Read Luke 4
Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness
4 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”
24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
Jesus Drives Out an Impure Spirit
31 Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.
33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34 “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
35 “Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.
36 All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!” 37 And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.
Jesus Heals Many
38 Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. 39 So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.
40 At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. 41 Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.
42 At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. 43 But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” 44 And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
Go Deeper
In the encounter of Jesus’ temptation, scripture records three instances where Satan tempts Jesus, yet each time, Jesus is able to resist because he is filled with the Holy Spirit. As Jesus fasted for forty days, His flesh was weakened, but spiritually, Jesus was strengthened. After temptation from the enemy, Jesus left the wilderness in a more spiritually robust state than when He entered it. Fasting may be challenging, but it is worth the spiritual growth that it yields. Just as God leads us into seasons of peace, He also leads us into seasons of wilderness. He does this all for our sanctification and for His glory.
After being in the wilderness, Jesus goes to His hometown of Nazareth and teaches from the book of Isaiah in the synagogue. When Jesus claims to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy, the people are impressed at the gracefulness of His words. The climate of the group changes though, when Jesus not only refuses to prove His claims with miraculous signs, but also implies that God loves the Gentiles as much as the Jews. He also knew that it would be easier for the Nazarites to reject Him because He seemed too familiar to them. The Nazarites were filled with wrath and attempted to throw Jesus off the cliff, in preparation to stone Him, but Jesus escaped from their midst.
The chapter ends with a full night of Jesus healing people and casting out demons. But afterwards, He departed into a desert place. Jesus recognized the value of solitude with God and we should as well! It’s a healthy practice to exercise alone time with God to recharge. Jesus was able to accomplish His great ministry because He was in constant communion with God the Father and relied on the empowering of the Holy Spirit. As we serve Jesus, it is important to be able to minister from the “overflow” of our relationship and time with God.
Questions
- Is there a wilderness that God is taking you into? Leading you out of? From what we’ve learned in this passage, how can you best go through that season?
- How often is it that we are tempted to do away with Jesus or question His goodness when He does not work or move in our lives the way that we expect Him to?
- Why is it important that we take time to feed our souls after serving God? What are some ways that you’re experiencing communion with God the Father and relying on the Holy Spirit?
Listen Here
In the psalms, David speaks of dwelling in the secret place of the most high. Here is a song by Phil Wickham that speaks on that truth.
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1 thought on “Luke 4”
As this chapter opens we see Satan seeking to destroy Jesus’ relationship with the Father. Satan challenges Jesus at the point of His identity and authority, then appeals to human ambition and glory, for the price tag of rejecting God. Each time Jesus assets His complete trust in His Father who will empower Him for His earthly ministry. I don’t want to miss how deeply Christ knew and recalled scripture, using it as a sword to pierce Satan’s temptations. Later as He reads from Isaiah then recalls the lives of Elijah & Elisha, the people have a choice to either accept or reject Him. We must do the same. Let our lives proclaim in word and deed that we love, know, serve and are discipled by the Savior of the world, that His word dwells richly in our hearts, that we “study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman which needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim. 2:15) Thank you, BRP, for creating a place for us to be empowered by the Word.