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The Temptation in the Wilderness.
Jesus, by His baptism and the accompanying supernatural manifestations, had been formally and publicly inaugurated into His ministry. But He was not to begin His preaching at once.
v. 1. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
"Then," immediately after His baptism, as soon as He had received the extraordinary communication of the Spirit. This same Spirit now filled His humanity and directed His actions, leading Him up, first of all, into the wilderness, causing Him to make the journey into the solitude of the desert the haunt of wild beasts rather than the abode of men, Mar_1:13. It was a voluntary trip on the part of Jesus, His single concern being to fulfill, in all things, the will of His heavenly Father, Psa_40:7-8; Heb_10:7-9, though the weakness of His human nature may have required some urging, Mar_1:12. For the object of this retirement was not merely to afford an opportunity for blessed rest and joy, nor to offer a chance for weighty contemplation as to the methods of revealing Himself to His people after the manner of a Buddha or a Mohammed, but to be tempted of the devil. The entire period of solitary living was occupied with this temptation. Mar_1:13; Luk_4:2. This combating of the devil was a part of the office and work for which He was sent by God and anointed with the Spirit. As the arch-enemy of mankind had tempted and overcome the first Adam, thus plunging the entire human race into condemnation, so he now proposed to vanquish the second Adam by hindering or frustrating the work of redemption. "Led up of the Spirit": "tempted of the devil"—a powerful contrast!