be right, would be wrong, and
so these points of contact were instantly held in check by His will.

"_Every_ temptation" was brought, we are told: "tempted in _all_ points."
This does not mean that every particular temptation came to Jesus, but the
heart, the essential, of every temptation. Every temptation that comes to
us is along the line of the three that came to Him. By rejecting the
_first_ of each line He shut out its successors. By accepting the first of
a series of temptations a man opens the way for the next, and so on.
Temptations come on a scale descending. There are the first, the initial
temptations, and then all that follow in their train. Rejecting the first
stops the whole line. Not only that, but stops also the _momentum_,
terrific, downward momentum of the whole line.

The first temptation is the door through which must pass all other
temptations of that sort. If that door be opened these other temptations
have a chance. If that door be kept shut, all these others are kept
waiting. Temptation is always standing with its pointed toe at the crack
of the door, waiting the slightest suggestion of an opening. This first
temptation is always the likeliest of its class to get in. It is not
always the same, of course. It is subtly chosen to suit the man. Jesus
kept these doors rigidly shut, key turned, bolts pushed, bar up, chain
hooked. So may we.

The tempting is to be done by "the devil." That is his strong point,
tempting people. It is one way of recognizing some of his kin. It is a
mean, contemptible sort of thing. He had fallen into a hole of his own
digging, and would pull in everybody else. He is never constructive in his
work, always destructive. Best at tearing down. Never builds up. His
allies can often be told by their resemblance to him here. Jesus is to be
tempted by this master-tempter. He is going to prove to all his brothers
that the tempter has no power without the consent of the tempted. The door
into a man has only the one knob. And that's on the inside.

<u>Waiting the Father's Word.</u>

Quite likely the form of the tempter's words suggests the upper current of
Jesus' thought. "If thou be the _Son of God_." Jesus was likely absorbed
with His peculiar relation to His Father, with all that that involved. The
tempter cunningly seeks to sweep Him off of His feet by working on His
mood. It is ever a favorite method with the tempter to _rush_ a man. A
flush of feeling, the mood of an