I feel like it’s an unspoken fact about the universe that whenever something in my life finally starts to go well, something out of my control throws a wrench into all of my progress. I’ll start to feel really good about my body and my consistency in the gym, and then I get sick and am out for a week. I feel like I’m finally caught up on work, but then another huge project comes in and suddenly all my other tasks fall days behind. I feel like I’m doing alright financially, and then my engine light comes on.
That is the only way I can describe what happened to Jesus, only for Him – it was on a much larger scale. Immediately after His baptism, once He received the Holy Spirit and His God-given identity, Mark 1:12-13 tells us that Jesus is sent into the wilderness where He is tempted by Satan for 40 days. The difference is that the Holy Spirit drove Him out there in preparation for His earthly ministry. The 40 days parallels Jewish history, as Noah’s flood lasted 40 days and nights, Israel wandered the wilderness for 40 years, Moses kept sheep for 40 years – this is a time in which Jesus is being tested.
Not only was Jesus being tempted, He was putting His identity as Messiah, Lord, and Beloved Son to use. His temptation meant that He could identify with us in our temptations. (Hebrews 4:15 reminds us, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.) The other accounts of Jesus’ temptation in Matthew and Luke tell us that Jesus responded to Satan’s temptations with Scripture alone. But only Mark mentions the animals in the wilderness and the presence of heavenly bodies, proving His authority over all of creation.
It is imperative for us to understand that the identity that Jesus fulfilled and received played a key role in the event of His temptation. He knew who He was and He never wavered in the truth of what His Father said about Him. He knew who He was and He was confident in His purpose.
I’m not saying that your engine light coming on is equivalent to being tempted by Satan Himself, but what I am saying is that our identity determines our reaction. When “every wind of doctrine” – or even every minor inconvenience – tries to “toss us to and fro,” being confident in who God says we are as His children and as His church will be the defining factor in whether or not we give in or stand firm.
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