October 05 2024

Saturday October 05

Jesus Goes Home to Nazareth

Luke 4:13-16

13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

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. 16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.

For the past several days we have been talking about the temptation of Jesus by the devil in the wilderness. Before we move on to the next verses where Jesus goes home to His hometown of Nazareth, I want to mention one more thing about dealing with temptations.

Verse 13, tells us that the devil “ended every temptation and departed…” and waited for another opportunity in the future. Some versions or translations say, “he departed for a season”. I want to remind us that the devil has to flee when we resist him. James 4:7 says, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” We can’t miss the order here. Before we resist the devil, we must “submit to God”. That is exactly what Jesus was doing as He was going into His public ministry.

Jesus submitted Himself in obedience and the will of God in public baptism. He submitted Himself to the leading of the Holy Spirit to go into the wilderness. He submitted Himself to fast for forty days. He submitted His whole life, body, soul, mind, and spirit to God. Jesus as the perfect Son of Man without sin was the only person who wholly kept all the commandments of the Old Testament. The first great commandment is to love the LORD thy God with all your soul, with all your might, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Jesus fulfilled this commandment completely totally, absolutely surrendered and obedient to the will of God!

Now, I know we are not perfect, and we are not Jesus, but that is exactly what we should be doing if we want victory over the devil and his temptations. We should daily submit to will of God, we should submit to His Word, and we should submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit! That is what Jesus did and when we do that, we can resist the devil and expect him to flee from us.

In the name and power of Jesus, we can stand up to the devil and remind him that he has not right to us. We remind the devil that we are the Lord’s possession. You can tell him, “You have no right to me. I am Christ’s. I am not my own anymore, I have been bought with a price. These are His hands, these are His feet, these are His eyes! You must flee from me according to the Word of God!” Don’t forget this! But remember the devil only goes around the corner and waits for another opportunity to tempt you again. You are never free from his attacks but every time you can submit to God and resist him.

Verse 14 now tells us that Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee. You might notice that the events recorded in John 1:19-4:45 took place at this time, but Matthew, Mark, and Luke did not record them. Right after the baptism of Jesus, He meets Andrew and John, then Peter, Philip, and Nathanael (John 1). Jesus performs His first miracle at Cana of Galilee (John 2). He meets and talks with Nicodemus (John 3). He meets the woman at the well in Samaria and heals the nobleman’s son (John 4).

Matthew, Mark, and John move right into the Lord's ministry in Galilee, and Luke alone reports His visit to His hometown of Nazareth. You can imagine that by now, the news had spread widely about the miracle-worker from Nazareth; so His family, friends, and neighbors were anxious to see and hear Him. Jesus, their hometown Boy was now famous, and no doubt was the talk of the town. Jesus goes home! Jesus knew every house and shop and knew everyone by name. He knew who baked the best bread, who shortchanged his customers, who bullied his wife, and who helped the poor.

Luke tells us as Jesus went through Galilee He taught in the synagogues. And now, when Jesus came home on the first Sabbath day, as was His custom, He goes to His hometown synagogue.

If we are going to have a witness in our hometown, we need to make sure we have a testimony of resisting the devil and living a life that gives evidence of our faith in Jesus!

God Bless!