Jesus' Entry into Ministry

 

    As soon as Jesus was baptized, it was like He was ordained to start His ministry.  However, he had to go through a season of trials and tribulation first.  It proves that He was human, but it also God .  He shows us how to handle temptation.  We all have to face it, so we might as well be prepared.

    When Jesus came out of the water, the Holy Spirit led Him into the desert so that Satan could tempt Him.  Jesus found a spot and sat for 40 days and nights fasting.  At the end of the fast, He was hungry, fatigued, and thirty.  

    Jesus' body was extremely vulnerable, but His spirit never diminished.  This vulnerable moment is when Satan approached him.  The temptations parallel Israel's history of temptations and temptations that still seem to trip us up.  People often fail these test for instant gratification.  Hunger, desire, and pride are hard things to overcome, but Jesus gave us a new spirit to be able to fight better.

    Satan challenged him to turn stones into bread.  If He was God, then it should be no problem.  Jesus used scripture from Deuteronomy to ignore the challenge.  Jesus pointed out that we do not live on bread alone.  It would have been an act of defiance if he had given in to that temptation.  It would display a lack of faith, like when Israel was wondering in the desert for 40 years.  Jesus showed unwavering trust in God and Himself.

    Satan then took Jesus to the high point of Jerusalem.  He ordered Jesus to jump and manipulated scripture from to serve his purpose.  If He was God, then the angels would catch him.  Again, Jesus refuted Satan with Scripture from Deuteronomy 6:16 & Exodus 17:7.  True faith perseveres.  

    Satan tried one more time to get Jesus to go against His purpose on Earth.  Satan took him to a mountain top to display his kingdom.  Satan offered it to Jesus if Jesus would worship him.  Jesus did not buy into that, so again He used scripture from Deuteronomy 6:14 & 10:20 to send Satan away from him.  Satan may have power in this world, but this world still belongs to God.  If Jesus had given in, then it would have given him all the power.  Satan knew what Jesus being there meant for him, so he had thrown everything he had at Jesus.

    Once Satan was gone, the angels came to tend to Jesus' human needs.  During this time, John the Baptist had been arrested.  His boldness offended the people who thought they were in charge.  Jesus wanted to go to his cousin, but He had to go fulfill the prophecy in Isaiah.  Jesus had to become the light in the dark world, but it doesn't mean that He did not care about what happened to John.

    This is when Jesus entered His ministry on repentance because Heaven is near.  He started by finding helpers that He could invest Himself into.  They would become His disciples.  The first two were the fisherman brothers, Peter and Andrew.  They did not hesitate to follow Jesus.  Next came the brothers James and John.  They too were fishermen.  

    Jesus gathered 12 in total to represent the 12 tribes.  Jesus preached, educated, and healed people everywhere He went.  He began in in Galilee and spread out to include the Gentiles.  He even healed the demon possessed proving that demons can possess or torment people causing severe spiritual and physical wounds that have to be healed.

Matthew 4