Matt. 4:1-111Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. (Matthew 4:1‑11); Mark 1:12, 1312And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. 13And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him. (Mark 1:12‑13); Luke 4:1-131And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. 3And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. 4And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 5And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 8And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 9And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 10For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: 11And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 12And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 13And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. (Luke 4:1‑13).
Is not the wilderness a figure of the world—this present evil world, which, though shone upon and watered from above, brings forth nothing but briers and thorns; bears no fruit for God? The waste, howling, terrible wilderness, in which were pits and scorpions, through which Israel of old passed, and in which they wandered forty years, was surely to them a figure of the world: in it no rest for the sole of the foot could be found; and water out of the. smitten rock in Horeb, and manna from heaven must be given, or they would perish. In the wilderness, alas! they tempted God, asking meat for their lust, and, despising the good land, did so provoke God, that He aware in His wrath, “They shall not enter into My rest.” They forgat The Rock that begat them, and corrupted themselves—a solemn lesson to the saints. Israel became a wilderness; Israel became the world, “Ye are from beneath;” “Ye are of your father the devil;” “Ye are of this world.” Israel had become as the nations: the vineyard of the Lord, a wilderness. “Lo Ammi,” not My people, was truly written upon them. But for a very little remnant, they were become as Sodom and Gomorrah. Unclean spirits, deaf and dumb spirits, legion in name, inhabited Jacob, the lot of God’s inheritance. Fallen and turned away from Jehovah, Satan had got his throne amongst them. The Holy One of God is led Up of the Spirit into the wilderness (the literal a figure of the spiritual) to be tempted. Surely the wild beasts have another signification, and not that of lions and bears merely. Is not fallen human nature bestial? (Rom. 1). Is not the position of the saint in the world very similar to that of our Lord in the wilderness? Does he not find the world a wilderness, the scene of Satan’s power, and where he is assaulted with temptations, according to the pattern of Him who is the Captain of our salvation? but does he overcome, as Jesus did; or fall, after the example of the unbelief and disobedience of Israel of old? Jesus says, “I have overcome the world,” its prince, and its god. Can you, in My victory, withstand, overcome, and stand? Do you realize your position in the world to be such as Mine in the wilderness? What was there for Me there, save temptation; or for God, but dishonor, and not glory? The wilderness produced nothing for Me or for God. What do you find for yourself in it? Surely the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life make up the wilderness now—the world which lieth in the Wicked-one, incapable of ministering aught to the saint: in it he must hunger, and learn that he lives “not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, for He was not of this world. His prayer for us to the Father is, “Not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” Satan, that roaring lion, may indeed desire to have the weakest and most exposed saint as a prey, but Jesus has prayed for such a one that his faith fail not; and this is the victory that overcometh the world—the wilderness, its weary journeys and watch-lags; its hungerings, through inability to supply aught that is good according to God; its trials and temptations—even our faith. Doubtless there is more in the passage, but I have only sought to make a spiritual and practical application of it.