The Temptation of Christ

Improvement Era Vol. XVIII OCTOBER, 1915 No. 12. The Temptation of Christ BY J. E. HICKMAN", A. M. The coming of the Savior into the world was earth's proudest legacy. His first pallet was made with the cattle ; his death couch was in the sepulchre of the rich. Though his early life is shrouded with the silence of unwritten history, yet the ages guard jealously his name. Were that once to fade from memory man would lose the only name by which salvation is secured. Though his life rings with vibrant interest from cry to cry — from the first breath to the final groan- — yet two events stand out as pivotal points on which man's chances of redemption rest. They are the Tempta- tion and the Crucifixion. Should the Christ have turned aside through temptation or weakness in the hour of torture and death, what would have been the fate of man whose redemption rested in his hands? It is the purpose of this theme to discuss the Temptation of our Savior, beside which all other temptations pale into insignifi- cance. When I am tested, the fate of one is held in the balance ; on the fate of the Messiah rested the fate of worlds. The arrest or death of the private soldier in the ranks means the lessening of the battle forces by but one ; but when the commander-in-chief lies prostrate in the enemy's camp, consternation and defeat seize his disconsolate and fleeing soldiers ; fear meets them in their aim- less flight, clutching at them like the phantom hand of a spectre, chilling them to the bone and sowing their power to the winds. Such is the chill that pierces us when we contemplate the possi- bility of failure by the Captain of our Salvation. The scriptures say that when Jesus was baptized he was led up of the Spirit, or "driven," as Mark says, into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. We shall perhaps never know the full meaning of that simple statement. Like all who have received the endowment of the Holy Ghost, he became the storm center of

1042 IMPROVEMENT ERA temptation by the opposing power; for when men are endowed with the Holy Spirit they at once become the greatest menace to Lucifer's kingdom, or the choicest prizes if captured. Tradition fixes the scene of the Temptation on a mountain south of Jericho. It rises from the livid plain, sterile and forbid- ding— naked and arid like a mountain of malediction. From this height Jesus could view the waters of the dead sea which typified the fallen world. What must have been his feelings when he viewed the land which had been, and was yet to be, the theater of the world's greatest tragedies! There alone he walked amidst the beasts of quarantina, whose howls made the night hideous and completed the desolation about him. At his approach, they for- got their hunger ; their ferocity, like a dissolving view, mellowed into half fear and half passivity. They read a wordless meaning in his presence; Lucifer could not fill them with rage, for it was not given him to tempt them, — the human heart alone is his battle ground. Well might their sentient souls have felt a bewilderment, for on that mountain the forces of heaven and hell were turning their gaze because the two brothers were there ; their powers and their followers were being weighed in the balance. The one, half deadened through mortality, struggling for the mastery of the universe, trembled before his mission ; the other, proud and sullen, with folded arms, waited his time. He knew his line of action ; his plans were crystallized, tested, tried, and triumphant upon whomsoever he had laid them. It is said that after Jesus had fasted forty days he was an hungered. How keen the pangs of starvation we shall never know. He must have been at the point of famishing or the great- est test was not yet made. The hour had come to strike. Every spirit throughout the limitless empires was intense with fear and hope. The two brothers were about to meet — the one starving and trembling, was at his weakest point, proving himself to be worthy of being the Savior of the world ; the other, Lucifer, the star of the morning, though defeated in heaven, was now at the height of his glory; the prince of earth, with all nations at his feet. The Temptation is at hand. Lucifer, fearing yet eager, has long prepared and waited for this event. It was a moment when the forces of battle were halted while a duel was to be fought between the generals of eternity. To even dimly conceive the awfulness of the scene, one must marshal his powers of imag- ination. What hope had Lucifer that he could defeat the Messiah.'' It was his only hope, for mortality is the realm of temptation— a sphere where the past is wiped from the soul's tablets ; the future is vague and man must act now through the great impulse of his primeval career, aided or repelled, with the impulses from the two unseen worlds. The Shiloh could not hope to be as powerful on

THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST 1043 earth with limited power and intelligence— limited as compared to his limitless vision while championing his cause in heaven. Even then, Satan, son of the morning, withstood Jehovah and Elohim, drawing away one-third of the hosts of heaven. What might not be his success in a hand-to-hand conflict with Jehovah now con- fined in mortality? Lucifer had reason for hope. Had he not deceived our first parents, sent most of their children out into an empty world, hating God ; had he not once plunged all the human race, except eight souls, into deadening sin until God cleansed the earth with the deluge? Even then Lucifer toyed with the sur- vivors in the hour of temptation. We see Noah lying drunk with the wine of his own vineyard, and we see Ham festering with sensual morbidity. Should the tempter not have been assured, since the past numbered untold victims of his power? The patri- archs of the twelve tribes of Israel were brought low thron^'1 temptation. Moses was shut out of the Promised Land because nride had swept him from his feet. We hear David crying for forgiveness ; we see Solomon following the allurements of vanity ; we hear Lehi complaining against his God. These were God's prophets, leaders of Israel, and men after his own heart. With such assurances, Lucifer met with bold determination the Messiah. If Lucifer could lead his brother captive, then the victory of heaven and earth were vouchsafed unto him. If he failed, then all was lost, for the Prince of Peace would eventually wrench from the devil his last hold upon man. He keenly realized that and prepared to test Immanuel with the most alluring tempta- tions the world had ever known. The mission was so vital that he conducted the temptation himself. The myriad phases by which we might be tempted may be divided into three : the temptations of the flesh (the physical) ; the temptations of pride; and finally, the temptation of power, do- minion, opulence, glory. These were in turn presented before the Lamb of God. "The scriptures say that Jesus was tempted of the devil. "Temptation can imply nothing less than the possibil- ity of a fall." Why this temptation if it was not a struggle with an element of doubt, with an almost illimitable stress and strain of human-god endurance? The greater the mind the greater the temptation offered. Remember that trials, mastered, mean added power of resistance; thev are the installed engines from the power-house of the soul. If the temptation prevails, it is a literal dynamiting of the soul's flimsy shacks, erected in the dead calm of life's untroubled days. The scriptures have stripped the tragic temptation of every element of its awfulness and grandeur. What allurements were brought to b«-ar upon. "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread," are veiled with the unwritten. But this is assured, that the temptation must have been couched in the

1044 IMPROVEMENT ERA most subtle allurements that thought and persuasion could com- mand. Otherwise the temptation would have been a mockery rather than an alluring seduction. Mark you, this serial tempta- tion meant everything- to countless millions. If there is to be had a more feasible way of presenting this first temptation it must be had. If there is a more hidden subtleness which would touch the tempted, it must be presented. So we may be assured that the temptation was vastly more diplomatic than the formal utterance of those words. Temptations are the keenest when the soul is thirsting for the thing presented. When the possible power is within our grasp; fire this longing with the presence of the tempter, with real or pretended love, either must be clothed with the garb of sincerity, and the temptation is almost invincible. Remember our Savior was at the point of starvation ; remem- ber he possessed the power to turn. stones to bread ; remember, too, the brother longing to wrest the Messianic power from Jehovah, appeared upon the scene to personally conduct the temptation. The diplomacy of the moment brought the hush of unspeakable interest, but no sooner had the temptation come than it was swept back with, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." This was the physical temptation. The longing for food at the hour of star- vation is the greatest physical test known. So terrific is it that men will gnaw the putrid flesh from the bones of their fellow men. In the hour of starvation mothers have been known to kill and eat their own children. But though he had the power, Christ could not be tempted to turn stones into bread to satisfy his hun- ger. The hour for him to eat had not come, and to have used his Messianic power in this moment of temptation meant defeat. The first temptation is now passed. What must have been the subdued excitement as eternities gazed on in silence. What must have been Lucifer's feelings when he was checkmated and stung by the quotation of the law which, in his ambition to rule, he had trampled under his feet. The temptation was flung back as the roaring billows are hurled from the adamantine cliffs ; but though the cliff resists the wave, every molecule in it vibrates, and a mighty tremor sweeps through it from summit to base. Temptation and fall, through the appetites and passions, count their millions. The temptation of drink and deadly opiates dashes out the possibility of hope and progress from millions of every generation ; through bowing to the first and lowest of all allure- ments, our anpetites, the penitentiaries and asylums are filled with the victims of the devil's power. They flood the earth also with blighted offspring — cripples, idiots, epileptics, and insane. Tic who falls through the first temptation has little chance to be greatlv tempted by the higher. It is through physical temptation that our youth arc imprisoned — blighted — and are found with

THE TEMPTATION OE CHRIST 1045 those who wail and gnash their teeth. Greatness is seldom caught and held in the grip of physical temptation ; through the resistance of the appetites greatness is made possible. Tt is written that after the first temptation was over, Tesus was taken and placed on the pinnacle of the temple. Just how this was accomplished is not plain. Whether Jesus was met there by the tempter while he was viewing the great city of Jerusalem and the country from afar, or whether Lucifer carried him there in triumph to show the Messiah his vast power, is still a matter of doubt. But be it as it may, the most subtle way known was taken advantage of. Again came, "If thou be the Son of God, cast thy- self down." The scripture leaves us with but the cold, formal ut- terance. What converse and what alluring, tempting utter- ances were made which might stir the heart to comply with the request, we are not told. This temptation must, if possible, be more cunning and subtle than the first. The tempter must put forth deeper reasons and more telling arguments. Did Lucifer urge that he believed Jesus to be the Messiah ; and, if so he wished to be sure of it ; and, if certain, he would herald Jesus' advent into the world and also worship him? Was it after the most diplo- matic argument and burning impress that he suggested and urged the Nazarene to test his Messiahshio by casting himself down from the pinnacle? For if he be the Son of God, it was written — and Jesus could net doubt the certainty of the scriptures — that God's angels should bear him up lest at any time he should dash his foot against a stone. What was the personal attitude of the tempter? Did he stand with outstretched hands appealing to the Savior's pride while Lucifer's countenance fairly beamed with an- ticipation ? Shall Christ now reveal his power to test his assur- ances from angels or spiritual endowments? Shall he prove to the tempter, who is appearing as an angel of light, that trulv he is the Immanuel ? Or shall he withhold the demonstration of his power: and, bv so doing, seemingly show cowardice and doubt" Should his pride be stung bv jeer and taunt as he looked down to the stonv street far below? Swift as the northern lights came the reply : "Tt is written again. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thv God." When the test was over, was the Nazarene exhausted with the temptation, and did he lean heavily upon the pinnacle as Moses lay helpless upon the tumbled crags of stones on Sinai's heights? I can see him stati »- ing with dignity facing the enemy of the race, calm and unmoved. Satan proved himself a scriptorian, but each time the Christ defeated him with quotations from the law-book (Deuteronomv, 8-6: 6:16V The second temptation is also futile — the temptation 'which had ensnared prophets, kings and nations. ^-~ m the dawn of history we read of nations smiling then- life's blood because pride was wounded: nations risking all to

1046 IMPROVKMKNT ERA wipe out an insult. It is said that pride goeth before a fall — aye, more, it makes possible the fall. Pride spurs men on to live be- yond their means; they suffer hunger, bodily affliction, to satisfy pride. Sons and daughters plunge their parents into helpless debt through the false pride of dress. Many a youth has walked into the blighting habit of tobacco, drink, and other vices because he could not endure the jeers of companions. Pride drags the mighty from their pedestals of honor even when the temptations of the body have been trampled under their feet. The Messiah swept all aside and stung the destroyer of nations by hurling back at him the very laws he himself had broken. Pride had dragged Lucifer from the realms of Gods to the plane of the damned. He hid not only not lived by every word that had proceeded from the mouth of God, but he had asked for Elohim's glory. When the second temptation was tested and lost, I can con- ceive Lucifer's hosts half starting with clenched hands and bated breath. What means this alarm? Do they see defeat ahead0 Shall their king be bound and their kingdoms torn from them ? Shall the tests of the centuries fail? There is one more left, and but one. It has never been offered to any of earth's children and shall never be offered again. This temptation shall not, must not fail. Tt must now be offered, for all other allurements fell power- less and lay broken and dead at the feet of the Savior. As must have been agreed upon centuries before, that if everything else failed, the entire earth and her conquered kingdoms should be of- fered to the carpenter's son should he bow in reverence to Lucifer — the prince of the earth. In this crucial moment swords should be sheathed ; hell's forces should be withdrawn and the conquests of a?ons were to be offered for one sentence of homage from the lowly Nazarene. Lucifer was desperate, the smouldering hatred and the memories of the fatal religio-political war of heaven stirred him to fevered tension. Though the father of lies, he must for once be truthful — no trickery can be risked — for the Messianic intelligence would pierce the very shadow of deception and the temptation would be gone. Por once, he must be the proclaimer of truth. What think you ? Was this tragedy enacted in a corner : were the unseen worlds ignorant of this scene? No; Lucifer's kingdom was being weighed in the balance. He had dragged mil- lions into degradation and idolatrous worship who were once val- iant in the heavens for God's cause. He had even led, with silken cords. God's chosen Tsrael from Jehovah's laws. The very eternal God. had come to earth to disnel the darkness that covered the earth and lead his neople back to him. The test is now on ; shall he, like mam- of his faithful followers, weaken at the hour when his vision is blurred and reason confused in the maelstrom of con- flicting emotions and lurid temptations? Could the primeval in-

THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST 1047 habitants rest secure and indifferent to the results? Though we may have been morally sure of the results, yet we were none the less interested in the conflict. The Gods left their thrones, arch- angels quit their posts of duty, while we gazed on in hushed amazement. Lucifer's hosts stood banked in the heavens, tier up- on tier, hoping yet fearing, silent, trembling. In the midst of this awful hush the Messiah is swept to the top of an exceeding high mountain ; and, in a moment of time, he is shown, in panoramic view, the entire earth and her kingdoms of glory. These are of- fered to Jesus if he will fall down and worship Satan. Were these Lucifer's to give? If not, what was intended to be the greatest temptation which was ever known to the human race, would be a cheap deception with no power behind it. But sad as it may appear, the kingdoms of this earth had all, through conquests, become the kingdoms of the devil. This Christ ac- knowledged on various occasions. He came because Lucifer had conquered the world which was to be Christ's and his followers. He therefore entered mortality to redeem the inhabitants and lead them back to Elohim, to their former loves and covenants. This great vision of proffered kingdoms, without conquest, "flashed before the Messiah as in a mirror under the dazzling light of temptation." Did Lucifer pale at the thought of offering all of his conquests? Yet, to be rejected would be a defeat as fatal as his defeat in heaven. Stand with me in fancy's realm and picture the scene anew ; the two brothers are face to face, the one holding the kingdoms of the earth as his own ; the other come to redeem them from their enslaved condition. Lucifer not only claimed the earth and her inhabitants, but he held them in the bondage of ignorance and su- perstition.1 The Roman and Greek empires knew not God ; they worshiped springs, groves, and fancied gods, and their crimes were surpassed only by their false worship. The Egyptians wor- shiped the sun, cats, crocodiles, the bull, and the Nile ; the Chinese had their pantheistic gods, and Confucius taught that it was well to respect them but not allow them to become too familiar with the people. The savage tribes in the north, south, east and west were helplessly bound in ignorance and superstition. The Hebrew race had gone astray ; so low had they fallen that in three short years they were to crucify the God of the universe. The once choice Nephite nation was steeped in murder and kindred crime-, with a hatred of the prophets and the Scriptures. All nations were at Lucifer's feet save here and there scattered individuals who called upon God for light and protection. As he showed the Nazarene "all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time," the devil said : "All this power will I give unto thee and the Eflorv of them : for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I o-iVe it." Mark you. in all the temptations proposed, Jesus does

1048 IMPROVEMENT ERA not deny the truthfulness of the devil's utterances. I believe he spoke the truth, asked no impossible thing-, offered that which was his, all of which the Christ virtually admitted by not denying them ; but on each occasion gave his reasons for not accepting them. Picture, if you can, the prince of this world offering all for worship ; a God weighs the proffered gift ; to accept it would mean debasement; to prostitute himself at the feet of him who wi* ■ ■* out of heaven for rebellion, would be ignominious. As Lucifer left the kingdom from on high he swore an oath that chilled the eternitities. He said, "I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God : I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north: * * - * I will be like the Most High." I say to accept the earth and her fallen kingdoms as prof- fered meant the bowing to compromise ; to reject, meant his cru- cifixion and the drenching of the earth by the blood of millions of his followers. I can conceive the terrible moment as Lucifer not only offered all but threatened (as he did Moses on Sinai) that if Jesus rejected he should be followed through Gethsemane to Cal- vary's cross. The prince of this earth threatened to put to death every lip that confessed the Christ — torture his followers and sweep the earth with fire and sword until his last devotees should bite the earth. Well might John say that it was given Lucifer to make war with the Saints and overcome them, and that power was given him over all kindreds, tongues, and nations. How ter- rible that hour of temptation we shall never know. It was not so much for self that Jesus was concerned, but to think of the agony of his pure and childlike followers was awful. Could he feel that moment what he was yet to suffer in the Garden of Agony as bloody sweat should pour from his face? Whatever may have been the scene and whatever may have been the cost at his rejec- tion of this luring temptation he, as though grappling thunder bolts, dashed to earth everything that asked for compromise, and in calm, God-like majesty, said: "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." It was done ; heaven was victorious and the lower kingdom defeated. As Lucifer withdrew, angels from the throne of God rushed upon the scene and worshiped the Lamb, carrying possibly blessings and praises from Elohim. I see Lucifer crushed and half dazed, gazing upon the terror and confusion of his own hosts. I fancy him raising his. hands de- manding, in thunderous tones, peace ; telling his followers that all is not lost : that thev will follow him with torture ; they will drag him to Golgotha : they will hound his diciples to violent deaths ; hunt them to the deserts and give them the choice between death and the renunciation of the name of the Christ. I hear the cry of

THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST 1049 revenge; I conceive their commotion and disconsolation turning to exultant joy at the death of our Savior. I hear the Savior from without the darkness of this continent saying : "Woe, woe, unto the inhabitants of this earth. The devil laugheth and his angels rejoiceth at the destruction of the fair sons and daughters of God." Though part of this scene lies in the imagination, yet sub- sequent history gives it the stamp of reality. What artist can paint the majesty and intensity of the Christ's temptation ! The entire energy and force of an opposing kingdom was focussed upon one God-like being, and he arose from it all without the blush of shame or the cry of humiliation. Yet, says Hebrews (4:15), "he was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin." The greater the mind the greater the scope of temptation ; and as Jesus' mind was infinitely greater than ours so likewise was his temptation. The greater one's mission, the deeper the trial. Without number the weak are garnered through the allurements of the flesh. Some would only need to be taken to the door of the temple and they would fall prostrate before the tempter. Yet no temptation will be allowed which is beyond the power of endurance, should one will to resist. The winds are tempered to the shorn lamb and the mountain pines are strength- ened for the storm's fury. The Redeemer, knowing our weak- nesses, cried, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Jesus not only did not fall, but each time the tempter came he taught a higher doctrine. Like a Teneriffe he rose above the storm of surging temptation, though there was no friend to steady him ; no one to bar the tempter by words of cheer, yet he gave the race a peerless example of courage and resistance. He conquered sin, death and the grave. Well might he say, "I have trodden the wine press alone." Walking with God "By faith in Christ I walk with God, With Heaven, my journey's end, in view; Supported by his staff and rod, My road is safe and pleasant, too. "I travel through a desert wide, Where many round me blindly stray; But he vouchsafes to be my guide,. And will not let me miss my way. "Though snares and dangers throng my path, And earth and hell my course withstand, I triumph over all by faith, Guarded by his almighty hand." John Newton