Heb 5:1 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:
Heb 5:2 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.
Heb 5:3 And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.
Heb 5:4 And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.
Heb 5:5 So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.
Heb 5:6 As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 5:7 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;
Heb 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
Heb 5:9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him
Every single high priest taken from among sinning man needs an offering for his own sins. High priests called by God, not by each other.
Our great High Priest Christ did not glorify Himself- God glorified Him.
Our great High Priest-- encompassed in flesh offered up prayers and supplications with STRONG crying and tears to God.
Our great High Priest reverenced His Father, believed in His Father and because of His belief in His Father He was heard by the Father. We think it's a given that the Son would be heard of the Father, but the Son as He was encompassed in flesh did not have the same access to the Father as He'd had before taking on flesh. The Son needed to pray. Think about it for few moments. The Son needed to pray. IF the Son needed to pray how much more do WE need to pray? If the Son was heard of the Father because He reverenced, because He feared, because He believed do we need to do no less? The Son worshipped and honored the Father. Even though he was a SON, He learned obedience how? By the things He suffered! We suffer. We bemoan just how much we suffer. We dare to say we've suffered too much, that the suffering is more than we can bear. The Son suffered. The Son wasn't pampered and spoiled, the Son wasn't given favoritism. If the Son had given been given favoritism Satan would have been quick to point it out and claim that Jesus did not suffer as a man at all. The connection that the Son had with the Father is the connection WE need to have with the Father as adopted sons.
The Son suffered and learned from His suffering, He learned obedience. Being made perfect… He BECAME the author of eternal salvation to all of US who obey HIM.
It's so easy for us to imagine that the Son of God just instantly knows everything and so He wouldn't need to learn obedience. It's equally easy for us to imagine that the Son of God wouldn't need to suffer to learn anything at all. Suffer to learn. We are under the false impression that suffering is for sinners, we suffer because we sin. Then we come face to face with the innocent suffering and we cannot comprehend why. We hear of babies and young children suffering and we know they are innocent of any gross, willful sinning, and our hearts just ache for them. Christ, the Son of God knew no sin and He suffered.
'Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered'
We know Christ didn't like what He had to go through.
Mat 26:38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
Mat 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
IF it be possible…let this cup pass from me. This from the Son of God!
We suffer and often believe we don't deserve the suffering, at least not to the extent we are called to suffer and we are sinners truly deserving of death, let alone suffering.
What obedience can a child who suffers learn? Perhaps none, but perhaps the lesson if for another and the suffering inducing another's suffering. We cannot understand all the ways of God. We can know that ALL things will eventually work for good to them that LOVE Him.
By the grace of God may we learn obedience and if we are called to suffer let us remember the most Innocent of all suffered so that He might learn obedience and we learn obedience through Him. We can't let the lessons be lost, we must realize that the suffering will be for our good some way, some how and that God be glorified in all!
In His amazing love!
Amen.
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