Jesus Led to be Tempted

​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. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. Luk 4:1-2

​“Led by the Spirit.”—It was necessary that Christ who had assumed our nature should be put to the proof—should be subjected to the trial of having to choose between using His gifts and faculties for gratification of self or using them in the service of God. This probation is required in the case of all free and intelligent beings; some angels passed through it successfully, man fell before it. It is noticeable that Jesus did not seek temptation, but was led towards it by a higher will than His own. The fact that temptation came immediately after the baptism in the Jordan, with all its wonderful and supernatural circumstances, is very significant. The time of spiritual exaltation is the time of spiritual danger. “Thus shalt thou be sure to be assaulted, when thou hast received the greatest enlargements from Heaven, either at the sacrament, or in prayer, or in any other way. Then look for an onset. This arch-pirate lets the empty ships pass, but lays wait for them when they return richest laden” (Leighton). Satan knows how to take advantage of the peculiarities of our situation.
“Wilderness.”—The contrast between the temptation of Adam and that of Jesus, the second Adam, both in the scenes in which they were laid and the results which followed from them, has often been drawn. 1. Adam was tempted in a garden, Jesus in the wilderness.
2. Adam fell, Jesus was victorious.
3. Adam’s disobedience brought death, the obedience of Jesus brought life. “Adam fell in paradise, and made it a wilderness; Christ conquered in the wilderness. (Olshausen).

​Luk 4:3  And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. 
Luk 4:4  And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 
Luk 4:5  And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 
Luk 4:6  And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 
Luk 4:7  If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 
Luk 4:8  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 
Luk 4:9  And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 
Luk 4:10  For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: 
Luk 4:11  And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 
Luk 4:12  And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 
Luk 4:13  And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. 

Learning to Identify With Jesus

Have you as a believer in Christ ever been accused of being demon possessed, or out of the will of God if your going through multiple trials, adversity, and attacks from many directions? Jesus was also, this short devotion will be an encouragement to you, if your being accused in this way. Read on.

​"Jesus was full of the Holy Ghost, and yet He was tempted. Temptation often comes upon a man with its strongest power when he is nearest to God. As someone has said, "The devil aims high." He got one apostle to say he did not even know Christ.
Very few men have such conflicts with the devil as Martin Luther had. Why? Because Martin Luther was going to shake the very kingdom of hell. Oh, what conflicts John Bunyan had!
If a man has much of the Spirit of God, he will have great conflicts with the tempter. God permits temptation because it does for us what the storms do for the oaks-- it roots us; and what the fire does for the paintings on the porcelain-- it makes them permanent.
You never know that you have a grip on Christ, or that He has a grip on you, as well as when the devil is using all his force to attract you from Him; then you feel the pull of Christ’s right hand. -- Anonymous
Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces. God hath many sharp-cutting instruments, and rough files for the polishing of His jewels; and those He especially loves, and means to make the most resplendent, He hath oftenest His tools upon. -- Archbishop Leighton
I bear my willing witness that I owe more to the fire, and the hammer, and the file, than to anything else in my Lord’s workshop. I sometimes question whether I have ever learned anything except through the rod. When my schoolroom is darkened, I see most." -- (C. H. Spurgeon)