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Mark 1:12-13
In Mark 1:12-13 the Bible teaches us that Jesus was tempted by Satan for forty days. This was a time when Satan was given the opportunity, one on One with Jesus, to overpower God with the desires of the flesh, which is what we refer to as temptation. This was an important part of God’s great plan of salvation in redeeming humanity back to Himself in a proper relationship as was intended in the beginning with Adam and Eve. For Jesus to truly be the sinless sacrifice for all of humanity, He must first prove Himself more powerful than Satan in His earthly body of which He came to save. The Law was given to Moses of the things in which a man could do to prove himself worthy to God in gaining righteousness. But the Law was given to prove to man that he could not do all these things all the time; the Law was given to man so that he could see that he is not able to obtain righteousness on his own – he needed a Savior – One who could keep all the commandments of the Law and be deemed righteous. Jesus is that One. Jesus is God taking on human form for this purpose – God Himself came to us to save us from sin because God is the only righteous One.
This is the purpose of the second person of the Trinity – the Son.
The most well-known and memorized verse in the Bible is John 3:16 (NKJV) states, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” But it is what comes next that is so important for us to understand along with it. John 3:17 teaches us, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” This is God coming into this earthly world from the heavenly spiritual realms as a human Savior while yet still remaining in His heavenly spiritual realm as God Almighty. This is hard for us to grasp in the human mind because our minds are not capable of understanding God’s mind, but we must always remember that God can do anything that does not go against His own character. Just because we cannot understand why or how God does it does not limit God’s own Almighty power.
Salvation and condemnation are both explained in the next verse of John 3:18 declaring by the words of Jesus – which are the words of God, “He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” This is God’s great plan of salvation for humanity – to redeem us back to a right relationship with Him; He came to us to save us from sin because we are incapable of saving ourselves. The plan is so simple: Believe in the method by which God gave us to save us from sin, and you will be saved. Believe that Jesus came to save you from your sins as is God’s will for you, and you will be saved. But in believing is not returning to your old ways of sin any longer; God has given you a new life in Christ through the salvation that you have accepted. Jesus declares in John 14:15-18 of the way in which we should now live once we have accepted Jesus as our Savior as He instructs, “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” This is the third person of the Trinity – the Holy Spirit, whose role is to be with us as God’s children after we have accepted our salvation in God’s plan. The Holy Spirit is the gift that we receive while still yet living in our human bodies – it is God’s seal on our lives to be our guide and protector until the day He takes us to our eternal spiritual dwelling in heaven. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit – all One but working in three separate entities to save us from sin.
Jesus overcame the temptation of Satan to prove that even in human form He is more powerful than Satan so that there would be no question of who is the Almighty One. God calls us to Himself – He calls out to our hearts to open to Him and believe in Him. Maybe He is calling out to you right now; do you believe, will you believe? Invite God into your heart today by professing Jesus to be your Savior and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9-10) and you will be saved. Jesus overcame the grasp of Satan in temptation so that Satan could not hold Him in death. He rose from the grave defeating eternal death for us so that we may have life everlasting – in Christ! Believe in Jesus today and be saved!
Dear LORD,
This is what Christianity is all about – You coming to save us from the grasp of Satan. Please call us to You and help us to believe that we cannot save ourselves but that it is only through believing in Your great plan of salvation that we may obtain righteousness, and be forgiven of our sins, as Jesus is the only One who overcame temptation and then took His purity to the cross, in death, and then rose from the dead victorious for eternity that through Him we may obtain the gift of forgiveness and everlasting life. Thank You LORD for saving us from sin – please help us to believe it. In Jesus name I pray, amen.