In the Days of His Flesh - Hebrews 5:7-9

What it might have been like for Christ, His short time on Earth, as He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey.

Author: Randy Pritts

Today's Text

kjv@Hebrews:5:7 @ Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

kjv@Hebrews:5:8 @ Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

kjv@Hebrews:5:9 @ And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

kjv@Hebrews:5:10 @ Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.

"Days of His Flesh" v7

"Days of His flesh" is a very interesting phrase. It compactly suggests that there was a time before His appearance and a time after that Christ Jesus was not flesh; least not predominately. There are eyewitness accounts that the resurrected Jesus has flesh, they could touch and feel him, they could place their finger into the nail holes in His hands, the spear pierced into His side; flesh still but, not only or not predominately. Before His incarnation however, there is no real way for us to describe Christ Jesus other than spiritual, at times appearing vision like and other times, if you believe in Christophany, able to sit and eat or wrestle etc...

Paul puts the mystery of all this into this perspective

kjv@1Timothy:3:16 @ And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

It is crucial for us to believe and confess that Jesus Christ did appear for a time in the flesh, not to believe this is to speak from the spirit of the anti-christ kjv@1John:4:3. It is not optional for Christians to believe in His incarnation. It is the bases for the removal and pardon of each one of our sins.

As Paul writes

kjv@Romans:8:2 @ For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

kjv@Romans:8:3 @ For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

kjv@Romans:8:4 @ That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

What was it like for Jesus to be in the flesh?

I imagine that for Him this earthly life was very much like it is for us. After all, he did have to eat and drink, sleep on a rock, wash the dirt from His feet. He had the experience of a mother and brethren. He sought and enjoyed the friendship of others, laughed, cried, had much joy and such sorrow, and in all things He was tempted.

At the same time though, I think that there was something about His time that was very much different. Days after His birth He was pointed to as being the messiah by two temple prophets. Within a year or two He is sought out by a band of foreign mystics sparking the murderous wrath of the tyrant Herod, whisked away by the cover of night into the safer haven of Egypt. Don't think that at a later age that He did not ask and that His mom and earthly dad did not tell Him.

What perhaps interests me most about this youthful period is His religious upbringing. He had to have been taught the Torah and the Poets and the Prophets. I find it hard to believe that with each passagelearned that He did not think that in one way or in another this passage is talking directly to "me".

Imagine how a young Jesus would read and understand a passage such as this

kjv@Isaiah:49:1 @ Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.

kjv@Isaiah:49:2 @ And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;

kjv@Isaiah:49:3 @ And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.

kjv@Isaiah:49:4 @ Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.

kjv@Isaiah:49:5 @ And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.

kjv@Isaiah:49:6 @ And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

kjv@Isaiah:49:7 @ Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.

kjv@Isaiah:49:8 @ Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;

kjv@Isaiah:49:9 @ That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.

kjv@Isaiah:49:10 @ They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.

kjv@Isaiah:49:11 @ And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.

kjv@Isaiah:49:12 @ Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.

kjv@Isaiah:49:13 @ Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.

"That is about me" He would say, "I am my Father's righteous servant". You see, His religious upbringing was not left to the scribes and teachers of that day, it was mapped out for Him centuries before this by the Holy Spirit.

Imagine reading this about your future self -

kjv@Psalms:22:6 @ But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

kjv@Psalms:22:7 @ All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,

kjv@Psalms:22:8 @ He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

kjv@Psalms:22:9 @ But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.

kjv@Psalms:22:10 @ I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.

kjv@Psalms:22:11 @ Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.

kjv@Psalms:22:12 @ Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.

kjv@Psalms:22:13 @ They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.

kjv@Psalms:22:14 @ I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

kjv@Psalms:22:15 @ My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

kjv@Psalms:22:16 @ For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

kjv@Psalms:22:17 @ I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.

kjv@Psalms:22:18 @ They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

kjv@Psalms:22:19 @ But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.

kjv@Psalms:22:20 @ Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.

kjv@Psalms:22:21 @ Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

kjv@Psalms:22:22 @ I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.

kjv@Psalms:22:23 @ Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.

kjv@Psalms:22:24 @ For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.

kjv@Psalms:22:25 @ My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.

So then in some sense Christ's earthly life was much like ours in every way other than He did not sin. In another sense His life time was very much different because it had been prepared for and laid out in very deliberate and picturesque language, taught to Him from long accepted cannon and by continuing guidance from the Holy Spirit. It would be for Him a life in the flesh as well that you and I would know little if anything of.

"Unto him that was able to save him from death" v7

Jesus knew all along that it was going to come down to just this: His death and resurrection was going to "author" for us our eternal salvation. Given the many Old Testament scriptures, how could He not believe this?

Perhaps one of the first childhood stories Jesus would have been taught was the story of Abraham at the mountain alter, knife in hand, with young teenaged Isaac. His teacher would have concluded to the class "see there, to please God we have to be willing to sacrifice all that we have up to and if need be including our own versions of Isaac; that children is the test and measure of true faith". Perhaps at first a young Jesus would not have understood anything beyond this common teaching, but surely there would have come a day when it would have dawned on Him, given the preponderance of other scriptures, "now wait a minute, that is not the correct teaching because I am the ram that God the Father has substituted for Isaac, sent, caught in the hold of this thorny thicket"; the Father saying "I will provide - do you Abraham really believe it?". It is not about what we are willing to sacrifice, it is about what God has all along planned to sacrifice of HIMSELF in superiority to our fig leaf like vain self redeeming efforts. The worshipers of Moleck were faithful enough to sacrifice their children; that is not the measure of faith, that is the measure of grotesque ungodly idolatry.

So when it says here "save him (the God's Son) from death", it is not saying that God's Son will not die, it is saying that from out of death God's only begotten will be brought back; a much more fearful thing. God cannot promise Abraham that HE will provide a sacrifice in Isaac's stead and then spare HIS own sacrifice from having to go through with it; now can HE?

So when we read "when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared", this is a very literal and historical thing. kjv@Matthew:26:38-39 "Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."

"If it be possible" He says because what He is already now and soon about to go through (take upon Himself in the flesh all the sins and intended punishment of all mankind). "Nevertheless" He says, hard and painful as it will all be "I know Father that you have to go on through with this". Why only an hour or two before this Jesus had told His Disciples "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Fathers kingdom" kjv@Matthew:26:28-29. Surely Jesus was not of the mind that He for fear of it was going to back back out of it. He is attempting to convey the honest but devoted difficulty of this and the cost paid by Him in being this ultimately obedient.

Why then are we to review and reconsider all of this?

In chapter context, the author of Hebrews is attempting to establish the concept of Jesus becoming a true "High Priest". The author writes "4 And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. 5 So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee".

Best estimates put the number of High Priest during the all time of biblical Israel at 83 (one in succession after the other). All of them offered the yearly sacrifice of atonement. All of them had to be cleansed by a sacrifice of atonement themselves. None of them were used by God as the permanent substitution sacrifice for all mankind or nation themselves. In fact, there are not many of these 83 High Priests that would have gotten along with or understood Jesus and what He was obediently doing. That friend tells us a whole lot.

During the time of Jesus, best estimates are that there were over 22,000 other Levitical priest in the temple city of Jerusalem alone (12,000 estimated dwelling in Jericho); and entire social class we could say that had evolved and developed since the captivity (dict:all Priest ). There were sharp divisions within this priesthood, the most populous and vocal being the reforming faction called Pharisee. Not many of these tens of thousands of priests would have gotten along with or understood Jesus and what He was obediently doing. That friend tells us a whole lot. You can kind of see what God the Father was so mad about and why the time Jesus had to be right then.

No, Jesus was to become a much different type of High Priest. Perhaps the only one He rightly could be compared to would be the ancient Melchisedec. We cannot even compare Jesus to Moses in this sense, nor Mohamed, nor Buddha, nor Confucius. None of them were spoken of before hand. None of them condescended from lofty eternal position to take on flesh incarnate. None of them was spoken of and attested to by others immediately before and after their birth. None of them were whisked away because of who they were and how people were already responding to Him into Egypt on the word of angels. These religious icons did not have to be confirmed and proven by the Father's many healings and wonders. They didn't have to fulfill anything that had been written beforehand by Prophets to the hundredth of minute detail. Nor did they have to die and raise again to the right hand throne to become what they are today. Very few if any have been obedient to anything divine outside of themselves enough to be for us a "High Priest".

Only of Jesus can it truly be said-

kjv@Hebrews:5:8 @ Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

kjv@Hebrews:5:9 @ And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

Comment Board: InTheDaysOfHisFlesh Tags: Jesus Christ, Incarnation, Salvation,

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