Mark 1:12-13 Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. 13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.
There is no shortage of imagery found in the scene where Christ was born. He is the Lamb God born in a lambing place, visited, first of all by shepherds, the guardians of little lambs. We are not told that there were animals at the manger that night but it seems appropriate that they would have been there. He has come to bring us back to the garden. Isaiah tells us that the full force of the peace he will ultimately bring to the earth will go beyond the transformation of human governance to the changing of interspecies relationships. The lion will lay down with the lamb. The little child will play in the adder's den, so we are promised. The apostle Paul tells us that all creation groans inwardly for the day of their redemption. And so the promise is for peace on earth… and peace to all on that earth… Even the animals!
At the beginning of Christ's public ministry, following his baptism, we are told that he was forty days in the wilderness, tempted of Satan. Matthew and Luke's accounts of this event are the fullest. Mark's is the shortest but Mark adds this phrase to the account, “He…was with the wild animals/ beasts” Every word of scripture has been placed there by God. This little phrase is not without purpose or meaning.
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