Matthew 4:1-2 Mark 1:12-13 Luke 4:1-2
Patterns help us to observe through repetition how things
tend to work. There are many patterns
that become evident in Scripture. As we
observe these patterns we begin to learn about the ways that God tends to work
as well as the ways Satan tends to work.
In today’s passage we see a familiar pattern that is found in Scripture
being repeated in the life of Jesus. As
we have seen numerous times throughout the Old Testament; God exposes His own
to the wilderness and Satan exploits those times of weakness. The benefit of observing these patterns is
that it helps us to be prepared for things that are likely to be experienced in
our own lives. God is consistent in the
way that He works and Satan is also very consistent in the way that he works. Another benefit to studying patters is when
we see a change take place in the pattern it can help us to pay close attention
to what made that change happen. We have
repeatedly seen men giving in to temptation during their times of trials. However, in this case that patter is
broken. Tomorrow we will strive to learn
about how we too can be victorious by following the example Jesus gives
us. Today we will try to learn from the
pattern that we observe in both God’s and Satan’s methods of working.
THE SPIRIT TAKES JESUS TO THE WILDERNESS: When Jesus was baptized
the Spirit descended upon Him and Jesus became filled with the Spirit. We should not assume that this means the Holy
Spirit was not active in the life of Jesus prior to this event. It simply means that God wanted to make sure
we understood that Jesus was filled with the Spirit at this critical time of
His life. There is a difference between
the filling of the Spirit and the indwelling of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in the lives of all
believers in a consistent and constant way.
This does not seem to be the case throughout the Old Testament but was
certainly the case in the life of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit fills the lives of believers in order to super-naturally
equip them for specific task or assist them during a certain circumstance as
well as to accomplish a goal in that person’s life. What is important for us to see in the
pattern of today’s text is that the Holy Spirit takes Jesus to the
wilderness. Jesus was not wandering
around and just happened to find Himself in the wilderness. It was God’s will for Him to go to the
wilderness. As we observed in the life
of John the Baptist; the wilderness is a setting that God frequently chooses to
use in the lives of His children. That
means that we should never be taken by surprise when we find ourselves in the
wilderness. In our case, we can find ourselves
in the wilderness of our own sinfulness wandering away from God. God still uses the wilderness to accomplish
His will but it is never His will for us to wander in the wilderness of our own
sinfulness. However, there are many
times that God purposefully takes us to the wilderness as a means of working in
our hearts. Our tendency when we find
ourselves in the wilderness is to question God’s goodness and ask: “why am I
here?” There may be benefits to asking
this question, but perhaps a better question to ask would be: “what does God
want me to learn while I am here?” It is
impossible for us to completely know the mind of God so it is not possible for
us to know exactly why the Spirit took Jesus to the wilderness. However, I would venture to make two
conjectures. First, it is very likely
that the Spirit took Jesus to the wilderness in order to teach the Man Jesus to
depend upon Him. Second, it is very
likely that the Spirit took Jesus to the wilderness in order to teach us
through His example. It seems odd to us
to think of Jesus as God learning anything; but we must not forget that Jesus
was also fully man. As a man Jesus grew,
matured and learned just like we do. He
never sinned in that process but He did have to learn. Our tendency in the wilderness is to turn
from God but just the opposite should be true.
The wilderness should be a place where we turn to God and learn to
depend upon Him.
SATAN TEMPTS JESUS IN TIME OF WEAKNESS: Jesus spent forty
days in the wilderness fasting. This is
a long time to go without food. Most of
us have never gone forty hours without food, much less forty days. The text makes a point of stating that Jesus
was hungry. This is yet another demonstration
that Jesus was fully man. He became a
man with a body that functions just like our bodies. He became hungry and physically weak when he
went for a long period of time without food.
Satan tries to take advantage of this time of physical weakness in the
life of Jesus to tempt Him. Tomorrow we
will look at how Satan tempted Jesus but today I just want to focus on the fact
that Satan was very intentional about tempting Jesus during a time of physical
weakness. This is certainly a pattern that
we can see happening in Scripture and as we observe our own personal experiences. It is very likely that Satan came to Eve in
the garden when she was hungry. I know
that in my own life I have faced the most severe temptations when I am exhausted. It seems like immediately following an
intense time of productive ministry I will find myself facing an equally
intense time of temptation. It may be
that productivity produces pride in my life that Satan seeks to exploit because
I am depending more on my own abilities in the flesh than I am on the gifts
from God’s Spirit. It may also be that
the long days and short nights frequently associated with these times of
intense ministry simply leaves me exhausted.
Whatever the case may be, these are times when we must be extra vigilant
and prepared to face severe temptations in our lives. Satan is very astute, subtle and crafty. He knows when our guard is down and he knows
where our weaknesses are. Satan is our
enemy and he studies our vulnerabilities so that he can attack us at just the
right time. We must be aware of his
strategy and must learn to take both preventative and protective measures in
order to be victorious against his evil schemes. First we must recognize our own weaknesses
and admit to ourselves that we are struggling.
Once we admit to our own weakness that should automatically motivate us
to purposefully and actively depend on the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is complete foolishness to ever think that
we can do battle alone but when we have just experienced victory it seems that
pride seeps into our hearts and we begin to live under the delusion that we
have the ability to face temptation on our own.
We must beware of rationalizations that come to our minds saying that we
“deserve” a little bit of the pleasure of sin since we have been so “productive.” Second, we must take intentional and
practical measures to flee from the temptation.
I’m talking about really basic things like going to bed and getting a
good night’s sleep, calling a friend to help pray for us and keep us
accountable and/or falling on our face before God in prayer and meditating on
Scripture. The point is we cannot expect
to win the war on temptation by sitting on the couch and watching TV. When we are weak we should expect temptations
and learn to face them by depending on the Lord and taking practical and proactive
measures to combat those attacks.
APPLICATION: Don’t be surprised or discouraged in the
wilderness. Use the wilderness to
evaluate our hearts and to discover how God is striving to grow us through our
time in the wilderness. It doesn’t
matter whether we are in the wilderness because of our own sin or because God
has placed us there; the Holy Spirit is with us and wants to use our time there
to make us more like Jesus. Beware of
Satan’s tactics especially in times of physical, emotional, mental or spiritual
exhaustion. Do not be passive in times
of temptation; depend on the Lord and take practical steps to flee and fight.
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