As seen in prior sessions in this series, God purposely chose areas referred to as “the wilderness” to conduct some fascinating, enlightening, and challenging encounters with His people – and today’s final segment is one of the most intriguing. Throughout history when the most powerful heads of nations meet and confront one another, the potential impact for good or evil can be extensive and profound in either direction. And in today’s concluding event of our series, the extent of that potential will remain forever unsurpassed.

A Monumental Contest ~
The event we’re referring to, of course, is that head-to-head confrontation in the Judean wilderness that pitted God’s Son against His eternal archenemy, Satan himself. The one who possessed the serpent in the Garden of Eden and lured God’s first image bearers into a disastrous rebellion had loaded up his arsenal for an effort to take down the second Adam. A more consequential contest could not be imagined, and when God orchestrated it, He knew that the outcome would extend to affect even people like you and me.

So, let’s get to the text and see how the story unfolds … And what we find right away is that while the episode is recorded in all the synoptic Gospels, Matthew and Luke include detailed accounts of some of the prominent ways Jesus was tested. With classic brevity, Mark devoted only two verses to cover the entire event, so for our purposes here, we’ll use Luke’s account to get started:

Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. (Luke 4:1–2)

Unfolding the Larger Story ~
Luke’s opening word, then, connects what he’s about to say with what preceded it, which in this case was Jesus’ baptism. And as we recall, John considered that baptizing Him would be inappropriate because it didn’t fit with the repentance John was calling for (Matthew 3:13–15 NKJV). But Jesus told John that he should permit it now, because at that point, there was more being represented by the baptism ritual than what had been pictured by John’s other participants. Since Jesus had nothing from which to repent, for Him, the cleansing ritual presented a much more significant symbolic declaration that needed to be emphasized. 

Luke’s remark that Jesus was about 30 years old (Luke 3:23) is important. That was the age at which, in that culture, men who were designated to serve in religious functions, such as Rabbis, for instance, assumed their official duties. Public cleansing rituals were one of the ways used to symbolize the sanctification and approval of the person for public ministry. Jesus’ comment about fulfilling all righteousness that preceded His baptism marked the official beginning of His role as Israel’s promised Messiah. But another picture was beginning to form as the episode unfolded.

An Unmistakable Reminder ~
For any Jew, a significant water event that was followed by 40 days of testing in the wilderness would have been an unmistakable reminder of their own history. They would have recalled those events that were, and still are, basic to their national identity and to their individual connection with God’s grand redemptive plan. But what Jesus endured in His Messianic role was not just for Israel. He came for the world and He came for everyone in it, including you and me. 

In light of that, Jesus’ wilderness testing portrayed important truths that apply to us today, but before we endeavor to address what He did in the wilderness, we should ask why He did it. And the first answer to that question is that God the Father demanded it. That’s clear in the language used to describe Jesus leaving the Jordan and heading toward the wilderness. When our translations say that the Spirit led Him, we fail to see how forceful that operation was. Mark used the Greek term ekbállō, which means to thrust something or to throw something like a rock. The term used by Matthew and Mark is the same one used to describe John the Baptist, who was a prisoner at the time, being led (ekbállō) to appear before the king. That was hardly a self-determined move.

Unveiling  the Purpose ~
So, if Jesus was ‘driven’ into the wilderness by the Spirit of God, what was the purpose? The answer to that is pretty clear, as well. He was illustrating the wilderness period of testing that followed Israel’s deliverance. It’s vital that we understand who was being examined in those confrontations in the Sinai desert. It’s important to note that it wasn’t the Jews who were being tested. They could never overcome the challenges represented by the wilderness. The one being tested was ‘God, Himself’ . . .  

• • • Was He really who He claimed to be? 
    • Could He overcome the obstacles and enemies lurking in that barren, hostile world?
    • Could He actually lead them to that incredible land He had promised?

Let’s fast forward to Jesus now, and address some similar questions that were directed to Him. For instance, The basic question underlying all the tests was, Is He ‘really’ the Son of God?

• • Regarding the stones into bread test, the challenge was whether He could handle the impact of severe personal, human deprivation:
    • Would He resort to  selfish, disobedient demonstrations of power to achieve temporary relief and satisfaction, or 
    • Would the Father’s word be enough? Jesus’ Scriptural response put the issue immediately to rest. 
  • Regarding the pinnacle of the Temple test, the devil sought to get Jesus to test the Father’s love and validate His sonship by using the Father’s own words as a coercive mechanism. Jesus’ defense was to quote God’s prohibition of such tactics when the Jews were basically threatening that if God didn’t provide what they wanted, they would just go back to Egypt. 
  • Finally, the adversary sought to tap into human desires for greed, lust, and power by offering Jesus everything all the world’s empires could provide. Jesus made it clear that serving those carnal desires amounted to a form of worship – and any such allegiance or servitude regarding those things was condemned.

Bringing the Lessons to Life ~
So, what’s the point from both the Jewish perspective and our own? It’s simply this . . . God has allowed Himself to be tested in every way possible – and it was all for our benefit. There is no threat posed by any wilderness or the enemies lurking in them, that He has not overcome. Whether the attacks launched against Him were physical or spiritual, the Son of God overcame them. Jesus, like the Living God who sent Him, is who He claims to be, and He was in the wilderness before us. Regardless of the challenges we might face or the nature of the attacks that may come our way, the One we follow is who He claims to be. He can and will do all that He promises to do and He will go with us until that day when Eden is restored, His Kingdom is established, and wildernesses will be a thing of the past forever. 

But that doesn’t mean we don’t have wilderness challenges facing us right now, and the enemy still twists God’s words to deceive us into thinking that good is really bad, and evil can be okay. He still reaches into those embedded desires and ancient lies that entice us to abandon truth in search of pleasure. His lies are clever and he’ll offer you everything, but all of it turns out to be empty and ultimately lethal – both spiritually and physically.

So, never forget that Jesus is familiar with the wilderness. He can handle the enemies who live there . . . so we can trust Him – and we can invite Him into our own wilderness.

“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to tweet and share from the pull quotes below.  Each one links directly back to this article through Twitter . . .

• • • The one who possessed the serpent in the Garden of Eden and lured God’s first image bearers into a disastrous rebellion had loaded up his arsenal for an effort to take down the second Adam. A more consequential contest could not be imagined. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
    • It wasn’t the Jews being tested and examined in the confrontations in the desert. They could never overcome the challenges represented by the wilderness. The one being tested was God Himself. Was He really who He claimed to be? And could He . . . ? @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) 
    • Regardless of challenges or attacks that come our way, the One we follow is who He claims to be and will do all He promises to do. He will go with us until that day when Eden is restored, His Kingdom is established and there are no wildernesses left. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) 
    • God still reaches into those embedded desires and ancient lies that entice us to abandon truth in search of pleasure. His lies are clever. He’ll offer everything, but it all turns out to be empty and ultimately lethal, both spiritually and physically. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)

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