[ p. 28 ]
THE lonely God had rest; but not his new-born son. The Spirit drove Jesus away into the desert, and Satan tempted him.
The Spirit drove him away into the desert.
No one can define what is the Spirit Jesus himself never did. But it is not difficult to know what Jesus meant by it, when he said that the Spirit descended upon him, and then drove him away into the desert. The Spirit was that plenary addition to himself that came from his experience of God, the power not himself which entered into him through his sudden knowledge of God. The Holy Spirit is not mysterious; it has been made mysterious for us by a name now become ghostly and strange—the Holy Ghost There was nothing ghostly about it; it was simply that part or power of God which abided with Jesus, or any man after his union with God. It was not God, for God was [ p. 29 ] other than himself; it was not himself, for it was other than he had been. It was the God who was henceforward in himself.
Nor is it mysterious that he should have called it the Spirit. The prophets before him had known something of the experience, and called it by the word. The Spirit of the Eternal One had been upon Isaiah. And Jesus, who had had the words of Isaiah sounding life-long in his soul, had the name for the power of God which had come upon him. He recognized it for what it was. He knew the Spirit had been poured out upon him.
That was a sign of the End. The prophet Joel had declared in the name of the Eternal One as a sign of the End, “Behold I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.” And it had been poured out on Jesus. If on him, why not on all men? But all men did not know that they were sons of God. But if he knew himself the son of God, why should not all men know themselves God’s sons? It was not impossible. They had only to do as he himself had done. Surely it was not impossible. What man has done, man can do again. No, it was not impossible ; for he had done it. All men would become sons of God, as he had become; and the Spirit [ p. 30 ] would be poured out on all flesh, as it had been poured on him. It was blindingly simple. The End was indeed at hand. But what an End ! Not the Wrath, but the Love of God to come. All men were to be the sons of God. No, not to be; they were his sons already, if only they knew it. All men were to know themselves the sons of God. The world, all life, would be changed in the twinkling of an eye, as it had been changed for him. Yes, the Kingdom of God was upon them, now, at this very moment of time: and the secret of the Kingdom was that there was no King : only a Father.
He must go and proclaim it the wonderful news. No human lips ever had such a message for mankind. He must go now, now. There was not a moment to be lost. He had but to speak, and men would hear; he had but to say the simple words “Our Father,” and all would be revealed to them.
But the Spirit drove him away into the desert : and the Devil tempted him. He stayed alone in the desert many days, eating only what the desert gave. Wild beasts cried round him in the night His soul grew faint with wrestling with the burden [ p. 31 ] of his knowledge and his purpose, till the night became as the day, and the day as the night.
The Spirit of Evil came to him, and said :
“What is this that you are going to do? To found the Kingdom of God? It cannot be. It is a dream. Kingdoms are of the earth. You are strong, you are wise. There has been no man like you. Build not in dreams. Come, see what I shall show you.”
And the Spirit of Evil took him up into a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the earth and their glory, and said to him:
“All these shall be yours, if you will bow down and worship me.”
The Kingdom of God, was it a dream? And the Kingdom of Earth, was that the real? Jesus the King of the Jews, Emperor of the World? Ah I but the price!
If God’s kingdom were a dream, God was not: he had known God. The Son had found the Father, and the Father the Son. That was no dream.
Jesus answered:
“Away, Satan! For it is written; Thou shall [ p. 32 ] worship the Eternal One, thy God. Him only shalt thou serve.’ ” The Spirit of Evil departed. But he returned and said :
“What is this that you are going to do? To tell men the wonderful news that they are God’s sons? Wonderful news, indeed. God’s sons! It is a dream. Look at them. My sons !”
Jesus said:
“They are God’s sons, if they would but know it.”
The Spirit of Evil said:
“And how do you know it?”
Jesus said:
“Because I know that I am a man like them, and because I know that I am the son of God.”
The Spirit of Evil said :
“And how do you know that?”
Jesus said:
“I know.”
The Spirit of Evil said:
“Are you sure?”
Night after night, in the lonely place, the Spirit of Evil whispered to him: “Are you sure? Still [ p. 33 ] sure?” Night after night, in the lonely place, Jesus answered : “I am sure.”
And after forty days and forty nights, when Jesus was sick with hunger and faint with wrestling, the Spirit of Evil whispered to him :
“Hungry! The Son of God? Faint! The Son of God? Still sure?”
Jesus was silent.
Then the Spirit of Evil whispered the word he feared, “Prove it!”
Ah, why should he not prove it and be filled? Why should he not prove it and know? Why should he not prove it and have rest?
His weary mind began again. The Son of God. Wonderful, terrible knowledge. Why should he not prove it? Was it not his duty to prove it? When all his purpose, all his life to be, rested on this sole foundation. Surely he must prove it now, before it was too late. Why not?
Not from a Book, but from his own depths, he fetched the victory.
“If I seek to prove that I am that which I know myself to be, I betray my knowledge, my God, and myself. I cannot prove that God is, and is my [ p. 34 ] Father, because I know. What I have known, I know, now and forever.”
The victory was won ; but Jesus stood pale, as a dead man.
The Spirit of Evil came forward and said:
“It is written : ‘He hath put thee in charge of his angels to guard thee wherever thou goest, lest thou shouldst strike thy foot against a stone,’ If you are the son of God, throw yourself down.”
Jesus answered: “It is also written: ‘I must not prove the Eternal, my God.’ ”
The word of victory was spoken. The Spirit of Evil, who is the Spirit that forever denies, left him and never returned.