Hebrews 5:7 – 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.
There is so much in this passage to learn from on how to live our lives to the glory of God.
First, this passage starts off by talking about Jesus’ life here on earth, this is the point of reference for us because we can relate to Him in our flesh, just as He too can relate to us in ours (Hebrews 4:15).
Since Jesus prayed, how much more do we need to pray?
We then see that Jesus Himself offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears. We see multiple times throughout the New Testament where Jesus prays (Matt 11:25-26, Luke 10:21, John 11:41-42, John 12:28, Mark 11:36).
Think about this for a moment: if Jesus, the Son of God prayed to His Father in Heaven, multiple times, for strength, for peace, for His Will to be done, for others, how much more should we pray to our Heavenly Father? If Jesus needed communion with the Father through prayer, how much more are we in need of it?
Our God Saves
In the next section of verse 7, it says “to Him who was able to save him from death” He who was able is speaking about God the Father. If we look at Mark 14:36, we see Jesus crying out “Abba, Father! Take this cup from me….” He is asking His Father to remove the cup of wrath that He will soon bear for our transgressions. We see that God can save any man from death, both physical and spiritual death, as shown in David’s life throughout Scripture, as well as Paul, and many other saints.
“He was heard…”
Next, we come to a crucial part of this passage, the last phrase: “and He was heard because of His reverence.” Why is this part of the passage so important? Because we see that one, Jesus was heard and we are heard as His children, and two, the reason Jesus [and we] are heard.
How disheartening would it be if these words weren’t in Scripture? You would just hear that Jesus, the Son of God, cried out to the Father in His times of need (just like we do) but not heard and responded to. This would be like a child running to their mother or father when they are scared or need help and all the parent does is ignore them. How heartbreaking would that be to that child? In the same way, if we cried out to God, only to be ignored, we’d be devastated and lost. BUT, we are heard, just as Jesus was heard. Hallelujah, God is good!
“… Because of His reverence”
Finally, we see WHY Jesus is heard, “… because of His reverence.” Reverence is a deep respect and honor for someone or something. Jesus modeled this reverence in Mark 14:36 where Jesus says “not my will, but yours be done.” This is true honor, especially in light of what He was about to endure on our behalf. It was all to glorify the Father and provide us salvation through His blood.
So what do take away from this passage?
- Jesus, while being fully God and fully man, prayed, therefore how much more must we pray?
- God the Father hears our prayers and responds to them, He does not ignore us and in fact desires to hear from us (Jeremiah 29:12-13, Psalm 66:17-20, John 9:31, John 16:24, 1 John 5:14, 1 Peter 3:12).
- We are to revere (honor and respect) God because He deserves it and we are then blessed by our obedience to Him.
As you go about your day today, be sure to stop and pray, give thanks to the Lord and make your requests known to Him… He hears you and longs for communion with you!
