Thus in the presence of His Forerunner, the Divine nature of the Messiah was attested, and His work of Redemption inaugurated. He had come to destroy the works of the devil (1 Jn. iii. 8), His very first work, therefore, was to enter on a conflict with the great Enemy of mankind. Full of the Holy Ghost, He was led up by the motions of that Spirit (Mtt. iv. 1), either into the wilderness of Judæa, or the lonely desert mountains east of the Jordan[253], to be tempted by the devil (Mtt. iv. 1; Mk. i. 12). For forty days and forty nights He remained amidst the thickets and caverns of that dreary region, abounding in fierce and savage beasts (Mk. i. 13), and during all this period He had nothing to eat.
At length, when hunger had weakened the energies of the body, the Tempter approached, and suggested that if He was in truth the Son of God, He should command the stones that lay around to become bread. But the Holy One detected at once the subtle insinuation to mistrust His heavenly Father’s power, and in the words of Scripture (Deut. viii. 3) replied, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Mtt. iv. 4; Lk. iv. 4).
Foiled in his attempt to induce the Redeemer by a selfish display of power to satisfy the wants of the body, the Tempter now sought by another avenue to achieve a victory over Him. Taking Him up to an exceeding high mountain, he displayed before His eyes in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world and the glories of them, promising to place all in His power, if He would only fall down and worship him. But this temptation also the Holy One repelled. Falling back a second time on the revealed Word, and the same portion of it (Deut. vi. 13), He replied, It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.
But yet again the Evil One renewed his attack. Taking the Redeemer into the Holy City, he placed Him on the lofty pinnacle, the topmost ridge of the South side of the Temple, and bade Him, if He were the Son of God, vindicate His eternal nature, cast Himself down, and thus display by one dazzling exhibition of power His relation to the Supreme, and confirm His Messianic claims. But he was no more successful than before. The Redeemer saw through his wiles, and the sophistry wherewith he sought to support his demand by quoting the language of the Psalmist (Ps. xci. 11), 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. For the third time He had recourse to the written Word, and for the third time referring to the same portion of it (Deut. vi. 16), made answer, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
With this last assault the Temptation was ended. Where the first Adam had fallen, the second Adam had triumphed, nor swerved for a moment from the path of strictest obedience to the will of His Father in Heaven. The Devil now left Him for a season (Lk. iv. 13), or rather till a more convenient occasion for renewing his attempt, and angels came and ministered unto Him, who had already proved Himself “more than conqueror” over the crafts and assaults of the Wicked One.
CHAPTER II.
CALL OF THE FIRST DISCIPLES—THE MARRIAGE AT CANA.
A.D. 27.
SUSTAINED by the ministries of these blessed spirits the Saviour returned towards the Jordan Valley, and drew near the ford of Bethabara or Bethany (Jn. i. 28). Here again He met the Baptist, who was still prosecuting his work, and baptizing the multitudes who flocked around him. Such was the effect produced by his preaching, that the rulers at Jerusalem determined to interpose, and the day before a formal deputation had waited upon him to enquire whether he was the Messiah, or Elias, or the prophet predicted by Moses (Jn. i. 21). Again he declared that he had no pretensions to such a dignity, that he was but the Voice of one crying in the wilderness, and preparing the way of the Messiah, of One infinitely mightier than himself, the very latchet of whose shoe he was unworthy to unloose.
But now, lifting up his eyes, he beheld Him to whom he had borne such faithful testimony (Jn. i. 29), and addressing Him as the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world, repeated his solemn and assured conviction of His Divine nature (Jn. i. 30–34). Again, the day following, as he was standing in the company of two of His disciples, he beheld the Redeemer, and in their hearing pointed Him out under the same impressive title. On this occasion his words were not without their effect. The two disciples, one of whom was Andrew, a native of Bethsaida (Jn. i. 41), and the other, in all probability, the Evangelist St John, were so powerfully affected by them, that, drawn as it were by a powerful magnet, they left the Baptist and followed Jesus (Jn. i. 37).
The Redeemer perceived them following Him, and enquired what they sought? Rabbi, where dwellest Thou? was their reply. He mercifully bade them come and see, and they went and abode with Him for the rest of that day (Jn. i. 39), and resolved to follow Him. Others soon followed their example. Andrew went in quest of his own brother Simon, and declaring that the true Messiah had been found brought him to Jesus, who named him Cephas or Peter, the Rock-man. The day following, the Saviour set out in the direction of Galilee, and finding Philip, a native, like Andrew and Peter, of Bethsaida, bade him join their company. Philip obeyed, and falling in with Nathanael[254], the son of Tolmai, a native of Cana in Galilee (Jn. xxi. 2), announced that He, of whom Moses and the Prophets had written, had been discovered in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph. Though a native of Galilee, Nathanael could not at first believe that any good could come out of a town which enjoyed so low a reputation as Nazareth. But his friend bade him come and judge for himself. He obeyed, and was drawing near the Holy One, when he heard His declaration that he was an Israelite indeed in whom was no guile (Jn. i. 48). So little was Nathanael prepared for such words of praise, that he could not refrain from enquiring how he had become known to Jesus. Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree[255], answered the Holy One. The reply convinced the other that One from whom no secrets were hid could be no ordinary Being. Rabbi, said he, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel, and was enrolled in the number of his new Master’s followers.