Matthew 3:1-4:11 | Mark 1:2-13 | Luke 3:1-23, 4:1-13 | John 1:19-34

John the Baptist appeared out of no where, coming from the desert, preaching repentance to the people in Israel, and of the imminent coming of the Christ.  He was not the Christ, or the prophet that Moses promised (Deuteronomy 18:15).  He said he wasn’t the promised appearing of Elijah, as Malachi predicted 400+ years earlier, however Jesus testified later that he was indeed Elijah.  As John predicted, Jesus appeared at that time, and He was baptized by John, and God testified that He was His Son, and the Spirit of God came and stayed upon Him.

Jesus was led into the desert to be tempted by the devil, and after fasting for 40 days, satan came to Him.  Satan tempted Him three times, trying to get Jesus to disobey His Father, however each time He only responded with scripture, quoting from Deuteronomy 6 and 8 all three times.  He is our example of how to battle satan and temptation, by relying on God’s Word, and not on our own intellect or strength.