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TOPIC: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks About the Tempter (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 064. The Tempter Couldn't Touch Jesus
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The Tempter Couldn't Touch Jesus
The tempter could not touch Jesus. He tempted Him at every turn, but he could make no impression. His sword only dulled and nicked and bent against the rock of Jesus' steady obedience. He attacked in every conceivable way, and at every possible opening, but his attacks failed. The person of our Lord was the bright centre attracting the keenest shafts the enemy could hurl. But His person never was touched until the hour came when Jesus chose to yield. The Nazareth precipice, the Jerusalem stones, the storm on Galilee's blue waters whose unusual violence frightened those old storm-beaten sailors—each in turn failed to touch the person of Jesus. There was absolutely no way of getting within to attack. And all outer attacks failed until Jesus chose—for a great purpose, as counselled and foreknown (Act_2:23.) by the Father—to yield up His person and His life. The tempter could not touch Him, and failed in every attempt.
And more striking yet, the tempter could not resist Jesus. Jesus did not act on the defensive merely. He was aggressive. He attacked Satan. His very presence here was a challenge and an attack. Every demon cast out, every disease healed, every advancing step on His onward way, every hour spent in public ministry, every personal interview with a cultured Nicodemus, or a Sychar outcast, was an attack on the enemy's stronghold. Each bit of steady, faithful obedience to the Father, each touch of gentle love upon human life, each warm, sympathetic approach to needy men, each humble, self-forgetful giving of Himself out in glad service for others—each was an aggressive attack upon the "strong man," whom He had come to rout out of his usurped territory.
And the tempter could not resist these attacks. He was defeated at every turn. Satan is afraid of Jesus our Lord. And well he may be. There has been a man down on the earth of whom Satan was afraid, whom no attack of his could touch, and whose attacks in turn he could not resist, try as he would.
Why was the tempter afraid of Jesus? Why is he afraid of Him? Aside from this experience with our Lord, he has not been in the habit of showing fear. The general impression he has given has been one of boldness, of a daring, fearless driving on. What is the explanation of this fear? Why was our Lord Jesus able to resist his temptations and attacks so unfailingly, and then to completely turn the tables and make this great spirit-being actually flee, terror-stricken, before His attacks?
It seems almost like a useless question, because the great strength of our divine Victor, and the sweeping character of His victory have been so acknowledged and embalmed in the hymns and literature of the Church. Yet there is no question better worth asking just here. For the answer will make us sing the praises of our wondrous Jesus-Saviour with all the more fervour of heart. And it will do more than that, too. It shows us the path of victory along which we must walk if we would know the power of His victory in our daily lives.