Luke 4:1

"He was led, therefore," it says, "in the Spirit in the wilderness forty days, being tempted of the devil." What is the meaning of the word led? It signifies not so much that he was led there as that he dwelt and continued there.…He dwelt therefore in the wilderness in the Spirit, that is, spiritually. He fasted, granting no food whatsoever to the necessities of the body. I imagine someone may immediately object to this: And what harm, then, did it do Jesus to dwell in cities constantly? And in what way could it benefit him to choose to inhabit the wilderness? He did not lack one good thing. And why, too, did he fast also? Why was it necessary for him to labor? He does not know what it means to have a depraved desire. For we adopt the practice of fasting as a very useful expedient, by which we kill pleasure and attack the law of sin that is in our bodies and completely destroy those emotions which lead on to fleshly lust. But why did Christ need to fast? The Father slays the sin in the flesh by his body. He kills the motions of the flesh in us. He has abolished sin in miserable beings—in us. What kind of fasting could he need in anything that concerns himself? He is holy, undefiled by nature, wholly pure and without blemish. He cannot experience even the shadow of a change.

God said in times past, My Spirit shall not always abide in men, for that they are flesh. (Gen. 6:3. Vulg.) But now that we have been enriched with the gift of regeneration by water and the Spirit, we are become partakers of the Divine nature by participation of the Holy Spirit. But the first-born among many brethren first received the Spirit, who Himself also is the giver of the Spirit, that we through Him might also receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. Behold, He is among the wrestlers, who as God awards the prizes. He is among the crowned, who crowns the heads of the saints.

It is fitting that it be recorded that the first Adam was cast out of Paradise into the desert, that you may observe how the second Adam returned from the desert to Paradise.… Adam brought death through the tree. Christ brought life through the cross. Adam, naked of spiritual things, covered himself with the foliage of a tree. Christ, naked of worldly things, did not desire the trappings of the body. Adam lived in the desert. Christ lived in the desert, for he knew where he could find the lost. With their error canceled, he could recall them to Paradise.…So Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, is led into the desert for a purpose, in order to challenge the devil. If he had not fought, he would not have conquered him for me.

Merit consists in victory over temptations, because "the life of man upon earth is a warfare"; therefore the Evangelist describes how he overcame the diabolical temptation. For a complete description of this, three things are fitting, namely the occasion of the temptation; the manner of …

It is often doubted by some by what spirit Jesus was led into the desert. This question is properly understood if we believe he was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit, so that his own Spirit would lead him there, where the evil spirit would then find him to tempt him. Therefore it is not unworthy of our Redeemer that he willed to be tempted, he who had come to be killed. For it was just that he should overcome our temptations by his temptations, just as he had come to conquer our death by his death. But we should know that temptation occurs in three ways: by suggestion, by delight, and by consent. And when we are tempted, we frequently fall into delight or even into consent, because having been propagated from the sin of the flesh, we bear within ourselves that from which we endure struggles. But God, who was incarnate in the womb of a Virgin and came into the world without sin, tolerated no contradiction within himself. Therefore he could be tempted through suggestion, but the delight of sin did not bite his mind. And so all that diabolical temptation was external, not internal.

Christ is tempted after His baptism, showing us that after we are baptized, temptations await us. Hence it is said, But Jesus being full of the Holy Spirit, &c.

(Severus.) But if we order our lives according to our own will, how was He led about unwillingly? Those words then, He was led by the Spirit, have some meaning of this kind: He led of His own accord that kind of life, that He might present an opportunity to the tempter.

Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days. This, immediately after the baptism of the Lord, Matthew and Mark designate. One of them, after describing His baptism, immediately subjoined: Then …

That there might be no doubt by what Spirit He was led, while the other Evangelists say, into the wilderness, Luke has purposely added, And he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days. That no unclean spirit should be thought to have prevailed against Him, who being full of the Holy Spirit did whatever He wished.

And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost,.... The Spirit of God having descended on him at his baptism, and afresh anointed, and filled his human nature with his gifts, whereby, as man, he was abundantly furnished for the great work of the public ministry, he was just about to enter upon; yet must first go through a series of temptations, and which, through the fulness of the Holy Spirit in him, he was sufficiently fortified against.

The wilderness - Supposed by some to have been in Judea; by others to have been that great desert of Horeb or Sinai, where the children of Israel were tried for forty years, and Moses and Elijah fasted forty days.

The first event recorded in our Lord's history, after His baptism — is His temptation by the devil. From a season of honor and glory — he passed immediately to a season of conflict and suffering. First came the testimony of God the Father , "You are my beloved Son." Then came the sneering suggestion of Satan , " If you are the Son of God." The portion of Christ will often prove the portion of Christians. From great privilege to great trial, there will often be but a step. Let us first mark in this passage — the power and unwearied malice of the devil. That old serpent who tempted Adam to sin in Paradise — was not afraid to assault the second Adam, the Son of God. Whether he understood that Jesus was "God manifest in the flesh" may perhaps be doubted. But that he saw in Jesus, One who had come into the world to overthrow his kingdom — is clear and plain. He had seen what happened at our Lord's baptism. He had heard the marvelous words from Heaven. He felt that the great Friend of man was come — and that his own dominion was in peril. The Redeemer had come. The prison door was about to be thrown open. The lawful captives were about to be set free. All this, we need not doubt — Satan saw, and resolved to fight for his own. The prince of this world would not give way to the Prince of peace without a mighty struggle. He had overcome the first Adam in the garden of Eden — why should he not overcome the second Adam in the wilderness ? He had spoiled man once of Paradise — why should he not spoil him of the kingdom of God. Let it never surprise us, if we are tempted by the devil. Let us rather expect it, as a matter of course, if we are living members of Christ. The Master's lot will be the lot of His disciples.

The first event recorded in our Lord's history, after His baptism — is His temptation by the devil. From a season of honor and glory — he passed immediately to a season of conflict and suffering. First came the testimony of God the Father , "You are my beloved Son." Then came the sneering suggestion of Satan , " If you are the Son of God." The portion of Christ will often prove the portion of Christians. From great privilege to great trial, there will often be but a step.

Was led by the Spirit - Or, And was carried about, ηγετο. Matthew says, ανηχθη, he was brought up. Mark says, the Spirit driveth him εκβαλλει - putteth him forth. But each of the evangelists attributes this to the Holy Ghost, not to Satan. It may be useful to remark here, that, during the forty days and forty nights in which he is said to have been tempted by the devil, he is carried about, continually sustained and supported, by the Holy Ghost. Let those who are tempted by Satan look for, and, in virtue of the power and intercession of Christ, claim, the same support; and it matters little how many days they may be assaulted by the devil, while they are carried about by the Spirit of God.

On the temptation of Jesus, see the notes at Mat 4:1-11. Luk 4:2 Being forty days tempted - That is, through forty days he was “tried” in various ways by the devil. The temptations, however, which are recorded by Matthew and Luke did not take place until the forty days were finished. See Mat 4:2-3. He did eat nothing - He was sustained by the power of God during this season of extraordinary fasting. Luk 4:13 Departed for a season - For a time.