◄ What Does Luke 4:1 Mean? ►

"This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased," were the wonderful words of encouragement that thundered from heaven when the Lord Jesus fulfilled all righteousness, by being baptised by John in the Jordan river. Christ's earthly ministry and three-year trek to Calvary's bitter cup which had been prepared for Him before the foundation of the world, was about to begin.

The first Adam had failed miserably to fulfil the will of God for his life, rendering the entire human race dead in their sins, at enmity with God, under the curse of the Law, and in bondage to sin, self, Satan, death and hell.

If the human race were to be redeemed from a lost eternity, the Lord Jesus had to live a sinless life, in total dependence upon the Father by walking in spirit and in truth. He had to live and die as humanities representative Man, and on His shoulders rested the fate of the entire human race.

As the eternal Son and invisible God He had to be born into the human race so that He could be identified with His own creation in every possible way. He had to drink the bitter cup of suffering for all humanity. He had to die a humiliating, painful and sacrificial death as the one and only sinless representative of the entire human race. Jesus was appointed to be the sin-sacrifice for the race of mankind. He was to become the last Adam and federal head of a new creation of humanity and was about to be tested in every way as we are, yet without sin. His success would provide redemption for man. His failure would render the entire race eternally damned.

Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a young virgin as the Scriptures had foretold, and like His cousin, John, Jesus was filled with the Holy Ghost from His mother's womb. The young Jesus had grown in favour with God and man in as the youthful carpenter of Nazareth, but following the heavenly announcement at His unique baptism, we read: "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness."

Following the pattern of the first Adam, the incarnate Son of God had to pass the tremendous test of willing obedience through total submission to the Spirit of God in the face of humanities bitterest foe; that slippery serpent called the devil and Satan. And so, Christ was led by the Spirt into the wilderness to be tempted and tried of the devil for 40 days. The entire future of the whole human race depended on Christ resisting every trick and treachery of the devil. As the representative of the human race, Jesus would have to live in willing surrender and total obedience to His heavenly Father in the power of the Holy Spirit every moment of the day, for the rest of His life.

As our representative Man, Christ's victory in the wilderness and His triumph on the Cross became the victory and triumph for all who believe on His name for salvation. The first Adam was God's first representative man and because he failed, we failed in him which rendered us dead in our sins, at enmity with God, under the curse of the Law, and in bondage to sin, self, Satan, death and hell. The last Adam triumphed victoriously, and as God's final representative Man, all who believe on Him for salvation have also triumphed in Him, which renders us alive in Christ, reconciled to God, set free from bondage to sin, self, Satan, death and hell.

Like the federal Head of the new creation, we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. To be filled with the Spirit is to be emptied of Self. To walk in spirit and truth is to be entirely surrendered to the Word of God so that the life of Christ may be lived in and through us. Instead of being identified with the first Adam and his sin and death, we are now identified with Christ and His righteousness and life. And in the power of the same indwelling Holy Spirit that led the Lord Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of Satan and raised Him from the dead, we have the power of the same indwelling, life-giving Spirit Who will guide us into all truth as we live in humble submission and willing obedience to His leading.

Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Jesus to be the representative Man of Your new creation. Thank You that He was prepared to come to earth to identify with my sin and die in my place to pay for my sins and the sins of the whole world. I am no longer identified with the first Adam but have become a new creation in Christ by faith, and that in Him I have been reconciled back to God, forgiven of my sins, in-dwelt by the Spirit, and received His eternal life. I pray that I too may live in submission to the Holy Spirit all the days of my life and be obedient to Your Word so that I may be filled with the Spirit and do only those things that are pleasing in Your sight.-This I ask in Jesus' name, AMEN.