The Preliminary Face-Off

Mark 1:12–13

The first time that we see Jesus in the Gospel of Mark is at His baptism. He goes down into the water, and upon His rising the Spirit descends to Him and the Father speaks: You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.

And then, Jesus gets sent out into the wilderness to have a face-off with the Devil himself. I tend to think of this story as follows. Satan is a funny looking, black creature that hops around and laughs at Jesus as He stumbles. Then of course, the Devil asks his three questions, or "temptations," Jesus overcomes and is triumphant, and the scene is over.

Jesus was triumphant, but we tend to overlook the significance of these two verses. Verse 13 says that Jesus was "in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan." Forty days, being tempted by Satan. Satan is not omnipresent like God. He cannot be everywhere at once; in fact, because he is a created being, he can only be in one place at any given time. Because of this, I tend to think that in my 24 years of life, I have most likely never had any encounters with the Devil himself. I am no threat to him and there are plenty other lesser-demons who can harass me and succeed in their purposes. And honestly, I am thankful that I have never had a run in with the Devil. I certainly would not be able to endure. I am weak; I would be absolutely terrified, even to encounter the Devil for a period of ten seconds.

But Jesus went head-on with the Devil for forty days. Forty days. Forty nights. Most certainly the Devil attempted everything possible to overcome Jesus. The Devil's purpose was to thwart the ministry of Jesus (as this event occurs just before Jesus' ministry). And God's purpose was to unreservedly allow the Devil to haunt Jesus. It could have been for four days, forty days, or four hundred years. The result would have been the same. The Devil brought his most powerful attacks and terrors against God's Son. Most assuredly, these forty days endured by Jesus were more terrible and excruciating than any forty days lived by anyone.

Yet, Jesus was triumphant. He did not waver. He did not falter. He did not stumble.

This was not so much a "test" for Jesus as it was a "proof" for the Devil. God is proving to the Devil that Jesus is unmatched. Jesus has come for one purpose—to fulfill His purpose of living God's will. Nothing will alter Jesus' course.

If you read through Mark, you will notice that every time a demon comes into contact with Jesus, he falls flat and pleads for mercy before the Son of God. The word had spread. Jesus, the Messiah, had come, and nothing, not even the most powerful being of God's creation could have any impact on averting Jesus' aim. Jesus was, and is, triumphant.

The word had spread.

The Art of Fasting

I've been reading a great book, Ten Things I Wish Jesus Never Said, by Victor Kuligin. Though I'm not far into the book yet, he makes some great observations about fasting.

I agree with him that we have sadly lost the spiritual discipline of fasting... certainly this is true in America. Through it we learn self-discipline and self-control, which will ultimately make us more like Christ by withstanding the temptations of the flesh. 

Check it out:

"'Fasting has the power to detach one's mind from the world of sense and to sharpen one's sensibility to the world of spirit.' If you can abstain from the strongest human desires, the body's need for food, then you can control yourself completely." 

       (Page 26)

And How about this:

"The comparison between the first Adam and second Adam is striking in this regard. The first Adam in the Garden of Eden could not resist the temptation to eat from the forbidden tree while in teh midst of numerous tress from which he could eat. The second Adam, Jesus Christ, after fasting forty days in the wilderness, was able to resist the temptation of Satan to make bread out of stones with no other food available. Jesus learned to control his physical cravings and desires, and from that discipline came the ability to resist spiritual temptation as well."

(Page 26)