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Introduction
Last month we considered a basic
introduction to the fact of there
being no recorded reference to the
priest or High Priest having any
shoes. This led to the
consideration of that which the Lord
experienced, not from walking on the
desert floor as the priest did, but
from the verbal and active eruptions
of sinful man. This paper is musing
upon “Experiences which are common
to both unsaved persons and saved
persons,” and those of the Lord.
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It greatly helps if there is an understanding that the
sufferings of our Lord fall into two major areas: |
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a) |
The sufferings which He bore when suffering for our sins |
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b) |
The sufferings He experienced throughout His entire life, apart
from the three hours of darkness. |
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When our Lord was on the cross, during the three hours of
darkness He suffered the penalty for our iniquities and
transgressions (Isa. 53:5), but in the three hours of light not
one sin’s penalty was executed on Him. The three hours of
darkness was when He suffered to be our Saviour but the balance
of His earthly sojourn was the qualifying Him to be our High
Priest. It is with these experiences these papers are dealing
with. |
Experiences of the Lord
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It is a very uncomfortable feeling when an individual knows
others are speaking in a disparaging way about them and with
side glances looking down on them. Our Lord knew what this was
like for He also was looked down upon, despised and rejected.
In the grace of God I have never been arrested and walked
through a shopping mall handcuffed. Only twice have I been in
prisons, and that was to present the gospel. It was an
experience I would not want if I was a criminal. The prophet
Isaiah wrote, “He (the Lord) was taken from prison and from
judgment” (Isa. 53:8). The apostles knew what it was like to be
in prison (Acts 5:18; 12:7). The writer to the Hebrews spoke of
those who were in bonds (Heb. 13:3). Paul knew imprisonment,
once as house arrest (Acts 28:30) and when Onesiphorus came to
visit him (2 Tim. 1:16-17). It causes a deep wondering of how
the blessed Son of God felt when: |
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a) |
He stood before the chief priest and elders of the people (Matt.
27:1, 12, 20) |
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b) |
Being questioned and set at nought by Herod’s men (Lk. 23:7-11) |
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c) |
Standing in the wings and then brought forth as Pilate cried, “I
find no fault in this man” (Lk. 23:4; also Jn. 19:4, 6) |
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d) |
Yet, to stand there before that motley crowd of unfeeling
obstinate “spiritual leaders” who wanted nothing but His blood.
He who loved beyond telling was hated with a satanically
inspired hatred. Nothing He did was acceptable. In a very real
way He was despised and rejected of men (Isa. 53:3). |
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This was all the more intensified to him in hurtfulness because
of His rejected love. |
How stupendous the truth that God,
who cannot be tempted, yet in
becoming human He experienced what
it is to be tempted and not just any
temptation. The Gospels record the
three major temptations (Matt.
4:1-10; Mk. 1:13; Lk. 4:1-14), two
in the wilderness and one on the
pinnacle of the temple in the holy
city (Matt. 4:5). As noted, there
are thousands who are hungry and the
temptation to make bread from stones
would not be a temptation to them
because they do not have the ability
to do such. In contrast, the Lord
who later produced sufficient bread
for thousands, and being God, could
have easily satisfied His hunger by
creating bread. This is where the
crux of the temptation was. He, by
faith, depended on God to give Him,
in His own time, that which He
needed to satisfy His hunger. It
was an attempt by Satan to separate
Himself from the will of God and to
use His own power to get that which,
humanly speaking, He needed at that
time.
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The Lord knew the dreadful experience of being misunderstood
from two avenues: |
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a) |
There are very few things worse than to have that which is said
twisted and given an entirely different meaning, especially if
it is to condemn and lead to one’s death, or take the truth of
what is said and mock it. The Lord experienced the hostility
and hatred of the religious leaders by
twisting His words. As that perfect man whose words came from
God stood before the Sanhedrin, they took His words recorded in
John 2:18-21 and gave them an entirely different meaning, then
added to them. The Lord never said He would destroy this
temple, yet they said, “We heard Him say, I will destroy this
temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will
build another made without hands” (Mk. 14:58). Bad enough to
put a distorted meaning to what He said but to add words to it
was very evil, “yet He opened not His mouth” (Isa. 53:7). Then
when on the cross His words were taken wrongly and used to mock
the possibility of what He had apparently cried for. The Lord
cried, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani” (Matt. 27:46). Some of them
then said, “This man calleth for Elias” and “Let be, let us see
whether Elias will come to save him” (Matt. 27:47, 49). The
disciples also misunderstood His words when He told them, “Our
friend Lazarus sleepeth” (Jn. 11:11-12) when in fact the Lord
was speaking of the death of Lazarus (Jn. 11:13-14). |
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b) |
From His disciples and others in their failure to grasp the
deeper truths the Lord spoke about, it was important for Him to
learn the patience needed in dealing with those who are slow to
grasp the matters spoken of. For instance, when at the well the
Lord said, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that
saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of
Him, and He would have given thee living water. The woman saith
unto Him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is
deep” (Jn. 4:10-11). The woman failed to understand the Lord
spoke of the “Living Water” that only He could give. |
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Space forbids to go into more detail concerning the experiences
of the Lord but the following are some of the ones common to all
humanity: |
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a) |
To be utterly lonely (Psa. 88:18; 102:6-7) |
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b) |
To stand at the grave of a loved one (Jn. 11:33-38) |
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c) |
To know no abiding home (Matt. 8:20) |
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d) |
To know what it is to be the object of mockery (Lk. 23:11) |
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e) |
To be silent in the midst of false accusations (Matt. 26:60) |
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f) |
To know what it is to not be wanted (Jn. 1:11; Psa. 69:8, 13;
88:11) |
Experiences which are unique to
those who live in fellowship and
walk with the Lord
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For the child of God who seeks to live life in fellowship with
God, there are experiences which the unsaved know nothing about,
a fact the Lord knew intellectually. We know it is one thing to
know a truth by mere knowledge but quite different to know the
same fact by experience. For instance, I know the Arctic is
very cold but it is an intellectual knowledge. However, if I
were to go there and upon getting off the aircraft I would
quickly realize it’s freezing cold. No longer an intellectual
head knowledge but I know that coldness by experience and now
able to feel for others who are going there. Because the Lord
has experienced my world, He knows what I feel and succors me in
the affliction. The Lord knew that many saints would be
humiliated and mocked and He knew the cruelty of humiliation.
However, the Lord could never be humbled for pride was not in
His character. He knew nothing of the pride of: |
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a) |
Birth:
“Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of
Nazareth?” (Jn. 1:46) |
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b) |
Wealth:
“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son
of man hath not where to lay his head” (Lk. 9:58) |
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c) |
Reputation:
For He said, “Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in
me” (Lk. 7:23) |
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d) |
Superiority:
For He said, “I am among you as he that serveth” (Lk. 22:27) |
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e) |
Ability:
For He said, “I can of mine own self do nothing . . . . I seek
not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent
me” (Jn. 5:30) |
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f) |
Pride:
It was a major problem in Laodicea (Rev. 3:17) |
The Lord knew
what it was to have those whom He
loved virtually blaming Him or
opposing the will of God for Him.
When Lazarus died his sisters sent
for Him, fully expecting Him to come
with all haste for He loved them (Jn.
11:3, 36). The Lord waited and when
He did arrive, Martha said unto Him,
“Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my
brother had not died” (Jn. 11:21).
Then Mary said the same words (Jn.
11:32). How that must have hurt the
Lord. Again there came that point
of time when the Lord told the
disciples that He “must go unto
Jerusalem, and suffer . . . and be
killed, and be raised again the
third day.” The rebuking response
of Peter was, “Be it far from thee,
Lord: this shall not be unto thee”
(Matt. 16:21-22). Peter, in his
love and zeal for the Lord, was in
ignorance standing against the will
and purpose of God. Sometimes in
life we find the will of God quite
different to our desires, they can
be so natural. For instance, if a
spouse dies or a much loved child or
parent, very seldom would that be
our desire, yet in God’s
wisdom takes them to himself.
Christ knew what that was like.
The Lord lived in a family and none
of his brothers and sisters (humanly
speaking) (Matt. 12:26-27; 13:55;
56) believed in Him (Jn. 7:5).
In fact, they went even further than
not believing in Him, that is, who
He was but publicly intimated that
He was mad because of His
non-conformity and self
proclamations. How deep must the
prayers of the Lord have been for
his family circle. What a
responsibility He had living the
divine life among them. There are
so many saints in the same
situation. How hard it is not to
let speech slip a littler bit and
take all the loved one’s abuse and
not retort to it but love them,
knowing they do not understand the
solemnity of what they are doing.
The reality of Satan and his demons
in the affairs of life is to be
remembered that, while there is only
one Satan, there are untold numbers
of demons who, with untiring zeal,
do his will. Satan is not
omnipresent but with his many
loyalists spread all over the world,
there can be sinful influences on
individuals and nations across the
world. The Lord was of such a high
priority that the temptations He was
to be put to were not left to a mere
demon, but by Satan Himself. In
unmasked determination against God,
Satan came to the Lord for the sole
purpose of splitting the oneness of
the Godhead by trying to have Christ
act contrary to God’s will. There
was no hidden front made from Satan
for the Lord had cast Satan from his
place of superlative excellence in
the government of Heaven. Now the
Lord is on Satan’s turf and Satan
will do all to discredit Him and
destroy Him from
being able to glorify God in His
life, death and resurrection, thus
defeating Satan and having the
victory over death. When we speak
of the temptations of the Lord
reference is being made to the
unrecorded temptations (Lk. 22:28).
When the Lord spoke of the passion,
there was Satanic temptations for He
called it, “Your hour, and the power
of darkness” (Lk. 22:53). While
Satan could never, despite every
allurement, entice Christ to sin (He
could not sin) yet the Lord knew the
lure Satan dangled before Him was
very real. He could never be
dominated by sin’s powers. He did
know the appeal of that which was
used as bait. I would be very
foolish to say that any saint, no
matter how spiritual, has never
known the subtly of Satan and the
attractions of sin. Christ, our
High Priest, knows those experiences
so well.
Concluding Thoughts
How wonderful to have such a High
Priest who can succor us in our
temptations and who lived untainted
by the world in which He lived.
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