As you prepare your hearts for worship this coming Sunday, let me encourage you to read and prayerfully reflect upon Luke 4:1-13. What we find here is Luke’s inspired account of the wilderness temptation of Jesus, which occurred immediately after His baptism in the Jordan by John.

As you will remember, there were three temptations hurled at Jesus by the devil, each answered by our Savior with a quotation from the Book of Deuteronomy. It almost goes without saying that this entire episode is shrouded in overwhelming mystery, and as we contemplate the details of this event our minds are filled with a multitude of questions:

Why did this happen, and happen when it did?

How could the Divine Son of God be tempted?

Were these temptations real temptations?

Could Jesus have sinned?

Does this make God the author of sin and evil?

How does this strange encounter fit in to the public ministry of Jesus?

What does this story have to do with our salvation?

As we approach this most amazing and critical event in the life of Jesus, we are going to ‘tap the brakes’ and proceed slowly and with great caution. What we will find here will be nothing short of amazing!