Mark 1:12-13 And immediately the spirit drives him into the wilderness.… It is when a child of God is fullest of grace; when he has been declared to be a "son," even a "beloved son" of God; when he has made a public profession of Christianity, that he is most of all exposed to temptation. It seems strange, at first thought, that it should be so; but a little reflection dissipates the strangeness. Let me try to illustrate this. A toolmaker, I suppose, has finished an instrument, but it is not yet sent forth. Why Because he has not "tested" it. Well! Enter we his workshop. You look in and observe the process. Your first impression is, he is going to break it. But it is not so. Testing is not an injury. The perfect weapon comes out the stronger, and receives the stamp that will carry it over the world. Even so the testing and trying of the Christian is not an injury. He who has formed the believer for Himself is not going to break or destroy the work, the beautiful work of His own hands. He is purifying, fitting, fashioning, polishing. Carry this along with you, and you will understand how it comes about that at the very moment of your being "full" of the Holy Ghost, at the very moment of your announced sonship, you are most violently assailed. (A. B. Grosart, D. D.) I. SONSHIP DOES NOT EXEMPT FROM TEMPTATION. II. TEMPTATION DOES NOT INVALIDATE SONSHIP. III. TEMPTATION, RIGHTLY CONSIDERED, MAKES SONSHIP A LIFE AND POWER. (J. Parker, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness.WEB: Immediately the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness. |
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