Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 5.djvu/42

36 said so and so? Surely he has not. So here, Has God said that thou art his beloved Son? Surely he did not say so; or if he did, it is not true. We then give place to the Devil, when we question the truth of any word that God has spoken; for his business, as the father of lies, is to oppose the true sayings of God. 4. The Devil carries on his designs very much by possessing people with hard thoughts of God, as if he were unkind, or unfaithful, and had forsaken or forgotten those who have ventured their all with him. He endeavoured to beget in our first parents a notion that God forbade them the tree of knowledge, because he grudged them the benefit of it; and so here he insinuates to our Saviour, that his Father had cast him off, and left him to shift for himself. But see how unreasonable this suggestion was, and how easily answered. If Christ seemed to be a mere Man now, because he was hungry, why was he not confessed to be more than a Man, even the Son of God, when for forty days he fasted, and was not hungry?

Secondly, "Then hast now an opportunity to shew that thou art the Son of God. If thou art the Son of God, prove it by this, command that these stones" (a heap of which, probably, lay now before him,) "be made bread, v. 3. John Baptist said but the other day, that God can, out of stones, raise up children to Abraham; a divine power therefore can, no doubt, out of stones, make bread for those children; if therefore thou hast that power, exert it now in a time of need for thyself." He does not say, Pray to thy Father that he would turn them into bread, but command it to be done; thy Father hath forsaken thee, set up for thyself, and be not obliged to him. The Devil is for nothing that is humbling, but every thing that is assuming; and gains his point, if he can but bring men off from their dependence upon God, and possess them with an opinion of their self-sufficiency.

(2.) See how this temptation was resisted and overcome.

[1.] Christ refused to comply with it. He would not command these stones to be made bread; not because he could not; his power, which soon after this, turned water into wine, could have turned stones into bread; but he would not. And why would he not? At first view, the thing appears justifiable enough, and the truth is, The more plausible a temptation is, and the greater appearance there is of good in it, the more dangerous it is. This matter would bear a dispute, but Christ was soon aware of the snake in the grass, and would not do any thing, First, That looked like questioning the truth of the voice he heard from heaven, or putting that upon a new trial which was already settled. Secondly, That looked like distrusting his Father's care of him, or limiting him to one particular way of providing for him. Thirdly, That looked like setting up for him self, and being his own carver; or, Fourthly, That looked like gratifying Satan, by doing a thing at his motion. Some would have said, To give the Devil his due, this was good counsel; but for those who wait upon God, to consult him, is more than his due; it is like inquiring of the god of Ekron, when there is a God in Israel.

[2.] He was ready to reply to it; (v. 4.) He answered, and said, It is written. This is observable, that Christ answered and baffled all the temptations of Satan with, It is written. He is himself the eternal Word, and could have produced the mind of God without having recourse to the writings of Moses; but he put honour upon the scripture, and, to set us an example, he appealed to what was written in the law; and he says this to Satan, taking it for granted that he knew well enough what was written. It is possible that those who are the Devil's children may yet know very well what is written in God's book; The devils believe, and tremble. This method we must take when at any time we are tempted to sin; resist and repel the temptation with, It is written. The word of God is the sword of the Spirit, the only offensive weapon in all the christian armoury; (Eph. 6. 17.) and we may say of it as David of Goliath's sword, none is like that in our spiritual conflicts.

This answer, as all the rest, is taken out of the book of Deuteronomy, which signifies the second law, and in which there is very little ceremonial; the Levitical sacrifices and purifications could not drive away Satan, though of divine institution, much less holy water and the sign of the cross, which are of human invention; but moral precepts and evangelical promises, mixed with faith, these are mighty, through God, for the vanquishing of Satan. This is here quoted from Deut. 8. 3. where the reason given why God fed the Israelites with manna, is, because he would teach them that man shall not live by bread alone. This Christ applies to his own case. Israel was God's son, whom he called out pf Egypt, (Hos. 11. 1.) so was Christ; (ch. 2. 15.) Israel was then in a wilderness, Christ was so now, perhaps the same wilderness. Now, First, The Devil would have him question his sonship, because he was in straits; no, says he, Israel was God's son, and a son he was very tender of, and whose manners he bore; (Acts 13. 18.) and yet he brought them into straits; and it follows there, (Deut 8. 5.) As a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Christ, being a Son, thus ''learns obedience. Secondly'', The Devil would have him distrust his Father's love and care. "No," says he, "that would be to do as Israel did, who, when they were in want, said, Is the Lord among us? and, Can he furnish a table in the wilderness? Can he give bread ?" Thirdly, The Devil would have him, as soon as he began to be hungry, immediately look out for supply; whereas God, for wise and holy ends, suffered Israel to hunger before he fed them; to humble them, and prove them. God will have his children, when they want, not only to wait on him, but to wait for him. Fourthly, The Devil would have him to supply himself with bread. "No," says Christ, "what need is there of that? It is a point long since settled, and incontestably proved, that man may live without bread, as Israel in the wilderness lived forty years upon manna." It is true, God, in his providence, ordinarily maintains men by bread out of the earth; (Job 28. 5.) but he can, if he pleases, make use of other means to keep men alive; any word proceeding out of the mouth of God, any thing that God shall order and appoint for that end, will be as good a livelihood for man as bread, and will maintain him as well. As we may have bread, and yet not be nourished, if God deny his blessing, (Hag. 1. 6, 9. Mic. 6. 14. for though bread is the staff of life, it is God's blessing that is the staff of bread,) so we may want bread, and yet be nourished some other way. God sustained Moses and Elias without bread, and Christ himself just now for forty days; he sustained Israel with bread from heaven, angels' food; Elijah with bread sent miraculously by ravens, and another time with the widow's meal miraculously multiplied; therefore Christ need not turn stones into bread, but trust God to keep him alive some other way now that he is hungry, as he had done forty days before he hungered. Note, As in our greatest abundance we must not think to live without God, so in our greatest straits we must learn to live upon God; and when the fig-tree does not blossom, and the field yields no meat, when all ordinary means of succour and support are cut off, yet then we must rejoice in the Lord; then we must not think to command what we will, though contrary to his command, but must