β. The devil probably came in human form, as angels when appearing to men assumed human forms. It seems likely that Satan had not fathomed that mystery, which angels desired to look into, the mystery of the Incarnation, and that he did not know that Christ was Incarnate God: yet was he filled with vague alarm.
γ. Christ’s temptations came from without; they could not proceed from within, as His nature was sinless.
II. We also learn—
1. That solitude is not freedom from temptation, but rather a time for it.
2. That Satan expends the whole force of temptation on those who are leading a life of high vocation.
3. That Satan suits his temptation to the occasion.
4. That if Christ endured temptation, no man must expect to escape it.
5. That if Christ suffered Satan to approach Him with temptation, He will not reject us drawing nigh unto Him in prayer.
6. That temptations come to us in disguise: the evil one seldom presenting himself to us in his naked deformity.