February 2, 2026

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Then the devil left Him, and angels came and attended Him. ” (Matthew 4.11)

“When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left Him until an opportune time.” (Luke 4.13)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Of this we can be sure: Satan failed the test. Because of the strength of Jesus’ faith in His Father’s Word, Satan failed on earth as he had failed in Heaven. As Lucifer led an insurrection in the heavenlies against God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, it was with the sole purpose of not only dethroning God but of elevating himself above God. He who counted himself to be equal with God proved himself to not be equal to the task he set before him. Consider this in contrast with what we can read in the second chapter of Philippians, “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death- even death on a cross!“

It is in Jesus Christ that we find God putting Himself in our shoes. In Jesus, God walked with us, talked with us, experienced life and death and all parts in between with us. In Jesus, we experience true Immanuel, “God with us.” This is how we have found our confidence to believe in the love of God, because He so loved us that He gave us His only begotten Son. In Him, we are able to walk with God, talk with God, experience life and death and all parts in between with God experiencing true grace, receiving a great gift that we do not deserve otherwise. This is something that Satan, the fallen and cast out Lucifer, could not do. Even in the presence of God, Satan was allowed to venture back into Heaven only to mock and scoff at God with the disrespect of a true disbeliever. (See Job 2) So confident that his defeat was instead a victory, he declared his independence from God as authority over God. In the wilderness beyond the Jordan, Satan again sought to lay such a claim again. This time is was against the Son of God as if He had been singled out. We know this was not the truth, however, because of the baptismal story. When Jesus came up out of the water, God declared favor on Him for accepting the challenge to fulfill all righteousness. He was given godly authority on earth with the blessing of the Holy Spirit which descended upon Him. Jesus’ presence in the wilderness was not as a scapegoat but as the Lamb of God who would be slain. Except, it would not be because Satan had authority. It would be because God had dominion in His Kingdom on earth as it was in Heaven. It was Satan who was put on trial in the wilderness. The very “intrusion” of the holy in the place designated as unholy, the region of sorrows and sins cast out of the Promised Land, Satan was the one who was reeling on the defensive and retreating (see Matthew 4.11 and Luke 4.13)

What does this mean? As we might read Matthew’s declaration “…and the Devil left Him…,” it could be concluded that the Devil was no longer going to enter into another face-to-face confrontation; at least not as long as Jesus was “alive.” It is obvious from the four gospel testimonies (or five, including the “Gospel of the Church” as I call the Book of Acts from time to time), that the work of demons is still at hand. They most certainly come into conflict with Jesus and the disciples. Jesus even commissions His disciples in their first foray into the world without His presence early in their training to cast out demons. What we is apparent is the lack of Satan’s presence directly. It is assumed that the demons are under his command. However, the reading of the Healing of the Gaderene demonic presents freewill on the part of the demons who ask simply to be allowed to die. Their request to be cast into a nearby herd of pigs give us a sense of finality of their pursuit to destroy life. The pigs have no soul and thereby are made the deliverers of the demons to their death. However, animals are one thing (and I am sure this will cause some readers to debate the assertion) but human beings are another. Within each of us exists at birth, the spark of God’s spirit (the quickening to life in the fetus) and the burden of original sin (the choice of the conscience.) The dualistic battle continues even to the point of death as we witness in the Garden scene where Jesus asks the Father if the possibility of avoiding the finality of human death could be granted. Jesus speaks the question and then quickly submits to the ultimate truth of who He is and what is the nature of His ministry and existence. The fact that we do not see another face-to-face conflict until “the Last Day” when Jesus returns to earth shows us the power of His defeat during the Age of the Church.

What is presented in Luke presents us with a differing possibility and opportunity. Immediately following the failure to entice Jesus to turn from His faith in God and thus His mission of redemption to fulfill all righteousness, Satan departs the story until a more opportune time. What that time might be remains open for discussion. It would not be until Judas of Kerioth would “be filled with the spirit of Satan” (Luke 22.3-4) preceding the Seder Feast in the Upper Room that we would hear of Satan’s presence. In the Garden after Jesus prayed, and before Judas would lead the Temple guard and the Roman soldiers to arrest Jesus, He warned the disciples to pray so that they themselves would not fall under temptation. (Luke 22.46) Such things would happen in that “hour of darkness.” Even then and again on the cross as the thieves crucified alongside of Jesus who taunted Him to give up His mission to prove His identity as “God,” Jesus maintained His spiritual vigil against Satan. [Even the gospel of Mark, we hear of the temptations of Satan against Jesus (Mark 1), but even there it would seem the temptations came throughout the forty days. At some point, Satan departed and Jesus was left with the wild animals. I could make the argument that those “wild animals” were the scapegoats and their progeny as they endured the wilderness throughout the years.] It would not be until the apocalyptic writing of John in “The Revelation of Jesus the Christ to John the Apostle” that we would next be shown that face-to-face conflict. Of course, Satan would be defeated twice. Once, he would be locked up for a thousand years and perfect peace would reign on earth. The second time, Satan would be thrown into eternal Hell and dwell there forever inescapably captured. The torment would be his own and all those with him because there would be no one to turn away from God in that place. Opportune time? The day of repentance had vanished forever.

What is the message here? The threads of “Law” and “Spirit” are no longer separate identities. They are woven, intertwined, corded, strong and made as one. Whether the temptation comes in the flesh or in the spirit, in Christ we are shown how to rebuke and dismiss the enemy from our midst. Yes, we walk with Immanuel. He is in our midst and we are in His. We are not immune to the attacks of the enemy. He will continue to be our nemesis in heart, mind, body and soul until his opportune moments are exhausted. That day is coming. How do we handle the test, trials, tribulation, challenges and attacks?

1. We lean into the Word and allow it to nourish both our heart and mind. It is food for our soul and refreshment for our spirit.
2. We trust in the Lord in each and every situation. We do not put ourselves in a place where we force God to have to make a decision on what to do with us. We recognize our unity with Him and He with us. Any attack on us is an attack on God. In Christ we already have the victory. The empty cross and the empty tomb are the evidences of it. Claim the victory in Jesus.
3. We worship and serve God. We do not think of ourselves more highly than we ought. We praise God from whom all blessings flow. We offer ourselves in service to Him and others that His will and not our own be done. We practice how we will be in Heaven while we are here on earth so that all those who do not yet know what it means to be a follower of Christ and saved by grace will know and want to be one with us.

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.