Jesus Faces the Devil

“The Spirit immediately drove Him out into the wilderness. And He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And He was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to Him” (Mark 1:12-13)

Jesus vs. the devil. The ultimate battle of the universe. The Prince of Peace vs. the prince and power of the air.

This showdown happened right after the Son was baptized by John in the Jordan. The moment in the water was necessary and it marked Jesus’ entrance into His identity as the Priest come to render atonement for the sins of the world.

The baptism was punctuated by the declaration from Heaven and the sign of the Dove. These were signals to all the earth about who this Man was and is.

And it was also an announcement to the prince of the power of the air. God the Son had come to this field of conflict.

The Son was human, a real down-to-earth human – flesh, bone, Blood altogether a Person of this dust we trod. He was now set a little lower than the angels, according to Hebrews 2:9. He subjected Himself to the details of life that He Himself had ordained at the Creation.

This meant He was exposed to everything that the devil could contrive and stimulate. There was no way for Him to escape this part of the divine program to accomplish Redemption.

Adam fell and surrendered his status of dominion over the things of which this planet consisted – fish, fowl, beasts, flowers, trees, grains, and soil. The second and last Adam had to come, live, and die to bring reclamation and restoration to all of this.

The devil was aware of His presence at once. Satan stirred the raging envy in Herod, the supposed king of Judea, and so the infant Jesus was pursued by death squads sent to the region of Bethlehem.

We are not told whether there were any other such encounters as Jesus lived through His toddler and teenage years and grew into adulthood like any other human being.

Did He ever fall down? Did He risk His life with some manner of daring do?

The Cosmic Conflict

As we read in Mark 1, Jesus suddenly showed up at the river before John. He urged John to baptize Him according to the rule of the priesthood. He stood identified as the beloved Son before all those present, visible, or invisible. The witnesses on the shore and those hovering in the air saw and heard the declaration.

This is the point we are looking at just now. The angelic realm was very much aware that a cosmic conflict was playing out in our own dusty environs. The will of the Father was being done on earth as it was ordered and planned in Heaven.

Jesus never lived in hiding. He was there to be seen, in and around Nazareth. When He made visits to this place after beginning His public ministry, the people there were quite familiar with Him. For this reason, they found it difficult to put faith in Him as the promised Son of David. He was too much like them. And this was precisely the reason He came — to be one of them, one of us, to experience all of what it means to be us.

Their thoughts went like this I think: “Hey, this Jesus talks so graciously. His words are wonderful. He has done some mighty works. But He has brothers and sisters. How does He do the things that He does? And what about the way He even came to be born? Scandalous!”

When it came to the Son, the Nazarenes were too naturally minded to experience His miracles in their midst. Their fields of faith were too restricted by natural sights and sounds and presumptions.

In Mark 1, the Voice was heard for it came from above. The Spirit touched on Him and was seen in the figure of the Dove. A new stage of the great battle to win souls arrived.

“Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness” (Mark 1:12).

The wording really marks out Jesus as the Son of David. There was no hesitation. Jesus entered right into the battle in the wilderness.

There was no hesitation. Jesus entered right into the battle in the wilderness. Share on X

These words remind me of how David came at Goliath in 1 Samuel 17. The shepherd boy visited the battle front. The giant stepped forward and taunted the people of Israel and mocked their God, the one true and living God.

“Then the Philistine said, ‘I defy the ranks of Israel today. Send me a man so we can fight each other!’ ” (1 Samuel 17:10).

David offered himself at once to the challenge. He took five stones and his slingshot and charged at Goliath. He ran at the enemy in the Name of the Lord. The triumph he enjoyed is world renowned. He took down the giant and cut off his head.

Likewise, Jesus wasted no time in advancing to the field of temptation. The Spirit led the Son and so Jesus fought the liar of liars over the course of 40 days.

The Weapon of the Word

How Jesus waged combat is spelled out in Matthew 4 and Luke 4. These passages offer us a pattern on how to stand against the ways of the enemy.

What we see is Jesus using the Word of God in all of its quickness and power. He did this because I believe He was required to fight as the Son of Man, to battle like every other man would have to battle. He fought in Spirit and in Truth.

Each of the challenges from Satan was related to pride in the forms it manifests in our hearts. The devil tempted Jesus to become a true man of the world as defined in 1 John 2:16 – “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

Follow this with me and remember: Eve before she ate first noticed the Tree of Knowledge was “good for food.” She also saw it as “pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise” (see Genesis 3:6).

Jesus was challenged to create food from rocks. His long fast surely affected His flesh – His physical body. Make bread, a stone could be made “good for food,” the devil taunted. Instead, He answered with Scripture. “… ‘It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4).

Next, the devil demonstrated his power as he carried the Son. Yes, Satan made Jesus fly and set Him on the highest point of the Temple. “… ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: He will give His angels orders concerning you. …’”

Again came a Bible response: “…‘It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.’” I imagine Jesus was thinking of something from Proverbs, a principle repeated twice, word-for-word:

“It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house” (Proverbs 21:9; 25:24).

Yes, Jesus could have thrown Himself down and let angel arms catch Him. It would have been quite a spectacle. Would it have made people draw near to God? Consider all the moments of power the Israelites witnessed – the parting of the waters, the rations of manna and quail, the falling walls of Jericho, etc. Still, they fell to “brawling” with murmurings and complaints and rebellions even.

The Son surveyed the scene and rested in who He was. He would not take the bait and take a fall for publicity’s sake.

At the Lord’s Service

Lastly, the devil tried to tempt Jesus with the possessions and power that most men fall victim to. “And he said to Him, ‘I will give You all these things if You will fall down and worship me.’”

This time the Son pointed to the glory of God and drove the enemy away: “Then Jesus told him, ‘Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him.’”

The statement Jesus made carried a direct shot at the devil: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him.”

The reality the Son called attention to here is that the Lord is Lord of all – Satan and his demons included. Lucifer desired to be as the most High, as the center of adoration and submission, but the fact remains that the devil was made by God and for God. In all that he does, Satan is in service to the purposes of Heaven.

And the devil knows it. The days he has to wreak havoc are numbered.

In application, we have to take these truths to heart. The Word of God never returns void. When it is spoken in faith, it does not come back empty. It accomplishes what it is sent to do.

Jesus lives as the Word who was made flesh. In His resurrected humanity, the Son sits at the right hand of the Father as our Advocate. Even when we fail, He speaks for us by the authority of His cleansing Blood.

Christ conquered death by the power of His perfect and endless life. And we, by virtue of our belief in Him, possess His righteousness. Our lives are hidden in His life. We are never forgotten or forsaken.

Jesus is our all and is in all.