WHEN the Spirit, as a dove, had descended upon Jesus at Jordan, this spiritual experience was followed by the call for him to prove the efficacy of Spirit to overcome the flesh in its varying forms of appeal. Without this proof the vision would have been of no practical import to the world; nor would Jesus have become the Way-shower.
His first temptation dealt, naturally, with matter in its crudest form, —the temptation to believe that man is preserved and satisfied through matter and the material senses. Matthew says of him, "He was afterward an hungred;" and with the hunger came the temptation to satisfy it by material food. Being in the wilderness, far from the accredited source of supply, this would seem an opportune time to test the truth of that wonderful proclamation from heaven that he was the "beloved Son." As such, he could command that the stones be made bread; and thus would his material hunger be satisfied. But the vision of the opened heavens was still with him; and he knew that, even with the material senses gratified, he would be unsatisfied, for the material can never nourish the spiritual. Therefore, he turned decisively from the tempting thought and, speaking as to a personal tempter, he said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." We have many later instances of his satisfying the material and spiritual hunger of others, through the understanding gained from this experience.
Joy over a temptation met and conquered always lifts one to a higher plane of thought; so Jesus found himself mentally upon "a pinnacle of the temple." Looking about upon the world from this higher standpoint, his heart yearned over those still in bondage to matter. To feed them with the bread of Life was his intense desire; but how to reach them and make them understand their need was the problem that confronted him. But was it not 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"? Was not that a promise of protection to him while going to the depths, if necessary, to rescue a brother? So, possibly, argued the tempter, as he has argued to many another before and since. But Jesus had seen the Father, Truth; and the glory of the opened heavens had so illumined his consciousness that he was able to see clearly that he could help others only by steadfastly maintaining his own high viewpoint, and lovingly showing them the uplifted Christ. If he should descend to their level he could not convince them he had something better than they, for there would be no proof to support his statement. Therefore he rejected the temptation with these words: "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."
