It is this victory which proves Jesus to be
the Son of God and consequently able to save us.
He who has now become incarnated for our redemption is that same Messiah
who, when He rode forth against the angelic rebels,
"into terror chang'd
His count'nance too severe to be beheld,
And full of wrath bent on his enemies."
It is He who
"on his impious foes right onward drove,
Gloomy as night:"
whose right hand grasped
"ten thousand thunders, which he sent
Before him, such as in their souls infix'd
Plagues."
(P. L. vi. 824-38.)
Now as Son of Man he is confronted with that same Archangel, and he
conquers by "strong sufferance." He comes with no fourfold visage of a
charioteer flashing thick flames, no eye which glares lightning, no
victory eagle-winged and quiver near her with three-bolted thunder
stored, but in "weakness," and with this he is to "overcome satanic
strength."
Milton sees in the temptation to turn the stones into bread a devilish
incitement to use miraculous powers and not to trust the Heavenly
Father.
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