THEN JESUS, full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led in [by] the [Holy] Spirit For (during) forty days in the wilderness (desert), where He was tempted (tried, tested exceedingly) by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they were completed, He was hungry. Luke 4:1-2 [AMP]
I am back in the saddle again after taking several days off while at the PNW Biblical Counseling Conference this weekend. We were there from 5pm to 9:30pm on Friday and then 8am to 6:30pm pm on Saturday. Such an awesome time learning how to counsel those who are suffering from a Biblical approach. So thankful that our church puts this on. There were over 500 people who attended. I have soooo many notes!! This is the fourth one that Marianne and I have been to and this one did not disappoint.
Remember that when Jesus was Baptized, the Holy Spirit came down on him like a dove. Jesus was full of, controlled by, and led into the wilderness by the Spirit.
Jesus’ forty-day testing in the wilderness also has similarities with the forty-day fast by both Moses (Deut. 9:9), as he received the law, and Elijah, on his way to Horeb (1 Kgs 19:8). Both of these men show up at the transfiguration (Luke 9:30). Jesus’ ministry takes on qualities of both: like Moses, Jesus will lead an exodus; like Elijah, he will call a remnant to repentance. It seems so multilayered, yet these intertwining similarities cast no negative perspective either on the history of the event or on Jesus’ humanity. In fact, Luke’s remark that Jesus suffered hunger at the end of his forty-day fast appears to be an intentional effort to refute those who would diminish Jesus’ humanness on the basis of this story.
As Jesus gets more and more into his ministry here in Luke, I will have more Application takeaways. It is just so great to follow and dive a little deeper into the specifics of this beginning of Jesus’ Passion.