Jesus: Confident in the Character of God

“I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as ‘God on the cross.’ In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?” wrote the late theologian John Stott.

The beautiful mystery and necessity of the Incarnation is a central theme of the book of Hebrews, which also seeks to prove how Jesus could be a priest even though He was not from the priestly tribe of Levi. What kind of priesthood could He claim?

Hebrews 2 reminds us that Jesus can help us during our temptation because He is merciful and sympathetic to the human predicament of suffering and sin. The divine project called the Incarnation had an adoptive purpose: Jesus was bringing brothers and sisters into the family of God, and He would accomplish this great work of love by His atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Hebrews 3 reveals the attitudes and actions that oriented Jesus toward God, the same disposition and decisions that we’ll need as we face suffering and temptations to sin. Faithfulness to God—such as Jesus demonstrated—depends on the willingness to stand under, not over God’s Word, and allow it to speak into our lives with God’s authoritative intent.

How did Jesus overcome His wilderness temptations? He did so by affirming God’s authority as Father and His submission as Son. If we want to beat back the temptations that come in great force, we do not need more resolve: we need more faith, the very faith Israel lacked when they stood at the edge of the Promised Land. Real faith will always generate real obedience.