It was absolutely necessary that Jesus, as the Lamb of God (John 1:29), live a sinless life on earth so that he could be the perfect sacrifice for all sin. Although he was given God's spirit without measure (John 3:34), his task of living a perfect existence was anything but easy! Jesus, by virtue of his mother Mary, had to fight against the same human nature each of us possesses. Our Savior had to learn, through hard experience, what it was like to struggle against sin so that he could more perfectly empathize with us (see Hebrews 2:14, 18, 4:15). The Lord implemented the following three-fold strategy to overcome the chance, though small, that his human nature would lead him to sin in thought or in deed. 1) Imitate the Father Jesus understood that, while dwelling in a human body, he was constantly susceptible to the subtle, and usually negative, influences of his human nature. He therefore wisely chose to always mimic the judgments and actions of his heavenly Father in order to remain sinless. He did this because the Father was spiritually perfect and not tempted whatsoever by sin. "Therefore, Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly, truly I say to you, the Son has no power to do anything of Himself, but only what He sees the Father do. For whatever He does, these things the Son also does in the same manner . . . " (John 5:19). 2) Fasting Jesus, at the start of his ministry, had to endure the direct and concentrated temptations of the devil for 40 days (Matthew 4, Luke 4). He fasted during this period in order to combat the onslaught of subtle deception thrown at him for the express purpose of getting him to sin. Fasting lessened the influence of his human nature upon his choices. It also enhanced his ability to draw closer to God. 3) Prayer Jesus prayed many times during his physical sojourn on planet earth in order to remain sinless. His heartfelt petitions, peppered with tears, sought out God's wisdom and spiritual strength to overcome whatever came his way. "Who, in the days of His flesh, offered up both prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him Who was able to save Him from death (the second death should he have sinned), and was heard because He feared God" (Hebrews 5:7). |
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