CHRIST, THE SUBSTITUTE
Susan Murray
Today's Scripture: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15, ESV
Theme: Jesus understands the struggle to remain holy yet live in this world.
CHRIST SYMPATHY
Every day, I see people suffering as I work as a physical therapist in a hospital setting. I have sympathy and I acknowledge their suffering, but I never say to them, “I know exactly how you feel.” That’s because I haven’t experienced their suffering, especially their exact injury. There is one exception I remember.
The mother of two daughters (in their late teens or early 20s) suffered a massive stroke. This mother’s debility resembled my own mother’s stroke, which occurred when I was 18 years old. Her disability changed our family’s lives forever. We all lost something that day. (Even now, as I remember and write this, I am crying.) I spoke with these girls and was able to share in their grief and give them encouragement.
Jesus not only knows how you and I feel, but He actually feels the same feelings. He experienced all emotions, both pleasant and difficult, while on earth. He felt physical pain, betrayal, loss, scorn, grief, and weakness. He felt temptation. He is not some sort of superhero, CEO, president, or king living above the masses. He wasn’t impervious to these feelings. Though being “fully God,” he felt them because he was also “fully human” (Hebrews 2:17).
CHRIST WEAKNESS
Jesus left heaven, where He had a perfect existence—no felt needs, no weaknesses. He freely chose to identify with us by becoming a weak human being. We read in the Gospels that Jesus was led into the wilderness, which represents suffering. He felt the weakness of hunger, being alone, and being in need. For forty days, he was tempted by Satan to doubt God’s goodness, with the enticement of power and importance to find relief, outside God’s plan. Although He had a divine nature, He depended on the power of the Spirit and the truth of God’s Word to overcome, giving us an example to follow in our own resistance to temptation.
When in a battle with temptation, God has given us a way out (1 Corinthians 10:13). But who goes into battle without armor, including sword (the Bible) and shield (faith)? (See Ephesians 6:13-17.) “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11, ESV). Take time to be in God’s Word daily, meditating on it and memorizing it.
CHRIST, THE HIGH PRIEST
The animal sacrificial system was how the Israelites yearly made atonement or propitiation for their sins. In other words, the blood sacrifice of a perfect animal paid for the Israelites’ failures to always follow God’s Law, thereby satisfying God’s just wrath. Only once a year did the high priest bring the blood sacrifice into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle it on the “atonement cover" (Leviticus 16:14), the lid over the Ark that held the Ten Commandments.
Jesus is the final High Priest. He didn’t take a sacrifice into the Holy of Holies. He was the perfect sacrifice. He satisfied God’s just wrath toward us once and for all. He is more than an example of how to resist temptation. If Jesus is only our example, we can become prideful when we obey and crushed when we fail. We now have His perfect record as our own, as though we had never failed when tempted. That’s the Gospel. That’s grace.
Make It Personal: I encourage you to pick up your Bible daily. It is your sword to resist temptation. Pick up your shield of faith, believing again today in Christ as your Savior, so you can protect your heart from Satan’s attacks, the temptation to sin, and his accusations when you do sin.
Pray: Father, I need You today. So many temptations surround me to find life apart from Your love. I look for relief from my wilderness in other things, forgetting Your goodness. Help me to remember that I am Your child and help me be satisfied in Your love and mercy. Bring to my mind Your words, so that I can know You and Your will. Then by the power of the Gospel, I can resist temptation, obeying out of gratitude and love. Amen
Read: 1 Corinthians 10:12-13; Hebrews 4:12-16; Ephesians 6:10-18; Matthew 26:41
Weekly Memory Verse: “...if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14, ESV