11 Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him. 12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; 13 and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.

At the word of Jesus, the devil left. As in the case of Job, Satan’s temptation came only at God’s permission. For a time, the tempter was allowed the illusion of power and the thought that possibly he might gain success. In the end Jesus dismisses him with mere statement. The evil one had no other option than to obey. What promise this holds for us who are Christ-followers, that God gives permission for temptation only to a certain point! He never cedes ultimate authority or control in this area.

Yet the spiritual struggle was real enough, as evidenced by the angels coming to “minister” to Him. As Son of God, His only need of angels was to do His bidding. But as a man, He needed their help to sustain Him. This should warn us that although we have the ability and divine help to resist temptation, it can at times be exhausting to resist. Praise God He supplies angels to help, as is attested in many other Scripture passages.

Now that our Lord Jesus has been inaugurated and has completed His time of testing, He is ready for ministry. Not that the Son of God needed anything to get ready, but He was also the “Son of Man,” and as such His preparation was required. He did all things to “fulfill all righteousness” (3:14) and He came “to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work” (John 4:34). He did things in an orderly pattern according to the divine leading of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew’s gospel account is not necessarily written in chronological order, and the report Jesus received of the arrest of John the Baptist actually came at a later date. However, the author includes it here as a summary statement explaining Jesus’ relocation and continual return to Capernaum, in an area called Galilee. He made numerous forays into other areas of Israel, particularly into Judea (where Jerusalem lay to the south). When opposition came, He often “withdrew” to Galilee until things settled down. Strategically, He waited until the time was right to penetrate Jerusalem on that fateful day Christians have called “The Triumphal Entry.” The book of Matthew builds to that time.

Lord, thank you that You supply the help we need when we become exhausted in our fight with temptation. Knowing Christ went through it helps us resist.