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)
But one who in every respect has been tempted as we are – we read this verse and we think, in our hearts, "No way, Jesus never had to deal with what I've got to deal with". Or perhaps, "Yeah, but Jesus didn't have the magazines, the billboards, the short shorts, the movies, the TV shows, or the computer in his face all day long". Or we think of some other modern manifestation of the old sins, and think Christ didn't have it as hard as we do. Or we tell ourselves that Jesus had the power of the Holy Spirit, and so He had the advantage, and the list goes on and on.
When we seriously meditate on the Bible and what it teaches about sin, we can see the truth of verses such as 1 John 2:16 – by this verse we understand that all temptation comes into three categories: pleasures, possessions, and pride/position.
He was tempted with all this in the wilderness (Matthew 4 / Luke 4) –
Stones turned to bread – lust of the flesh (pleasures)
Kingdoms of the world – lust of the eyes (possessions)
Top of the Temple – pride of life (position)
We know that Jesus was tempted numerous other times, but here we see that He was indeed tempted in every respect. If you have had cancer you can sympathize with someone else who has it, even if it is in a different body part, it is still the same disease. Jesus was tempted under stress and pressure to abandon the will of God, to use His divine prerogatives and find His own fulfillment through His own way, instead of relying on God for strength. That is what He was tempted with, and that is what we are tempted with, and He can sympathize with us. That is what Jesus was tempted with in the wilderness, that is what the Jews were tempted with in the wilderness, that is what we are tempted with, and the question is will we make it out of the wilderness by entering in? Will we cave in to the pressure, or enter in to the throne room?
Yet without sin – Jesus did not yield under pressure. Now this is saying more than that. He is the Son of God, and is impeccable; He was not able to sin. If He was peccable it would mean He was able to sin, but didn’t. He can’t sin, and He did not know sin but He did know temptation.
C.S. Lewis, imagining someone objecting here, said, “Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is . . . A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in . . . Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means – the only complete realist.”
Jesus did not have internal temptations to sin as we do, but Jesus had the limits of hunger, thirst, and weariness, and through these the enemy strikes. He sympathizes with the assault of temptation in times of crisis. Jesus knows temptation in a way we don’t, because only the one who never gives into temptation knows the full strength of temptation.
The pressure mounted until it reached its peak in the garden of Gethsemane. “If it be possible let this cup pass” was His cry, yet He also said, “not My will but Thine be done”. Unlike Christ, we feel the least bit of pressure and we go running back into the wilderness of our own worldliness. It is true that Jesus never faced temptation in an inner sense the way we do, because there was never a sinful nature pulling Him to sin from the inside. But He knew the strength and fury of external temptation in a way, and to a degree, that we can never know. He knows what we go through; He has faced worse. Thanks be to God that He passed every test.
He was tempted with all this in the wilderness (Matthew 4 / Luke 4) –
Stones turned to bread – lust of the flesh (pleasures)
Kingdoms of the world – lust of the eyes (possessions)
Top of the Temple – pride of life (position)
We know that Jesus was tempted numerous other times, but here we see that He was indeed tempted in every respect. If you have had cancer you can sympathize with someone else who has it, even if it is in a different body part, it is still the same disease. Jesus was tempted under stress and pressure to abandon the will of God, to use His divine prerogatives and find His own fulfillment through His own way, instead of relying on God for strength. That is what He was tempted with, and that is what we are tempted with, and He can sympathize with us. That is what Jesus was tempted with in the wilderness, that is what the Jews were tempted with in the wilderness, that is what we are tempted with, and the question is will we make it out of the wilderness by entering in? Will we cave in to the pressure, or enter in to the throne room?
Yet without sin – Jesus did not yield under pressure. Now this is saying more than that. He is the Son of God, and is impeccable; He was not able to sin. If He was peccable it would mean He was able to sin, but didn’t. He can’t sin, and He did not know sin but He did know temptation.
C.S. Lewis, imagining someone objecting here, said, “Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is . . . A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in . . . Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means – the only complete realist.”
Jesus did not have internal temptations to sin as we do, but Jesus had the limits of hunger, thirst, and weariness, and through these the enemy strikes. He sympathizes with the assault of temptation in times of crisis. Jesus knows temptation in a way we don’t, because only the one who never gives into temptation knows the full strength of temptation.
The pressure mounted until it reached its peak in the garden of Gethsemane. “If it be possible let this cup pass” was His cry, yet He also said, “not My will but Thine be done”. Unlike Christ, we feel the least bit of pressure and we go running back into the wilderness of our own worldliness. It is true that Jesus never faced temptation in an inner sense the way we do, because there was never a sinful nature pulling Him to sin from the inside. But He knew the strength and fury of external temptation in a way, and to a degree, that we can never know. He knows what we go through; He has faced worse. Thanks be to God that He passed every test.
6 comments:
He knows experientially what you are going through...
This article was first posted 4-9-08, but we have made some additions for this reposting...
Praise Jesus for His sinless life!
Jesus knows temptation in a way we don’t, because only the one who never gives into temptation knows the full strength of temptation.
They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in
This brings to light an every day way we can suffer for Christ's sake by fighting temptation with prayer instead of giving in. This growth is a process. The more you submit to God and resist temptation, the stronger you become. If we always give in because it's easier, that temptation whatever it may be, will always be a problem.
Praise Jesus for His sinless life! indeed. If He hadn't lived a sinless life, there's no way we could resist at all.
Wise words...
Jesus knows temptation in a way we don’t, because only the one who never gives into temptation knows the full strength of temptation.
So true...
I really like what Margie said as well.
Hope things are going well for you both.
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