Hebrews 4:14-16, “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an 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.”
I first noticed our text passage of Scripture my first year that I attended
Hyles-Anderson College. I lived in the dorms and I remember being
discouraged one day, and finding great delight when I stumbled across this
beautiful passage in my daily devotions, which has been a friend to me ever
since, encouraging my soul in the Lord.
The inspired Word of God tells us that our dear Savior was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. The Lord Jesus Christ CAN be touched with the feeling of our infirmities (i.e., our human frailties). Psalms 103:13-14, “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” That means Jesus knows what it is like to be in love with someone. Jesus knows what rejection feels like. He knows the joy of being with someone that we love, and the pain we feel when they are gone from our presence, and the loneliness in the times between.
When you are in love with someone, you get happy every time you see them. You just lay in pain of soul upon your pillow, wanting to be near them. You pray to God for that person, and “FOR” that person, pleading with the Lord to shoot a cupid's arrow through their heart to have unfeigned love toward you. Proverbs 19:14, “House and riches are the inheritance of fathers and a prudent wife is from the LORD.”
Out of curiosity of what others felt, I looked up signs of truly being in love with someone. Here is my own list...
You always think about them.
You don't stare but want to keep staring at them.
You feel elated when you're in their presence.
You feel sad when you see them go.
You want them to be happy, even if you're not.
You greatly desire to be around them.
You pray for their spiritual growth in the Lord.
You feel pain of soul when they don't reciprocate your love.
You feel empathy toward them.
You're on cloud nine when they wave at you.
Everything feels right when they look at you.
You want to be legally married, 'til death do us part.
You're willing to wait as long as it takes to marry them (Jacob waited 7 years for Rachel)
Although we can decide to love someone, we cannot choose who we fall in love with!
If someone doesn't love you back, then all you can do is love them in the Lord, and always be willing to help them if ever they need it. The greatest love of all is giving, expecting nothing in return. Luke 6:35, “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.” If we are commanded to do all those nice things for our enemies, we certainly ought to do them for someone that we dearly love.
I like something that the former beloved senior pastor of Harvest
Baptist Church on Guam said one Sunday morning in 2014 in his sermon: “All
it takes to fall in love is a pulse, but to stay married requires a
plan.” I never forgot that truth! My favorite quote by that pastor
is: “God's way meets at the intersection of human responsibility and divine
providence.” I took hundreds of notes during my year at Harvest, and cherish
them.
Jesus Must Have Been in Love, To Relate To Our Feelings
I
pondered earlier today about Jesus, if He ever fell in love with a woman.
I'm sure He did. Mary Magdalene was the first person at Jesus' tomb when He
resurrected from the dead. John 20:1, “The first day of the week cometh
Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth
the stone taken away from the sepulchre.” Mary got there while it was
still dark! Jesus raised up during the night. Mary had been a prostitute,
possessed by devils, ensnared by the Devil; but the dear Savior rescued her
from the depths of darkness, and gave her back her life. Jesus was her hero!
I cannot help but believe that Mary, upon having such love, mercy and
kindness bestowed upon her by God's grace, would not fall in love with such
a man.
Now, I know for a fact that Jesus and Mary did not have carnal knowledge together. They did not have children together as the heathen Mormons teach. I am not hinting even in the slightest that they had any other relationship than Savior and disciple; however, I cannot help but wonder if Jesus had feelings for her. I mean, Jesus was a fleshly man, with all the same temptations that we have, so saith the Scripture. Hebrews 4:15, “For we have not an 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.” It would seem normal to me that Jesus, in some part of His soul, wished that He could be married and have a family; yet for the Kingdom of God's sake, and knowing that He was the only begotten Son of God, couldn't. Please keep in mind that I am only speculating, and I am not teaching Scripture here. Where the Bible is silent, I will not be dogmatic. I am simply saying that in order for the Scripture to be fulfilled in Hebrews 4:14b, which says that Jesus was “IN ALL POINTS TEMPTED LIKE AS WE ARE,” He must have at some point in His life been in love with a woman. So the Lord DOES understand the soul's pain and longing of being in love with someone, and the hurt caused by denial.
Since Jesus is the only begotten the Son of God (meaning that God alone is His divine Father), if He had conceived any physical children, they would have also been begotten of God. That didn't happen! Jesus never had any physical relations with a woman, nor did He begat any earthly children. Two of the most evil movies ever produced by Hollywood are “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988) and “The DaVinci Code” (2006), both of which portray the Lord as a fornicator. The DaVinci Code is a very dangerous work, which confuses people, putting forth the heretical historical fiction that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had an illicit intimate physical relationship, which produced a secret royal bloodline. The danger is that most people have no way of separating fact from fiction, which allows Satan to further blind men from the truth of the saving Gospel of grace...
“The book has spawned heated speculation: Why did the church wrongly label Mary a prostitute? Was she marginalized by a patriarchal church afraid of female leaders? How intimate was she with Jesus? Does the debate over the child obscure a more profound role for Mary in the future of Christianity? "Most people who read The Da Vinci Code have no way of separating historical fact from literary fiction," says Bart Ehrman, chairman of the religious studies department at the University of North Carolina and author of Truth and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code.”
SOURCE: https://www.usnews.com/news/religion/articles/2008/01/25/fact-and-fiction-in-the-da-vinci-code
It is blasphemy against the Word of God for
Hollywood to portray the vilest of sinners as heroes, while portraying the
sinless Savior as an immoral character; and worse, as a mere mortal man
(denying His deity). Hebrews 10:29, “Of how much sorer punishment,
suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son
of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was
sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of
grace?” Jesus is almighty God!!! I have seen Ron Howard's film, 'The
DaVinci Code' (starring Tom Hanks) and noticed that bold visible
advertisements for the film claim the movie is “based upon factual
historical evidence.” And yet in another place, in tiny fine-print at the
bottom, they post a disclaimer saying it's all “intended for entertainment
purposes only.” I think that is terribly misleading and evil, because they
are doing that to the sinless Son of God, portraying Him as a liar,
fornicator and deceiver for “entertainment” purposes!!! God will one day
sadly cast them into the Lake of Fire and then we'll see how “entertaining”
it all is!!!
Jesus CAN Be Touched With the Feeling of Our Human Infirmities
I
love Hebrews 4:14-16 and am thankful to God for putting that Scripture in
His inspired Word. Hebrews 4:14-16, “Seeing
then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens,
Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an
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.”
God is inviting us as His redeemed children to “BOLDLY” come before His
throne of grace, to obtain mercy, to find grace to HELP in time of need.
That is every day for me!!! I ALWAYS need God's help!!!
There is NOTHING that any human being has suffered through, that the Lord doesn't comprehend, because He is God. Jesus knew about the five husbands of the Samaritan woman, without her telling Him about it. The Lord knows everything! I MEAN EVERYTHING!!! Hebrews 4:13, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” Oh yes, dear friend, Jesus knows all about you!
Psalms 139:1-7, “O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?”
The Lord is omniscient (He knows everything). John 16:30, “Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.”
I was listening to the Scriptures yesterday in Genesis, and how Jacob loved Rachel. I love the book of Genesis, because it gives us a foundation for everything in life. There is nothing new under the sun. I marvel every time I hear the story of Adam and Eve, and the serpent, in the paradise of Eden. In Genesis chapter 3 we learn about Satan's deceitful nature, man's destructive nature, and God's divine nature. Satan's M.O. (method of operation) is the same today, over 6,000 years later. The Devil still twists the words of God, as he did in Genesis 3:1, “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” That is not what God said! In Genesis 2:16-17 God said they COULD eat of all the trees, except just ONE! Genesis 2:16-17, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Do you see how easily Satan corrupted God's words? Woe unto the modern Bible-corrupting crowd, who continually say: “HATH GOD SAID?,” instead of “THUS SAITH THE LORD!”
