WORD STUDY – LED BY THE SPIRIT
Matthew 4:1-2 “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. (2) And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.”
This passage has always baffled me. What spirit led Jesus into the wilderness? Was it the Spirit of God, if so this passage seems to suggest the Spirit of God was no part and parcel to Jesus. Yet, Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit in Jesus was the Spirit of God. Ok, I am not a theologian so I will just have to admitt to myself that I am not properly trained to understand. However, my area of study is Biblical Languages and the language of Jesus and the first century Judea was Aramaic.
Reading this in the Aramaic I find the English words “up of” is really men in Aramaic which means “from.” The word led is ‘atadabar which comes from the root word debar which, like in Hebrew, means to speak or be led from the heart. Literally, this would read in the Aramaic: “Then Jesus was led from his heart from the Spirit.” This syntax would presume the use of the pronoun His. However, the Aleph at the end of the word for Spirit rauha is a definite article so in English we can only say: “from the Spirit” but the syntax literally puts this as: “from the His Spirit.” As this is the Spirit of God we can rightly say “From His Holy Spirit.”
Here is where this passage takes on a very important personal meaning for me and it could for you as well. It is a concept that we cannot understand until we actually experience it. We talk all the time of being led by the Spirit of God but how do we know we are being led by the Spirit of God? If your pastor says: “I feel led by the Lord to tell you that you will come into some real money before long.” We usually will not stop to question whether he is really being led. However, if he should say: “I feel led by the Lord to tell you to give your next pay check to the church.” Then we will pause to consider who is really leading whom.
Unless, we actually experience a time in our lives where we really have been led by the Holy Spirit, we cannot actually, fully understand it. Just like in the following verse where it says that Jesus fasted for forty days and then he got hungry. I mean if you don’t eat for forty days it stands to reason you will be hungry. However, if you have ever been on an extended fast, actually experienced not eating for even a couple weeks you will know that you are not hungry. When you break your fast you almost have to force yourself to eat. But you can only understand the reality of that if you go on an extended fast and manage to get through those first three or four days at which time your hunger will subside. You greatest fear on an extended fast is whether you will be able to eat again. It is then you understand what Jesus meant when He told the enemy that “Man shall not live by bread alone.” You actually crave the Word of God much more than food on an extended fast. That little phrase that says He was: suddenly hungry, I believe was put in Scripture for those who are so hungry for God that they went on an extended fast and it is to those that these words make perfect sense.
For the same reason the words that Jesus was led by His heart from the Holy Spirit will make perfect sense to those who have really been led by their hearts from the Holy Spirit. For those who experience it they will see the play on words here. The first play on words is the word led and wilderness. Wilderness is madabar and led is dabar or in the Aramaic mdbr and dbr. We are not only led or guided by the Spirit of God but the wilderness is also a guide. Medabar is a desolate, lonely, hazardous place. When you are told by your doctor that you have a serious illness, your boss lays you off, or your car breaks down and you can’t pay for repairs. All these experiences are like being in a wilderness. You feel alone, desolate, fearful of the hazards ahead. You cry out from your heart, debar, for your heart feels desolate, lonely and fearful of the hazards.
Thus, Jesus’s heart was feeling lonely and desolate such that he had to go to the wilderness to be with His Father that is what drove Him, not the Spirit. The Spirit was only the manifestation of His heart. My recent book: “Journey into Silence” tells of my experience of being called and led to spend time in silence. This leading was really a sense of desolation and loneliness in my heart, a deep yearning in my spirit, such that I had to retreat to a wilderness to be with my Heavenly Father.
So how do you know where to go? That is the second play on words. You are led by raucha, the Holy Spirit. Yet, that word rauch also means wind. That is the play on the two meanings of the word. In John 3:8: “The wind (raucha) bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit (raucha).” The play on words here is telling us that the Spirit of God is like the wind. You don’t know where it is coming from or where it is going but you are just going to let it carry you as you make a conscious decision to not resist it and you just go with the flow so to speak.
One of the most dangerous things in a desert is a wind storm. The worst thing you can do is not even try to resist it but to just let it just blow you away. The wind will cover all your tracks and whatever physical guides you left behind. It is a dangerous and scary thing to just let the wind guide you into what? That is so like being led by the Spirit of God, it is like just letting go, offering no resistance and letting the wind blow you wherever it wants.
Are you in a wilderness today? You don’t know what sign post to follow, you don’t know what trail will lead you home? The when the wind/Spirit of God captures your heart, just close your eyes and let it blow you to wherever the Spirit wants you to go, for it may lead through many toils, struggles and tears, but as you close your eyes picture you final destination which is in the presence of your Heavenly Father.
JUST A REMINDER… WE CAN REALLY USE YOUR SUPPORT NOW MORE THAN EVER, THAT IF YOU ARE GOING TO PURCHASE ONE OF CHAIM’S BOOKS THAT YOU WOULD DO SO DIRECTLY THROUGH OUR WEBSITE STORE INSTEAD OF AMAZIN. IN THIS WAY YOU SUPPORT US, INSTEAD OF THEM… I think they’re doing pretty good financially ;))
WE WANT TO THANK YOU BY OFFERING GREAT SALES AND PROMOTIONS. Follow link below or click on store tab at top of page.. www.chaimbentorah.com/store/
Recent Comments