Luke 4:1-13
The Lord Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit and led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness for forty days. During this time the Lord Jesus was tempted by the devil. Forty days reminds me of the forty years that Israel was in the wilderness and tested. There are a lot of parallels in scripture like this. This is one way the Holy Spirit teaches us spiritual lessons. Testing and walking in the wilderness is a normal part of the Christian life. Temptation is a necessary part of the Christian life. The Lord Jesus taught us how to overcome temptation. If you compare this temptation with the temptation of the serpent and Eve you can see parallels. Also, the scripture in 1 John 2:16 sheds spiritual light upon these temptations as well.
The Lord Jesus overcame the devil by staying in the word. He was abiding in the word of God. His heart and his mind was filled with the scriptures. He was filled with the word and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. This points us back to two types of manna in the wilderness: manna that tasted like honey (the word), and manna that tasted like fresh oil (Holy Spirit). Do you know what the third category of manna was in the wilderness? It was manna taken and put in a pot and hidden in the ark of the covenant. (Hebrews 9:4)
The Lord Jesus had authority to overcome the devil because he walked in the word and walked in the Spirit. Any man who walks in the word and in the Holy Spirit receives the authority of God's kingdom to overcome the devil. We overcome the enemy by abiding in the word and the Spirit and by walking in the authority of God's Kingdom.
God taught us this lesson in the wilderness. We cannot learn this in a classroom or by reading books. We learn by experience. Head knowledge helps but it is through experience we are changed into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus went before us. He endured the temptations and much more in his earthly life. Consider him who endured. What can we learn from this? How can we apply this to our every day life situations?
Here is a promise from scripture to help us. 1 Corinthians 10:13, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
Christ died for our sins. He was buried, and he rose again on the third day. Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved. The man who was crucified with Jesus asked the Lord Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom. The Lord Jesus told him that he would be with him that day in paradise. What can I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
