Jesus Full of the Spirit

Luke 4:1-

 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

Luke 4:14-

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit.

Have you ever read a verse you have read dozens of times and have it jump off the page at you? I am in a summer study that is going through the Gospel of Luke. While I was reading ahead these two verses said something I have never thought before.

Luke 4:1 comes directly after Jesus baptism by John the Baptist. Luke 4:14 comes directly after Jesus was rejected by the people of Nazareth, the place where He grew up.

Another statement that enters into this thought is Jesus was 100% God and 100% man. We know He was sinless, so He had to be Spirit led to live His whole life without sin. What these verses made me realize is the human Jesus was filled with the Spirit all His life.

Teaching on the Trinity seems to make them separate beings, but there is only one God. Jesus Himself said in John 14:9, “If you have seen Me you have seen the Father”. The concept of the Triune God is challenging to us because we have no reference point, but yet if we study the Scripture we know it is true.

We have a video entitled “The Nativity”. It is a very good portrayal of the announcements by Gabriel and birth of Jesus. A favorite line of mine in the video is Mary talking to Joseph about the baby and she says, “When do you think we will know?” Joseph says, “Know what?” Then Mary says, “Do you think He will do something or say something?” I imagine them watching the baby grow day by day and watching for a sign that Jesus understands who He is. Certainly by the age of 12 and setting in the temple with the teachers He knew more than a normal boy would know. His answer to Mary’s question about why He was at the temple tells us He knew who He was when He said, “Didn’t you know I would be in my Father’s house?” It wasn’t Joseph’s house.

Up until now, after the Spirit came down like a dove during Jesus’ baptism, I pictured the Spirit, looking like a dove, leading Jesus out into the wilderness. My eyes were opened to the fact that the Holy Spirit in Jesus led His human spirit to go into the dessert and be tempted as part of His Father’s plan for His earthly life.

Another piece of the puzzle for me was a statement made by Dr. David Jeremiah. He said we are not a body with a soul. We are a soul with a body. Our body is temporal. Our spirit is eternal. So the 100%-man Jesus’ soul was connected to the Trinity from His birth. This was also true with John the Baptist. Luke 1:15 says,  ¹⁵ for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 

What does all of this mean to me? Bible study without application is non-productive. The application I see is I need to be “led by the Spirit into the wilderness” as it says in verse 4:1, whatever the wilderness is that God has in front of me. How many times have we read Jesus saying, “follow Me”? My job is to follow the leading of the Spirit, not my will but His will be done.