"14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of need." Hebrews 4:14-16 NKJV
Jesus has been there. He knows what life is like and what it takes to walk with God. He knows the struggles, the heartaches and the persecution that may come our way every now and again. He knows what a struggle it is to keep our sinful nature under control and how temptation can lead us astray at any time. He's been there, as we say in these times, He has the t-shirt, but His is covered with His blood shed on the cross for each one of us.
Jesus is our great High Priest. He is the only High Priest that is great. We can go to Him whenever we need to and His door is always open. He has passed through the heavens; He is the Son of God and He is the only one that truly knows what the Christian life is like and what a battle it can be at times. He knows temptation but He never sinned; He does know what the pull of it can feel like, however. He knows.
Jesus sympathises with us, with our struggles, with the sin we commit and the way we feel when we do sin. He tells us to 'Hold fast', our confession. This means we are to cling to our confession with determination. It takes all we have got. We are to cling to His forgiveness, to the fact that He knows what it is like. He cares.
Sympathise in the Greek, is made up of two words = 'Suffer with', and this is what Jesus does for each of us. Counsellors speak about being in someone's Internal Frame of Reference; and this means, to sit in their shoes so that you know exactly what it is like to suffer. David Jeremiah in a comment about 'Suffer with', says: 'The term expresses the compassion of one who does not simply see suffering from the outside, but who enters into the suffering and makes it his or her own.' Copyright 2013 David Jeremiah.
Jesus becomes involved in what we do - if we allow Him, and that includes our suffering. He knows what weakness is. This is why He tells us that, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' 2 Corinthians 12:9. He calls us to pass all our problems to Him and whenever, we have blown it - which we do and will do until we are perfected in Heaven - to have the confidence to approach the throne of grace, confess our sin and receive His love and forgiveness. We receive His grace and His mercy (Hebrews Hesed), and we receive this to help in our time of need V16, in other words, 'just at the right time'.
In conclusion, He will never cast you aside; He will never ground you or tell you that 'you've gone too far this time'. Not at all. As you come boldly to His throne, He will bless you beyond your wildest dreams. Why? Because He just can't stop loving you.
Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard
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