dogmatize in such matters, no essential truth is touch whether we believe the

interpretation suggested under (2) or (3).

The essential feature that emerges for us, in our consideration of the bearing of the

name Emmanuel, God with us, is that though the Saviour, in the right of His Godhead

could have withered Satan at a glance, or blasted him with a word, He used no other

weapon in this conflict than the humblest of His followers can use at any time. Three

times He is tempted, and three times He met the temptation by the words "It is written".

He was indeed "with us" in this unequal strife, and revealed not His own intrinsic

omnipotence but the omnipotence of the Word of God.

Adam the first man was similarly tempted, but tempted in a garden of plenty, and

miserably failed. Christ Emmanuel the seed of the woman, gloriously triumphed in a

Israel were sorely tempted in a wilderness for a period of forty years, but had an

unbroken supply of manna throughout their wanderings; Christ had nothing during the

forty days yet triumphed. He is "with us" in our Egyptian bondage, He is "with us" in

our wilderness temptations. Blessed be God for His unspeakable gift, Emmanuel, God

with us.