#079 “The Great Duel Foretold in Genesis 3” (Into the Wilderness Intro)

What if the wilderness isn’t where your faith falls apart—but where it’s forged?

In this opening episode of our brand new Into the Wilderness series, host Kate invites you into Matthew 4:1–11 to trace Jesus’ temptation in the desert and uncover a steady, life-giving pattern for resisting lies with the truth of God’s Word. As Jesus faces hunger, pressure to prove Himself, and the lure of power without the cross, we watch Him respond the same way every time: “It is written.”

Kate shares how this passage met her in a personal wilderness season and gently led her back into Scripture when isolation and exhaustion made God feel distant. Together, you'll explore why the Spirit led Jesus into testing, why temptation so often follows affirmation, and what it means that Satan quotes Scripture too. You’ll begin learning how to read this passage carefully, spot repeated themes, and build habits—like annotation and memorization—that help truth rise to the surface when life feels barren.

This episode sets the foundation for the next 13 weeks and invites you to walk slowly, deeply, and honestly through the wilderness with Jesus. If you’re longing for steadiness, clarity, and a faith that holds under pressure, this series is for you.

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Transcript

Welcome And Passage Reading

Kate 0:00

Hey guys, this is Kate from Abidible.com, and you're listening to the Abidible Podcast. I'm just a regular wife and mom who's had my life transformed by learning to study the Bible on my own. If I can, you can. On this show, I help you know and love God more by abiding in Him through His Word yourself. Into the wilderness we go with Jesus for the great duel foretold in Genesis 3. This is the temptation of Jesus. He's just been baptized by his cousin John, and now the Spirit leads him up into the wilderness. Grab your Bibles and turn to Matthew 4, 1 through 11. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry, and the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But he answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written He will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, Again, It is written, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him, All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. Let's pray and commit our study to the Lord. Jesus, this path you walked into the wilderness was foretold in Genesis three. You are the promised seed of Eve, and this duel you faced was for us. The one who lied to our first fathers and was cursed to slither on his stomach on the earth and eat dust all his days now awaits you in the dusty wilderness. We praise you for coming, for entering into this great duel willingly with purpose. We see that you endured it because you were prepared for it, and that your weapon against the tempter was your own word and your motivation was love for us. As we begin this study, we come filled with weakness and vulnerability. We confess that we don't really know how to battle temptation and win, at least consistently. We don't always know how to use your word as an offensive weapon, and we repent for all the ways that we give into temptation instead of looking to you to help us overcome it. Help us learn how to be victorious over Satan, his demons, and their lies and temptations by abiding in your word and then wielding it as an offensive weapon. Give us the wisdom, discipline, and authority to say again and again, it is written. Whenever we come face to face with lies, empower us to command Satan to be gone just as you did, and then let him depart from us. As we tackle this topic, we know the warfare will be strong because the father of lies does not like to be exposed. He does not like to see us walk in freedom. He even tries to use scripture against us. So grant us supernatural protection and place us under the shadow of your wings. Spare us from the snares of the evil one. Help us to remember and claim the promise that greater is He who is in us than He who is in the world. We commit this study to you, asking you to do with it whatever you will in each one of us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So, what do you know of this story of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness? Are you familiar with the passage that I've just read? Have you only ever really covered it in passing? Some of you who've been listening to the podcast for a really long time and know about the origin story of Abidible know that this passage is exceedingly significant in my life. When I was far from God about four years ago, before I even started Abidible, I was in a season of complete darkness and deep wilderness. I felt very alone and isolated because I was alone and isolated. I had removed myself from God, from his people, and certainly from his word. And things were so bad. I was in such a deep dark depression that often I would cry myself to sleep silently in bed and write help on my pillow with my finger. And there was a moment where God, in his gracious kindness, reached down and reminded me of this story of Jesus in the wilderness. And as clear as day, I thought, I mean, I knew I was in my own wilderness season. And so I related to Jesus in location. But then I thought if the Son of God, if the Word of God needed the Word of God to defeat the lies of the enemy, and that was the only way that he was able to have the devil depart from him and get relief from the torment and temptation and isolation and hunger and brutality of the wilderness, then what am I doing? I like something just flipped and I understood that my life depended on getting back in the Word of God. It was so clear. It was this just like gracious gift that He gave me, which is just, isn't that just His heart? That He can He can meet you in any place at any time, even if you're not in the Word. He brought a a story that I've had, of course, sort of like I was saying to you guys, I'd heard the story of Jesus in the wilderness. I'd never studied it in depth. I didn't even know how to study in depth yet at that point. And um I I just felt drawn to this passage. And so I opened my Bible to Matthew 4, to this passage. And that was the beginning of God bringing me back to Himself through His Word. And so this is a very special passage for me. And yet, even still, I have not done what we are about to do. I read it and it was what he used to draw me back, but I have not applied, because at that time I didn't even have the Abidible study method yet. I have not applied our process to this passage. And so I am over the moon, excited. And it's a very special sort of full circle moment for me. So I'm super excited that you are going to be here. And as you can tell, I think that God has, as He always does, more in store for us than even I know, than I can even imagine in this series. So let's do a few housekeeping things as we kick off our time together in Matthew 4, 1 through 11. Here's what you can expect over the course of the next 13 weeks. Our study will run from January 5th to March 30th, 2026. Happy New Year, by the way. But you can go at your own pace knowing that these podcast episodes will be here for you whenever you're ready for them. We will take a week for our introduction, which is today, and then a week for each verse in the passage, verses 1 through 11, which you are able to do, by the way. One verse a week, you are able to study one Bible verse a week. You can do it. And then we'll have one final recap week to review what we've learned together. Each Monday, we'll have a new episode here on the podcast to supplement what you're studying on your own. Now, if this is your first or second time listening to an Abidible Podcast, then certainly feel free to listen to the episode first before doing the work yourself to get your bearings. Or just listen along if this is a season where studying a little more in depth doesn't fit into your schedule, although I think it still can. I cannot emphasize enough how beautiful it is to do the work yourself first and then come here as a bonus supplement. You know that we are so passionate about helping you abide in God's word on your own because we know that you are able and we know that the Holy Spirit, who resides in you, if you belong to Christ, will teach you all things. Do not sell yourself short. Do not give in to the temptation to believe that only scholars or supermature Christians can study their Bibles. His word is for you, friend, and you need it. It is your very life. And if the Son of God, like I said, needed to use the Word of God to overcome the devil, as we will see in this study, then you certainly need His Word too. As you study on your own, you'll find that there are layers upon layers of beauty for you to dig down deep and discover on your own. We're here to help you know what step to take next. That's the purpose of this study in the format that we lay out for you within it. But the actual work, you can do it. That's why our studies are filled with blank pages that are just waiting to be filled with treasure. Because this is our seventh woo-hoo Abidible study here on the podcast, I'm not going to go through every detail of how to do an Abidible study, but rather refer you to the QR codes and introduction section of your workbook. If you've not yet picked up a workbook, you can get one right away at the link in this show's description. Our digital version of Into the Wilderness can be purchased and downloaded instantly for 10 bucks, or you can snag the $20 hard copy, which will be printed and bound by Barnes Noble, and sent to you with free shipping on us in 11 to 12 business days. I strongly recommend doing all of the elements in this saturate introduction step as it lays the foundation for our entire study and also prepares you to memorize this passage and hide God's word in your heart. Today's episode is our introduction, like I said, to this series, which means, as always, that we will be spending some time on annotation and background information. You'll also see that there's a new section that has been added to our Abidible Workbook intro pages, which is called Textual Context. This is simply a space where you can jot down any important observations you may make in the chapters leading up to our chapter, which is Matthew 4. So let's jump in. Real quick, if you're a big fan of the Abidible Podcast, check out the link in the show description to learn more about partnering with us by buying us a coffee. We couldn't do this without you. Thank you so much for your support. It actually does make a difference in this ministry. Now, if you've been following along on the Abidible Podcast, you know that we just wrapped up our Christmas 2025 study of Mary's song. In it, we were celebrating the coming of the baby Jesus. We focused on him as the fulfilled promise of God to Abraham. Mary magnifies the Lord for sending her Lord, and she does it in a beautiful scripture-saturated song. Soon after, John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin, is born. John was the voice crying in the wilderness who was prophesied about by Isaiah 700 years prior. John was born to prepare the people, to make a people who were ready and prepared for the Lord, to call the people back to their God through repentance and baptism. And one day, in the middle of baptizing the crowds, as John was accustomed to doing, Jesus approached John in the water. As John saw his cousin approaching, he cried out, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus has John baptized him in the Jordan, the skies part, the Spirit of God descends on Jesus like a dove, and a voice from heaven says, This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. So far, so good. A baby born and baptized. What will happen next? Will he begin his long-awaited ministry? No. First, something else must happen. The duel foretold in Genesis 3. Jesus must face Satan in the wilderness. What is about to happen is critical to our eternal salvation, and it's very different than what had just happened in the waters of the Jordan. Commentator David Gusick highlights the remarkable contrast between the glory following Jesus' baptism and the challenge to be tempted by the devil. The cool waters of the Jordan, now the barren wilderness. The huge crowds, now solitude and silence. The spirit rests like a dove, the spirit now drives him into the wilderness. The voice of the Father calling him beloved son, now the hiss of Satan, the tempter, if you are the Son of God. Then anointed, now attacked, then the water of baptism, now the fire of temptation. First the heavens opened, now hell. Jesus heads into the wilderness for you, friend. I want that to be one of the main themes we keep coming back to in this series. He did it for you and he did it for me. He's driven into the brutal, barren wilderness, sits starving and thirsting in solitude and silence, surrounded by the hiss of Satan, questioning his identity, mocking his hunger, tempting him by fire, and testing him to succumb to pride. The one who left heaven is now surrounded by hell. And he did it all for you and for me. As we unpack this passage further, we are going to see just how much, like I said, our salvation hinged on Jesus' victory over this temptation. He had to win. He had to endure. He had to conquer. We're going to find that the same word that sustained Jesus these 40 days is the word that can sustain us today. We're going to learn to fight lies with truth, to grow in spiritual resilience, to allow God to use wilderness seasons to draw us ever closer to Himself and apply different study techniques to memorize, understand, and apply scripture at all times, but especially in our times of need, like wilderness seasons. Are you ready? Let's begin with annotation. This is the step we do at the beginning of all our studies to help us slow down and make observations. It's not about perfection or performance, it's about discovery. Be curious. Mark up your page. Use the QR code to learn more about this step and download our free annotation key. This key will give you some suggestions on what to look for, though you can use your own annotation process or just Google Bible annotation keys or do whatever you want. This is freedom. You have freedom to do this however you want. I always like to begin annotation by marking the places that I see God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit mentioned. In this passage, unlike some of our previous passages, we have all three. We see Jesus being led by the Spirit into the wilderness. We see him being called the Son of God. Well, actually, we see his identity as the Son of God being called into question by the devil. And we see Jesus quoting scripture three times, all of which mention God the Father. He says, every word that comes from the mouth of God, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test, and you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Seems to be like a bit of a you're questioning whether I'm my father's son. Let me show you how much I know about my dad. My dad says, my dad says, and my dad says. After I mark up places where I see God mentioned, I like to underline any places where I see a command. The three places where commands are given are the three places where Jesus quotes Scripture, again, saying it is written. They're actually the same places where he brings up his father. So here are the commands. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And you shall not put the Lord your God to the test, and you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. I underline commands in red to underscore their importance and draw my attention to them. I also underline geographical locations in green. In this passage, I marked wilderness, mountain, and kingdoms of the world, even though these are generic locations, I still underline them. I put a heart anywhere that love is mentioned or inferred. In this passage, I felt drawn to put a heart around the word then in then the devil left him, because something profound was accomplished in that moment for you and for me, and it was entirely motivated by God's love for us. We'll get into that more in the course of this study. I also feel like in general, every time Jesus quotes the word and mentions his father, this is done with profound, perfect divine love. I do a reverse red arrow anywhere sin or its consequences are referenced. In this case, I put one of those right on the word came in verse 3 where it says, and the tempter came. I put that arrow here because had Adam and Eve not sinned, Jesus would not now be entering into this great duel. So that's a consequence of sin that the tempter came. My next step is to jot down a list in the margin of any traits of God that are revealed within the passage. I wrote that Jesus is fully man. We know he's fully God, fully man, but here we see that he is fully man because he was hungry and tempted. He's obedient and surrendered. We see that he was led up in the wilderness by the Spirit, so he willingly surrendered. Well, that's one of the questions that I have. We're gonna talk more about that, but he seems to be obedient, going and following the Spirit into the wilderness. He was secure in his identity, grounded in Scripture, the Word uses the Word, strong, able to persevere, demonstrated self control and restraint, wise, powerful, full of authority, and victorious. What did you write down as the noticeable traits of God in this passage? My list certainly isn't exhaustive, and yours doesn't have to be either. Remember, we are just being curious. This is the fun discovery phase. You can also mark transitions or connecting words with an arrow, like then the devil left him. That's a result of him quoting the word as it relates to Jesus kicking Satan's butt. You can make more lists, and you certainly must fill your margins with questions. I'll get to my questions in a second. Just know that there are so many things you can observe, mark up, and add to your margins. Sit with this page for as long as you'd like and see what you notice. Here are a few of my other observations. I thought it was interesting that Matthew describes Jesus' adversary as the devil and the tempter, but Jesus speaks to him directly, commanding him to flee by name. Be gone, Satan. I noted that the first temptation about bread was specific and targeted after Jesus had been fasting for 40 days. Of course, he was hungry, and that demonstrates the craftiness of the devil. I marked the number 40 as being significant in the Bible. I thought it was particularly gross that Satan led off the attack on Jesus' hunger by challenging his very identity as the Son of God, saying, if you are the Son of God. I think the second temptation I noted builds on that saying, if you are the Son of God, but this time Satan adds scripture. So Satan actually says, for it is written, but then he distorts scripture, he doesn't even quote it correctly, in an attempt to trick Jesus. I felt like this was a critical observation to make, that the devil knows the word of God and will try to twist it to trick us. I super circled if you will fall down and worship me and said this would have been a massive loss. Jesus would have gained the kingdoms of the world and earthly glory, but the implication would have caused him to bypass the cross and not secure us eternal salvation. If he had sinned in any one of these areas, he would have no longer been our sinless, substitutionary, sacrificial lamb. He had to win. That felt really important to note. I made a list of what Jesus was offered and what Satan was trying to appeal to, right? First, he was offered bread, which appealed to his deep hunger after 40 days of fasting. Just imagine how vulnerable he was in the flesh. Second, Jesus was offered to experience a miracle, right? God catching him as he fell from the highest part of the temple, thus testing God's power. Will your Father come through for you? And third, Jesus was offered earthly power and glory via all the kingdoms of the world. Each had surface benefits, but all came at a profound eternal cost. Again, giving in meant sinning. And that wasn't a cost Jesus was willing to pay, no matter how hard it was. So we'll get into that more in this series. But Jesus facing the full force of Satan, not giving in, is a bazillion times harder than what we face with lesser demonic temptation. We can't really even imagine how hard this was. I also marked up some more things, and you likely will too, but for now I'll conclude this section with my questions. Remember, asking questions is good. It doesn't need to scare you or intimidate you or make you feel like you lack faith. And you also don't have to have the answers right now. In fact, you won't. You're not supposed to, but you should have these answers by the time we're finished studying. And I always remind you, I say it now, but by the end of your study, come back to the beginning. Look back at your annotation page and the questions that you wrote down and make sure that you've answered all of your initial questions. So here are a few of mine, and there's a lot. I always have a lot of questions. Which other gospels tell the story of this temptation? Why did it happen? Where exactly did it happen? Like what wilderness and what mountain? What is the relevance of the pinnacle of the temple? When did it happen? Why did the Father let it happen? If God doesn't tempt us, why did the Spirit drive Jesus into the wilderness? Did Jesus go willingly or was he forced? What verses is Jesus quoting? How does Satan know Scripture? Why these three particular temptations? How did Satan have authority to offer Jesus all the kingdoms and glory of the world? What does this story tell us about Jesus, about the Father, about the Spirit, about Satan, and about ourselves? How did the angels minister to Jesus? What does that mean? Did the Spirit remain with Jesus moving forward? Was this a necessary step? Did this have to happen before he began his ministry? And if so, why? How is this passage meant to inform all of my view of God and the way I live my life? See, you can go crazy and ask all the questions. Hopefully you had some different ones than I did. Write them down, ask them all. We'll be right back after this message. If you've been listening to this podcast and thinking, I wish I had a place to actually process this, to ask questions, to engage with others, and to stay consistent in the word, I want to invite you into something really special. Abidible Plus is my small, intimate membership community on Facebook for women who love God but struggle to abide in His Word consistently. It's not loud, it's not overwhelming, there's no obligation, but it's more like friends on the couch, studying scripture, asking honest questions, praying for one another, and growing together. And it's still being built. This is new. I changed my platform because I really wanted a place where we could interact a little bit more together. So what you'll find inside is guided Bible study, daily prompts to help you stay rooted, and a safe space to engage without pressure or perfection. If you're hungry, committed, and want to grow deeply, I'd love for you to join us. You can learn more and become a monthly supporter for $10 at the link in my bio. And now back to the show. We'll wrap things up today by taking a quick look at background information. This is where we get the context for our passage so we're not just jumping in without having a clue about who wrote it and when, to whom it was written, why it was written, and in what style. All of these clues are critical to our understanding. A lot of what I got is from my ESV study notes, my ESV intro to the book of Matthew. And so I'm going to kind of spitball a little bit, go off script. Feel free to email me hello at Abidible.com if there's any more cool stuff that you discovered that you want to share with me, or if you have any questions. So our first question: Who wrote the book? Now, this is a technically anonymous book because the name is not used, but early church fathers like Papias, 135 uh AD, and Irenaeus, 175, hold to Matthew as the author of the first gospel. They had direct or indirect contact with the apostolic community, meaning they were trained like, you know, by the apostles. He said the early church fathers who knew they were in the know. Um, and there was no competing traditions in the early church about who wrote it. So, Matthew, who's Matthew? He was one of the disciples who was the former tax collector. He followed Jesus and became one of the twelve. He's also described in Mark and Luke's Gospels as Levi, the son of Alphaeus, uh, and probably had these two names, Matthew, Levi from birth or after his conversion. So as a tax collector, he was hated by his people because he was a traitor working for Rome. He would have been like the worst of the worst, and yet Jesus calls him. One of the beautiful things, because he was a tax collector, he would have had training in scribal techniques and was able to write. Remember, we talked about that in our God is one series about how God brought Moses into the house of Pharaoh to have the best education anywhere in the world, and then Moses just happens to be the one to write the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. So look how God redeems circumstances and chooses these men to write his holy word. So Matthew had some training uh in scrabble techniques and then wrote the Gospel of Matthew. When was it written? The late 50s, early 60s. Um, Irenaeus, the tradition with him, the early church father, is that Matthew wrote it while Peter and Paul were still living. Now, why is that an important tradition? Uh, though we don't have it as fact in the Bible, it's an early church tradition, and that's important because if Matthew got it wrong while Peter and Paul were still living, they surely would have corrected his record. So, as a Galilean Jewish Christian, he was able to interpret the words and actions of Jesus in light of the Old Testament messianic expectation. Now, oh my gosh, if you did a child is born with me last Christmas, Christmas 2024, we saw God talking about the land of Zevelun and the land of Naphtali. That is where the exile began, meaning those were the first tribes carried off. It was sort of ground zero for the exile, the judgment of God that fell on the nation of Israel for their disobedience. And wouldn't you know that Matthew, as he's introducing his book, one of the things that he talks about with Jesus, where Jesus began his ministry, and this is this goes to the point of Matthew having insight as a Jewish Christian who really relies on the Old Testament and makes connection to Old Testament places. Wouldn't you know that Matthew makes sure to note that Jesus begins his ministry, like we see chapter four. This is unbelievable. He says, now when he heard that John had been arrested, so this is immediately after the passage that we're about to study. This is 412. Now, when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee and leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea in the territory of Zebalun and Naphtali. That was not the name, those were not the names of that area anymore. The fact that Matthew is mentioning Zebalun and Naphtali is a callback to the fact, and as Israelites, uh Jewish people would have known this was ground zero for the exile. This is where the judgment fell, and now the feet of the promised Messiah are walking in this region of Zebalun and Naphtali to begin his ministry. The promise has come, it has been fulfilled. So Matthew does like all these beautiful things in his book to make sure that we see how Jesus is the fulfillment of the messianic expectation. So again, to whom was it written? This kind of ties into that. In large part, it was written by Matthew to his fellow Jews, persuading them to recognize Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, identify as the Messiah promised, his inheritance of the Davidic kingship over Israel, his fulfillment of promise made to Abraham to be a blessing to all nations. And yet also Matthew still had a secondary purpose and was also wanting to reveal clearly to the Gentiles, and that's why sometimes he takes time to explain Jewish traditions, words, cult um, locations. He wants to explain to the Gentiles that salvation through Jesus is available to all. This kind of ties into the purpose. For what purpose was it written? Again, this book was written for Jews first and for Gentiles for you and me. It's the story of Jesus of Nazareth, as recorded by the Apostle Matthew, as a compelling witness that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah who brought the kingdom of God to earth and is the prophesied fulfillment of God's promise of peace, of true peace and deliverance for both Jew and Gentile? This is from the ESV study notes. It also establishes the identity of the church as the true people of God, unity in service to Jesus, despite previous barriers, racial, class, and religious, and necessary instruction for all future disciples. Hey, that's us amid significant opposition. What style is this book written in? Well, the genre is gospel, and the organizing framework is narrative or story. Matthew devotes a massive amount of space to Jesus' discourses. Types of stories include birth, calling, and vocation, miracles, parables, pronouncement, encounter, passion, and resurrection. Matthew writes in a rhythmic back and forth between blocks of narrative and discourse material. The distinguishing stylistic feature in the book of Matthew is recurrent quotations of the Old Testament and emphasis on Jesus being kingly or royal. And we see this in his opening where he shows us that Jesus is related to King David, right? The genealogy that puts Joseph, Jesus' father, in the Davidic line. Some of the key themes that we see in Matthew, of course, is a portrait of Jesus, the bridge between Old and New Testaments, God's continuing work of salvation within Israel, extended to all people through Christ, the new community of faith, the church as built and maintained, a great commission for evangelism, and Jesus' teachings as a manual on discipleship. Now, if you had time and you went a little bit further into the textual context by reading Matthew 1 through 3, you would have noticed a few things. Here's what I jotted down. Immediately before the temptation of Jesus, we have the baptism of Jesus, which I already sort of alluded to, where we hear God's audible voice saying, This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. And then what does Satan do immediately, right? Right after we hear this, Satan comes and twice tries to question Jesus' identity, saying, If you are the Son of God, Jesus did not need to be baptized, but he did it to identify with the sinful people he came to save. And we just see all these other references that Matthew's making to fulfilled prophecy. Isaiah 42, 1, Behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights. We also see Psalm 2.7, I will tell of the decree the Lord said to me, You are my son, today I have begotten you. So just all of these references to Jesus being the son that was foretold, that was promised in the Old Testament. Before that, Matthew tells us about John preparing the way as foretold in the Old Testament. And before that, it's the genealogy of Jesus, fulfilled prophecy, right? The family, the Davidic line, the visit of the wise men takes place, the flight to Egypt, Herod kills the children, and then they return to Nazareth. Jesus was uh, then Jesus grew up. And then we see finally we come to 4-1, then Jesus was led up. So it's a very loaded um then, because a lot has happened up to that point. We also have to remember the context before even Matthew 1 that that they are coming out of. And we did talk about this quite a bit in our Mary Song study, but they are coming out of the 400 years of silence. Uh, and there is a remnant that has been waiting and that has been holding on for the promised Messiah, and it is now here. So the saving promises that are found in the Old Testament are being realized in Christ, and it's come, he has come in the most unexpected way. The seed of the woman would triumph over the seed of the serpent. This is this duel, right, as prophesied, as foretold all the way back in Genesis 3, that your offspring, that there would be enmity between the offspring of Eve and the offspring of Satan, and that that Eve's offspring would crush this the serpent, the devil's head, and he would bruise his heel. So this is fulfilled prophecy, right? The and also not just there, but the universal blessing that would come to all the nations through Abraham, the obedience and blessing that would come through the fulfillment of the Mosaic Law that Jesus was going to, is about to now fulfill. He is also the king in the line of David forever. And as promised, the Spirit would be given to God's people and the law would be written on their hearts. So these promises have not yet been realized. Jesus is just about to kick off his ministry after he deals with the temptation in the wilderness with the devil. But at this time, you know, there's a lot going on, right? 400 years of silence. Rome ruled Israel and so did sin. And into all of this, Jesus walks into the wilderness. This is going to be the most incredible study. I'm so excited. But for right now, that's it for this episode. If you know someone who would be blessed by what you just heard, please share the Abidible Podcast with them. Keep spreading the word so we can make much of the word. Drop us a review, tell us what you love and what you're learning. Check out the link to learn more about partnering with us by buying us a coffee one time, by joining our Women's Abidible membership community for $10 a month, as I already talked about, or by becoming just a monthly supporter. For those of you following along in the workbook, go ahead and begin working on our first verse in this series, Matthew 4.1, on pages 8 through 11 in your study workbook. Ideally, you would have this section done before you listen to the next episode number 80. In this episode, the stage will be set for our passage. Again, the verse next week is Matthew 4, 1. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Next week, we will follow Jesus into the wilderness. We'll look at why the Spirit led him there and make a distinction between testing and temptation. Since I already prayed for us and we don't yet have any memory work for this passage yet, I'll just close us out by saying that I'm not exactly sure what you're walking through. I don't know what you're facing right now. You may be coming out of a wilderness season, but still unpacking why God led you there. You may be smack dab in the middle of the desert right now with the sun beating down on your back. Or you might have some foresight that a wilderness season is on the horizon for you. This study is for the one who feels alone in the testing, or ill-equipped in the temptation, or weary from wrestling with the same sin. I know that you long to stand firm on the promises of God when it really counts. I do too. And that's exactly what we're going to learn to do together in this series. I cannot wait to enter this holy season with you because I'm confident that it's been ordained by God, that he will meet us in it, and that his endurance will encourage us and empower us to overcome as well. My prayer is that you'll come out of this study more anchored in God's word, more confident of your identity in Him, and more aware of His nearness in all your wilderness moments. I'm so glad you're here. And as always, remember, you are able to abide in the Bible. We'll see you next time. Until then, let's abide