Never Alone

Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." 4 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' " 5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.' " 7 Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.' " 8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." 10 Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.' " 11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

Why would the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into the desert where He may be tempted by the devil? (One thing we can be certain of – Jesus is facing the devil himself, not just one of his minions.)

There is much to be learned from this example. First, we note Jesus can be led by the Holy Spirit. In fact, one thing we may say about Jesus, (among many, many things,) is that He is ALWAYS led by the Holy Spirit – and in this He is always a great example for us.

Secondly, and this is the most obvious point of all: Jesus IS our example.

Be reminded: we have a Great High Priest Who can and does sympathize with us in everything. One of the difficulties of following God Incarnate, (Jesus, The Christ,) is that we can at times forget His humanity – and we can forget that He is THE example of how we are to conduct ourselves in our humanity. We can say to ourselves, “well Jesus is God, and therefore He is perfect,” (which IS true,) but then we can go on to say, “since He is God HE did not really struggle against temptation the way I do – because after all He is God.”

At some point along the road to Spiritual maturity, we must reconcile this notion of Christ AS our example, lest He never will be. (And, He IS intended to be.) And so He must be tempted in all points – just as we are – (see Hebrews 4:15,) to demonstrate for us and to us how it is we are to resist temptation.

And here we have His example, and His example is only provided by the fact He allowed Himself to be led into the desert for forty days and nights by the Holy Spirit. That is NOT where you may have expected Jesus to be led, is it?

Following His baptism of ordination into being our High Priest, you may have expected Jesus to be led immediately to a place of ministry – not separation and solitude. But here’s another point we are also to notice, that Jesus is NEVER ALONE as He faces the devil’s temptation – and neither are we. The WORD is ALWAYS with Him, just as it is always with us.

-Pastor Bill