Jesus full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert. Luke 4:1Sometimes, like Jesus, we are led from places of triumph to a place of difficulty.
Jesus returned from the Jordan.
The Jordan was the place where God had proven His faithfulness and His greatness to the people of Israel.
God wanted to establish Joshua's authority among the Israelites as their leader after the death of Moses,
"so they know that I am with you as I was with Moses" Joshua 3God instructs Joshua to,
"Tell the priests who cary the ark of the covenant, "when you reach the edge of the Jordan's waters, go and stand in the river" verse 8
The Israelites obey the decree of the Lord, despite the fact that the river was swelling because it was in flood stage.
"Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away... The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground."
Israel's OBEDIENCE to the command of the Lord enabled them to STAND FIRM on dry ground during the flood season of the Jordan River.
I want to STAND FIRM on the dry ground that the Lord has prepared for my willingness and obedience to trust Him. How about you?
God did an amazing act among His people that day.
The Jordan is also a significant place in the life of Jesus.
This is where His father affirmed Him as His Son. We see this in Luke 3:21
"When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as He was praying heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my son, whom I love with you I am well pleased.' "
It was at the Jordan were His identity was solidified by His Father's voice.
It reminds me of those seasons where you feel so close to God, where you can hear His constant affirmations and feel His warm embrace. -- What great seasons :)
There are times,though, that God feels a little further away even though we know that He is with us. We don't rely on our feelings during these times but on His character and on His Word. He says
" Fear not for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Holy One of Israel, your Savior...." Isaiah 43:1-3
We stand on the promise that he will not leave us or forsake us.
Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into one of those seasons, he was led into the desert.
It reads in verse 2 that for 40 days he was tempted in the desert (and I think one day is bad!). He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them He was hungry.
It was in His hunger that the devil said to him, 'If you are the Son of God tell this stone to become bread.' Jesus answered, 'It is written man does not live on bread alone'
Here Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy. He's referring to a passage that is reminding the Israelites not to forget The Lord. The entire verse reads,
"He humbled you causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord."
The point of this being that when Jesus was tried by satan He STOOD FIRM upon the Word of The Lord.
There is a steadfstness here, a stability. Unshaken. Unmoved. His foundation is firm. It's secure. He knows that His Father is
"Not a man that would lie, nor a son of man that would change his mind."Again satan comes at Jesus but this time higher (verse 5)
" The devil lead him to a high place and showed Him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to Him, 'I will give you all their authority and splendor for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours"side note- I know that some of you might be wondering how satan could give this to Jesus if Jesus is God...
The Lord gave the earth to men but through our sin we hand over our rightful authority to satan. Sin is how sstan gains legitimate access to our hearts, marriages, families, homes, territories, nations. But since we rightfully won this and it's been redeemed and purchased back by the blood we can reclaim these territories back to the Lord and turn our back on sin.
Back to Jesus' response, again He goes to the word. Here is the living word declaring the written word to defeat the enemy
"It is written worship the Lord your God and serve Him only."pwnd!
The devil led Jesus to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the highest point of the temple. Now here satan tries to use the word against Jesus he says to Him, "If you are the son of God throw yourself down from here for it is written 'He will command His angels concerning you to guard you carefully, they will lift you up in their hands, so that you do not strike your foot against a stone'"
This is a statement from the Word of God . Jesus could have done this and seen it come into action, but he saw the intention behind it and refutes satan by saying " It says 'do not put the Lord your God to the test.' When the devil had finished all this tempting he left him until an opportune time."
satan gave up. There was no shaking Jesus. He was rock solid. Founded on the Word of God. This is how we need to be. Unshakable. Rooted firm in the truth of the Lord. We need to believe God so that we too can stand firm and walk on solid ground.
James 12:23 says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend."
I want to be called God's friend! I want to be considered righteous because I believe Him, because I trust Him.
