In Hebrews 4:15-16 we read:
Hebrews 4:15-16
"For we do not
have a High Priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yetwithout sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
Some are saying: "How can God understand me? Has
He ever been through what I have been through?" We have sometimes the
picture of an unapproachable, remote God, a God who is far from life and
reality. A God whom our difficulties and temptations cannot touch. Well, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the One in whom "dwells all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily" (Colossians 2:9) has been through all this. He has been through
all that you may be in right now, through all the temptations that may try you
and the storms that may hit you. Because He has been through He can understand
you. He can fully sympathise the pain, the infirmities and the desires of the
human soul. Jesus Christ sympathises right now what may have hurt you. Jesus
Christ sympathises right now what may have afflicted you. Jesus Christ
sympathises right now all your infirmities, all your problems, every tear you
may have shed and every anxiety you may have. Two chapters earlier, in Hebrews
2:16-18 we read:
Hebrews 2:16-18
"For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him
the seed of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made
like Hisbrethren in every respect, that He might be a
merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make
propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has
suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted."
Jesus Christ can help those who are tempted, because
He also went through the same temptations. He does not look at you from afar,
without knowing how you may feel. He knows it very well. He was made like us in every respect we read. Some have the picture of a
Christ-robot that came, did the work and left. We need however the picture of a Christ that was made
like us in every respect. We need the picture of the MAN Jesus Christ.
In I Timothy 2:5 we read:
I Timothy 2:5
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,"
The mediator between God and man, our High Priest and
great advocate is One that was made like us IN EVERY RESPECT:
THE MAN CHRIST JESUS. See that the Word of God, speaking for our advocate, does
not choose to call Him as Son of God, or Lord or Saviour or with any other of
the titles He has and is. Instead it calls Him MAN – thus stretching the fact
that the one that mediates for men, in not a stranger to them but one that was
made like them in every respect. He has suffered like men, He was tempted like
men and therefore He can sympathise men and mediate for them. "For verily
he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of
Abraham" we read. Have you wept? He wept too. Were you betrayed? He was
betrayed too. Were you hungry and thirsty? He was hungry and thirsty too. Were
you treated unjustly? He was treated unjustly too. Have you suffered pain? He
has suffered pain too. Have you been in agony? He has been in agony too. Have
you lost loved ones? He has lost loved ones too. Were you rejected? He was
rejected too. Jesus Christ, "THE MAN Christ Jesus", can perfectly
understands you for He was made like you, not only in some points BUT IN EVERY
RESPECT, the Scripture says.
Moving further on the same topic in Philippians 2:5-11
we read:
Philippians 2:5-11
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the
form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself
of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in
appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became
obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also
has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on
earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Jesus Christ, though He existed in the form of God, He
humbled Himself and He came in the fashion of men. He took the form of a
bondservant. He was made like us - with the difference that He was born and
stayed without sin – and therefore He can understand us. You could meet Him in
the park. You could eat with Him. Then He was a carpenter. Today He could work in
the next office or you could see Him as a builder in a construction. What and
where is not significant. What is significant is that whoever you may be and
whatever your problem may be, JESUS CHRIST CAN SYMPATHISE YOU AND UNDERSTAND
YOU. Here is what Isaiah says, showing also the magnitude of what He went
through while on earth:
Isaiah 53:2-12
"For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of
dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, there is no
beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and
carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and
afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our
iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we
are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to
his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was
oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a
lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He
opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgement, and who will
declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the
transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the
wicked - but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor
was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put
Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His
seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
His hand. He shall see the labour of His soul, and be satisfied. By His
knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their
iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall
divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death,
and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and
made intercession for the transgressors."
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He had no beauty to desire Him.
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He was despised and rejected by men.
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He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
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The others hid their faces from Him.
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The others esteemed Him as stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.
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He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.
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He was oppressed and afflicted and He didn’t open His mouth.
This is a portrait of Jesus Christ. Our Saviour and
Mediator, our great advocate can perfectly sympathise us. And such a saviour we
needed. A remote one wouldn’t fit. We needed one that would be made like men in
every respect – one that would go through what men go and therefore He could
mediate and support them. And this is the Saviour, the High Priest, the
Advocate we have.
"For we do not have a High
Priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yetwithout sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."