Morning By Morning #84

He…was heard in that he feared.

Hebrews 5:7 KJV

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

Did this fear arise from the devilish suggestion that Jesus was utterly forsaken? There may be tougher trials in life, but being utterly forsaken is certainly one of the worst.

Satan says, “Look around—You don’t have a friend anywhere! Your Father has closed His heart of compassion to You and not one angel in His courts will stretch out a hand to help You. All of heaven is alienated from You and you are completely alone. Just look at Your closest friends in whom You have confided the sweetest counsel. What good are they?

“Son of Mary, look over there at Your ‘brother’ James, Your ‘beloved’ disciple John, and Your ‘bold’ apostle Peter—see how the cowards sleep while You are experiencing such suffering! Look! You have no friends left in heaven or on earth and all of hell is against You. I have roused my demonic den from all regions, summoning every prince of darkness to come against You tonight. We will spare no weapons and will use all our devilish might to overwhelm You. What are You going to do? You are utterly alone!”

Perhaps this was Christ’s trial. Apparently it was, for “an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him” (Luke 22:43), removing the fear. “He was heard in that he feared.” Thus, He was no longer alone, but heaven was with Him. Perhaps it is also the reason He went three times to His disciples.

Backwards and forwards thrice He ran,

As if He sought some help from man.

Samuel Hart, 1845 –?

By doing so, Jesus would see for Himself whether it was really true all had forsaken Him. Yes, He found His disciples asleep, but perhaps He gained some comfort from the fact that they were sleeping, not because of treason, but from sorrow. “The spirit is willing, but the body is weak” (Matt. 26:41).

In any case, “He was heard in that he feared.” Jesus was heard during His deepest suffering. Dear soul, you will be heard as well!

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

Our verse today has a more accurate rendering in the NIV: “He was heard because of his reverent submission,” as apposed to the KJV: “…in that he feared.” Of course, Spurgeon had access to relatively few translations, or perhaps this particular devotion would be quite different. It should remind us of the importance of the underlying meaning of each and every word.

Jesus was fully God and fully man. As man He experienced the same temptations we do. But being afraid would indicate a lack of faith, and since “everything that does not come from faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23), as God, He could not have been afraid. He Himself said, “Don’t be afraid; just believe” (Mark 5:36).

The word fear is used many times in God’s Word to describe reverence and submission. For example: “Fear the LORD your God, serve him only…” (Deut. 6:13). Jesus submitted to His Father’s will, going to the cross on our behalf, and therefore, “He was heard because of his reverent submission.” In the same way, the Lord hears our prayers when we reverently submit to Him.