Mat 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Mat 4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Jesus was anointed to His new life upon baptism and after God accepted His Son as One worthy to begin to minister His new covenant, Jesus was immediately led by God the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. Jesus was taken away from people, Jesus was taken away from any ready comforts of every day life. If you were led into the wilderness without any preparation you wouldn't be bringing any comforts would you? You wouldn't even be bringing what we call necessities. You'd be stranded and the chances of your survival would depend upon your knowledge of living off the land and even then it would depend upon the sort of wilderness you were led to. Just catch the picture of this in your mind- the reality of being led into the wilderness. Jesus wasn't encased in some special, invisible pod and protected from all the elements, He wasn't whisked away to a five star resort and pampered. Jesus was led to the wilderness and over the course of 40 days and 40 night- he fasted.
Now, I'm not going to detail the facts we've all heard about a person only surviving 5-10 days without food and 3 days without water. There are exceptions to every rule on this. Hearing tales of buried earthquake survivors living up to 2 weeks under the rubble, hearing all sorts of exceptions just goes to prove that it is possible to defy the norm.
We don't know the details of Jesus' time in the wilderness those 40 days and night.
We know this…
Mar 1:12 And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness.
Mar 1:13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.
And this…
Luk 4:2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
Forty days tempted of the devil.
Forty days fasting.
Forty days.
There is a significance in this forty days- drawing our minds back to Moses.
Exo 34:27 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.
Exo 34:28 And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
Moses when receiving the law was there with the Lord forty days and nights- FASTING.
Deu 9:9 When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water:
Deu 9:10 And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.
Deu 9:11 And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.
Forty days and forty nights- fasting.
Moses wasn't sent up into the mount to be tempted- but to receive the law.
Jesus wasn't sent into the wilderness to receive the law- but to be tempted.
We KNOW the law reveals sin. Without the law there is NO sin. Before the law was carved in stone it existed. The law of God existed from the beginning. When Satan tempted man to fall, man fell because they broke the law of God- they disobeyed God. Since that fall they continued to break God's law. God took great steps to keep mankind alive- to keep sin from corrupting every single person. Those who did sin could find forgiveness in God if they sought it with a contrite and sincere heart. Those who found forgiveness remained God's people. After their 400 year captivity in Egypt God took this great number of people and decided that a formal ceremonial system was needed for people to follow. The laws that always existed unwritten but known -were written down and a system for cleansing from the breaking of this law was created- a system that pointed to the ULTIMATE sacrifice- a sacrifice that Abraham in type had been called to make, and whose faith spared him. Every sin will be accounted for. Every instance of disobedience to God and the laws He created will be accounted for. With this ceremonial system in place God's people were to live under this covenant until the Messiah would fulfill the sacrificial role enacted under the old covenant ceremonial system, and before that it was enacted even by Cain and Abel and all the patriarchs, prophets, and kings.
Jesus lived under the same system until He was called to begin the new system.
Moses was sent to the mount to receive the law.
Jesus was sent to the wilderness to be tempted to break that same law.
IF that law was to be done away with, Jesus would have been breaking nothing, without the law there is NO sin. But that law WASN'T to be done away with. That law was to be REAFFIRMED by Jesus right there, the FIRST thing after He was confirmed by the Father as being His Son, a Son that was accepted, pleasing. Reaffirmed the law was firmly in place at the very start of our Savior's work ushering in the new covenant.
Jesus was tempted to sin, to break the law, a law that Satan KNEW would forever and always be in place. The law was reestablished as being at the heart of the new covenant- we cannot dismiss this fact very important fact!
To be tempted to sin, you have to be tempted to break God's law.
1Jn 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
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Forty days, forty nights, fasting.
Forty days and nights sustained solely by obedience to God the Father.
Fasting was used for spiritual-physical cleansing. Fasting was purposeful, not senseless or random. Both Moses and Jesus lived many years prior to their call to begin their respective ministries. Both Moses and Jesus were purposefully called into a forty day and night fast at a CRUICIAL memorable time in their lives, in their ministries.
We can't ignore this, we shouldn't ignore this connection.
Receiving the law.
Tempted to break the law.
God's law is at the heart of both these very spiritual journeys of physical beings.
More tomorrow by the grace of our Lord and Savior.
Amen.
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