One of the consistent themes in Scripture is the time in the wilderness. Jesus spent time there as well as others. The word “wilderness” is from the Hebrew word midbar and it comes from the root word dabar which means: to speak, declare, converse, command, promise, warn, threaten, and sing. FATHER spoke to Moses through a burning bush in the wilderness, HE gave the Law to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and most of all HE prepared Jesus for HIS ministry in the wilderness.
By THE SPIRIT Luke wrote in chapter 4:
1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.
The wilderness denotes barrenness and isolation and thus there are no distractions to prevent us from hearing HIM. If everything in life were easy, we would see no need to seek FATHER and mature as Sons and Daughters. FATHER led HIS first begotten Son into the wilderness to prepare Him for His ministry of Love toward all of mankind. Jesus overcame the devil in the three primary areas: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. He did so by the Word He heard from FATHER.
Once Jesus had completed the time of separation:
14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.
15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
Each and every day we have the opportunity to set ourselves apart to hear FATHER and receive HIS instruction appropriate to our own situation. This is a time of empowering us by HIS spoken Word. These writings are to serve as an aid for they arise only after hearing HIS Voice in what to write for that particular day. After Jesus was empowered by THE SPIRIT He taught, healed, and proclaimed the Word from FATHER.
In Matthew chapter 4:
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.
Food can become a focus of the flesh and keep us from focusing on hearing FATHER. Jesus fasted and overcame the flesh and its attempt to draw Him away from hearing. Food is meant to satisfy our hunger not our appetite where fleshly cravings occurs. Jesus overcame the basic cravings of the flesh which sharpened His ability to hear FATHER.
The barrenness of the wilderness takes away the lust of the eyes for there is nothing to see and distract us from hearing. Further, there is nothing to accumulate thus promoting the pride of life… unless you like rock and sand. The truth is that we all need time in the wilderness in order for us to focus on hearing FATHER and we can embrace it or attempt to reject this path. This is when and where we learn to trust FATHER. As we do we begin to strengthen our spirits by HIS Word. We begin to be led by HIS Spirit as we embrace the wilderness. It was FATHER’S perfect will for Jesus to spend the needed time in the wilderness for this is where He became empowered by THE SPIRIT to fulfill His calling.
By the way, the words midbar (271) and dabar (1143) are found 1,414 times in Scripture. In considering the number 14:
To write fourteen in Hebrew, they wrote two Hebrew letters: yod-daleth. These signify the hand (outworking) of the door. It pictures a release or deliverance from the prison with the opening of the door. Fourteen is the number of deliverance or release. Israel was delivered from Egypt by the Passover lamb that was killed on the 14th day of the first month (Passover). When the ship that was carrying Paul to Rome was caught in the storm, they were delivered on the 14th day (Acts 27:33, 34). In Gen. 12:10 Abram went down to Egypt in order to deliver himself from the famine in Canaan. This was the 14th time Abram’s name is mentioned in Scripture. The 14th time that Abraham is mentioned is in Gen. 18:13, where the Lord told them that Sarah would deliver a child (Isaac) in the next year. When Sarah laughed, the Lord said, “Is anything too difficult for the Lord?”
We are delivered from the world in the wilderness and we are released to minister according to our Divine purpose by developing our hearing ability with FATHER. The wilderness is a truly positive experience and don’t let your flesh convince you otherwise.