‘And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led in the Spirit in the wilderness during forty days, being tempted of the Devil. And he ate nothing in those days, and when they were completed, he was hungry.'
Now full of the Holy Spirit Jesus departs from the Jordan and led in the Spirit enters the wilderness for forty days without food. This follows the pattern of Moses who twice went into the mountain to meet with God and went without food in order to receive the Law (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 9:9). Possibly we are to see in this that Jesus was here receiving a new Law. Compare also how Elijah endured without food for forty days after being provided with food by an angel twice (1 Kings 19:5-8), resulting in his receiving a revelation of God and instructions for his future, and how it was in the wilderness that John received ‘the word of God' (Luke 3:2). So Jesus is following in the path of the three greatest of the prophets as He too prepares for His future. He has not entered the wilderness in order to be tempted. He has entered it in order to receive the word of the Lord, and guidance as to His future.
We may also see here that Jesus entered into the experience of Israel in the wilderness where God tested them for forty years (Deuteronomy 8:2; Deuteronomy 13:3-4). Here too was a test as to whether love for God would triumph over personal self-seeking and aggrandisement, and where Israel failed, Jesus, representing the new Israel, would succeed. In point of fact it can be noted that all Jesus' replies to the Devil's temptations are taken from a passage that reflects this time in the wilderness ((Deuteronomy 6:13 to Deuteronomy 8:3).
But we must not make the purpose of being tested the reason for entering the wilderness. The leading by the Spirit was primarily in order to consider His future and to receive the word of God, as John had before Him, not in order to be tempted. For in Luke 11:4 Jesus teaches His disciple to pray that they might not be led into temptation. The temptations that He faced rather revealed what subjects His mind was on while in the wilderness, how to win the world, and how to reveal His Messiahship. Yet when anyone seeks to hear the word of God inevitably temptation will come, for the Devil, the great deceiver, will seek to turn them from God's path. And thus was He tempted of the Devil as He considered His future before God, temptation brought in order to lead Him to go about His future work in the wrong way. How the Devil did that comes out especially in the other two temptations, but it is reflected here also.
Having been without food for nearly forty days Jesus began to feel hungry, and it was then that the Devil seized what he thought was his opportunity. We should note from this, and from what happens later, that the Devil is not seen as omniscient. Indeed with regard both to Jesus and the early church in Acts he constantly made errors which instead of achieving his purpose helped to bring about God's purposes.
It is clear that the disciples learned of His experiences from Jesus Himself. Thus is it made quite clear that Jesus did believe in a personal Devil, or Satan as he is described elsewhere. Had He merely been pandering to innocence He would not have introduced him where it was not necessary. It was only necessary here because it was true, and in order to be a warning to them of something that would be real for them too.
It should be noted that the temptation comes from without. (That is true even if it came into the mind rather than from a physical presence). He could not be tempted from within, for He was without sin. But He was as much open to temptation from without as we are. And He had the same physical feelings and desires, although in His case not intermingled with sinfulness. They were untainted. But He still knew hunger. He was in essence, as Man, in the same position as Adam before the Fall.
‘He was hungry.' Here we have the reminder that Jesus was true man. While He was the Son of God in an exalted sense, He was also a son of Adam. Thus it was not only the Son of God of chapter 1 Who faced this temptation, it was very much the son of Mary.