As we look to Jesus’ life as an example, let us also understand that the Holy Spirit leads us into these wilderness experiences and he leads us not as victims who are being punished and under the “mighty wrath of God,” but rather the Spirit leads us as those who are loved by God. Matthew is very clear to point out that Jesus enters the wilderness as one who is beloved, pleasing to God, and only through the leading of the Holy Spirit.Īnd I think this should be an encouragement for us as well.
Let me read these few verses from Matthew again and highlight some significant notes that Matthew makes. We are going to continue looking at the wilderness experience Jesus went through next week, but today I want to point out how Matthew sets up the story. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. I’m reading from Matthew 3 and 4 here and Matthew says:Īnd when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew, Mark, and Luke are all intending to layer on meaning by paralleling Jesus’ story with that of the Israelites. And just like the Israelites traveled through the Red Sea waters, Jesus reenacts the story of Israel in his own life as he also goes through the waters. The story goes that Jesus went down to the Jordan River where John the Baptizer baptized Jesus. The Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record the same story that took place before the public ministry of Jesus. Today, we are going to look at the Life of Jesus and see what his wilderness experience looked like.
I hope this has been both encouraging and helpful for you as you consider what it looks like for you to live well in the wilderness. We have spent all week thinking about the wilderness looking at some of the different concepts or themes from the Bible concerning the idea of traveling through the wilderness.
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