What is the greatest temptation that you face on an ongoing basis? You know, the thing you either struggle to not do and are unsuccessful, or struggle to do but often don’t complete. Perhaps it was one of your yearly New Year’s resolutions. It might be the extra sweet in the candy bowl, or the extra clicks on the computer that take you away from other important things. We all have temptations and all of us face a unique cocktail of temptation. There are often very familiar elements to all our temptations, many facing some of the same temptations, but the mix of pull that each one has on our life and spirit bears our unique spiritual fingerprint. My mix is different than yours. And so was Jesus’.
In typical Mark fashion, Mark covers in two verses what Matthew and Luke each cover in a dozen or so. I love the way Mark jumps right from Jesus’ official introduction to the world, ripping open of the barrier between Heaven and Earth, and God’s voice announcing His identity as the Messiah, the Promised One, God in the flesh right to Jesus being driven out into the wilderness and His official temptation event.
Notice that it is the Spirit of God who drives Jesus out into the wilderness. Jesus goes willingly, but this word translated “sent” in the NIV is the same word Mark uses to speak of the expulsion of demons. This is no gentle invitation; this is necessity. Jesus must go out into the wilderness. He must face Satan and the temptations. He must come out victorious.
Jesus is in the wilderness, the traditional place where evil powers were thought to hang out, for forty days being tempted repeatedly. There are more than the three specific temptations mentioned in Matthew and Luke. Jesus is tempted throughout the forty days. We don’t have details, but the tense of the verb indicates that there was continual temptation over this forty day period.
Jesus faces Satan, the demon in charge of all the other demons in this temptation. We might call him the world heavy weight champion tempter of the universe. This is no walk in the park. This is an all out spiritual war. Satan wants to win. In fact, he must win in order to foil God’s plan for the redemption of humanity. We don’t get any details of this battle. We only get two rather curious facts. Wild animals were there with Jesus, and angels served Him. The mention of the animals gives a detail about the wilderness experience, the remoteness and solitude of the place Jesus was when He faced these temptations. He was way out there, the original Survivor! The only help He did receive, and we don’t know what they did provide, came from angels. They gave Him what He needed. This reminds us of Elijah’s wilderness stay in 1 Kings 19:5-8, where Elijah’s needs were met supernaturally.
There are things that are compulsory in the Christian’s life. Some things we must do. There are some optional things, like singing hymns, but there are some must do’s, like fleeing immorality and seeking holiness. When was the last time you felt compelled to do something by the Spirit? Have you ever felt such a strong stirring that you knew it was the LORD? My prayer for you is that you would be open to this kind of powerful invitation to be involved in God’s work.
The Arnold Journey 