Jesus won the victory over Satan in the desert at all three levels of Body, Soul and Spirit

Jesus Ready for Battle

In Luke 4:1-13 we read:
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
 Temptation #1   
The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
  Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

Temptation #2
The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him,
  “I will give you all their authority and splendour; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
  Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

Temptation #3
The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. He said, “Throw yourself down from here. For it is written:
 “‘He will command his angels concerning you  to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
  When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Jesus' Victory Over Satan In The Desert

Jesus' victory over Satan in the desert was key to God's plan of saving humanity from going to a lost Christless eternity in hell. For if Jesus had bowed down and worshipped Satan in response to his offer to give him authority over all this world's kingdoms, he would have handed over total control of heaven and earth  -  Satan's original goal of wanting to be God before he was banished to earth.

It was also important because it was victory at the three levels of warfare we encounter with Satan  -  Body, Soul and Spirit.

Levels of Warfare

Jesus' baptism in the River Jordan in water and in Spirit                Image may be subject to copyright

God Promises A Supernatural Heart Transplant

In Ezekiel 36:24-29 God promises he is going to demonstrate his holiness to the world by washing his children clean with water and giving them a supernatural heart transplant.
“‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God. I will save you from all your uncleanness."

Jesus' Baptism in Water & in Spirit

In Matthew 3:5-17 Jesus went to the River Jordan, where his cousin John the Baptiser was baptising dozens of people on confession of and repentance for sin, to be cleansed with water as a sign of God's forgiveness and cleansing. When he saw the Pharisees and religious leaders were among the crowd, he said: " You brood of vipers! Who warned you of God's coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with genuine repentance."

John also told the crowd that he baptized them with water for the forgiveness of their sins. But Someone was coming more important than him who would baptize them with Spirit and fire to purge them of their sins.

When Jesus approached John and asked him to baptize him, John objected, “I’m the one who needs to be baptized, not you!”  But Jesus insisted. “Do it. God’s work, putting things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in this baptism.” (The Message paraphrase) So John did it. 

The Meaning of Baptism in Water & in Spirit

In John Chapter 3 a Jewish leader and member of the Jewish religious council, The Sanhedrin, called Nicodemus came to Jesus secretly one night, intrigued by the miracles he had seen Jesus doing and hearing what he had been saying to the crowds that followed him.

Jesus was not flattered by Nicodemus' statement that it was obvious God was with him and replied " You must be born anothen."

Nicodemus thought anothen meant "again"   -  which it does! That looked to Nicodemus a physical impossibility for a sixty-year old! But the word also means "from above," meaning that it involves a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit as God promised through Ezekiel. And Jesus spelled it out for Nico by saying:" Flesh gives birth to physical life (Greek=bios) but the Spirit gives birth to spiritual  ie eternal life (Greek=zoe). That's why you must be born anothen if you want to get into heaven." 
[Note: Whenever Jesus talks about life, he always uses the word zoe  -   ie  eternal spiritual life]

Two Reasons for Baptism in Water & in Spirit 

When Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan, he was giving us an example to follow because we need to experience two things  -
A. Cleansing in Water for the Forgiveness of Sin
Jesus had no sins to be forgiven, but we have. God promises to forgive our sins when we confess them and repent  -  turn away from sin and to God.
B. Being Filled with the Holy Spirit & Hearing God Say: "You Are My Beloved Child"
As Jesus rose up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended from heaven in the form of a dove and he heard his heavenly Father say: "You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Jesus received power for ministry and affirmation of his heavenly Father's love  -  two essentials for us as followers of Jesus.

Ready for Battle

Part of The Great Isaiah Scroll  © The Israel Museum, Jerusalem

Jesus' Mission -  Isaiah  61:1-2a

One Sabbath when he attended the synagogue in his home town Nazareth, Jesus now aged thirty and eligible to be a rabbi and elder was handed the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah in The Tanakh, which was open at Chapter 61. He proceeded to read verses 1-2:

" The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour...."  and he stopped short of reading about the day of God's vengeance.

Then rolling up the scroll he gave it to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were on him as he added:

"Today this prophecy is fulfilled in your hearing."

It caused an uproar  -  some people were saying: "Isn't this Joseph's son?" And when Jesus added that a prophet is never accepted in his own town, they were outraged and wanted to throw him over the cliff at the edge of town.

Jesus' Ministry

Jesus was stating his life's mission from God was twofold  -

A. Proclamation of Good News
The Good News was announcing what Isaiah had prophesied some six hundred years earlier in Isaiah 52:7  "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
The Good News is that God's in control, not Satan, in spite of appearances to the contrary.

B. Demonstration of Salvation, Healing & Setting the Captives Free
The proof of the claim was to be seen in the saving of the lost, the healing of the sick and the setting free of those who were captive to Satan in bondages of every kind.

God's Method of Salvation: A Suffering Servant  Isaiah 52:13-53:12

What was even more amazing was that Isaiah prophesied God would accomplish all this through A Suffering Servant, who would be rejected by his own people and die as punishment by God for their sins, not his own, and rise to eternal life to see the fruit of his suffering.

Jesus' Preparation for Ministry

Vines trained on trellises     Photo: Galló Gusztáv - Adobe Stock 

Jesus The True Vine                                      

In John 15:5-8 Jesus describes the spiritual life as being like a grapevine, as in the diagram here:

   
Image may be subject to copyright             

The Roots  grow down deep into the ground to receive nourishment in the form of sap needed for the vine to grow .
The Trunk supports the branches 
The Branches support the leaves, shoots and grapes

" I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

Rooted & Grounded In Christ

In Ephesians 3:14-19 Paul prays that the Christians in Ephesus might be rooted and grounded in the love of God through their relationship in Christ by being filled with the Holy Spirit every day.

" For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

The way that we do this is by practising the disciplines Jesus practised and taught his disciples.

Jesus' Life's Mission