1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

Tempted in the wilderness

I remark, that in the case of Jesus, diabolos and satan were both concerned. When he was filled with the Holy Spirit he was led, Mark says "driven," by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted, or properly, to be put to the proof under Sin—hypo tou diabolou.

Their nature was his nature; for "the children of God being partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same" - Heb 2: 14. Hence, he was sent forth "in a form of Sin's flesh"—en homoiomati sarkos hamartias; and thus God made him sin, (that is, flesh and blood) for us, and on account of sin, gave judgment against sin in the flesh of Jesus.

The testimonies show that Jesus was "under sin" as a man under a burden.—He groaned under it in painful travail. While among the wild beasts of the wilderness a (similar situation to the first Adam's) he felt the danger, and desolation of his situation, and the cravings of a long protracted fast.

He ate nothing all this time, his life being sustained by the Spirit: and at the end became very hungry. Luke terms this, "being forty days put to the proof under diabolos, " or sin; that is, in his case, under the perturbation of weakened flesh and blood.

This was before the adversary came to him. His nature was severely tried during this period; and it remained to be seen, whether his flesh thus weakened would stand in the truth; or like Adam's, seek present gratification by transgressing the divine law. The end of the forty days appears to have been the prepared crisis of the trial.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Sept 1852

2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

Jesus was tempted by both the Diabolos and a Satan. These were both concerned in the trial to which he was subjected; and as the one co-operated with the other, they are spoken of as if the same.

Jesus was "led up," or "driven," of the Spirit, into the wilderness "to be tempted of the diabolos; " or that which causeth to transgress, and "hath the power of death" - sin's flesh.

This was subjected to the long abstinence of forty days, at the end of which he felt a hunger that must have been very keen. We all know what would be the promptings of our flesh in a like it situation. "Hunger," it is said, "will break through stone walls." It is very obstreperous, and will do any thing to satisfy itself. If any one had the power, under the pressure of intense hunger, he would convert stones into bread and eat them.

Jesus had that power; and there was one acquainted with the Scripture, introduced himself to his notice at this crisis, and suggested that he should use it. Paul doubtless alludes to this personage in 2 Cor. 11: 14 saying,

"the Satan is transformed into an Angel of Light."

Such an angel is a messenger enlightened in the word, who handles it in such a way as to test the fidelity of others to it. Such an one becomes a Satan in suggesting a course of action in conformity with the promptings of the flesh. And if Deity became Satan to Israel, and to Job, it is not to be denied that an angel may have assumed the same attitude in the case of Jesus Christ.

Eureka 12.15.

3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, (with serpent reasoning) If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

Was there not a tempter in Christ's case personally distinct from Jesus?'

Yes. But that tempter was not a Serpent, nor 'the Serpent;' but one sustaining the character of a personal adversary to him.

If the tempter be distinct from Christ, the tempted, can we be safe, or justified, in departing from that idea?

We are not justified in so doing; therefore I have been careful to abide by what is written without regard to the glosses of 'theology,' and the petitio principii of 'divines.'

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Oct 1852

An agent provocateur

The form of Christ's tempter in the desert is not revealed any more than the identity of Job's Satan,‭ ‬and to contend strenuously for a particular view is unnecessary where the fact of the temptation is admitted.‭ ‬The statement that Christ was tempted it all points like as we are does not prove that the tempter was not external and personal.‭ ‬We have external and personal tempters as well as internal susceptibilities.‭

The latter indeed cannot be thoroughly put to the test without the former.‭ ‬We may be tempted by our feelings,‭ ‬doubtless,‭ ‬but never so powerfully as when those feelings are appealed to by a second person.‭

Your argument lowers Christ to too low a plane.‭ ‬The same nature he truly was,‭ ‬but you must remember there are many varieties and conditions of our common nature—from the untutored savage of the common felon to the balanced mentality of refinement and culture.‭

Human nature in the hand of God was a form not known to men.‭ ‬We must not give Christ the lowest but the very highest place.‭ ‬He was the work of God for righteousness,‭ ‬and therefore immeasurably above‭ "‬mere men,‭" ‬though tempted in all points like them.

The Christadelphian, Nov 1886 p614.

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

To all suggestions and arguments in support of the idea of Christ being now a king, and the "Church his kingdom," it is a sufficient answer that a king is one whose law is compulsory, and not left to the good will of his subjects; and a kingdom an area in which that law is enforced.

The law of Christ at present is for those who choose to obey; and as for the ecclesia, it is a mere aggregation of candidates for his favour, developed by invitation to "whosoever will."

To call such a state of things a kingdom, and the absent, non-interfering Christ a reigning king, is to play with words.

Worse, it is to hide the truth, and foster ecclesiastical tyranny. The pamphlet is unworthy of serious attention.

The Christadelphian, March 1898

18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

Tough and strong men - used to physical adversity

How came it that illiterate men moved the world?

Illiterate men could never have done that in the capacity of illiterate men merely. There must have been a cause in operation with their illiterateness, to have produced so great a revolution as that which resulted from their efforts. The New Testament account reveals this cause, and gives the only rational explanation of their movement. They were personal witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus. They declared their personal knowledge, and "God worked with them, confirming their word with signs following" (Mark 16:20).

This accounts for their perseverance, and their ultimate success. Take away this element, and you take away the explanation of a great historic fact that no man can gainsay.

Bro Roberts - Was Jesus of Nazareth The Messiah?

19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

àPreaching true doctrine is a part, but only a part of this service; it largely includes righteous and benevolent deeds performed in the glory of Him from whom comes all power to perform deeds of any kind, and to whom, therefore, all glory belongs.

Bro Roberts - God a sun and shield

21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.

The First Disciples and Ourselves

...the disciples were disciples on the day they left their nets, but they had become so before then through the testimony of John the Baptist to Jesus as the Lamb of God (John 1:35–45). They became disciples through the understanding and the testimony and the word that Jesus spoke to them afterwards (Jno. 15:3).

... Each case depends upon God's requirements—which are different in different cases. Abraham had to make a journey and offer up a son: we have not. The disciples had to personally follow Christ: we have not.

They did not have at that time to believe in a crucified Christ: we have. Or a resurrected Christ, and we have. The whole question for us, is, What is the Lord's requirement by the apostle of the Gentiles? And the answer is,

"Believe the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ; be baptised and observe all things whatsoever Christ commanded the apostles to teach."The

Christadelphian, Sept 1898