40 Days in the Desert

40 Days in the Desert

A friend asked me to write about my thoughts of Jesus in the desert for forty days. I took this request and ran with it, and quickly discovered there was no way for me to write all of my thoughts in one post. I reread the account of Jesus in the desert in Matthew and Luke and I started to have questions. I began to study this topic in an effort to answer my questions and the more I studied the more I could relate this trying time to my life. Instead of relaying everything I learned from my studies I’m going to share the first five questions that came to my mind, the answers and close with a few thoughts that started me on this exploration.

  Let me set the stage: Jesus was baptized, accepted by God (his father) and “was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” (Matthew 4:1)

Question 1: Why did Jesus go into the desert?

  We already know Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert but why? Jesus went to be tested or better yet tempted to know what it was like to be tempted by sin. This would allow him to stand before God on our behalf and to take on our sin to save us from eternity without God.

Question 2: What was the experience like?

  I wanted to know what the wilderness was like and how Jesus felt. I will answer the wilderness part in this questions and the feelings in another question. Jesus walked the desert for forty days. The desert or wilderness, one and the same for this topic, is not the sandy ocean you might have pictured. Instead it was a “region of rugged gorges and bad lands. This area was infested with wild animals.” (Pfeiffer, 201) The word infested, should clue you in on the fact that there were a lot of wild animals. I would picture the wilderness with the wild animals being everywhere, almost like there really wasn’t an escape from them. Jesus was alone, no disciples, in the barren, rugged land, with wild animals and his thoughts and prayers. The closest we could come to experiencing this today is to go hiking with nothing, sleep out under the stars and focus on God in our prayers.

Question 3: How did Jesus feel during this time?

 Jesus was baptized and I’m sure going into the wilderness Jesus was at one of the highest levels of his emotions, after all he was now fully accepted and recognized by God as his son. It would be safe to say Jesus was inspired and motivated to start his ministry when he was led to the desert. As the days past he became weary and weak like all humans would with no water, no food and no shelter to speak of. At his weakest, Jesus felt the elements of the wilderness with every step and that is when the devil comes into the story.

Question 4: Why was Jesus tempted?

  I never put much thought into why Jesus was tempted. Hang with me as I dive into this question. Jesus wasn’t just tempted once, but three times while he was in the wilderness. Let’s look at each temptation:

1. “The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” (Matthew 4:3) The devil wanted Jesus to depend on his own powers instead of putting his trust in God’s word.
2. “If you are the Son of God’, he said, ‘throw yourself down.” (Matthew 4:6) The devil follows this with scripture to try to influence Jesus to do what he is asking of him. “Satan attempted to confuse Christ by using scripture out of context.” (Willmington)
3. “All this I will give you’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:9) The devil tempted Jesus with worldly possessions.

 According to Willmington, “the purpose (of the temptations) was not to see if he would, but to prove that he could not sin” and “to provide the believer with an experienced high priest.” Jesus had to be quick on his feet and know the scriptures by heart to respond to these temptations, especially with a weak body. Jesus was tempted so he could be our Savior. The intro into his ministry is a rough forty days in the desert with rough land, wild animals, and the devil tempting him. The cross keeps me in awe of Jesus, but the desert puts a new perspective on what else he did for us.

Question 5: How did Jesus respond?

  We all know that Jesus responded to each temptation with scripture but the importance of this can easily be overlooked. Once you understand that, “Satan’s supreme object in the temptation ordeal was to cause Christ to act by himself, independent of the Father,” you realize the weight of Jesus using scripture to avoid the temptations. (Willmington) Jesus responded as we all should in a time of temptation/trial he leaned on God’s word to see him through the struggle. Jesus had the power to take care of himself during the forty days, he had the power to destroy the devil right there but he chose to lean on God’s word so that you and I could have life with him for all eternity.

 This post isn’t really my thoughts on Jesus in the desert but I felt it was important to share what I learned from my studies. I am not a Bible scholar and could be way off with the few thoughts I did share but this brief study opened my eyes to the depth of this story and I hope the few items I shared with you does the same. There will be more posts that come from the understanding that I now have of this scripture and my thoughts on it. Until next time, “May Yahweh bless you and protect you” Numbers 6:24

1. Pfeiffer, Charles. Baker's Bible Atlast

2. Willmington, Dr. Harold L. Willmington's Guide to the Bible