Mark 1:12

"Immediately" connects the temptation closely with the baptism. The same Spirit that came on Jesus at His baptism now "impelled" or drove (Gr. ekballo) Him into the wilderness for testing. [Note: See Sydney H. T. Page, "Satan: God’s Servant," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 50:3 (September 2007):449-65.] In the Old Testament the Israelites associated inhabited and cultivated land with God’s blessing and wilderness with His curse. Jesus had submitted humbly to identification with humankind and Israel in particular. Now he experienced the consequences of that identification: temptation. Temptation is not an indication that one is out of God’s will. It sometimes results from following the Spirit’s leading.

"Mark’s expression does not mean that Jesus was forced out into the wilderness against His will but that He went with a strong sense of the Spirit’s compulsion upon Him. Since the object of His Messianic mission was to ’destroy the works of the devil’ (1 John 3:8), Jesus recognized that His acceptance of the Servant vocation made the encounter essential. It was the initiation of His mission to overthrow the devil. His miracle-working ministry of authority over demons was based on the victory won in this encounter." [Note: Hiebert, p. 39.]

"Mark makes evident that the wilderness in his story carries a dual significance: At times it is a hostile and threatening atmosphere, at other times it is a place of preparation." [Note: B. Dale Ellenburg, "A Review of Selected Narrative-Critical Conventions in Mark’s Use of Miracle Material," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 38:2 (June 1995):175-76.]