Obedience in Suffering


Hebrews 5:8
“Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered...”

We see by reading the verses surrounding this one that it is referring to Jesus. That He prayed fervently for the cup of death to pass from His lips, yet He knew that salvation could come no other way than by the sacrifice of His innocent blood. So He conceded to His Father’s will. I have to admit this verse confused me. After reading Verse 8-9 I discerned that the suffering was Jesus dying for our sins and thus He learned obedience though His suffering on the cross because He knew it was God’s will. However the phrasing still doesn’t make sense. God doesn’t send hard things our way just to “teach us a lesson”, or “beat us over the head” that’s not His style. He teaches through love and patience. Coming back to the verse then. I was confused as verse 9 goes on to say, “and once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him...” I am pretty sure Jesus was already perfect, in fact He had to be. So why does it say His suffering made Him perfect and obedient? To answer this question I had to go back and read verses 1-10. This gave me even more context. I learned that this passage is talking about Jesus Christ as a priest. One who would offer sacrifices to appease God annually. While Jesus was here “He offered prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears...” (verse 7) As a priest would have done with burnt offerings. It says His prayers were heard because of His reverent submission. He knew it was God’s will that He die on the cross and was submissive to His Father’s will. To answer the question then, the suffering of dying on the cross sealed Him as the perfect and blameless sacrifice. His obedience was shown through His suffering.
Application
My application is to pray according to God’s will. In order to do that I first need to know His will. To do that I will set aside half an hour (at least) in the morning to fervently read God’s word, then write down a prayer according to the passage I read.

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