Word for Wednesday
And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil. Luke 4:1,2
Two times during His life, the Lord Jesus was left alone to suffer. We are the most familiar with the darkness of Calvary, when three dark hours hid from the view of man the judgment of Almighty God against His Son for our sins. It was a sight that no man would have been able to bear. Alone upon the cross, the Lord Jesus achieved a total victory that guarantees to all who will receive it everlasting life. Deliverance from hell and a guarantee of Heaven are ours through the value of the work of that lonely span. But there was an earlier time of suffering for our Lord, a time referred to in our text today. Just after His baptism, the Lord Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. He was about to launch his three years of public ministry. But there was a victory that needed to be accomplished first, a victory over the temptations of the devil. And that victory was not just for Himself but for us as well.
Just as the submission of the Lord Jesus on Calvary was a voluntary act in accordance with His Father’s will, so the temptation in the wilderness was a voluntary act in accordance with the Spirit’s direction. With no food for 40 days, and in an environment with no company apart from wild beasts, the Lord Jesus would naturally have been vulnerable to the devil’s attacks. As we read of the temptations, we find the Lord Jesus quoting the Scriptures to refute the devil’s attacks. We find the devil powerless to penetrate the devotion of the Son to His Father, powerless to lead the Son of God into the sin of pride that had caused Lucifer to fall. Even in physical weakness and great loneliness, the Lord Jesus prevailed. We know it could not have been otherwise, because He was the Son of God. But we have on record the devil’s failed attempt, and our Lord’s complete victory. We can access the power of that victory today.
Unlike the Lord Jesus, we are susceptible to the devil’s attacks. With us, he can find an entry, and can cause us to sin, as we know from bitter experience. But unlike the unsaved around us, we have protection available to us, through the work of the Lord Jesus. Hebrews 2:18 tells us that because He suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help us when we are tempted. We can learn from His experience. Each time He was tempted, He turned to the Word of God to rebuff the devil. We can do that. Reading and memorizing the Scriptures will give us a great protection. So will the companionship of the Lord’s people. The Lord Jesus suffered alone, but we don’t need to, because He has gathered us with His people in His Assembly. Worship and service for our Lord will also sustain us in the day of temptation.
We have victory over temptation today, if we will accept it, because of the victory of the Lord Jesus over the devil’s temptations. – Jim MacIntosh