Hebrews 5
Requirements for Levitical priesthoodverses 1-4
For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men
in things pertaining to God
that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins
who can have compassion on the ignorant
and on them that are out of the way
for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity
And by reason hereof he ought – as for the people
so also for himself – to offer for sins
And no man takes this honor to himself
but he that is called of God – as was Aaron
Requirements for Christ’s high priesthoodverses 5-10
So also Christ glorified not HIMSELF to be made a high priest
but HE that said to HIM
YOU are MY Son – today have I begotten YOU
As HE said also in another place
YOU are a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek
WHO in the days of HIS flesh
when HE had offered up prayers and supplications with
strong crying and tears to HIM that was able
to save HIM from death
and was heard in that HE feared
Though HE were a Son
yet learned HE obedience by the things which HE suffered
And being made perfect
HE became the author of eternal salvation to all them
that obey HIM
Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedek
Requirements for teachers in local churchverses 11-14
Of WHOM we have many things to say – and hard to be uttered
seeing you are dull of hearing
For when for the time you ought to be teachers
you have need that one teach you again which be the
first principles of the oracles of God
and you are become such as have need of milk
and not of strong meat
For every one that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness
for he is a babe
BUT strong meat belongs to them that are of full age
even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 3 And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. (266 “sins” [hamartia] means the state of having broken God’s law, to engage in wrongdoing, being evil, to miss the mark, or to err)
DEVOTION: Aaron was the first High Priest in the nation of Israel. He was of the tribe of Levi. He was given the responsibility to take a sacrifice before the LORD into the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle in the wilderness. He would first go in with a sacrifice for his own sins and then for the sins of the nations. If he went into the Holy of Holies with a wrong attitude or a wrong sacrifice he could die. There were bells on the hem of this garment and a rope tied around his leg. If the priest outside of the Holy of Holies didn’t hear the bells anymore, they were to pull on the rope because the high priest was dead.
So Aaron and all the priests after him were sinners who had to offer a sacrifice for their own sins before they could offer sacrifices for the sins of the common Israelite. All the priests from the tribe of Levite had to do to this.
Today we have pastors leading churches and they have to come before the LORD first and offer their sacrifice of confession to HIM before they can enter the pulpit to preach to the people. Every pastor is a sinner who needs to confess his sin before the LORD. Then he can present the Word of God with power.
Too often people might think that the pastor doesn’t have to come before the LORD in confession but that is not true. He is just a sinful man who is called of God to a position of pastor/teacher. He has to answer to the LORD for his sins. His salvation is confirmed by the blood of Jesus if he is a genuine believer.
Again I say that many pulpits have men who are not genuine believers because they are not really preaching the Word of God each Sunday. I talked with a young lady this week who said that in Germany the churches just preach love and not rules and she came to America and saw that there was a difference.
CHALLENGE: The church must preach that all men are sinners that need to repent of their sins and turn to Jesus. When this happens there is love but there is also rules or principles to be followed.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 9 And being made perfect, HE became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey HIM. (5048 “being made perfect” [teleioo] means complete, made genuine, to bring to an end, finish, or to accomplish)
DEVOTION: Jesus came to this earth in the form of a man with a human nature just like Adam and Eve’s before the fall. They had a human nature that was tested by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan came to Eve with the suggestion that she didn’t really understand what God was saying to them. She listened and gave Adam of the fruit and their untested human nature gained another nature which was a sin nature. All humans after Adam were born with a sin nature.
When Jesus came he had no sin nature. However, HE was tempted in all points just like us and was found to be without sin. HE was free of sin. HE never sinned. HE was tempted but overcame the temptation. This made HIM a perfect High Priest. HIS human nature was perfect through testing and HIS divine nature was perfect because HE was God in the flesh.
Now we can go before HIM with our requests because HE can go to the Father with the requests and receive an answer. The Godhead or Trinity work together perfectly as a team. Do we fully understand the relationship between the three persons of the Trinity who form ONE God? The answer is no. If we did we would be equal with God and that is impossible. We will never be God.
Our responsibility is to be obedient to the Word of God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit with the understanding that we will sin but we have an advocate before the Father who is Jesus Christ.
CHALLENGE: Keep short accounts with God.
: 12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. (3051 “oracles” [logion] means sayings, a brief utterance, teaching, revelation, or an announcement)
DEVOTION: Again we learn that there are three types of genuine believers in our world. There are the baby Christians who are new to the faith and need to be given milk to start slow with the doctrinal teachings of God. Then there are the mature Christians who have been taught the first principles of the Word of God and able to teach others these principles. They should only be teaching baby Christians these things but there is a third group. The third group is made up of individuals who have made a commitment to Christ through repentance but have not moved out of the baby stage to the mature stage after a number of years.
This is the largest group of genuine believers in the world of Paul and in our world. They are coming to church on a regular basis and sitting in the pews with their Bibles open but they never fully understand the message of the pastor or search to make sure it is faithful to the Word of God.
This group gives their money to church and thinks that that is all they have to do between Sundays. They might not even open their Bible during the week. They should be teachers of others but would rather others do it instead of themselves.
The author of Hebrews was concerned with the growth of the majority of the people in the church. He wanted them to stop wasting their time with milk and move on to meat.
Too often there are too many believers who are satisfied with the status quo rather than moving a church into a deeper relationship with the LORD. If each member of a local church is growing in the LORD the LORD will bless them and the church. If they are satisfied with what is going on without maturing the church will not grow and the LORD might remove the candlestick from the church.
Where is each member of the local church maturing in their faith? Are all the old members teaching others the Word of God? Revival should always start with the mature believers yielding to the ministry of the Holy Spirit to move the church forward for the LORD.
CHALLENGE: Each believer has to evaluate where they are in their growth in the LORD. If someone needs help, they should ask their pastor to help them in this evaluation.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
:13 For every one that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. (552 “unskillful” [apeiros] means inexperienced in, without experience of. [Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship])
DEVOTION: How we rejoice at the birth of a newborn, and all the more when we see this new child wanting to grow by drinking milk. The expectation is that by doing so, the baby will grow into an infant. Growth in the Christian life is to follow this pattern as well. The author of Hebrews makes the point that new believers are not supposed to stay babies in the Lord but are to grow in the faith into spiritual adults.
There were some in the churches to which this letter was written who had never progressed beyond the point of always being fed milk. That is to say that they only wanted to listen to a sermon on Sunday and never sought out the Word of God by reading and studying it by themselves. God never intended for believers only to be fed by His Word once a week.
It is interesting that this admonishment by the author of Hebrews comes right after the question of people who call themselves believers not being able to enter God’s rest. Probably he had in mind those who were not truly believers, because the mark of a Christian is someone who desires to feast on God’s Word. It is also interesting that he talks about the need to be fed spiritually before addressing the question of whether or not these believers could lose their faith in chapter 6. He has in mind that the answer to this problem would be the continual growth on God’s Word.
Nonetheless, it was a challenge for these new believers, because they had grown up in a legalistic, sacrificial system where they were mostly bystanders in the worship of God. The New Testament was being written, so they were not able to refer to it. The author makes the point that Jesus was written about in the Old Testament, and that they could learn about Him simply by pondering the Scriptures in the Old Testament that they had.
So, the next time you feel lazy and not wanting to get into God’s Word, think about the Hebrews. Being one of God’s children is not enough! Rather, we are to all grow in Christlikeness and spiritual maturity, and the method we do this with is through being immersed in God’s Word.
CHALLENGE: Do you have a daily time of consistently reading and meditating on God’s Word? It is our prayer that these devotions are a starting point for you as you do so. However, there needs to be more—you need to feed your spiritual side with the meat of the Word! (MW)
: 14 But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (1253 “discern” [diakrisis] means disputation, judicial estimation, ability to decide or a distinguishing)
DEVOTION: There is a contrast between the priests from the family of Aaron and Christ. The priests after the order of Aaron had to offer sacrifices for their own sins. Christ, who was after the order of Melchisedek, didn’t have to offer sacrifices for HIS sins. HE never sinned. HE was tempted in all points like as we are but without sin. HE died for the sins of the world.
When Christ was in the Garden of Gethsemane, HE took HIS disciples with HIM to pray. HE told them to watch and pray. They fell asleep. HE prayed with strong crying and tears. HE knew what was in front of HIM. HE prayed for the cup to be taken away IF it was the will of the Father. However, HE knew that the only way for anyone to be accepted in Heaven was for HIM to die for the sins of the world. HE did it willingly. HE finished HIS assignment. HE has paid for our sins with HIS blood. HE was our substitutionary atonement. HE took our place. Praise HIS name.
The recipients of the letter to the Hebrews knew the truth of the Word of God but needed to relearn these facts. There are Christians that know very little of the Word of God and so are fed with milk. There are Christians who have been taught the doctrines of the faith and were not practicing them. They had to be taught again the truth of the Word of God.
Here we see that there are different ages in our spiritual development. There are some who can only handle the “milk” of the Word. There are others who can handle the “strong meat” of the Word. We all need to be progressing toward strong meat. We see in this passage that some were going backwards.
In which direction are we headed? Are we able to distinguish between good and evil? We have to do it daily. That is why we pray daily for strength. How is our exercise program coming?
Lift the weight of the Word of God daily. Strengthen your faith through the Word of God and prayer. Remember that the LORD is willing to help give us the ability to understand the difference between good and evil in our world.
CHALLENGE: Let HIM show us the way!
DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Christ offered up prayersverse 7
Christ offered up supplications with crying and tearsverse 7
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
Offer gifts and sacrificesverse 1
Compassion on the ignorantverse 2
Compassion on them that are out of wayverse 2
Offer for sinsverse 3
DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
First principles of the oracles of Godverse 12
Milkverses 12, 13
Strong meatverses 12, 14
Word of righteousnessverse 13
Reason of use (full age)verse 14
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
Godverses 1, 4, 10, 12
Called of Godverses 4, 10
You are MY sonverse 5
Begotten Christverse 5
Able to save Christ from deathverse 7
Oracles of Godverse 12
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
Christ verse 5
High Priest – glorified not himselfverse 5
Sonverses 5, 8
Begottenverse 5
High priest foreververse 6
Priest = order of Melchisedecverses 6, 10
Fleshverse 7
Offered up prayers and supplication verse 7
Was heard of Fatherverse 7
Learned obedienceverse 8
Sufferedverse 8
Made perfectverse 9
Author of eternal salvationverse 9
Called of Godverse 10
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Sinsverses 1, 3
Ignorantverse 2
Out of the wayverse 2
Infirmityverse 2
Dull of hearingverse 11
Unskillfulverse 13
Evilverse 14
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for oursins)
Obey Christverse 9
Babe (unskillful in the word)verse 13
Strong meat belongs to full age Christiansverse 14
Reason of useverse 14
Senses exercisedverse 14
Discern both good and evilverse 14
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
High Priest among men = ordained of menverse 1
offer gifts and sacrifices
compassion on ignorantverse 2
compassion on those out of the wayverse 2
compassed with infirmityverse 2
offer for his own sinsverse 3
honorverse 4
called of God = Aaronverse 4
Melchisedecverse 6
Church (New Testament people of God)
Many things to say – hard to be utteredverse 11
Teachersverse 12
First principles of the oracles of Godverse 12
Need of milkverse 12
Strong meatverse 12
Babeverse 13
Full ageverse 14
Last Things (Future Events)
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QUOTES regarding passage
8 We should take these words in the sense of “son though he was” rather than “although he was a son.” It is the quality of sonship that is emphasized. Again, it is the fate of sons to suffer (12:7), but the writer does not say “because he was a son” but “although.…” Jesus’ stature was such that one would not have expected him to suffer. But he did suffer and in the process learned obedience. This, startling though it is, does not mean that Jesus passed from disobedience to obedience. Rather, he learned obedience by actually obeying. There is a certain quality involved when one has performed a required action—a quality that is lacking when there is only a readiness to act. Innocence differs from virtue. (Morris, L. (1981). Hebrews. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Hebrews through Revelation (Vol. 12, p. 50). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
Though he was a Son (καιπερ ὠν υἱος [kaiper ōn huios]). Concessive participle with καιπερ [kaiper], regular Greek idiom as in 7:5; 12:17. Yet learned obedience (ἐμαθεν ὑπακοην [emathen hupakoēn]). Second aorist active indicative of μανθανω [manthanō]. Succinct and crisp statement of the humanity of Jesus in full harmony with Luke 2:40, 52 and with Heb. 2:10. By the things which he suffered (ἀφʼ ὡν ἐπαθεν [aph’ hōn epathen]). There is a play on the two verbs (ἐμαθεν—ἐπαθεν [emathen—epathen]), paronomasia. Second aorist active indicative of πασχω [paschō]. He always did his Father’s will (John 8:29), but he grew in experience as in wisdom and stature and in the power of sympathy with us. (Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Heb 5:8). Nashville, TN: Broadman Press.)
5:8–10. The whole experience just referred to was a form of education for Jesus before He served His suffering people. His unique relation to God notwithstanding (He was a Son), He had to experience the true meaning of obedience in terms of the suffering it entailed. Having done so, He was thereby made perfect for the role He would play as His people’s Captain and High Priest. That there is an element of mystery in all this need not be denied, but it is no greater than that found in Luke’s words: “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). In a real sense not fully comprehensible, the Incarnation gave the already infinitely wise and perfect Son of God the experiential acquisition of knowledge about the human condition. Suffering thus became a reality that He tasted and from it He can sympathize deeply with His followers. (The Gr. has an interesting play on words in the verbs He learned [emathen] and He suffered [epathen].)
This is what the writer had in mind when he affirmed that He became the Source (aitios) of eternal salvation for all who obey Him. The salvation here referred to cannot be distinguished from that which is termed an inheritance (Heb. 1:14). It is also to be identified with the “eternal inheritance” mentioned in 9:15. It should not be confused with the acquisition of eternal life which is conditioned not on obedience but on faith (cf. John 3:16, etc.). Once again the writer had in mind final deliverance from and victory over all enemies and the consequent enjoyment of the “glory” of the many sons and daughters. This kind of salvation is explicitly contingent on obedience and indeed on an obedience modeled after that of Jesus who also suffered. It is thus closely related to the saying of the Lord in which He declared, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:34–35).
The High Priest has become the “Source” of this kind of salvation experience for those who are willing to live obediently. In describing Him this way, the author was chiefly thinking of all the resources that flow from Christ’s priestly activities that make a Christian’s life of obedience possible. Whatever one’s suffering, the High Priest understands it, sympathizes, and makes available the “mercy” and “grace” which are needed to endure it successfully. As the writer will later say, “He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them” (Heb. 7:25). With precisely this end in view Christ was designated by God to be High Priest in the order of Melchizedek. (Hodges, Z. C. (1985). Hebrews. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 792). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
Every Old Testament high priest had to minister to people who were “ignorant, and … out of the way [wayward]” (Heb. 5:2). God made no provision but judgment for high-handed sins of rebellion (see Ex. 21:12–14; Num. 15:27–31). But He did make provision when people sinned through ignorance or weakness. An Old Testament priest could identify with the sinners, since he himself was a sinner. In fact, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest had to offer a sacrifice for himself before he could offer one for the nation! (Lev. 16; Heb. 9:7)
You would think that one sinner would have compassion for another sinner, but this is not always the case. Sin makes a person selfish. Sin can blind us to the hurts of others. Sin can harden our hearts and make us judgmental instead of sympathetic. Remember how heartbroken Hannah, who was praying for a son, was accused by high priest Eli of being drunk? (1 Sam. 1:9–18) And when King David was confronted with a story of a rich man’s sin, he had no sympathy for him, even though David himself was a worse sinner (2 Sam. 12).
No, it is the spiritually minded person with a clean heart who sympathizes with a sinner and seeks to help him (see Gal. 6:1). Because we are so sinful, we have a hard time helping other sinners; but because Jesus is perfect, He is able to meet our needs after we sin.
Our Lord was prepared for His high priestly ministry during His days of ministry on earth (Heb. 5:7–8). The phrase, “In the days of His flesh,” means, “In the days when He was on earth in a human body.” From birth to death, our Lord experienced the sinless infirmities of human nature. He knew what it was to grow and mature (Luke 2:52). He experienced hunger and thirst, as well as weariness (John 4:6–8, 31). He also faced temptations to sin (Matt. 4:1–11) and persecutions from the hands of sinful men.
How could the Son of God “learn obedience”? In the same way any son must learn obedience: by the experiences of life. We must remember that our Lord, in His earthly walk, lived by faith in the Father’s will. As God, He needed to learn nothing. But as the Son of God come in human flesh, He had to experience that which His people would experience, so that He might be able to minister as their High Priest. He did not need to learn how to obey because it would be impossible for God to be disobedient. Rather, as the God-Man in human flesh, He had to learn what was involved in obedience. In this way, He identified with us.
This preparation involved the experience of death. The writer of Hebrews (5:7) focuses on our Lord’s experience in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt. 26:36–46). As He faced the Cross, it was not the physical suffering that burdened Jesus, but the fact that He would be made sin and separated from His Father. Other servants of God have faced death and not expressed such great emotion; but no other servant ever bore on his body the sins of the whole world.
In His Gethsemane prayer, our Lord did not oppose the Father, but prayed, “Not My will, but Thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). He was not praying to be spared from death, but to be saved out of death. He was praying for resurrection from the dead, and God answered that prayer. He had prophesied His own death and had made it clear that He was laying down His life of His own free will. This ties in with the quotation from Psalm 2:7, cited in Hebrews 5:5, that promised His resurrection from the dead.
The writer of Hebrews states that Jesus’ prayer “was heard” (Heb. 5:7), that is, answered by the Father. Since He did die on the cross, this could not have been what He was praying about; for if the Father had answered, the Son would not have been crucified. He did not pray to be saved from death, but out of death; and God answered His prayer by raising Him from the dead.
No one else ever died the kind of death that Jesus died. He was made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24). Men have died because of their own sins, but only Jesus died for the sins of a whole world. He experienced the ultimate in suffering and, therefore, He is able to sympathize with His people when they are suffering. The readers of this epistle were going through difficult times, but they had “not yet resisted unto blood” (Heb. 12:4). Their goods had been seized and they had been ridiculed (Heb. 10:32–34), but they had not been crucified and forsaken by the Father.
No matter what trials we meet, Jesus Christ is able to understand our needs and help us. We need never doubt His ability to sympathize and strengthen. It is also worth noting that sometimes God puts us through difficulties that we might better understand the needs of others, and become able to encourage them (see 2 Cor. 1:8ff).
When Charles Haddon Spurgeon was a young preacher in London, his successful ministry aroused the envy of some of the clergy; and they attacked him with various kinds of slander and gossip. His sermons were called “trashy,” and he was called “an actor” and “a pulpit buffoon.” Even after his ministry was established, Spurgeon was lied about in the press (including the religious press); and this was bound to discourage him.
After one particularly scurrilous report in the press, Spurgeon fell before the Lord and prayed, “O Lord Jesus, Thou didst make Thyself of no reputation for me. I willingly lay my reputation down for Thy sake.” From that time on, Spurgeon had peace in his heart. He knew that his Great High Priest understood his need and would give him the grace that he needed for each hour. (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, pp. 292–293). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
5:8 learned obedience. Christ did not need to suffer in order to conquer or correct any disobedience. In His deity (as the Son of God), He understood obedience completely. As the incarnate Lord, He humbled Himself to learn (cf. Lk 2:52). He learned obedience for the same reasons He bore temptation: to confirm His humanity and experience its sufferings to the fullest (see notes on 2:10; cf. Lk 2:52; Php 2:8). Christ’s obedience was also necessary so that He could fulfill all righteousness (Mt 3:15) and thus prove to be the perfect sacrifice to take the place of sinners (1Pe 3:18). He was the perfectly righteous One, whose righteousness would be imputed to sinners (cf. Ro 3:24–26). (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Heb 5:8). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
Ver. 8. Though he were a son, &c.] The son of God, as the Vulgate Latin version reads; not by creation, nor by adoption, nor by office, but by nature, being the only-begotten of the father, having the same nature and perfections with him: yet learned he obedience; not to his parents, or civil magistrates, though that is true; nor merely to the precepts of the law, which he did; but unto death: through sufferings he became obedient to death, even the death of the cross: and this he learnt; not that he was ignorant of the nature of it; nor was he destitute of an obedient disposition to it; but the meaning is, he had an experience of it, and effected it; and which was voluntary, and done in our room and stead; and is the rule and the measure of our righteousness before God: and this he learned, by the things which he suffered; from men, from devils, and from the justice of God. Christ’s sonship did not exempt him from obedience and sufferings; this shews the dignity of Christ’s person, that he is the son of God, not as Mediator, for as such he is a servant; and it would be no wonder that he should learn obedience as a servant; and this shews also the great humility and condescension of Christ in obeying and suffering for us; though so great a person; and likewise the vile nature of sin, and the strictness of divine justice: and we may learn from hence, not to expect to be exempted from sufferings on account of sonship; nor to conclude we are not sons, because we suffer; and that afflictions are instructive, and by them experience is learned. (Gill, J. (1809). An Exposition of the New Testament (Vol. 3, p. 400). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
Having mentioned Christ’s exaltation to the priestly office by God, the writer next touches again upon His experience. “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared” (5:7).
He had experienced, as a man, the sufficiency of God. Throughout His lifetime Jesus made prayer and supplication the habit of His life. At every major crisis He was found praying.[6]
In Gethsemane, when the Lord Jesus came to grips with death, the ultimate horror that faces mankind, He prayed to be saved from it, not indeed from physical death, but to be saved “out from under” death. His prayer was answered in His resurrection. On the cross, Jesus prayed again, using the first verse of Psalm 22. (Perhaps He quoted the whole psalm. It certainly fit His needs at that time.)
Jesus not only experienced the sufficiency of God but also the sufferings of men. “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (5:8). A closer and more suitable rendering would be: “Son though he was, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.”[7] He was not shielded from suffering. Indeed, since He was truly God as well as truly man, no doubt His sufferings were intensified just as are a doctor’s sufferings intensified because he knows full well the ravages and the progress of a disease.
A mad dog is said to have terrorized a village. It had already bitten one person, who had died a horrible death. The village blacksmith finally cornered the dog, holding it at bay while everyone else escaped. He was bitten several times before he finally slew the enraged beast. Returning to his forge, he deliberately chained himself to an iron fixture so that when his own insanity overtook him the other villagers would be safe from his maddened rage. Then he calmly awaited his doom.
The Lord Jesus learned obedience through the things that He suffered. His sufferings were real and intense and ran the whole length of every human woe. He is qualified by His experience to be a priest. (Phillips, J. (2009). Exploring Hebrews: An Expository Commentary (Heb 5:7–8). Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp.)
FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
Hebrews 5: 12-14 The writer warns the Hebrew readers of their complacency. While they have believed in Christ, they have not progressed. They are still spiritual infants. When they should be going on to the “meat and potatoes” of the Christian life, they, like infants, need milk. However, the mature have spiritually trained (gumnazo) to discern good and evil. That’s where these Christians should be. …. This is a solemn reminder that we do not stand still. We either progress spiritually or we regress. The challenge is clear: “let us press on to maturity.” (November 8, Living The New Testament by Paul Enns)
Jesus explains the spiritual nature of salvation.
INSIGHT
Faith, or belief, is often misunderstood. Faith has been defined as “believing in spite of there being nothing to believe” or “believing in spite of the evidence to the contrary.” It is often viewed as identical with wishful thinking. If we believe hard enough, we can make something come true (regardless of whether or not God may approve).
None of these concepts is biblical. Faith is belief based on sufficient evidence. In other words, faith is trusting what God has revealed in His Word and in the world, both of which give ample testimony to the truth. (Quiet Walk)
THE CROSS AND THE WORLD
…greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 1 John 4:4
What is a Christian? Paul tells the Colossians that a Christian is a person who has been translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. I no longer belong to the world—I belong to the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of light, the kingdom of glory, the kingdom of God. Here I am, and the world has nothing to do with me. I am not of it. I am in this other kingdom.
Oh, I am still existing in this world, but I no longer belong to it. I have been translated. And my citizenship is now in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, and we know that we shall ever go on and be with the Lord. He, by dying on the cross, separates me from the world, puts me into His own kingdom, introduces me to God, and makes me a child of God and an heir of eternal bliss. He delivers me from the world. He died so that “whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” He does more—He gives me a power that is greater than the world. Listen to John…“greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world,” and “this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith,” our faith in Him (1 John 4:4; 5:4).
And thank God, He gives us occasional glimpses of that other world, that real world, that pure, holy world that is yet going to be. This old world can never be improved and reformed. He will set up a new world: “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13). A renovated cosmos, a perfected universe, with glory everywhere. The glory of the Lord shall cover everything as the waters cover the seas.
A Thought to Ponder: I am still existing in this world, but I no longer belong to it.
(From The Cross, pp. 104-105, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
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