Luke 4:2-4 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungry.… 1. That ministers of the gospel, and all who have to deal with souls, need temptation. How pre-eminently was Jesus an experimental minister! 2. That when temptation cometh of God, we are all the better of it. 3. That deliverance from temptation equally with the temptation itself, to be a blessing, must be from the Lord. It was not until the devil had ended the temptation, all the temptation, that he departed. But when he had ended it, he did depart. Now, mark what immediately followed, viz., that as the Lord had been "led up" of the Spirit "to be tempted," so He was "led out" from the temptation. I read (Luke 4:14): "And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee." My friends, there is instruction for us here. We must "abide" under our trial without impatience, without murmuring, without "making haste," if we would be "led out" as well as "led up." (A. B. Grosart, LL. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. |
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