Jesus was led

Mat 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.


Jesus began His ministry of truth after being baptized- signifying this momentous change from the typical Jewish life towards a new covenant life. The transition from one to another wasn't instantaneous. They existed together- Jesus' Jewish heritage which was a heritage given by birth and His new covenant heritage which was given to Him by His Father, through the Spirit. This blending wasn't obvious for 30 years, but called to reveal the TRUTH Jesus began the unveiling, Jesus began the revelation of the evolution that was taking place. For hundreds and hundreds of years the prophecies of the One who would bring this change, this new covenant, was known. For hundreds of years the Jewish people lived with the history of their patriarchs, their prophets, and their kings. For hundreds of years the Jewish people built a legacy of Godly men leading them through a multitude of God wrought miracles. Before Moses came as deliverer to free God's people from Egyptian bondage the people held an 'idea' of what their deliverer would be like. The idea did not meet with their expectations- they were ready to abandon Moses at the first sign of opposition, as if they expected their deliverer to swoop in and instantly free them from bondage and all hardship.


Exo 5:20 And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh:
Exo 5:21 And they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.


This is NOT a ready embrace of God's deliverer. The people accused Moses of causing the Egyptians such upset they were now in a worse situation than ever before. Moses spoke with God and relayed this to God's people and this was their reaction--


Exo 6:9 And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.


Those to be delivered HEARKENED NOT to their deliverer.


Why the idea that the coming Messiah would be instantly accepted existed and still exists by the Jewish people, is a complete mystery given history's lessons.


Not only was Moses NOT readily accepted, even after He brought them out of Egypt and began to lead them to freedom they did NOT believe He was God sent, but rather sent to lead them to their slow, lingering deaths. So horrific was their attitude towards this man sent by God, their deliverer, that God did not bring them readily into their promised land and life, but rather punished them for their disbelief for 40 years! This is the Jewish legacy! This is truth! In the days of Jesus, Moses was revered but during the early days of Moses as deliverer he was rejected, he was disbelieved, he was scoffed at, scorned at, he wasn't held in high esteem at all! Years later Moses was herald as a great leader of God's people but during His lifetime He faced much opposition. Yet these same people who KNOW their ancestors suffered for the disbelief of their earthly deliverer couldn't fathom they'd ever reject their heavenly deliverer. They imagined Him as coming in such a way His heralding the NEW covenant would be completely acceptable to them, after all He was to be their MESSIAH, God sent, God's Son!


Truly they did not understand that CHANGES were to be made when the Messiah arrived, changes from old to new, changes from bondage to freedom, changes from death to life. Jesus grew up following the old covenant ways and in the fulfillment of time He began to introduce the new covenant ways and it wasn't a - wake up one morning and everything is changed- Jesus began a 3 YEAR ministry revealing the new covenant. 3 YEARS of instruction, 3 YEARS of revelation.


After His baptism- signifying the OLD LIFE being buried and a RISING to NEW LIFE- Jesus' ministry was begun. No longer would Jesus be a typical Jewish 30 year old male.


Mat 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.


After accepting the revelation of the Holy Spirit and His Father's words of acknowledgment - Jesus was LED UP of the Spirit into the wilderness.


Jesus was not baptized and then left to return to His old way of life before baptism. Jesus was set on a course different than any other. Up until His baptism Jesus lived immersed in the protection of His Heavenly Father. Upon baptism the acceptance of ministry was embraced and the VERY first encounter after His baptism was to be with the Devil. He was accepted of God, embraced as God's Son- pleasing to God and then led to face His greatest adversary- one on one.


Was it POSSIBLE for Jesus to sin?


Yes.


The possibility existed. This temptation Jesus would face head on with an adversary we only know as an invisible evil spirit force, was a REAL temptation and we cannot for ONE second believe otherwise.


Led of the Holy Spirit. Jesus did ALL things through His Father's will and it was His Father's will that He be tested. The Holy Spirit did not imbue Jesus with a special protection, with a special power. The Holy Spirit LED Jesus to face the Devil's tempting. Jesus' humanity, Jesus' flesh, Jesus had the power of choice just as YOU and I possess. Jesus was tempted in ALL ways, just as we are. Jesus used His power of choice to defeat the temptations- He chose to follow God the Father, He chose to OBEY God the Father in all things. The humanity He possessed fought the temptation and won over the temptation by choosing to OBEY God. If Jesus didn't possess the ability to give in to temptation then His being tempted was in vain, meaningless.


More on this tomorrow… by the grace of our Lord and Savior.


Amen