The Miracle of Overcoming Temptation

The miraculous is sometimes only seen as something spectacular. It is often overlooked for that reason. Anytime God works, it’s a miracle. And God works according to and by His word. The first chapter of the Bible reveals this truth. It is the first of the ways of God; He word works. First God says it, then, God does it, every time. God is faithful to His own word, always and forever.

After the baptism of Jesus and the miraculous sign of approval of the Father and the Holy Spirit, it says, “The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan.” Mark 1:12 – 13. The word “drove him out” is the Greek word ek-ballow, and has the meaning of forceful expulsion. It also has the meaning of being guided by a powerful force.

The Holy Spirit did not violate the will of Jesus in this event, but rather gave powerful guidance with clear direction. Some might use the expression, “he had no other choice except to go.” The emphasis is upon the power of the word of God guiding every step of Christ Jesus.

The word “immediately,” you-thoos, connects this event with the approving word that Jesus saw and heard from the Spirit and the Father in 1:10 – 11. This approving word gave powerful assurance to Jesus as He saw what He had to go through next. There was only one way, God’s way, to be the Savior, and the wilderness experience was the only way.

Jesus used the word “must,” dey, which has the same meaning. He said in Luke 2:49 to His parents when they found Him at the Temple as a boy, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” And again to Nicodemus in John 3:7, “You must be born again.” And also in John 4:4, “And he had to pass through Samaria.” And in Mark 8:31 following the great revelation of God and confession of Peter, “And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.”

Each of these verses communicates the message of singleness, the one way of God for Jesus and for His followers. Some might view “one way” as narrow-minded and restrictive, but in reality it reveals the only way that pleases the Father, God’s way, according to and by His word; the miraculous way!

Jesus emerged from the wilderness victorious over every lie and temptation of Satan because He followed God’s word, God’s way, which was miraculous. Jesus overcame every temptation according to and by God’s guiding, assuring, approving word. This is the work of God, which is done exclusively by His word and pleases Him because He sees Himself in it.

Today, know that you have no other choice but to follow the leading of God’s Spirit by God’s word. This is the only way to worship the Father in spirit and truth, and it is a miracle when it happens, because God is the only one who can make it happen! Make it happen, Lord! Hallelujah!!!