People are often surprised when they hear that today Jesus is still in a human form, permanently in his resurrected body. Many people tend to think that Jesus had a real body while he walked the earth, but when he ascended into heaven, he reverted to a spirit form. But the reality is that Jesus permanently became fully human, all the while still being fully God. Jesus has a resurrected body, like the one that we who believe in him will one day receive (see Philippians 3:20-21).

Jesus’ Emotions.

In addition, Jesus also experiences the full range of human emotions. He did on earth, and he still does. Jesus experiences joy, sorrow, frustration, anger, and all the emotions we experience (see Hebrews 2:17).

John Calvin wrote, “The Son of God having clothed himself with our flesh, of his own accord clothed himself also with human feelings, so that he did not differ at all from his brethren, sin only excepted.”

Our Emotions.

But there was a significant difference between the emotions of Jesus and our emotions. Jesus had perfect emotions; ours are obscured and affected by sin. We tend to overreact emotionally. When we get sad, we can wallow in sadness beyond what is healthy. When we get angry, it can lead us to do things we shouldn’t do. We overreact.

We also underreact. We can be numb to pain, numb to injustice. When we see someone suffering injustice, we can be unmoved. Because we are sinful and are desensitized.

Perfect Emotions.

But Jesus experiences unrestrained and unfiltered emotions. When Jesus is happy, he is all in; when he is moved with compassion, he displays unrestrained compassion. When Jesus experiences anger, it is perfectly righteous anger.

In the account in John 11, where Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead, we see Jesus displaying a wide range of emotions.

In verse 35, we read, “Jesus wept.” Jesus was not weeping because he felt helpless at the loss of his friend. Rather, I believe Jesus wept because of sin, death, pain, and all the accumulated effects of the original sin in the Garden of Eden. Jesus wept because he saw the bigger picture and was moved with compassion for his friends.

But there is also another emotion on display here. In verse 33 and verse 38, we read, “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled” John 11:33.

“Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it” John 11:38.

The original language is lost on us when we read, “greatly troubled” or “deeply moved.” The actual meaning of the Greek word is profound fury or rage. When Jesus saw the pain that death had caused, he was furious.

The theologian, B.B. Warfield, writes, “Tears of sympathy may fill his eyes, but this is incidental. His soul is held by rage.”

Jesus experienced perfect anger, rage unfiltered by sin. In fact, it would have been a sin if Jesus hadn’t responded in anger, because his perfect compassion would have to be suppressed for him not to get angry. If Jesus had no compassion for those around him, he would not be angry at the effects of sin in their lives. But Jesus has perfect and unfiltered emotions, so he experienced rage.

Jesus’ Anger.

In John 2, we read where Jesus cleansed the temple. He saw the money changers and the people selling oxen and sheep, and he was enraged because of his zeal for the house of God. But he didn’t fly into a rage; he took the time to weave a whip and then turned over the tables, sending all the money flying. He got perfectly angry, and that fueled his actions.

Did Jesus lose his temper? No, he was angry, but he did not lose his temper; he acted out of righteous anger. Jesus never lost control of his emotions; whether joy, anger, or any other emotion, he was perfectly in control. We know this because self-control is a fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23).

Our Anger.

If you are angry about something today, you may be right in your anger. Sometimes, to calm people, we treat anger as if it were a sin. However, the Bible provides guidance on how to handle anger (see Psalm 4:4 and Ephesians 4:26). Anger itself is not inherently sinful, but our response to it can be.

If you have been sinned against and someone has made you angry by a sinful action, know that Jesus is angry with you. Not like a distant observation of your anger, he is actually perfectly angry at the injustice done to you, and he has the perfect wisdom, power, and knowledge to do something about it (see Romans 12:19).

Two of the reasons why we don’t release our anger to God:

1. We don’t believe that God can or will do something to correct the injustice.
2. We are prideful, and humanism says, “I have my rights, you violated my rights, and I want to get my own back.”

Now, I am not saying that if someone does something illegal against you, you don’t go to the authorities. The law gives us recourse when someone hurts one of our loved ones. I am talking about the things that happen in life when someone says something that offends you or takes advantage of you, and it seems that they have gotten away with it. Do you trust the Lord to do something? When we hold on to our anger, it becomes bitterness and resentment. Unforgiveness is a downhill path to self-destruction.

Any emotion we feel, Jesus feels.

Emotions are not sinful; it is what thoughts and actions they lead to that can be sinful. Trust the Lord with your emotions today.

Do you have someone praying for you?

You do; someone is interceding on your behalf every day. The writer to the Hebrews, speaking about Jesus as our Great High Priest, writes in Hebrews 7:25, “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

Jesus is no ordinary high priest; He is the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, majestic, mighty, and holy. When Saul encountered this Jesus on the road to Damascus, he fell down and was blinded by his glory (see Acts 9). When John saw the vision of Jesus, he fell at his feet as though dead (see Revelation 1). This is Jesus today, awesome in power and majesty (see Hebrews 7:26).

This same Jesus invites us to come near and talk with him; he invites us into a growing relationship with him. If only we could fully understand the privilege we have of knowing Jesus, the creator God.

If we fail to grasp his majesty, we won’t value the opportunity to know him.

Because Jesus shed his blood and died on the cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World (see John 1:29), he is able “to save to the uttermost.” This means that he has the power to save anyone who comes to him in repentance.

Verse 25 continues, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” Jesus lives to make intercession for those of us who have believed in him for salvation.

Jesus our Intercessor

Intercession is the act of praying on behalf of others, “standing in the gap” between God and someone in need of mercy, healing, or guidance. We intercede for our unbelieving family and friends, the sick, and the nations. We should be interceding for our nation daily.

Isn’t it incredibly encouraging that our savior brings us before God the Father daily in His presence (see Hebrews 8:1-2). Jesus is the only human mediator between God and man. It is pointless to pray to Mary or another deceased Christian; only Christ has the power to intercede for us before the throne of the Almighty (see 1 Timothy 2:5).

Jesus is interceding for you, the King of Kings, who names your name before the Father when you are struggling with temptation, trials, and the hardships of life. You have a mediator – someone who is interceding for you.

Jesus our Advocate

But that is not the only role that Jesus has; in 1 John 2:1, we read, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

An advocate stands with the accused in a courtroom and defends the guilty party. An advocate brings the guilty party before the judge.

Jesus is interceding for you even when you are not aware you need it. He loves you, and he is bringing your life before God the Father, even when you are sleeping or relaxing.

But if you do sin, Jesus jumps in as our advocate. The Bible says that Satan is the accuser; he is accusing you and me before God the Father (see Revelation 12:10). Satan may be the prosecutor, but Jesus is your advocate.

Jesus advocates for us when we are accused, and there is no doubt that we are guilty, but Jesus replies to the accuser and says, “I paid for that with my blood.” (see 1 John 2:2). Jesus paid for our sins in full; he felt the full weight of our sins on the cross. Christ is always going before the Father on our behalf.

Bunyan wrote in his book, The Work of Jesus Christ as an Advocate.

“Christ, as Priest, goes before, and Christ, as an Advocate, comes after.

Christ, as Priest, continually intercedes; Christ, as Advocate, in case of great transgressions, pleads.

Christ, as Priest, has need to act always, but Christ, as Advocate, sometimes only.

Christ, as Priest, acts in time of peace; but Christ, as Advocate, in times of broils, turmoils, and sharp contentions; wherefore, Christ, as Advocate, is, as I may call him, a reserve, and his time is then to arise, to stand up and plead, when his own are clothed with some filthy sin that of late they have fallen into.

Jesus doesn’t discard us when we sin, waiting for us to get ourselves back in his favor by doing good things. No, Jesus comes to us; he is near when we sin, he is ready to embrace us as we repent and cry to him for forgiveness. The reason he does this is that sin causes pain, pain in our lives and pain in the lives of those around us. Jesus draws near to offer us forgiveness and grace as we repent and turn to him.

However, our natural inclination when we sin is to excuse it, make light of the sin, or blame someone else for our sin. But all the while, we are still falling short of the glory of God – we are still in sin – until we turn to the advocate.

An advocate who loves us unconditionally and who ever lives to intercede for us (see Romans 8:31-39).

What sin do you need to confess to Jesus today?

During every Christian’s life, there are days of pain and suffering, and we can be tempted to feel that Jesus is removed from our suffering, that he doesn’t understand what we are going through. There is the temptation to think of Jesus as less approachable today than he was when he walked the earth 2000 years ago.

Our Great High Priest (v. 14)

Hebrews 4:14 tells us that Jesus is our Great High Priest. A priest is a mediator between God and man; Jesus took on flesh to be that mediator (see 1 Timothy 2:5).  

Jesus is uniquely fully God and fully man. Only he can identify with us and present us before God the Father.

In the Old Testament, the High Priest could only enter into the Holy of Holies once a year to make atonement for the sins of the people. The High priest had to undergo extensive preparation. This once-a-year opportunity to atone for the sins of the people was done by a frail human being and had to be repeated every year. But when Jesus ascended, he did something that has never been done before; Jesus, in his resurrected and eternal body, passed from this earthly habitation through the heavens and into the throne room of God (see Hebrews 4:14).  

Jesus is the first and only human to do this. He is our Great High Priest who ministers in the very presence of the Almighty God. And here is the best news: the apostle Paul writes that because of our position in Christ, we, being in Christ, are seated with Christ in the throne room with unlimited access through a perfect sinless mediator – Jesus Christ (see Ephesians 2:4-7).

Our Unwavering Confession (v. 14)

Because we have this great, eternal, and superior High Priest, we must not give up our confession. The people receiving this letter were tempted to give up their faith in Jesus. The world around them was drawing them back to the familiar ways of the law and the temple system, slowly turning them away from Jesus.

Today we have a similar challenge: the world is loud, angry, and godless. It may be easy to simply be silent and keep our faith in Jesus to ourselves. But there is no appeasing Satan and his demons; they want to destroy your life.

Our Sinless Sympathizer (v. 15)

Sympathy is a poor translation of the original Greek word. Sympathy in our English understanding means to feel pity or sorrow for someone else’s misfortune. It is recognizing suffering from a distance (e.g.,”I feel bad for you”). But the Greek word is a much deeper word that means “fellow feeling” in which an individual is fully acquainted with the suffering of the other person and fully feels the seriousness of the situation. That is what our High Priest—Jesus—is saying to all of us: “I really know what you are feeling”.

Pain is a physical manifestation of sin. Pain originated as a result of the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden; there was no pain before that (see Genesis 3:16-17). God never intended for us to feel pain; it was not His original design. When sin entered the world, so did pain.

We experience pain for multiple reasons: we feel pain because of the harm or sin done to us by other people, and we feel pain because of our own sinful or stupid choices. But most often we experience pain because we live in a world diseased by sin, with temporary bodies and unjust systems and dysfunctional relationships and decaying creation. Pain is a part of the journey through life on this broken earth. Some people experience more pain than others, but that does not mean they are any less near to God.

So, we ask the question: does Jesus feel our pain?

When Jesus suffered on the cross, he not only felt the pain of the nails and the beatings and the crown of thorns, but he also felt a more excruciating pain. When Jesus hung on the cross, he bore the weight of the sins of every person who would place their faith and trust in him. As he took on the wrath of God the Father for our sins, he felt the immense pain associated with that sin.

Can Jesus sympathize with our pain? Absolutely. He knows your pain; emotional, psychological, and physical.

Jesus sympathizes with us in our weakest and most painful moments, not with a detached simply of someone who doesn’t understand our pain but as a co-sufferer, one who suffers with us. 

Our Confident Approach (v. 16)

Everyone who has given their lives to the Lordship of Jesus has an outrageous invitation. Jesus invites us to come boldly before the throne of God. We are invited to come to the throne room of the Almighty God, whose holiness would consume us if it wasn’t for the High Priestly presence of Jesus. We get invited, but even more scandalously, we are invited to come boldly, confidently. We can come confidently because our Great High Priest is ministering there for us and to us.

Today, because of what Jesus has done, we have a standing invitation to the throne room of God when we are tempted and when we are suffering. In that throne room, we have a high priest and advocate who knows our temptations. We can ask for help, and Jesus promises us to give us help in our time of need.

There is no temptation, no trial, no painful struggle that Jesus is not co-suffering with you.

This is not the promise of a quick ending to suffering or instant healing and wealth—that is not what the Bible teaches. Rather, this is the promise of the nearness and intimate presence of Jesus when you are suffering.

Do you know Jesus as he one who co-suffers with you? 

Do you know what it means to come boldly before his presence?