Matthew 4:11

A LIFELONG CAMPAIGN

‘Then the devil leaveth Him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto Him.’

Matthew 4:11

The long trial in the wilderness was over. Our Lord had met and had resisted the threefold temptation, and lo! now, ‘the devil leaveth Him, and angels came and ministered unto Him.’ We have all known some such high moments as these. It is a high experience, and it is full of blessing; yet may there not be a danger even here, a danger of thinking that now, at least, there is a time for rest, for unbuckling the armour, which we had assumed?

I. Ceaseless activity of evil.—Though the devil departs, he departs only for a season (St. Luke 4:13), and it reminds us of the ceaseless activity of these powers of evil. No victory over evil or over sin is ever final or complete. It is a truth which is evidenced very much in the history of communities or in the history of individuals.

II. In the history of communities.—Take the history of communities. Think of the attempts made from time to time to get rid of social evils. What is the history, for instance, of all social reform? Is one victory ever final? Earnest men gradually learn that it is not by one great stand or striking victory, but by constant work, by pounding away day by day and year by year, that any permanent improvement can be effected and maintained, and though the devil may indeed depart, it is only for a season.

III. In individual life.—What is true of corporate or public life is true also of the individual. It is also true to say that the forces of evil, though they may sometimes be quiet or quiescent, are never inactive.

(a) Revival of old sins. There is the strange revival of old sins which had seemed to be finally subdued. A man finds, by a terrible personal experience and personal failure, that his sin is not dead, but sleeping.

(b) Different stages of evil. Or there is the fact that Satan appears so to vary his attacks that the temptations of one stage of life disappear only that they may make room for a different kind of temptations in another stage of life. The sins of youth perhaps disappear, but only that they may make room for the sins of middle age. The flesh is, perhaps, less troublesome than it used to be; but the world becomes more insistent. The forms of evil change everywhere. A cynical French writer once remarked that in the life of a Frenchwoman there were three stages: first coquette, then atheist, and then devotee; and who shall say in which of those three stages Satan may have found his best opportunities?

IV. Falls and failures.—We can discern the perpetual activity of this kingdom of darkness in the constant fall and failure of those who, perhaps, till comparative late periods, have led what seemed, at least, to be a spotless life.

V. A lifelong campaign.—These falls are surely a warning to us to take life seriously, and to be prepared for a lifelong campaign. There is never a place or a time for laying down our arms, for victory can only be a starting-point for fresh endeavours.

The Rev. H. R. Gamble.