In the Days of His Flesh

In the Days of His Flesh

“Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear . . . .” Heb. 5:7.

This is how Jesus acted in the days of His flesh. Now we are in the days of our flesh. Now we need warnings and exhortations, teaching, and help. Everything depends on how we react in the days of our flesh. It is in the days of his flesh that a man commits either evil or good. It is during this time that it is difficult to see clearly. The flesh with its desires and passions speaks, and God’s Spirit speaks to our conscience. Most people live according to the flesh, which is why people are negatively influenced from almost all directions.

We can hear how people boast when they are well, how proud they are when they are successful and can impose their will on others. However, as soon as they are on a sickbed, they see more clearly. Then they see the emptiness of the splendor of this world and they regret the evil they have committed. They become humble; it is suddenly easier to ask for forgiveness, and they make good resolutions. If only they get well again, then things will be different, etc. However, if they do get well again, all these good resolutions are forgotten as far as most of them are concerned.

Jesus said when He came into the world: “‘A body You have prepared for Me. . . . ‘Behold, I have come—in the volume of the book it is written of Me—to do Your will, O God.’” Heb. 10:5-9.

Jesus made a covenant with God when He began to live in the days of His flesh. He gave God His body to do His will. He began a walk of faith according to God’s will, as it was written in the volume of the book. He came in the flesh of David, which spoke constantly and made demands. Rom. 1:3. He was tempted in all things as we are. Heb. 4:15. We see in James 1:14 how we are tempted. However, Jesus was faithful to the covenant, remaining without sin. What is written in verse 15 never took place in His life. But this faithfulness cost Him prayers and supplications in the days of His flesh. He resisted unto bloodshed in His battle against sin. Heb. 12:2-4. It cost Him His life. This was the blood of the new covenant that flowed. Matt. 26:28. It was through the blood of the everlasting covenant that the God of peace brought up that great Shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus, from the dead. Heb. 13:20. Jesus never committed sin with His body. He had given it as a sacrifice to God. He was faithful in the covenant, which is why His body did not see corruption and God could raise Him up on the third day.

This is the great Shepherd of the sheep. He is our Shepherd. This is the kind of guidance we have received for our life, as many as have entered into the new covenant. Through our Shepherd of the sheep and Overseer, God works in us the things that are well pleasing in His sight so we are fully equipped for every good work to do His will. Heb. 13:21.

The new covenant also costs our life. Matt. 10:39. We receive these three witnesses: the Spirit, the water, and the blood. 1 John 5:6-8. It is through the testimony of the water and the blood that the Spirit, who is the truth, witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God. Rom. 8:16. These are the ones who do not live according to the flesh during their days in the flesh but who put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit. V. 13. They are Jesus’ brethren and have the right of inheritance. V. 17. They will experience the rapture and will meet Jesus in the clouds.

We have to say that Jesus, together with these people, has experienced a glorious outcome from the days of His flesh. Therefore we must “greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Pet. 1:6-7.

These people have—by faith—seen clearly in the days of their flesh. Their faith was tried by sufferings. Faith comes by hearing God’s Word, and many people receive the Word with joy. However, when their faith is tried by sufferings, most of them do not manage to hold on to the light, because the flesh with its passions and desires preaches the light of faith away, and they fail. Matt. 13:20-22. This tells us that there will be an exceeding glory over those who, like Jesus, are faithful in the covenant and are willing to be led through the sufferings to glory. 1 Pet. 5:10-12; 2 Cor. 4:17.