MATTHEW 4
MATTITYAHU
4
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Tempted in the wilderness
I remark, that in the case of Jesus, diabolos and satan were both concerned. When he was filled with the Holy Spirit he was led, Mark says "driven," by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted, or properly, to be put to the proof under Sin—hypo tou diabolou.
Their nature was his nature; for "the children of God being partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same" - Heb 2: 14. Hence, he was sent forth "in a form of Sin's flesh"—en homoiomati sarkos hamartias; and thus God made him sin, (that is, flesh and blood) for us, and on account of sin, gave judgment against sin in the flesh of Jesus.
The testimonies show that Jesus was "under sin" as a man under a burden.—He groaned under it in painful travail. While among the wild beasts of the wilderness a (similar situation to the first Adam's) he felt the danger, and desolation of his situation, and the cravings of a long protracted fast.
He ate nothing all this time, his life being sustained by the Spirit: and at the end became very hungry. Luke terms this, "being forty days put to the proof under diabolos, " or sin; that is, in his case, under the perturbation of weakened flesh and blood.
This was before the adversary came to him. His nature was severely tried during this period; and it remained to be seen, whether his flesh thus weakened would stand in the truth; or like Adam's, seek present gratification by transgressing the divine law. The end of the forty days appears to have been the prepared crisis of the trial.
Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Sept 1852
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
"Being forty days tempted of the devil" Lk 4: 2
à If his own mind was originating the temptation - why not so during the forty days! 'And WHEN the tempter CAME TO HIM, he SAID' (Matt 4:3)
Tempted of the devil (diabolos). He felt the full force of the cravings of the flesh
"Jesus groaned within himself, and was troubled." (Jhn 11:33)
àJesus was tempted by both the Diabolos and a Satan. These were both concerned in the trial to which he was subjected; and as the one co-operated with the other, they are spoken of as if the same.
Jesus was "led up," or "driven," of the Spirit, into the wilderness "to be tempted of the diabolos; " or that which causeth to transgress, and "hath the power of death" - sin's flesh.
This was subjected to the long abstinence of forty days, at the end of which he felt a hunger that must have been very keen. We all know what would be the promptings of our flesh in a like it situation. "Hunger," it is said, "will break through stone walls." It is very obstreperous, and will do any thing to satisfy itself. If any one had the power, under the pressure of intense hunger, he would convert stones into bread and eat them.
Jesus had that power; and there was one acquainted with the Scripture, introduced himself to his notice at this crisis, and suggested that he should use it. Paul doubtless alludes to this personage in 2 Cor. 11: 14 saying,
"the Satan is transformed into an Angel of Light."
Such an angel is a messenger enlightened in the word, who handles it in such a way as to test the fidelity of others to it. Such an one becomes a Satan in suggesting a course of action in conformity with the promptings of the flesh. And if Deity became Satan to Israel, and to Job, it is not to be denied that an angel may have assumed the same attitude in the case of Jesus Christ.
Eureka 12.15.
àThe tempter is termed diabolos - a false accuser - therefore it seems questionable whether an immortal angel is the satan. Perhaps an eminent person of the era, supported by a delegation, among which are others well versed in Moses and the prophets - but after the traditions of men.
Considering the type of Job - satan tempted Job, but his three friends added to the temptation by their insinuations and provocations.
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, (with serpent reasoning) If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
àWas there not a tempter in Christ's case personally distinct from Jesus?'
Yes. But that tempter was not a Serpent, nor 'the Serpent;' but one sustaining the character of a personal adversary to him.
If the tempter be distinct from Christ, the tempted, can we be safe, or justified, in departing from that idea?
We are not justified in so doing; therefore I have been careful to abide by what is written without regard to the glosses of 'theology,' and the petitio principii of 'divines.'
Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Oct 1852
An agent provocateur
àThe form of Christ's tempter in the desert is not revealed any more than the identity of Job's Satan, and to contend strenuously for a particular view is unnecessary where the fact of the temptation is admitted. The statement that Christ was tempted it all points like as we are does not prove that the tempter was not external and personal. We have external and personal tempters as well as internal susceptibilities.
The latter indeed cannot be thoroughly put to the test without the former. We may be tempted by our feelings, doubtless, but never so powerfully as when those feelings are appealed to by a second person.
Your argument lowers Christ to too low a plane. The same nature he truly was, but you must remember there are many varieties and conditions of our common nature—from the untutored savage of the common felon to the balanced mentality of refinement and culture.
Human nature in the hand of God was a form not known to men. We must not give Christ the lowest but the very highest place. He was the work of God for righteousness, and therefore immeasurably above "mere men," though tempted in all points like them.
The Christadelphian, Nov 1886 p614.
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.
5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Matt 5:41
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.
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.
11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
àTo all suggestions and arguments in support of the idea of Christ being now a king, and the "Church his kingdom," it is a sufficient answer that a king is one whose law is compulsory, and not left to the good will of his subjects; and a kingdom an area in which that law is enforced.
The law of Christ at present is for those who choose to obey; and as for the ecclesia, it is a mere aggregation of candidates for his favour, developed by invitation to "whosoever will."
To call such a state of things a kingdom, and the absent, non-interfering Christ a reigning king, is to play with words.
Worse, it is to hide the truth, and foster ecclesiastical tyranny. The pamphlet is unworthy of serious attention.
The Christadelphian, March 1898
18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
Tough and strong men - used to physical adversity
àHow came it that illiterate men moved the world?
Illiterate men could never have done that in the capacity of illiterate men merely. There must have been a cause in operation with their illiterateness, to have produced so great a revolution as that which resulted from their efforts. The New Testament account reveals this cause, and gives the only rational explanation of their movement. They were personal witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus. They declared their personal knowledge, and "God worked with them, confirming their word with signs following" (Mark 16:20).
This accounts for their perseverance, and their ultimate success. Take away this element, and you take away the explanation of a great historic fact that no man can gainsay.
Bro Roberts - Was Jesus of Nazareth The Messiah?
19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
àPreaching true doctrine is a part, but only a part of this service; it largely includes righteous and benevolent deeds performed in the glory of Him from whom comes all power to perform deeds of any kind, and to whom, therefore, all glory belongs.
Bro Roberts - God a sun and shield
20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
The First Disciples and Ourselves
.à..the disciples were disciples on the day they left their nets, but they had become so before then through the testimony of John the Baptist to Jesus as the Lamb of God (John 1:35–45). They became disciples through the understanding and the testimony and the word that Jesus spoke to them afterwards (Jno. 15:3).
... Each case depends upon God's requirements—which are different in different cases. Abraham had to make a journey and offer up a son: we have not. The disciples had to personally follow Christ: we have not.
They did not have at that time to believe in a crucified Christ: we have. Or a resurrected Christ, and we have. The whole question for us, is, What is the Lord's requirement by the apostle of the Gentiles? And the answer is,
"Believe the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ; be baptised and observe all things whatsoever Christ commanded the apostles to teach."The
Christadelphian, Sept 1898
22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.
25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.