For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
— Hebrews 4:15 (NKJ)
If Jesus was tempted and still had some divine abilities, he would not be as we are. Right? But if he is a true man who resists temptation through the power of the Holy Spirit, then he has experienced it as we do and truly helps us in our weaknesses.
God, who created you and me, knew all about us because he created us, but it was through empathy. He was able to empathize with us. Yet when He came to earth through Jesus, as a man, it was experiential because he experienced what it was like to be a man and have the same feelings as we have. He now knew experientially, not just intellectually.
James 1:13 says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”
Didn’t we just read in Hebrews 4 that Jesus was tempted in every way as we are?
Yet James says that God can not be tempted. Well, if God can not be tempted then most certainly Jesus did not have his deity as part of him while he was on earth because he was tempted. Scripture plainly says God can not be tempted.
How can this be when Jesus was fully God? Because Philippians 2 explains that he gave up his divine attributes. He limited himself by becoming a true human being. He allowed himself to feel and experience all that you and I feel and experience. Verse 14 says we are tempted when we are drawn away by our own desires.
That means Jesus was tempted by jealousy, fear, worry, lust, envy, etc. This is mind boggling because the Bible says he was tempted in every way as we are. Yet when he was tempted, he won the battle over temptation showing you and me that we can overcome that battle, too.
You can go to Jesus with a bad thought or desire and He will never say, “I don’t know what you are talking about”. Instead, He says to you, “I understand because I’ve had that thought, too. I’ve been there. Let me show you how to overcome it.”
Isn’t that amazing? That our God would become one of us! He not only came to save us from the devil’s destruction by redeeming us, but he came to experience the same things we experience and to show us how to overcome.
What a God!! He is so merciful, full of grace and loving kindness towards you and me. Never does He sit on His throne ready to pounce on you. Never! Satan wants you and me to see God as mean and ready to strike you down but that is a lie. God is loving, kind and good desiring to help you and me live this life in victory. There is no god like this God!
Seeing Jesus as fully human, suddenly makes all the promises within my reach!
“He entered my darkness as Everlasting Light.”
Jesus Was Anointed As A Man