“Faith it"

 

Hebrews 5: 7-10

We earth people or as my friend Bill calls us “time critters” can only grasp so much.  How can the finite (subject to measurable limitations) understand infinite  (without any limits that can be measured or realized)?  It is clear that it is impossible to grasp the fullness of God, and yet it seems that some folks come across as if they understand the totality of God or some take the stand that because they cannot measure or realize the Creator they deny His existence.  Each is extreme, each will lead to a life of self, and both are looking for followers that will revere them.  That is why we often read pass segments of the Bible that we call deep waters, and often forget to ask the Holy Spirit, our teacher, to show us the truth that we need to live and bring glory to our Father in heaven.  I believe Hebrews 5:7-10 is one segment that is not what any of us finites would do.

It is telling us that when Jesus was in His earthsuit, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.  Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.  And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.”  If your mind works anything like mine, and let us pray it does not, you might have a few questions invade your thinking that are not enjoyable.  First, let me state that the Bible is very clear that Jesus is our Creator, Genesis 1:1, Colossians 1:15-17, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him.  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

But these questions arise from Hebrews 5:7-10, first was Jesus less than God when He took on flesh?  We find the answer in Philippians 2:5-11, beginning in verse 5 we are told to have the same mind as Christ, and it is clear we can have the mind of Christ, (1Cornthians 2:16).  In verse 6-11 we are told the answer to my question: “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

As a finite, this part of Scripture is some deep, very deep water; “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.  And being made perfect” It is clear that Jesus though being God chose to conform to the limitation of being a man, and run to His Father for everything.  Is that not the message, the theme of the entire Bible, we are to run to God for everything.  I believe Hebrews 10, covers the question that filled my mind, but only in the presence of God in heaven will I begin to grasp the majesty of God, for His ways are higher than my ways, His thoughts are higher than mine.  Now getting back to Hebrews 10:5-7, “Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.  Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

So my fellow searcher, what should we take away from Hebrews 5:7-10?  Questions that  cannot be measured or realized, and so we “faith it;” choose to believe God and to act on the will of God.  Jesus had these words for us in John 15:9-10, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.  Abide in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice