- 20 - Thus, also Christ, as a mortal, had to learn obedience. Even he did not, on every occasion, heed the appeals to his better nature that came from without and within, but the penalties that also he as a man had to suffer for even the most trifling act of disobedience taught him obedience little by little. That is how he attained perfection, namely through the greatest act of obedience – his death on the Cross. It is precisely this that constitutes the greatness and wonder of Christ: that, although he was the Son of God, he was compelled to battle with the human frailties and shortcomings he shared with other men, and that in spite of this he held out against the infernal powers. He was called upon to sustain their most savage attacks, directed against him as a vulnerable antagonist who, terrified at the threat of defeat, cried out to God in prayer. He, therefore, knows from experience how helpless you mortals feel in your feebleness. Hebrews 4: 15: ‘For in him we have, not a high priest unable to feel for us in all our weaknesses, but one who was tempted just as we are in every respect – only without the sin.’ • The word ‘sin’ is used here not to designate transgressions due to human weakness, from which no man is free, and from which not even Christ was free, but with reference to the iniquity that severs us from God, the sin whose wages is death. Christ was never one of the fallen spirits and even as a mortal did not betray his loyalty to God. The ‘mortal sin,’ as the Apostle John calls it, was something of which he was never guilty, but in other ways he became as all men, even as to their weaknesses, and, like them, there were times when he stumbled. For weakness shows itself in stumbling. He who never stumbles is never weak. The public appearance of John the Baptist as a preacher of penitence was destined to be a decisive event in the life of Christ, who until then had not known that he was the promised Messiah. When, however, he went to John, and John hailed him before the people as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, he realized who he was and was confirmed in his knowledge by the voice of God saying: ‘You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ The moment had now arrived for God’s spirit world to reveal to Christ his mission in life. He was told that he was the highest of created spirits, God’s first-born, that it was his mission to proclaim the Divine truth, that he must stand firm against the attacks of Satan, who would do battle against him to the utmost and bring about his death upon the Cross, as the prophets had foretold. • But only after his earthly body had died on the Cross and his spirit had departed from it, did Christ learn wherein the final victory over Satan lay. Hell recognized in Christ the Son and Emissary of God, who was to lead humanity to God by his teaching and who was to be ready to die for the truth. • But not even Satan was aware of the true connection between Christ’s Crucifixion and a victory over hell. Had he been, he would neither have tempted Christ, nor brought about his death. As it was, he simply sought to render Christ, in whom he saw only a herald of the truth, harmless as quickly as possible. Should he be unable to induce Christ to forsake God, he hoped to discredit his teachings by arranging for him a disgraceful death on the Cross. Satan reckoned that the teachings of a condemned man would soon be forgotten, for people would naturally expect a Son of God, such
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