19. Was Jesus really tempted as we are?

Unquestionably he submitted to all the liabilities of the human condi­tion; we are told expressly that he "was in all things as we are."

The ap­peal of the tempter was to his ambition, and the purpose, as some commentators conclude, was to excite in his mind the desire for worldly power and dominion.

Even his own followers had cherished visions of an earthly kingdom. The question whether he could by any possibility have yielded has often been asked, but it is one that must remain un­answered.

To say that it was impossible would imply that he was not wholly subject to human conditions and temptations; while to admit its possibility would make him less than divine.

The incident shows to us that while the vision of sudden power may have been alluring, it could not move him from the fixed and beneficent purpose of his great mis­sion, which was to establish his kingdom in the hearts of men by love and sacrifice, and by the example of his perfect humanity.

Contrasted with such a kingdom, all the glory of worldly pomp and power are triv­ial, transient and unsatisfying.