Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry… And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”
(Luke 4:1-2, 8)
Jesus defeated Satan, but how? He did not defeat Satan as God, though He was God. He defeated Satan as a man should defeat Satan—as a man. Jesus in the wilderness temptation did not pull rank on us. He used the two weapons that were available to Adam in the garden of Eden and the two weapons that are available to us today: the Spirit of God and the Word of God.
The Bible says that God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power; He went about doing good. He was led of the Spirit into the wilderness. The Holy Spirit of God was upon Him and when Satan came to tempt Him, Jesus unsheathed the Word of God and ran Satan through with the sword. Jesus defeated Satan by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures, the two weapons given to man by God. Adam had those same weapons, but where the first Adam fell in a garden, the second Adam won in a wilderness.
• How might you prepare to face Satan’s temptations based on today’s passage?
• How does it encourage you to be reminded that you have the same weapons Jesus used to defeat Satan?
Spend time in the Word and prayer today as a practical means of preparing for the attacks of Satan.
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