Something we do not have …

I was listening intently to our Pastor's sermon one Sunday morning not too long ago when all of a sudden one phrase just jumped out at me. He was speaking about Jesus as our High Priest, someone we can go to who knows what we go through, who has felt the same things we feel.

You know, the normal things such as cold, heat, hunger, thirst, pain … all the physical things as well as emotional things like loneliness, or perhaps being misunderstood or mocked and laughed at. Then there are things like people lying about us or making false accusations, even to the point of betrayal by our friends.

I would like to add to the list of things one of my problems … self doubt … but I won't because I really don't think Jesus would have been troubled by anything even close to doubt. He was God … but He was also man … so who knows.

If I let my mind wander off, I end up asking questions like … Did He ever get sick? Did Jesus ever cut Himself working with carpenter tools? When He was a boy, did He ever fall down and scrape His knee and have His blood drip on the ground? And if it did, was that spot on the Earth made pure and holy by that blood? Or was it only later on the cross while He carried the weight of the world's sin in His body that His blood became effectual and healed both spiritually and physically whatever it touched?

Anyway while listening to the sermon; in my spiritual mind I started seeing Jesus as He is today. Hebrews 10:12 states … "But this man, (Jesus) after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God …" to make intercession for us. In fact Hebrews 7:25 declares … "He ever liveth to make intercession for them" … (them) meaning anyone who comes to God for help.

In Hebrews chapter 9, it states that Jesus … "by his own blood entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us" … and just as Moses did in the earthly tabernacle, Jesus in the heavenly tabernacle that was not made with hands, sprinkled His own blood on the mercy seat.

So now here I am, mentally wandering away from my Pastor's sermon, thinking about Jesus taking His own blood into Heaven where He sprinkled it on the Mercy Seat as full payment for sin … and then later after He ascended into Heaven returned to that very same Mercy Seat and sat down on the right hand of God and now He ever lives to make intercession for us.

I've spoken of this … intercession … hoping you will fully understand the importance of what Jesus is now doing. His on going intercession for us can't be only for sin because the sin question was answered forever with His one sacrifice. So what else can it be?

Let's look at two other verses and try and let scripture interpret scripture.

Hebrews 4:15-16 … "For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." K.J.V.

By saying that we … "do not have a high priest that cannot be touched with those same feelings" … means that He is touched. Isn't that right?

The Amplified reads …

"For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.
Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God's unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it]."

So the question that formed in my mind was this. Can Jesus, as our High Priest, our intercessor; can He really be touched in His heart, in His spirit … "with the feeling of our infirmities?" Can that happen unless He has the very same feeling, the very same pain, the very same hurt or whatever it is that we feel? He's not just touched; He makes "contact" with … the feeling.

I don't think this scripture is only talking about … "our sinful infirmities of temptation." I would like to believe, I want to believe that Jesus cares about any and all of my problems in this life, not just sin.

After all, He was the one who said in John 16:33 … "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

In closing, would I be doing the Scripture injustice if I were to conclude that Jesus is not only … "touched" … emotionally affected by our infirmities, but with an intuitive understanding, He actually … "feels" … our hurt, the emotional inner pain that we feel for a loved one when we intercede and pray for them. The type or size of the problem doesn't matter.

Something we do not have … is a High Priest who cannot be touched, unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities.

So … draw near … with every need.