9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; 11 and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”
12 Immediately the Spirit *impelled Him to go out into the wilderness. 13 And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him. Mark 1:9-13 NASB
To have the Holy Spirit descending on him in the form of a dove and the Father expressing his pleasure in his beloved Son – surely this was the high point of Jesus’ life to this point!
What follows next is arguably the worst temptation Jesus would experience in his life and ministry before the cross… Does this surprise you?
Where do we ever hear of God’s blessing being followed by temptation? Surely we expect that such a marvelous expression of God’s blessing would be followed immediately by fruitful ministry! Perhaps we have been misguided…
These events in Jesus’ life do not prove that God’s blessing will be followed by temptation in the life of his followers. That would be more than we find in this scripture. But surely we can say this: God’s blessing and times of temptation are not mutually exclusive!
– SSXG