moving scene of glory and beauty arched the deep blue of God's heaven, and brighter

than the sun, which poured its light over the sheen and dazzle beneath, stood out the fact:

'I must be about My Father's business;' above the din of far-off sounds rose the voice:

'Thy Kingdom come!' Was not all this the Devil's to have and to give, because it was not

the Father's Kingdom, to which Jesus had consecrated Himself? What Satan sought was,

'My kingdom come' - a Satanic Messianic time, a Satanic Messiah; the final realisation of

an empire of which his present possession was only temporary, caused by the alienation

of man from God. To destroy all this: to destroy the works of the Devil, to abolish his

kingdom, to set man free from his dominion, was the very object of Christ's Mission. On

the ruins of the past shall the new arise, in proportions of grandeur and beauty hitherto

unseen, only gazed at afar by prophets' rapt sight. It is to become the Kingdom of God;

and Christ's consecration to it is to be the corner-stone of its new Temple. Those scenes

are to be transformed into one of higher worship; those sounds to mingle and melt into a

melody of praise. An endless train, unnumbered multitudes from afar, are to bring their

gifts, to pour their wealth, to consecrate their wisdom, to dedicate their beauty, to lay it

all in lowly worship as humble offering at His feet: a world God-restored, God-dedicated,

in which dwells God's peace, over which rests God's glory. It is to be the bringing of

worship, not the crowning of rebellion, which is the Kingdom. And so Satan's greatest

becomes to Christ his coarsest temptation,  40 which He casts from Him; and the words:

'Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve,' which now receive

their highest fulfilment, mark not only Satan's defeat and Christ's triumph, but the

principle of His Kingdom - of all victory and all triumph.

Foiled, defeated, the Enemy has spread his dark pinions towards that far-off world of his,

and covered it with their shadow. The sun no longer glows with melting heat; the mists

have gathered or the edge of the horizon, and enwrapped the scene which has faded from

view. And in the cool and shade that followed have the Angels41 come and ministered to

His wants, both bodily and mental. He has refused to assert power; He has not yielded to

despair; He would not fight and conquer alone in His own strength; and He has received

power and refreshment, and Heaven's company unnumbered in their ministry of worship.

He would not yield to Jewish dream; He did not pass from despair to presumption; and

lo, after the contest, with no reward as its object, all is His. He would not have Satan's

vassals as His legions, and all Heaven's hosts are at His command. It had been victory; it

is now shout of triumphant praise. He Whom God had anointed by His Spirit had

conquered by the Spirit; He Whom Heaven's Voice had proclaimed God's beloved Son,

in Whom He was well pleased, had proved such, and done His good pleasure.

They had been all overcome, these three temptations against submission to the Will of

God, present, personal, and specifically Messianic. Yet all His life long there were echoes

of them: of the first, in the suggestion of His brethren to show Himself;42 of the second,

in the popular attempt to make Him a king, and perhaps also in what constituted the final