16 So He came to Nazareth,
where He had been brought up.
For the past several days we have been talking about the
temptation of Jesus by the devil in the wilderness. Before we move on to the
next verses where Jesus goes home to His hometown of Nazareth, I want to mention
one more thing about dealing with temptations.
Verse 13, tells us that the devil “ended every temptation
and departed…” and waited for another opportunity in the future. Some versions
or translations say, “he departed for a season”. I want to remind us that the
devil has to flee when we resist him. James 4:7 says, “Therefore submit to
God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” We can’t miss the order
here. Before we resist the devil, we must “submit to God”. That is
exactly what Jesus was doing as He was going into His public ministry.
Jesus submitted Himself in obedience and the will of God in
public baptism. He submitted Himself to the leading of the Holy Spirit to go
into the wilderness. He submitted Himself to fast for forty days. He submitted
His whole life, body, soul, mind, and spirit to God. Jesus as the perfect Son
of Man without sin was the only person who wholly kept all the commandments of
the Old Testament. The first great commandment is to love the LORD thy God with
all your soul, with all your might, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
Jesus fulfilled this commandment completely totally, absolutely surrendered and
obedient to the will of God!
Now, I know we are not perfect, and we are not Jesus, but
that is exactly what we should be doing if we want victory over the devil and
his temptations. We should daily submit to will of God, we should submit to His
Word, and we should submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit! That is what
Jesus did and when we do that, we can resist the devil and expect him to flee
from us.
In the name and power of Jesus, we can stand up to the
devil and remind him that he has not right to us. We remind the devil that we
are the Lord’s possession. You can tell him, “You have no right to me. I am
Christ’s. I am not my own anymore, I have been bought with a price. These are His
hands, these are His feet, these are His eyes! You must flee from me according
to the Word of God!” Don’t forget this! But remember the devil only goes around
the corner and waits for another opportunity to tempt you again. You are never
free from his attacks but every time you can submit to God and resist him.
Verse 14 now tells us that Jesus returned in the power of
the Spirit to Galilee. You might notice that the events recorded in John
1:19-4:45 took place at this time, but Matthew, Mark, and Luke did not record
them. Right after the baptism of Jesus, He meets Andrew and John, then Peter,
Philip, and Nathanael (John 1). Jesus performs His first miracle at Cana of
Galilee (John 2). He meets and talks with Nicodemus (John 3). He meets the
woman at the well in Samaria and heals the nobleman’s son (John 4).
Matthew, Mark, and John move right into the Lord's ministry
in Galilee, and Luke alone reports His visit to His hometown of Nazareth. You
can imagine that by now, the news had spread widely about the miracle-worker
from Nazareth; so His family, friends, and neighbors were anxious to see and
hear Him. Jesus, their hometown Boy was now famous, and no doubt was the talk
of the town. Jesus goes home! Jesus knew every house and shop and knew everyone
by name. He knew who baked the best bread, who shortchanged his customers, who
bullied his wife, and who helped the poor.
Luke tells us as Jesus went through Galilee He taught in
the synagogues. And now, when Jesus came home on the first Sabbath day, as was
His custom, He goes to His hometown synagogue.
If we are going to have a witness in our hometown, we need
to make sure we have a testimony of resisting the devil and living a life that
gives evidence of our faith in Jesus!
God Bless!
