Turn your Eyes upon Jesus: Parrhesia

Hebrews 4:14-16

Hebrews 4:14-16

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

High Priest

Intercessory - the action of intervening on behalf of another.

Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson, eds., Concise Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).

Advocate - 1 a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy. 2 a person who pleads a case on someone else’s behalf.

Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson, eds., Concise Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).

Leviticus 8

Leviticus 10:8–11 HCSB

The Lord spoke to Aaron: “You and your sons are not to drink wine or beer when you enter the tent of meeting, or else you will die; this is a permanent statute throughout your generations. You must distinguish between the holy and the common, and the clean and the unclean, and teach the Israelites all the statutes that the Lord has given to them through Moses.”

Sympathy

Common Feeling/Favorable Attitude

All are tested by the lust (Pleasure/Delight/Wish) of the eyes, lust (Craving/Enthusiasm/Eagerness) of the flesh, and the pride (Self-Esteem/Self-Respect/Conceit) or pretensions (Claim/Merit/Vanity) of life.

1 John 2:15–17 HCSB

Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For everything that belongs to the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does God’s will remains forever.

Genesis 3:1–7 HCSB

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” “No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Luke 4:1–14 HCSB

Then Jesus returned from the Jordan, full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days to be tempted by the Devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over, He was hungry. The Devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” But Jesus answered him, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone.” So he took Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. The Devil said to Him, “I will give You their splendor and all this authority, because it has been given over to me, and I can give it to anyone I want. If You, then, will worship me, all will be Yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.” So he took Him to Jerusalem, had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. For it is written: He will give His angels orders concerning you, to protect you, and they will support you with their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” And Jesus answered him, “It is said: Do not test the Lord your God.” After the Devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Him for a time. Then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread throughout the entire vicinity.

Freedom to/of

The Greek word translated as confidence or bold is parrhesia, it literal means freedom/liberty. It is the word by which we have centered our 1st Amendment Rights: Freedom of/to

Time of Need

Grace - Blessings/Thankfulness/Favor/Good Will/Elegance of Movement/Honor of Presence

Mercy - Compassion/Grateful/Completely in the power of

Leviticus 16

Application

Unlike every other god that is out there, Jesus is the living God in the flesh. Because He is both God and human He has the ability to have sympathy to empathize with us. We do not serve a god that has no understanding, no emotion, no persona, no clue to what it means to be a human being, or the struggles that each of us face. This is drastically different from every other religion in the world today, and even back then. Turning our eyes upon Jesus brings us grace and mercy even during our times battle.