If you recall from my last blog, John began his Gospel by saying, 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (Jn. 1:1-2).

We also discovered that this Word who was God, was also the Creator of all things,

“All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (Jn. 1:3).

Furthermore, we discovered that, 

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (Jn. 1:14).

As noted in my last blog, it is amazing to think that this Jesus, the Creator of all things, became a human being, and lived on planet Earth, teaching and training twelve disciples and meeting the needs of thousands of people during His earthly ministry. And we concluded last week’s blog by asking the questions: “What kind of a person was He? What was His internal make-up? Was He God? Was He human? Or could He possibly be both?”   

The Apostle Paul not only gives us a clue, but the answer. As Paul encouraged the Philippian church to live their lives with all humility, he used Jesus as an example saying,

“…although He existed in the form (Gk. morphe) of God, He did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form (Gk. morphe) of a slave, being made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:6-7).

The Greek word morphe is translated as “form” in the New American Standard Bible, but can also be thought of as one’s nature, and is translated as such in the New International Version of the Bible. And so, Paul is telling us is that Jesus already existed with a divine nature while in God’s presence in heaven, but that He set aside the privileges that He enjoyed in the spiritual realm when He stepped into the physical realm by “emptying Himself,” taking a human nature (morphe) made in our likeness. This is why the historic Christian belief is that Jesus was both God and man, that is, fully God and fully human. He was not 50% God and 50% man, but a unique person possessing two natures, one was 100% God and the other 100% man.

Being both God and man, we naturally wonder whether He was capable of being genuinely tempted, and if so, we rightly ask “Was He capable of sinning?” Of course, the Bible records His temptation in the wilderness by the devil (Mt. 4 and Lk. 4), so we must conclude that His temptation was genuine. But being both God and man, was He capable of sinning? The historic Christian response is that He was both able to sin, but at the same time, able not to sin. Why is this so important? Because the temptations He faced needed to be real, just like the temptations that you and I face. Furthermore, those temptations had to be real enough to “tempt” Jesus to obey the devil and thereby, disobey the Father and sin. The writer of the Book of Hebrews weighs in on this issue by saying that,

“…He was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15).

What does this mean for us today? Once again, the writer of Hebrews indicates the importance of this truth by saying,

“Since then, we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, and yet without sin (Heb. 4:14-15).

Forty days after His resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God (Heb. 10:12). For this reason, the writer of Hebrews encourages us to take advantage of Jesus’ position as our great High Priest by saying,

“Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16).

Each one of us has a High Priest who not only cares about us, but who is also ready to extend both mercy and grace to us in our times of need. All we need to do is to take the time to “draw near to Him,” and we can do it with utmost confidence that He will hear our cries for help and respond with mercy and grace.

Let’s not forget this incredible privilege that we have not only because Jesus conquered death after His crucifixion, but that he also overcame the temptation to sin, thus qualifying Him to be our sinless and great High Priest. If you need to go to Him today, no need to put it off.

Blessings to each of you.