58. What was the purpose of Christ's forty days fasting?

It was immediately after his baptism by John that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. He had just received the outward acknowledgment of his mission and authority, and now he was to prepare for the more public work before him by a period of prayer, fasting and deeper spiritual experience and communion with the Father.

It was, in effect, a higher consecration, if such were possible. During those forty days "the plan and future of his work must have been always before him."

Nowhere in the Scripture are we led to conclude that he had not always been clearly conscious of the outline of his mission, although its comprehensiveness and detail could only become apparent as the work proceeded.