Jesus Christ Being Tempted Series

Introduction

When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended on him in the bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” We expect that after this amazing event, Jesus will immediately proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of heaven to many people and perform amazing ministry. But Jesus didn't do that.

I. Jesus moved by the Holy Spirit (v. 1)

Look at verse 1. “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert.” Jesus is the Son of God, that is, God. But Jesus did not do everything his own way. Jesus always obeyed the will of God the Father and acted according to the guidance of God the Holy Spirit. When Jesus returned from the Jordan River full of the Holy Spirit, he was led by the Holy Spirit in the desert. This means that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit and completely followed the guidance of God the Holy Spirit.

Mark 1:12 says, “At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert.” God the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to prepare him before he began his public ministry. This is because the place where Jesus, the Son of God, had to take on a human body and work was a desert-like world. The desert is not paradise. The desert is a wilderness, a wasteland, a very scary place, and a place with no water or food. Fierce animals such as snakes, scorpions, lions, bears, wolves, and wild cats live there. It is an uninhabited land. It is a lonely and solitary land.

The desert is compared to the Garden of Eden. The land that God first created was not a desert. God planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put Adam (Genesis 2:8). Out of the ground, God made all kinds of trees grow - trees that were pleasing to the eyes and good for food. It was truly paradise. Everything was rich. But why did thorns and thistles grow on this land? Why has this world become like the desert? It was because of the disobedience of the first Adam. Adam failed to obey God's words along with Eve. He ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God had commanded him not to eat.

The desert was the exact opposite of the Garden of Eden. This is why the Holy Spirit led Jesus, the second Adam, into the desert. Jesus had to make up for what the first Adam had done. He had to restore it. Jesus, the second Adam, had to bring about a new world from the desert that the first Adam had ruined in the Garden of Eden. So the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert.

Mark 1:13 says, “And he was in the desert for forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals.” Wild animals were also in the Garden of Eden. In the Garden of Eden, Adam named the animals and took care of them. But that care didn't last long. Look. Apostle Paul said, “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. … We we know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” (Romans 8:19, 22). Then, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second Adam, came to the desert, a desolate garden. The wild animals instinctively recognized the One who truly cared for them and stayed with the Lord.

However, both Adam and Jesus were tempted by the devil.

II. Jesus was tempted (vv. 2-13)

However, in Matthew 4:1, it says, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” The reason the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert was so that he could be tempted. The temptation here is not a test. In a way, it feels like the Holy Spirit took Jesus into the desert and handed him over to be tempted. However, God does not hand anyone over to be tempted (James 1:13). The devil came to tempt Jesus.

Look at verse 2. “Where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.” There was nothing to eat in the desert. So Jesus naturally could not eat anything, and he must have felt very hungry after fasting for forty days. Adam could not overcome Satan's temptation in the Garden of Eden, where food was abundant. Moreover, even though Eve, Adam's helper, was by his side, he failed. Eve, who was supposed to help and support Adam, instead fell first to the serpent's temptation. “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” (Genesis 3:6). The devil approached the woman and tempted her in three ways. Apostle John said it was “the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does” (1 John 2:16). Good for food is the cravings of sinful man. Pleasing to the eye is the lust of his eyes. Desirable for gaining wisdom is the boasting of what he has and does. The devil tempted Jesus in the same way he tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. However, none of these three were temptations by Satan to try not to recognize Jesus as the Son of God. Rather, the temptation was to ask Jesus to use his abilities if he were truly the Son of God.