be freed from earthly thraldom, and reestablished in his rightful domain. A legacy of eternal, harmonious Life was to be given to humanity forevermore.

In order to deliver men from their foolish beliefs, a pathway must be made through their material conceptions. Mortal man could not make this opening, because he believed in the reality of the material potentate to whom he offered obeisance. Consequently it was necessary that Jesus should be tempted in all points as we are, in order to annihilate these false claims, and prove to man that they were but illusions, to which man was rightfully superior. Jesus determined to prove the nothingness of materiality and its multifarious claims.

The appetites of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pleasures of the senses, were as vivid to Jesus as they are to us, — yea, a thousand times more so. Discords which pass unnoticed by many of us, would be agonizing to a musician, whose ear is attuned to harmony. Just so with Jesus. He knew that harmony was reality; hence discord, to him, was intensified by his spiritual acuteness. The claims of worldliness assailed Jesus, as they do us. He was tempted in all points like ourselves. He had proportionately no more Truth wherewith to meet error, than each of us possesses. The more refined our spiritual attainments, the keener will be the darts which assail us. If Jesus was a spiritual Hercules, the shadows which lay across his pathway were also gigantic. He was tempted like ourselves, at every point, yet he was without sin.

Jesus stood in the posture of thought in which each earnest and honest Christian Scientist stands today. God the Father is always higher and grander than our highest and grandest conception of Him. Job was right when he said, concerning divine manifestations, “These are but parts of Thy ways.”

Truly God, to our apprehension, is always the next step higher than our present consciousness. This fact Jesus understood; hence his declaration in after life, “No man cometh unto the Father but by me.” He knew Principle must be interpreted through its Idea.

Jesus must be tempted in every point like ourselves, in order to nullify and prove the nothingness of each claim. Hunger, pain, suffering, physical and mental, must be known and met. From the belief of birth to the belief of death, every method, every mode of materialism, must be counteracted by the production of their opposites. If the opposite, the positive, is not perceived, the negative will seem correct, and will assert itself as true.

Alone Jesus was compelled to meet the Prince of this World. Satan appeared to him in the garb of an angel, — as an angel of light. Satan tempted Jesus with beauty, attraction, splendor, with secular power and a gilded throne. Satan pointed to the rainbow, but ignored the storm.

The Saviour grappled with every claim of materiality; and, with a power above worldliness, he destroyed sickness, sin, and death. He dealt summarily with every adverse thought, destroying its power before it could fix itself upon him.

The Tempter whom Jesus met was mortal mind. Its snares are evil suggestions, contaminating thoughts. Mortal thoughts, if indulged, erase good intentions from the tablets of our consciousness. Mortal mind places stumbling-blocks in the Christian’s way. The scope of mortal mind extends from the most degrading influences, to the highest conception derived from belief, — from the stones under foot to the pinnacle of the Temple. Mortal mind is the influence opposed to God. Because God is eternal, error claims the same quality.

After Jesus’ spiritual baptism he saw, at a glance, the three great delusions to which mankind had always yielded: Appetite, Vanity, Ambition. These were the three which earliest presented themselves.

1. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil.

2. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward a’ hungered.

3. And when the Tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

4. 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.

Note the cunning of the Tempter! Mark the subtlety with which Satan seeks to undermine the very foundation of the Kingdom of Heaven. Adam, the material man, fell before the allurements of evil. Jesus, the spiritual Idea, stood firm as a rock, his face always turned Zionward. Jesus could not be duped by Satan. Adam and Eve were tempted through Appetite. “Eat of this fruit!” said the Serpent. They shared the apple of discord, and moral poison entered human veins. Materialism falls; Spirit survives.

Into the wilderness of doubt and fear Jesus is hurried, to meet the claims of the world. Here he fasts forty days and forty nights, — an equal amount of day and night, of light and darkness. The Spirit of Truth leads mankind upwards. Because God is omnipresent, error claims omnipresence. As mankind advances, led by the Spirit of infinite goodness, error becomes intensified and more subtle. Thus we are tempted by higher degrees of error. Error, overcome at one point, advances us to a still higher degree. Thus the Spirit ever leads us higher and higher, unfolding and overcoming the higher attenuations of evil, until the rising of the sun of infinite glory, which casts no shadows. Thus man strives against darkness, that he may enjoy eternal light.

The forty days and forty nights symbolize the subtlety of evil. Temptations only come when it is almost impossible to tell whether they are born of good or evil, of light or darkness. To the blind, the light and darkness are the same. So is it with the subtleties of evil. Temptations come in the most subtle and seductive form, always meeting one on his own elevation or depression of thought.

With the words, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread,” Satan introduces himself to our Master. This is one of the most subtle of the enemy’s claims, one of the most artful demands within the province of mortal mind, — a temptation to cater to the wants of physical sense, by turning stones into bread. Satan sought to make Jesus turn to material things for support, tempting him to misuse his spiritual power, in order to supply his physical wants.

Jesus had begun his crusade, against the Prince of the Darkness of this World, with a fixed determination to subjugate all his unreal claims. Every plant which the Father had not planted was to be uprooted. The strongholds of Satan were to be razed. Like Samson of old, Jesus determined to pull down the pillars of Satan’s temple, and crush the imps of darkness, even if his life paid the forfeit. At the very outset Satan confronted Jesus with the demands of physical belief.

Jesus hungered. The claims of materiality voiced themselves, and said: “This body must be taken care of; its wants, must be attended to; it is the image and likeness of God, given to mankind to care for and sustain.” The terrible pangs of hunger, which lay hold of Jesus, evoked the temptation to work what the world calls a miracle, in order to get bread. His hungering and thirsting after righteousness intensified the opposite. How easily he could have succumbed to these demands. The stones beneath his feet, as if to still further tantalize him, resembled in form the loaves of those days.

Would Jesus stoop to this perversion of his powers? or would he spurn the overtures of Satan, leave the stony thoughts still beneath his feet, and turn wholly to God his Father? No sooner had the temptation come than Jesus met it. He did not dwell on it an instant. He knew that by so doing temptation would gain the advantage over him. Heeding temptation intensifies its power, and renders it more difficult to overcome. Without hesitation Jesus met this Satanic overture. He made no terms with Satan. In the Master’s thought there were no ifs or buts. Instantly he met the challenge with the Word of God, of Truth: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

The temptation was overcome. The stones still lay at his feet, unchanged, cold, lifeless. That this temptation was a terrible ordeal, no one can doubt. What must have been Jesus’ thoughts?

He knew he possessed Truth. He knew men were groping in darkness, without one ray of light to illumine their consciousness. He was alone in the Wilderness. There was no one to advise him, no one to encourage. Hungering and thirsting after righteousness, so intense were the opposite pangs of physical appetite, that his very Life seemed almost lost. The mission upon which he had but so recently entered seemed likely to end in failure. Surely he must survive and not starve, if he would fulfill this mission. This was a temptation indeed!

Each temptation, as it presents itself to us, always seems to be the hardest we can encounter. How natural it is to cater to the wants of our physical bodies. It seems like a duty, and as if failure to comply with this duty would incur divine displeasure. This is a subtle belief indeed.

Jesus would not use God’s power for selfish motives, for the satisfaction of the senses, for self-gratification. The stones beneath his feet were unconscious, inert, lifeless; and Jesus knew that they could not sustain Life. He desired to establish the fact that Life is spiritual, not material, — that man lives because God lives, and not by material methods. This point he fully demonstrated, and would not yield to Appetite.

Baffled in this first temptation, Satan attacks our Master with another still more subtle, if such a thing be possible. Vanity is now the Circe cup offered to Jesus; for it concerns not merely physique and dress, and mortals are often vain of intellect and virtue.

5 Then the Devil taketh him up into the Holy City, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the Temple.

6 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.

7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

Jesus had become convinced of the unreality of materiality. He knew God was all-powerful. He knew mankind must worship God in Spirit and in Truth. Jesus, God, Truth, could not be found in forms or ceremonies. He alone knew this fact. He knew the condition of the minds of the people. How would they receive the new Truth? Could they apprehend it? Would they accept it?

Jesus’ high spiritual thought was the pinnacle of the Temple. Far below him the world worshipped. Below were priests and people, passing to and fro in worldly ceremonial worship. The fire was blazing on the altar, the altar of sacrifice. How well Jesus knew that sacrifice must be of the heart, and not an outward physical manifestation. These worldly ceremonies were far beneath him. He knew that it was necessary to rise to spiritual dominion, before exercising control over materiality. Only spiritual consciousness of dominion can make the material world man’s footstool. We do not rid ourselves of matter’s claims by simple abandonment, but by ascertaining their spiritual opposites.

Once a year the High priest entered the Holy of Holies, behind the veil. Jesus knew that veil must be rent in twain. He knew this was his mission. Far above this earthly worship, on the pinnacle of the Temple, stood our Master. His Father must be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth. His God was changeless. Israel’s Jehovah was believed to smile or frown on His people, as their actions influenced Him to love or hate. This mockery Jesus must destroy, and he knew it. It was from Jesus’ high spiritual consciousness that Satan desired to cast him down, the pinnacle of his thought. Jesus’ thoughts were higher than earth-born theories. They transcended the Temple ceremonies, and Satan wished to hurl him down from this consciousness, to a level with the world. This pinnacle was doubtless the Royal Porch, looking down into the Valley of Kidron, — which, by the way, signifies turbid, black. “Cast thyself down,” said Satan, “He shall give His angels charge concerning thee.” Cast thyself down, is the cry of error today.

Christian Science is too high. “The religion of our fathers was good enough for them; it is good enough for us! Come down to a level with the world! Come down to the worship of the world!” Such is the cry of error in our midst. Is Christian Science too high? Can anything be too high for man, made in the image and likeness of God? Can man conceive of any uplifting influence which does not come from God? Surely God’s “thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and His ways than our ways.” Can man exceed the consciousness of the Infinite, and invent an imaginary sphere of existence? All good comes from God; and any conception of a higher state of being than is now attained, no matter how vague and Utopian it may at first seem, must emanate from God.

Is the distorted form which Christianity assumed to our ancestors good enough for you, for me? Is the old printing-press, used in the days of Franklin, good enough for the present hour? Are the primitive modes of transit adequate for modern demands? If so, why were the old abandoned? Do not become fossilized, stereotyped! Upward and Onward, is the law of Him whose ways and thoughts are above ours. Is a religion which affiliates with sickness, sin, and death good enough for today? Did not Jesus destroy these evils? The animating principle of spinning-wheel and printing-press is indeed unchanged, because it was an outgrowth of nature’s unvarying law; but the form awaited more wonderful developments. So the animating principle of Christianity is always divine: but alas, it has been distorted by human misconceptions!

How many thousand times we have heard it said, “My good old mother lived and died by her religion, and I shall not forsake it.” We want a religion today that we can live by, and not die by. This would be religion in its highest, noblest sense. True religion points with unerring exactness to Life eternal. “Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die,” was the teaching of the greatest religious expounder who ever lived. True religion has no goal but eternal Life.

“Cast yourself down,” were the penetrating, persistent, persuasive words of the Tempter. Satan knew, if Jesus yielded one iota, the next downward step would be much easier. Satan knew that if Jesus, to gratify his selfish vanity by a public display of miraculous power, should cast himself from the pinnacle, hoping to be supernaturally upheld in mid-air by invisible hands, our Master would be disappointed in the result; because selfish and vain thoughts would incapacitate him for such a manifestation of control over the material law of gravitation, and the angels of the divine presence would not charge themselves with the physical safety of a leader who had forfeited his claim to Messiahship, by yielding to unworthy motives, whose unworthy springs are in self-aggrandizement.

All men are on the pinnacle today, their highest consciousness of good. It is from this point that Satan (error) seeks to cast them down. The temptations which reach one would be no temptation to another.

Again Jesus thwarted Satan, — and with the same weapon as before, the Word of God. It is written, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”

8 Again, the Devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.

Baffled in his attempted capture of Jesus through Vanity, Satan now appeals to Ambition. He offers Jesus the rulership of the world. How well Satan knew, if Jesus succeeded in demonstrating the Messianic understanding, that the demonic hold on mankind would be forever severed! Therefore one thing more he will offer Jesus, — all Satan has left. He unrolls before Jesus a panorama of the world. “All this will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” All the kingdoms of the world would belong to Jesus, if he would acknowledge material potentiality. The panorama unrolled. As Jesus gazed upon the wide prospect, countries and empires and crowns, passed before him in a moment of time. In them he saw the possibilities of a lie. He saw himself as the regal head of the world. This was what many of the Jews longed for; consequently Jesus was brought, in his thought, face to face with the spirit of the age. It was the sovereignty of the world, which the Tempter offered Jesus, if he would do him homage.

What a temptation was here? Who can comprehend the immensity of this temptation? This was Satan’s last chance, his forlorn hope. All his subtlety and adroitness were focalized. It was a terrible ordeal.

Jesus was born with a hereditary belief of material kingship, as the direct descendant of a line of kings. “King David’s son,” he was commonly called. Again, the Jews more than once strove to make him a king, even by force. In these facts we may see the subtlety of this temptation. Besides the wiles of Satan, he was confronted by belief in the rights of hereditary descent, and the patriotic ambition of the popular mind.

What would be the result of yielding to Satan’s demands? The Jews would then generally accept and follow Jesus as the Messiah. There would be no suffering, no cross, no humiliation, no reproach, — only glory and secular power. This was truly Satan’s last throw. This princely offer was paramount, and excelled the two preceding bribes. This boon included colossal wealth, luxury indescribable, pomp and power which monarchs might envy. The world would lie at his feet. This tender was Satan’s all, his masterpiece; but had Jesus yielded to the Arch Tempter, man would have lost his birthright; and so would Jesus, for he would have forfeited his spiritual reign for temporal sovereignty.

What did Satan offer Jesus in exchange for his heavenly kingdom? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Hundreds of years before, Solomon had declared this world, with all its concomitants, to be vanity. Did not Jesus know the supremacy of the spiritual over the material? At last Satan has betrayed himself. If he had so arrayed himself in borrowed plumage as to defy detection in the other two temptations, he could do so no longer. Jesus discovered whence his temptation came. “Get thee hence, Satan,” he said; and this proves that the Devil was known.

The “exceedingly high mountain” is wealth. Wealth gives to mankind the kingdoms of the world. Money is the god of this world. How well Satan knew this! What more could he offer Jesus. The claim of personal interest had been met. The claims of Appetite and Vanity had been already destroyed. There were no claims left but those of wealth and power. At last Satan was recognized. The robe of light fell off. He was unmasked. No longer did Satan seem an angel of light to Jesus, but the Prince of Darkness. Jesus had tried the spirits, to see whether they were good or evil, and he had ascertained them to be evil. True to his constant intent, he was “about his Father’s business.” Satan had tried in vain to make Jesus adopt the policy and methods of this world; but supreme allegiance to God had frustrated Satan’s schemes. With the Word of God, Jesus vanquished his adversary. His words silenced the intriguing foe. Battled and confounded, Satan withdrew for a season. He had found his superior. After hundreds, yea thousands of years of uninterrupted dominion, his power was defeated, his kingdom forever overthrown. At last a man had arisen, made in the divine image, clothed with the seamless garment of Truth. This divine man met the enemy on his own domain, and routed him.

11. Then the Devil leaveth him: and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Satan withdrew, and behold angels came and ministered unto Jesus. Glorious conclusion of a well-fought battle! Satan absent, angels present! These angels were spiritual messages from Father to Son. Angels came to Jesus, to prove that he did not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. He who would not ask the angels to uphold him in tempting God, basked in their brightness. He who refused the kingdoms of the world had won the Kingdom of Heaven. The fight had been not with carnal weapons, but spiritual, mighty to the “pulling down of strongholds.”

The weapon Jesus used is ours also, the Word of God. Jesus can help us, because he was tempted as we are. We can help others, because Jesus is helping us. Satan is a coward, and only comes when we falter and lose courage. He gains the victory who looks only to God. “Satan lies most when he promises most.” Let us watch and pray, that we enter not into temptation! Satan’s temptations have a wide range, even from the stones beneath our feet to the highest pinnacle of the Temple, — from the lowest mortal conception to the highest. Satan does not come as Satan, but robed in sheep’s clothing, — noiselessly and with subtle whisperings, quoting God’s Word, that he may the more deceive. Beware of false Christian Scientists, who say, with smooth tongues, “He shall give His angels charge over thee.” “The Devil can quote Scripture for his purpose.” He comes as an angel of light! “Oh what a goodly outside falsehood hath.” Silently comes the enemy, who would cast you from the pinnacle of your thought into the valley below. The next thought higher than your present estimate of Truth, is your highest conception of God, and this thought tempts no one; because it is the thought immediately beneath your present conception of goodness which tempts you most. Guard zealously the pinnacle of your thought.

Carefully watch yourself, for you are your own greatest enemy. Nobody stands so much in your own light as yourself. When you have conquered self, you have conquered the world. As you rise into spiritual dominion, the opposite will present itself to you. An increased desire for worldly sovereignty will test you at every step. If the whole world was laid at Jesus’ feet, it will be proportionately proffered to you. Can you resist such a temptation? Wealth will sometimes confront you. The brightest crown within the gift of evil will be suspended above your head, ready to encircle your brow at your assent. Will you accept the kingdoms of the world, and reject the Kingdom of Heaven? Jesus labored only for mankind, and to do the will of the Father. Let us do the same. The instant we think of self, we become disqualified to aid others. Let us meet the temptations of the world as did our Master, with the understanding of Truth, and ever watch and pray that we enter not into temptation.