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NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mar_1:12-13
12Immediately the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness. 13And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him.
Mar_1:12-13 This account of the temptation of Jesus is so brief compared to Mat_4:1-11 and Luk_4:1-13. In these accounts the purpose of the temptation is clear: how would Jesus use His Messianic powers to accomplish His redemptive task (cf. James Stewart, The Life and Teaching of Jesus Christ, pp. 39-46)? But what could Mark's brief account mean? It is possible that Peter saw this event as a symbol of Jesus' defeat of evil (i.e., by the empowering of the Spirit), a foreshadowing of the Passion Week. But this is only speculation. The text itself gives no clue except the event's timing—just after Jesus' (1) enduing by the Spirit and (2) affirmation by the Father, but before His public ministry. This is one of the three events mentioned before Jesus' public ministry ([1] John's ministry; [2] John's baptism; and [3] Satan's temptation).
Mar_1:12 "Immediately" See note at Mar_1:10.
▣ "the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness" The term "impelled" is the strong term "throw out" (often used of exorcisms, cf. Mar_1:34; Mar_1:39; Mar_3:15; Mar_3:22-23; Mar_6:13; Mar_7:26; Mar_9:18; Mar_9:28; Mar_9:38). The Son's temptation was by the agency of the evil one, but instigated by the Spirit (cf. Mat_4:1-11; Luk_4:1-13). It was God's will that Jesus be tested! I would like to recommend two good books on this topic, The Life and Teaching of Jesus by James S. Stewart and Between God and Satan by Helmut Thielicke.
In the OT the wilderness was a time of testing for Israel, but also a time of intimate fellowship. The rabbis called the wilderness wandering period the honeymoon between YHWH and Israel. Elijah and John the Baptist grew up in the wilderness. It was a place of seclusion for training, meditation, and preparation for active ministry. This period was crucial for Jesus' preparation (cf. Heb_5:8).
Mar_1:13 "forty days" This is used both literally and figuratively in the Bible. It denotes a long indeterminate period of time (i.e., longer than a lunar cycle, but shorter than a seasonal change).
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▣ "was being tempted" This is an imperfect passive periphrastic linked to an imperfect active "to be" verb. The term "tempt" (peirazô) has the connotation of "to test with a view toward destruction." From the first class conditional sentences in Matthew 4 (cf. Mar_4:3; Mar_4:6) we learn that the temptation was over how to use His Messianic power to accomplish God's redemptive will.
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▣ "by Satan" The Bible repeatedly asserts a personal, supernatural force of evil.
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▣ "the wild beasts" This is possibly a simple reference to an uninhabited area. However, because wild beasts are used as metaphors for or names of the demonic in the OT (cf. NEB) this could also refer to a place of demonic activity (cf. Psa_22:12-13; Psa_22:16; Psa_22:21; Isa_13:21-22; Isa_34:11-15).
These wild beasts could also be a continuing allusion to the new exodus, the new age of restored fellowship between mankind and the animals (cf. Isa_11:6-9; Isa_65:25; Hos_2:18). The Bible often describes the new age as a restoration of the Garden Eden (cf. Genesis 2; Revelation 21-22). The original image of God in mankind (cf. Gen_1:26-27) is restored through Jesus' sacrificial death. Full fellowship, which existed before the Fall (cf. Genesis 3), is possible again.
▣ "angels were ministering to Him" This is an Imperfect tense which means (1) ongoing action in past time or (2) the beginning of an activity in past time. Angels ministered to (1) Elijah in the wilderness in the same way (i.e., providing food, cf. 1Ki_18:7-8). This may imply Jesus as the new prophetic voice (cf. Deu_18:18-22) and (2) Israel in the wilderness, so too, to Jesus while in the wilderness. This may have implied Jesus as the new Moses paralleling his baptism and testing (cf. 1Co_10:1-13).