Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”
Is it really important for us to understand what kind of nature Christ "took" or "assumed" when He became human and was born as a Baby in Bethlehem? If He lived a good life and died a good death in our place so we can be saved, is that not enough to know and believe? Why bother trying to study any deeper into what the Bible says about who He is?
Well, there is a big "THEREFORE" in Hebrews 4:16 that ties the closeness of Jesus to us with our "obtaining mercy" and "finding grace to help in time of need." Knowing the truth about the nature of Christ is necessary in order to know how to "come ... unto the throne of grace." If we don't know that truth, we wander in foggy confusion. The word of God is very clear: Christ "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us THEREFORE come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
The mercy is there, but we must obtain it; the grace is there, but we must find it. The "time of need" is with us always--and for sure we will have that "need" today.
Christ's Enemy in the "great controversy" is determined to confuse the world by presenting Christ as not truly tempted in "all points ... like as we are." Satan cannot stop us from talking and singing about Christ, but if we don't appreciate how He was "made like unto His brethren" (Heb. 2:17), how "He also Himself likewise took part of the same" "flesh and blood" as we have (2:14), we humans inevitably end up being slaves to the sinful impulses of our "flesh and blood." It's not a puzzle for theologians to wrangle about. Young people can see the truth.
Was Jesus tempted as a youth "like as" Joseph was tempted by Potiphar's wife in Egypt? What held Joseph in that crisis was finding that "grace to help in time of need."
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 26, 2002.
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