cause he is alive forevermore He has an untransferable priesthood which shall abide eternally (7:24). He is perfectly human. Here our Lord is contrasted with Aaron. Aaron was a man of like passions with our selves ; the Lord Jesus was holy, harm less, undefiled, and separate from sin ners. Nevertheless, He was truly Man"; He became incarnate and dwelt among us, experiencing the things which we experience in order that He might experimentally know, what His people have to endure as they pass through this sinful world. He is boundlessly compassionate (verses 7-8). The experiences referred NO ROOM FOR JESUS He was cradled in a manger; His own angels sung the hymn Of rejoicing at His coming, Yet there was no room for Him. Oh, my brothers, are we wiser, Are we better now than they? Have we any room for Jesus In the life we live today? Not much room for our Lord Jesus Has there been, or will there be; Room for Pilate and for Herod— Not for Him of Calvary. Room for pleasures— doors wide open, And for business— but for Him Only here and there a manger, Like to that at Bethlehem. to in verse 7 were those which He passed through in Gethsemane. What is the explanation of these awe-in spiring words? There cannot be any doubt that they refer to the sorrow which our Saviour suffered as He anticipated the dread crisis towards which He was passing — Calvary. William Hoste: “In the garden of Gethsemane the Lord Jesus saw the Cross fn all its dread reality, and there He suffered by anticipation in a way never before experienced. It was the proper and legitimate shrink ing of absolute sinlessness from con tact with sin which was manifest in the prayer: ‘Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me.’ It was
Blola Alumni gather for fellowship. From left to right, Rev. and Mrs. Thomas E. Steele, and Rev. and Mrs. Harry Bascom. not fear of physical death which so distressed Him, as His own words show (John 12:27). Multitudes of His devoted followers have faced martyr dom without a tremor. What He dreaded was the deeper, more terri ble reality which is called the second death, the divine judgment upon sin. ‘He prayed unto Him that was able to save Him out of death and was heard’ (verse 7 R.V.). The prayer was, not that He might escape death, for He was going to that of set purpose; but that He might be delivered from the bonds of death by resurrection.” He learned obedience by the things which He suffered; He humbled Him self and became obedient unto death. He was made perfect — in the sense that He was fully qualified as a man for His present position (verses 8, 9). The results — to us — set forth in verses 9 and 10. We are the possessors of an eternal salvation and we have a High Priest after the order of Melchisedec. Reproof The two greatest hindrances to growth in grace are : doctrinal error and moral evil. Hebrews 5:11-14 is the illustration of the one, I Corin thians 3:1-3 of the other. The He brews had a legal mind and the Corin thians a carnal spirit. The apostle reproves them because of the dullness of their spiritual hearing, verse 11; he affirms that they were in the nursery when they should be on the platform, verse 12; and he frankly tells them that instead of giving them strong meat, he can only give them the suck ing bottle, verse 12. Spiritual babes 32
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