Gods Sabbath

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E NTERING INTO G OD ’ S S ABBATH R EST

circumstances was He to move except at His Father’s command. It was by that word He was to live and move. “In him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:28 . Nothing else was to influ ence His decisions. No matter how great the pressure or cost, He must leave the responsibility for the supply of food and shelter, guidance and protection, with His Father. Not in the slightest de gree was He to undertake any of this work Himself. He would con tinue to have confidence in His Father to do His own work alone. If Christ had been uncertain of the issues under contention, of Satan’s specific objectives, and of His Father’s requirements, it would have been impossible for Him to have emerged victorious ly from the struggle. So too will we fail, if we are ignorant of these matters. We need to study the struggle between Christ and Satan in the wilderness of temptation, in order to see the exact nature of the issues involved clearly revealed. Only if we spend time and ener gy in acquiring a thorough knowledge of what took place, will we be equipped to resist our wily foe when he comes against us just as he came against Christ. More than we do, we need to realize that “The way in which Satan tempted Christ, he is today tempt ing every soul.” The Review and Herald , May 3, 1906 par. 7. “Jesus dealt with the tempter in the way in which all His fol lowers are to deal with him through all time.” The Review and Herald , April 24, 1894 par. 1. The issues have not changed. What Satan sought to tempt Christ to do, he induces His followers likewise to do. As Jesus was the Son of God, so His followers are His children who are to relate to Christ as He related to His Father. When Satan heard God’s declaration that Christ was His beloved Son, he was deter mined to make Christ disbelieve this testimony and instead save Himself by working a miracle. When the same evil foe sees us entering into covenant rela tionship with God, he determines likewise that he will rob us of our faith in the almighty Saviour, and thus lead us to take steps to trust in and save ourselves. As Christ utterly refused to for ALesson for Us