READ LUKE 4

All four Gospels share the good news of Jesus, Christ, the Messiah.  Jesus was flesh and blood, just like you and me, because he was born in the same way we were.  He was subject to pain, hunger, exhaustion, loneliness and temptation, but because He is also God, He was able to overcome those things.

In Luke 4, we see the Savior, after 40 days in the wilderness – His time of preparation for the beginning of His earthly ministry.  He was at a low point and Satan knew it.  This is the time when the devil strikes – when we’re weak, tired, emotionally and physically exhausted, hungry and in need of restoration.  The evil one knows all the right buttons to push and used them to tempt the Savior before He began His ministry.

With Jesus’ final answer, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test,’” the devil left him for the time being, but this was just the beginning.

I think it’s interesting that the Bible often references a time in the wilderness – usually 40 days and nights or 40 years.  A time of fasting is usually 40 days.  The Israelites walked in the wilderness for 40 years.  A wilderness can also be a time of waiting, testing, contemplation, renewal and decision making.  Jesus was about to begin the greatest ministry ever.

When he defeated the devil with His words, it was just the start of the battle between good and evil.  Jesus was ready to start His mission, so He returns to Galilee to spread good news to the poor, to teach in the synagogue and be praised for His skill and knowledge.  When he returns to the place He spent His childhood, it’s a different story.

He preaches with great authority.  The crowds are amazed, yet they remember Jesus as the little boy who helped His stepfather, Joseph, make chairs and tables for a living.  When Jesus revealed the fulfillment of the prophesy through Him, there were those who thought He was crazy and tried to throw Him off a cliff.  Jesus walked through the crowd and on His way.

Jesus pushes on to Capernaum and delivers a man possessed by an evil spirit.  He shows His God side by releasing the man from the clutches of the demon. Those in the crowd couldn’t believe what they saw. A simple man had the capacity to heal those afflicted by the devil himself.  They followed as he continued on to Simon’s home and healed his mother-in-law of a disabling fever .

By the time evening came, Jesus was exhausted.  The people continued to bring their sick and demon possessed.  Jesus healed many and drove out demons who verbally acknowledged that this was the Son of God.  By morning, Jesus retreated to a solitary place to get some much needed rest. The crowds continued to pursue Him, but he said,

“I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” 

He continued to preach in Judea.  This account of the time after Jesus’ temptation is slightly different than the other Gospels.  Some may call them contradictions, but each one was written by a different author under the inspiration of God.  There will be differences, but none of them affect the basic truth of the Gospel.

” For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16