"in All Points Tempted As We Are"

Article • “In all points tempted as we are”

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throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Some are saying: “How can God understand me? Has He ever been through what I have been through?” We have sometimes the picture of an unapproachable, remote God, a God who is far from life and reality. A God whom our difficulties and temptations cannot touch. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ, the One in whom “dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9) has been through all this. He has been through all that you may be in right now, through all the temptations that may try you and the storms that may hit you. Because He has been through He can understand you. He can fully sympathise the pain, the infirmities and the desires of the human soul. Jesus Christ sympathises right now what may have hurt you. Jesus Christ sympathises right now what may have afflicted you. Jesus Christ sympathises right now all your infirmities, all your problems, every tear you may have shed and every anxiety you may have. Two chapters earlier, in Hebrews 2:16-18 we read: Hebrews 2:16-18 “For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. THEREFORE, HE HAD TO BE MADE LIKE HIS BRETHREN IN EVERY RESPECT, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. FOR IN THAT HE HIMSELF HAS SUFFERED, BEING TEMPTED, HE IS ABLE TO AID THOSE WHO ARE TEMPTED.” (NKJV-KJV) Jesus Christ can help those who are tempted, because He also went through the same temptations. He does not look at you from afar, without knowing how you may feel. He 2

The mediator between God and man, our High Priest and great advocate is One that was made like us IN EVERY RESPECT: THE MAN CHRIST JESUS. See that the Word of God, speaking for our advocate, does not choose to call Him as Son of God, or Lord or Saviour or with any other of the titles He has and is. Instead it calls Him MAN – thus stretching the fact that the one that mediates for men, in not a stranger to them but one that was made like them in every respect. He has suffered like men, He was tempted like men and therefore He can sympathise men and mediate for them. “For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham” we read. Have you wept? He wept too. Were you betrayed? He was betrayed too. Were you hungry and thirsty? He was hungry and thirsty too. Were you treated unjustly? He was treated unjustly too. Have you suffered pain? He has suffered pain too. Have you been in agony? He has been in agony too. Have you lost loved ones? He has lost loved ones too. Were you rejected? He was rejected too. Jesus Christ, “THE MAN Christ Jesus”, can perfectly understands you for He was made like you, not only in some points BUT IN EVERY RESPECT, the Scripture says. Moving further on the same topic in Philippians 2:5-11 we read: Philippians 2:5-11 “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and COMING IN THE LIKENESS OF MEN. AND BEING FOUND IN APPEARANCE AS A MAN, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee

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What and where is not significant. What is significant is that whoever you may be and whatever your problem may be, JESUS CHRIST CAN SYMPATHISE YOU AND UNDERSTAND YOU. Here is what Isaiah says, showing also the magnitude of what He went through while on earth: Isaiah 53:2-12 “For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our grieves and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgement, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked - but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labour of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the 4

The others esteemed Him as stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. He was oppressed and afflicted and He didn’t open His mouth. These are some of the things that Jesus went through while He was on earth. Our Savior and Mediator, our great advocate can perfectly sympathize us. And such a savior we needed. A remote one wouldn’t fit. We needed one that would be made like men in every respect – one that would go through what men go and therefore He could mediate and support them. And this is the Savior, the High Priest, the Advocate we have. “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. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Tassos Kioulachoglou

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