One of the passages that has fascinated me in recent years is the time where Jesus is tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Now, there are so many things we could teach through this account, which we don’t have time for here, but when reading it today I realised something I hadn’t previously.

The first verse in this passage has always been the one that has troubled me. I’ve underlined the part that I’ve traditionally wrestled with.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness Luke 4:1

So, maybe I’m late to the party but I’ve always struggled with the fact that the Spirit of God led Jesus into temptation (at least thats how I’d always read it). It never felt consistent to me, it didn’t sound like the Holy Spirit I know, and if my understanding was wrong then does that mean the Holy Spirit leads me into temptation?

However today I realised that the passage shouldn’t really be titled the temptation of Jesus….. It should be called the victory of Jesus. Lets be clear about what happens. Jesus defeats the temptation of the enemy in the wilderness, He pushes back in a way that didn’t happen in the Garden of Eden. This was an important victory for His life and His mission.

When I see that I realise that the spirit didn’t lead Him into temptation at all – the spirit led Him towards victory.

That’s a game changer for me. We don’t want to be led into temptation but we do want to have victory. The problem is we can only have victory where there is opposition. So there may be times in our lives where the spirit leads us into battle so we can gain victory and its important we don’t misunderstand the purpose!

Lord, thank you for opening my eyes to your ways!