Mark 1:12

immediately See above, Mark 1:10. The object of the Saviour's first Advent was "to destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). His very first work, therefore, was to enter on a conflict with the great Enemy of mankind.

driveth him This is a stronger word than that employed by St Matthew, who says He was led up(Matthew 4:1), or by St Luke, who says He was ledby the Spirit (Luke 4:1). The same word is here used as in Matthew 9:38, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that He will send forthlabourers into His harvest;" in John 10:4, "when He putteth forthHis own sheep, He goeth before them." The word denotes the Divine impulse of the Holy Ghost, which constrained Him to go forth to the encounter, and hints at a rapid translation, such as that by which Prophets and Evangelists were caught up and carried to a distance (1 Kings 18:12; 2 Kings 2:16; Acts 8:39).