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How is it that Christ "Learned Obedience"? [Heb 5:8]
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Mr. Camping, I don't understand in the Book of Hebrews why it speaks of Jesus as having to be made perfect through suffering, because Jesus was already perfect.
HC: The question is raised, What does the Bible mean when it says that Christ "learned obedience"? That is found in the Book of Hebrews, in Chapter 5, verse 8: "Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered. And being made perfect He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him."
Now that certainly is an interesting verse. How could it be that the perfect Lord Jesus, how could it be that He had to learn obedience? I think the answer has to be that this is not speaking of the fact that there was any lack of obedience in the personality of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can say that very confidently because of course He was without sin.
But in being obedient to the Father, He had to learn what a dreadful path this really would be. God the Father sent the Lord Jesus Christ to earth to pay for our sins. But the immensity, the enormity of the suffering He must endure would not be known to Christ until He actually endured it.
Now I say this based upon two verses that come to mind. One is when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane. He said, "Father, is it possible that this cup might pass from Me?" And three times He asked this of the Father. "Is it possible that this cup might pass from Me?" Already the wrath of God was beginning to weigh on Him. And we see this in the Biblical language, that sweat was pouring off His body like great drops of blood into the ground.
And we read in Hebrews that He was there with "loud cries." The utter terror of beginning to experience the wrath of God. It's also emphasized in the statement when He hung on the cross, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?'' It's the awfulness of experiencing something so horrible that even though Jesus Christ was God, He could not appreciate altogether the utter awfulness of it.
But just because He endured it, He was learning what obedience God really entailed. Now I say this also, based on a verse that's found in Matthew 24, and I think in Mark 13:32. Mark 13:32, Christ is talking about Judgment Day, and He says, "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in Heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." Now that's an interesting verse, isn't it? It's as intriguing as the verse that He learned obedience.
You see, Christ was going to endure Judgment Day. And He had not yet endured it when He is speaking these words. The angels who have fallen are going to endure Judgment Day. And at this point in time they have not yet endured it. The unsaved of the world are going to endure Judgment Day. And as yet they have not endured it.
Now Judgment Day is spoken of in the Bible as the day of the Lord, or as the hour of judgment – particularly, for example, in Revelation 18, which speaks about the hour of judgment. And in this verse 32 God is indicating that all those who must experience the judgment of God do not know what it is. They don't know the immensity of the wrath of God. Even Jesus did not, because none who are to endure it had endured it as yet.
Now God the Father is the one who poured out His wrath on the Son. And therefore, He certainly is the one who was controlling just how much was required to satisfy the justice of God. But Christ, in His human nature, emptying Himself of His glory, learned what obedience to the Father really was, as He endured the awful wrath of God for our sins.
There is no one on the face of the earth today who knows what hell is. No one does. When people say, "I went through hell," they don't know what they're talking about. The unsaved of the world will slowly on come to know what hell is, as they spend an eternity there. But they'll have to be there forevermore before they know the full impact of the wrath of God for their sins. It's not pleasant to contemplate hell, not a bit pleasant. But I hope that everyone who is listening to this program tonight will be so agitated in their souls, so exercised, that they'll know that, "I don't want to go to hell That's the last place I want to go to."
Now there is an escape from hell. But in order to escape from hell it means we've got to humble ourselves before God. We've got to come with a broken and a contrite heart to Him and cry out for His mercy. We can't be on any kind of an ego trip. We can't believe that there's anything worthy within us, if we're going to escape hell.
Unfortunately, most of mankind is not ready to admit the true nature of their sins before God. They're not ready to admit that they're a miserable, lost sinner, without any hope. That's too demeaning to their sense of well-being, or their pride. And so they remain unsaved.
But if it's the moment of truth, and we look at ourselves as the Bible looks at us, then we're ready to admit, with no holds barred at all, without drawing back at all, that indeed we're under the wrath of God, we are sinners. We deserve to go to hell, and we don't want to go to hell. And we begin to cry out to God for His mercy. We begin to trust in what the Bible declares about our sins, about hell, and about the salvation that Christ has provided. That's the path to salvation.