Never forget, first and foremost Jesus ministry is a ministry-- that is, service—of spiritual warfare. Jesus primary purpose is to defeat the evil one and the sin and death he introduced into the world by his temptation of the first Adam, as we heard in our OT lesson this morning.
And neither let us not forget how that evil one worked. He was crafty. The original Hebrew word might be better understood by that outdated English word, "beguiling." Temptation cloaks deceit in beauty—appealing to the senses and desires of eyes, ears, and hearts not turned to God and His Word. But rather turned inward to what we think is God talking and what we want to hear.
So Jesus is led, even driven out into the wilderness to do spiritual battle with the evil one and fulfill His Father's promise to Adam and Eve to bruise, even crush the head of that evil tempter.
To hear and'or read the entire sermon preached for Invocavit, the First Sunday in Lent, click on this link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3158
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