suggestions of Satan in order to obtain
food or to save our lives. Our only questions will be, What is God’s
command? and what His promise? Knowing these, we shall obey the
one, and trust the other.
http://alfaempresa.com.br/bypass.php
In the last great conflict of the controversy with Satan those who are
loyal to God will see every earthly support cut off. Because they refuse [122]
to break His law in obedience to earthly powers, they will be forbidden
to buy or sell. It will finally be decreed that they shall be put to death.
See Revelation 13:11-17. But to the obedient is given the promise,
“He shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of
rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.” Isaiah 33:16.
By this promise the children of God will live. When the earth shall be
wasted with famine, they shall be fed. “They shall not be ashamed in
the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.” Psalm
37:19. To that time of distress the prophet Habakkuk looked forward,
and his words express the faith of the church: “Although the fig tree
shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the
olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be
cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will
rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Habakkuk
3:17, 18.
Of all the lessons to be learned from our Lord’s first great temptation
none is more important than that bearing upon the control of
the appetites and passions. In all ages, temptations appealing to the
physical nature have been most effectual in corrupting and degrading
mankind. Through intemperance, Satan works to destroy the mental
and moral powers that God gave to man as a priceless endowment.
Thus it becomes impossible for men to appreciate things of eternal
92 The Desire of Ages
worth. Through sensual indulgence, Satan seeks to blot from the soul
every trace of likeness to God.
The uncontrolled indulgence and consequent disease and degradation
that existed at Christ’s first advent will again exist, with intensity
of evil, before His second coming. Christ declares that the condition
of the world will be as in the days before the Flood, and as in Sodom
and Gomorrah. Every imagination of the thoughts of the heart will
be evil continually. Upon the very verge of that fearful time we are
now living, and to us should come home the lesson of the Saviour’s
fast. Only by the inexpressible anguish which Christ endured can we
estimate the evil of unrestrained indulgence. His example declares
that our only hope of eternal life is through bringing the appetites and
passions into subjection to the will of God.
In our own strength it is impossible for us to deny the clamors of
our fallen nature. Through this channel Satan will bring temptation
upon us. Christ knew that the enemy would come to every human
being, to take advantage of hereditary weakness, and by his false
insinuations to ensnare all whose trust is not in God. And by passing
[123] over the ground which man must travel, our Lord has prepared the
way for us to overcome. It is not His will that we should be placed
at a disadvantage in the conflict with Satan. He would not have us
intimidated and discouraged by the assaults of the serpent. “Be of
good cheer,” He says; “I have overcome the world.” John 16:33.
Let him who is struggling against the power of appetite look to
the Saviour in the wilderness of temptation. See Him in His agony
upon the cross, as He exclaimed, “I thirst.” He has endured all that it
is possible for us to bear. His victory is ours.
Jesus rested upon the wisdom and strength of His heavenly Father.
He declares, “The Lord God will help Me; therefore shall I not be
confounded: ... and I know that I shall not be ashamed.... Behold, the
Lord God will help Me.” Pointing to His own example, He says to us,
“Who is among you that feareth the Lord, ... that walketh in darkness,
and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon
his God.” Isaiah 50:7-10.
“The prince of this world cometh,” said Jesus, “and hath nothing in
Me.” John 14:30. There was in Him nothing that responded to Satan’s
sophistry. He did not consent to sin. Not even by a thought did He
yield to temptation. So it may be with us. Christ’s humanity was
Temptation 93
united with divinity; He was fitted for the conflict by the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit. And He came to make us partakers of the divine
nature. So long as we are united to Him by faith, sin has no more
dominion over us. God reaches for the hand of faith in us to direct
it to lay fast hold upon the divinity of Christ, that we may attain to
perfection of character.
And how this is accomplished, Christ has shown us. By what
means did He overcome in the conflict with Satan? By the word of
God. Only by the word could He resist temptation. “It is written,” He
said. And unto us are given “exceeding great and precious promises:
that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped
the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:4. Every
promise in God’s word is ours. “By every word that proceedeth out of
the mouth of God” are we to live. When assailed by temptation, look
not to circumstances or to the weakness of self, but to the power of the
word. All its strength is yours. “Thy word,” says the psalmist, “have
I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee.” “By the word
of Thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.” Psalm
119:11; 17:4. [124]
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 now supposes that he has met Jesus on His own ground. The
wily foe himself presents words that proceeded from the mouth of
God. He still appears as an angel of light, and he makes it evident
that he is acquainted with the Scriptures, and understands the import
of what is written. As Jesus before used the word of God to sustain
His faith, the tempter now uses it to countenance his deception. He
claims that he has been only testing the fidel
