The Rest from Temptation
P.C. Barker Matthew 4:11 Then the devil leaves him, and, behold, angels came and ministered to him. Remark on these representations of Scripture, and remark on them as the representations of Scripture, that - I. THE THRICE-DENIED SATAN IS DAUNTED, AND LEAVES OFF AWHILE AT LEAST HIS TEMPTING. Contrast this with the thrice-denied Jesus (Luke 22:61), not then daunted, but with an intense love recalling Peter by a look. II. THE NEED OF CHRIST WAS A REAL NEED. The "ministry" given now to him was probably in answer both to (1) his bodily exhaustion by hunger, and (2) his soul's weariness - a weariness not resulting from any supposed severity in the shape of struggle to overcome temptation, but from the" exceeding trouble" of the aspect of sin, of the presumptuous challenge of sin coming so near, and of the inevitable ruffle of perfect purity under the mere glare of the incarnation of impurity and evil. III. THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS IS A FACT, AND THE KNOWN GRANT OF SUCH MINISTRY AT DIFFERENT TIMES TO MEN IS ALL THAT IS NOW PROFFERED TO CHRIST HIMSELF! 1. This instance of fact, with a hundred others, helps to corroborate our information as to the reality of Christ's humanity. 2. It is a fresh conviction for all of the watchful unforgettingness of supreme sympathy and divinest compassion. 3. It should greatly help to dignify our sense of the value and the adaptedness of the help and the solace vouchsafed to us, of the conflict, anxiety, vexation, and the irritation of a contact with the world, from which we should so often prefer to be saved, if things were left to our choice. 4. It may well be accepted as the expression and earnest of the calm after all storm is over, and the Divine feeding and succour after all work, trial, life's-length duty are laid down for the last time on earth. - B. Parallel Verses KJV: Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. WEB: Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and served him.