Matt. 4:1, ”Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”
Luke 4:1-2, ”Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.”
Luke 4:13-14, “When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time. And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district.”
Notice the difference between Luke 4:1-2, and Matthew 4:1.
Matthew says that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, while Luke says that Jesus, being full of the Holy Spirit, was led about in the wilderness by the Spirit while being tempted by the devil.
In other words, Jesus was both thrust by the Spirit into battle, and was being led by the Spirit in the midst of the battle.
44 times in the Gospel of John Jesus referred to himself as someone who was sent by the Father. Because Jesus, as the Son of Man was absolutely and totally surrendered to the will of his Father, he was convinced that the Holy Spirit was ordering his steps. Jesus wasn’t subject to the will of man, or to the will of Satan, He was under the control of the will of His Father. He didn’t wander into the battle in the wilderness, nor did the devil lure him there. He was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The Holy Spirit under the direction of the Father picked a fight with Satan. Look at the pattern here; Jesus as man had just been filled with the Holy Spirit at the Jordan. The Spirit immediately thrust him into battle. In the wilderness, he was victorious only because every step of the way he followed the lead of the Spirit. He was totally dependent on the power of the Spirit to win the conflict that he faced continuously those 40 days. Why did the Father intentionally put Jesus in this situation. At his baptism the Father declared from the heavens that He was well pleased with Jesus; so course this gift of battle had nothing to do with any kind of correction or discipline. Luke 4:14 gives us insight into what this was all about. Even though Jesus was filled with the Spirit, it was only in the battle, where Jesus learned to steward the Holy Spirit, that the power of the Spirit, which was already in him, was released through Him. At this point, having thrived in the battle, he began to move and minster in the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank God for the gift of battle. It brings supernatural increase.
