The Benefits of Jesus – Part 2
"Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." (NIV) Hebrews 2:14 -18
Did you miss: The Benefits of Jesus – Part 1?
Are you struggling with some sin or temptation to sin? Sometimes it can feel like our struggles are hopeless and that there is nowhere to turn for help. For many people in the world who do not know Jesus, life’s struggles can be very helpless. Many people turn to all types of addictive substances and activities to try and cope with the pain they are feeling but often this just ends up making things worse. As Christians, we have hope beyond anything this world can offer through Jesus Christ but many times we struggle to take hold of that hope because we aren’t sure how it can help us.
The main point I want to focus on in this discussion is something that I find very encouraging from verse 18. This passage can inspire us to reach out to Jesus with our deepest struggles. The verse says that Jesus suffered when He was tempted and because of that, He is able to help us when we are tempted. We are so blessed to be serving a God who cares about our battle with Sin. I think it’s worth remembering that God doesn’t owe us anything when it comes to our struggle against sin. It would be fair for Him to outline what sin is and then punish us accordingly when we fail. Can you imagine what our lives would be like if that was how God operated? Thankfully, our God went so much further than this to help us with sin. He sent Jesus to this earth to teach us about righteous living and transforming our heart. That same Jesus was tempted in every way that we were during His walk on earth but did not sin (Hebrews 4). Even though He did not Sin, he still suffered a great deal over the course of His life because He constantly needed to deny Himself of earthly and sinful pleasures so the He could remain focused on His mission. Because he knows what temptation feel like, and how to overcome it, He can help us overcome our struggles and temptations as well.
Jesus shared in our “flesh and blood” during His life on earth and ultimately, He sacrificed that flesh and blood for us on the cross. Jesus walked on this earth, suffered and was tempted just like us and then He gave himself up on the cross for our Sin. Let’s use the points in our reading to try and wrap our heads around what Jesus has done for us. Hebrews 2 says that He shared in our humanity, that He gives us power over death, that He was like us in every way, that he is merciful and faithful, that He makes atonement for our sins and that He is able to help us with our temptations. We truly serve an awesome savior and I hope the truth of the Word will help us to bring our temptations and struggles before Jesus because we realize that He has gone through the same things we are going through and because He was victorious over sin, He can help us to also be victorious.