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.
In the above passage we have a glimpse into Jesus’ earthly prayer life. The writer of Hebrews is writing about the supremacy of Jesus. In this section he is making the argument that Jesus is supreme to the Old Testament priesthood. He has just stated that, in the O.T., in order for a priest to offer up a sacrifice for others he had to first offer up something for himself. In the above verse we read the author’s point about Jesus’ supremacy. Jesus didn’t just offer up a sacrifice for Himself with a lamb or a goat or bull or a bird. Jesus offered up Himself, as the pure lamb. He did that by laying His life down in death. But in this process of His death, prior to the death on the cross, Jesus prayed and asked His Father to save Him from death. This is not to be interpreted that Jesus was asking His Heavenly Father to deliver Him from death, but rather He was asking the Father to deliver Him thru death!!. He was not asking to be excused from this assignment. He was asking the Father to raise Him from the dead. That is what made Jesus a High Priest more superior than any other priest who ever lived. Our High Priest offered His body for our sins and was raised to life in payment and victory over those sins and death. But a lesson for us here is that He, even knowing God’s eternal plan, prayed!! He prayed Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. He wanted what God (and He and the Spirit) had designed in heaven to be accomplished by Him on earth. He prayed that the plan of God would be executed by the power of God, through Him. When we pray we are praying the same way. We are praying that the plans God has for us will be accomplished. Although God is sovereign and always carries out His plans, even the Son prayed for that sovereign will to be executed. Never stop praying thinking God will do what He does. God incorporates our prayers into His plans, just has He incorporated the Son’s prayers into His plan for the Son (ultimately for us).
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