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Hebrews 5:7-10

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

As the writer to the Hebrews pens these words he is, no doubt, thinking about Christ’s painful cries in the garden of Gethsemane and from the cross on Golgotha. The word “excruciating” means “out of the cross” and describes physical agony. But it was the indescribable anguish of taking on the sin of the world that Jesus dreaded most. For that brief period of time, the Father would turn his back on his sin-bearing Son.

Jesus was fully obedient and completely perfect during his entire human existence. But the cross proved our Lord’s submission to the end. The work of the cross established Jesus as our perfect Savior. The cross-work of Christ made him the source of salvation for all who trust in him.

People argue today for many ways to God. And to be honest, in a world that offers a variety of products, numerous solutions, and belief system alternatives, one can see how this assortment is applied to the spiritual life. But when it comes to a savior, we must understand the qualifications. A savior must be sinless to die sacrificially for the sin of others. Since all humans are sinful, he must be God, and to die on man’s behalf; he must be man. He must identify with those he desires to die on behalf of. Jesus, fully God and fully man, died for us, was buried to prove his death, and rose from the dead.  So, the source of salvation narrows to One. We can agree to disagree on many things, but the source of eternal salvation is not one of them.

Father, thank you for sending your Son as the source of eternal salvation. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your great work on the cross. Thank you for providing the way to eternal life. In your name. Amen.

This Week on The Journey:

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