12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 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)

Driven Into the Wild

Mark does not include robust detail about Jesus' time of temptation in the wilderness. Matthew and Luke record three direct temptations from Satan, along with Jesus' scriptural rebuttals to each. Instead, Mark gives an overview of the events. He isn't as interested in the dialogue, but the action itself.

Right after heaven breaks open and Jesus is announced as the Son of God, the Spirit's first move in his life is to take him into the wild. Mark says: the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness (12).

One might have wondered if the Spirit's empowering presence on Jesus would lead to a pain-free existence. Immediately, Mark answers the question. Jesus' first move is to head out alone to suffer and be tempted.

Forty Days of Testing

One detail Mark does include, however, is that Jesus was in the wilderness forty days (13). Like Israel's forty years in the wilderness, Moses' forty days on the mountain, or Noah's forty days of rain, Jesus was tested for forty days.

The other gospels tell us Jesus was fasting the whole time, so we can imagine him fatigued and emaciated. Mark tells us even the wild animals were around, an ominous note portraying a dark and lonely season in Jesus' life (13). Things were so bad, and the battle was so intense, even angels were dispatched to minister to Jesus, with Matthew telling us they came after he'd stood his ground against every attack of Satan (13, Matthew 4:11).

And, as we read Mark's description of the surroundings attached to this event, it seems we should see them as the anti-garden of Eden. In Adam's Eden, before Adam's sin, conditions were perfect. The topography was lush. The food was plentiful. The animals lived in harmony with man. And Adam was full, not fasting, physically strong, and healthy.

But Jesus' temptation is the opposite of all that. He was weakened through fasting, completely alone, in the wilderness, amongst wild animals, and in a fallen world broken by sin.

But, though Adam could not succeed in the garden, Jesus could succeed in the wilderness. He is the champion.

Tempted by Satan

And he was tempted by Satan the entire time (13). And Satan, by the way, will be presented as the constant foe of Jesus and his plans throughout the book of Mark. In a couple of episodes after this one, the demonic realm will collide with Jesus, and Jesus will assert his power over them.

But that power, in a sense, begins here in the wilderness. Sometimes we wonder if Jesus really knows what it's like to be tempted, even though the Bible tells us he does.

But, after reading of Jesus' temptations at the hands of Satan, in the midst of weakness and frailty, I wonder if we are the ones who are actually novices when it comes to temptation. I have never been faced with temptation as terrible as Jesus has, yet I have succumbed to thousands of weaker temptations all throughout my life.

Think about it like this. When you and I are tempted, we either give in or eventually overcome. God provides a way of escape, and we take it. But in the garden, Jesus never gave in, and there was no way of escape except to endure to the end. He just had to resist as the temptations grew stronger by the minute.

I mean, if you keep dying on level one of a video game, I guess you can say it's a hard game. But if you make it to the last level, you actually experience the full difficulty of the game. That's Jesus. He felt the full difficulty of temptation because he never lost to it. His screen never read Game Over.

And this seems to be the big thing Mark wants us to know about Jesus through the recounting of his temptation: He is the true champion who delivers his people.

His first move, the very first one after being initiated into his ministry work, was to go head to head with the foe of all mankind. I mean, the firefighter heads for the flames, the surgeon deals with the cancer, and Jesus rushed straight into war with Satan.

This deceiver had plagued humanity from the very beginning, so by heading into the wilderness to meet him, Jesus indicated the type of conflict he was in. He would not help humanity without dealing with their main issues, and part of our problem was Satan himself.

There is another forty in the Bible we should think of when reading about Jesus' temptation. I've mentioned a few already, but do you remember the time Goliath taunted Israel for forty days?

There was no Israelite warrior found worthy of fighting him until the fortieth day. Then, young David appeared, trusting God for victory over the foe. He rushed towards Goliath with his five smooth stones but killed him with the first shot from his sling. The Israelite army, full of men who were incapable of defeating Goliath, was now on the winning side. All because of David.

You see, Jesus came to earth, picked up his five smooth stones, so to speak, and headed out to crush Goliath. He went straight into that wilderness for you and me. He is our champion, and because of him, we win.