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Commentaries
English
Mark
  
4. The Temptation of Jesus Christ
(Mark 1:12-13)
12And immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.13And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.


Satan knew a little about God. He recognized something of his plan, and noticed fearfully the coming of the Holy Spirit upon Christ. He knew it was the decisive hour in the human history, for the Son of God had begun his reconciliation of men to his Father. Therefore, the tempter decided to cast the Lamb of God into many lusts, and to deceive him that he might annul his worthiness of the sacrifice service.
However, the Holy Spirit himself had let Christ immediately to the battle in the wilderness after baptism. The Son of God does not fear Satan, since the smallest saint is stronger than the biggest devil, for God dwells in his children.
Christ stood up fearlessly in the midst of the satanic temptations, which swooped down upon him like destroying thunderbolts. He did not listen or incline to the devilish insinuation, but chose the way of poverty, humility, and meekness. He did not doubt the love of his Father, nor did he decline in relation to his own Sonship, but he was intended to continue his way to the cross. He did not agree at all to any compromise knowing that the world would not be reformed or redeemed except through the sacrifice of his body.
Christ continued triumphantly in all the temptations of Satan’s genius, and all the wild beasts in the wilderness could not harm him, for he was consistent with the will of God, and chose the way of the meek lamb, the way of bearing the darkness, and forgiving the sins of the world. In his death, he proved that God is love, and that he who continues in love continues in God and God in him.
At the end of this spiritual wrestling, he was ministered to by the angels who longed to see the development of this struggle, and rejoiced when Christ stripped the enemy of God of his power.
Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights in the wilderness. Number 40 indicates the long years of the wandering of his people in the wilderness, and the days that Moses spent before God on Mount Sinai. The first wrestling between the Good One and the evil one lasted forty days in the beginning of Christ’s ministry.

Prayer
We worship you who are born of the Spirit of love, for you overcame Satan in the beginning of your ministry, and did not agree to his temptations. We thank you because you refused money, power, fame, and murder; and chose the way of goodness, holiness, and humility. Forgive us our pride and impurity, and fill us with the power of your kindness that we may follow you in the way of the Lamb of God.
Question
Why did the Holy Spirit lead Jesus first into the wilderness that he might be tempted by Satan?