"JESUS--OUR COMPASSIONATE HIGH PRIEST"

Good Evening to All!

How much more compassionate could He be, then to give His Life for thee?

(15) For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize 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 time of need.
Hebrews 4:15-16

I don't know why, but when I read this verse, it brought to mind in nearly every Presidential Election, the fact of whether the candidate had or had not ever been in Military Service, as well as his roots where and how he grew up, be it from a "blue collar" working family, or "well off". It seems like if a candidate has been in the military, then they understand how important the military is and that Veterans need to keep their benefits and such. They understand the need to keep the defense fund operable in case of emergencies and such. If they haven't been in the military, they wing it, but really don't have a clue as to the military's importance, and the importance of taking care of the present military people and their families as well as the service people of the past.

This is something we don't have to wonder about when it comes to Jesus. We KNOW how He grew up, we KNOW where He came from. We ALSO KNOW that He was tempted in every way imaginable by the devil. Anything you can think of that we are tempted with, the devil tempted Jesus with something as bad or worse. Yes, He had the Spirit of God in Him so He was able to be strong, but then, if we have been "born again of water and of Spirit", then we have it as well.

If you want to get right down to it, I wouldn't doubt if He (meaning His flesh) was tempted to fight back when people spat on Him, mocked Him, and ridiculed Him. We know that His flesh was fighting His Spirit when it came to Gethsemane, because He asked God to let this cup pass Him by. Of course we know that was the flesh crying out to His divine Spirit. He KNEW what He had to do. He KNEW that was His whole purpose for coming to earth, to sacrifice His blood for us to be saved.

He sympathizes with us because He understands that we are weak. After all, He created us. It is in our weakness that we are strong, because we rely on Him. I am so thankful that God sacrificed His fleshly body, the body of His only Begotten Son for me, so that I can now be strong. As long as I have His Spirit within me, I know I can rely on Him for strength, and He will guide me and get me through my situations, troubles whatever life throws at me.

It also reassures me that I can go to His throne of grace boldly and with confidence, knowing that He will hear me and answer my prayers. For He says I ye abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask what ye will and it will be done unto you.

That promise alone gets me through so many days, and so many troubles. His grace teaches me how to get through these things and His mercy envelopes me with His loving understanding.

The answers to last night's Bible Challenge "Soldiers and Warfare" Part 2 are as follows:

1. c) shout (Joshua 6:20)
2. a) Saul's son Jonathan (1 Samuel 14:24-30)
3. c) Goliath would fight the best Israelite soldier; the winner's army would subjugate the other with no further fighting (1 Samuel 17:9)
4. a) Doeg (1 Samuel 22:18)
5. d) hanged himself (2 Samuel 17:23)
6. c) Benaiah (2 Samuel 23:20)
7. b) Lahmi (1 Chronicles 20:5)
8. c) with an angel (2 Kings 19:35)
9. b) 12,000 (2 Chronicles 9:25)
10. c) Israel (2 Chronicles 16:1)

I hope you did well, as well as maybe learning something you didn't know before or even recalled something you learned long ago but forgot.

Good Night to All and May God Bless