Approach God’s throne of grace with confidence for help in your time of need!

Wearing the superhero mask or princess tiara fills us with confidence. As a superhero we possess the strength to battle any bad guy and reach the end of any adventure. And as princess we enjoy the finer things in life and peaceful company of friends and family. With our imagination, we can wipe away weakness and bring ourselves to a place of peace. Our imagination is a wonderful gift, but it cannot give us confidence and help in our weakness in the real world.

Related to our imagination is the placebo effect. The placebo effect happens when someone experiences a positive health outcome from a treatment with no real benefit. An example of the placebo effect would be feeling relief from a headache after chewing up a supposed new pain relief pill when really the chewable pill came from a PEZ dispenser. The placebo effect would not have worked in the real-world event recorded in our Old Testament reading from 1 Samuel 17. During the reign of King Saul over Israel, the nation was at war with the Philistines. In one of the battles, the Philistines offered to have the best soldier from each side battle to decide a victor rather than have the two armies fight. The Philistines were filled with confidence because their solider was Goliath who was experienced in battle, would tower over today’s NBA stars and whose spear had an iron point on it that weighed as much as two gallons of milk. Goliath’s challenge to Israel is recorded in 1 Samuel 17,

10 Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

Israel had no one like Goliath among their ranks. And there was no placebo that could be given to inspire any soldier to battle him. Nor would one’s imagination save them from Goliath. Now, there may be situations in life when the placebo effect works, but most often when we are weak and asking for help, a placebo will not save us.

Without a firm grip on reality, we get deceived by the placebo effect. The placebo effect is effectively a deception. So, a firm understanding of the real problem will give you a solid defense against bogus solutions. For example, the person experiencing terrible pain from a migraine who eats a PEZ candy, will fully understand that they were not helped because the pain will remain. We as Christians need to keep a firm grip on reality because the devil is a master of deceptions. The devil then is a master of the placebo effect. And although he is clever and powerful, all his deceptions boil down to this lie, “You do not need Jesus.”

The devil isolates us when we are in need. The devil does not want you to look to Jesus as the solution when you are in need. For example, you are caught in a disagreement with your spouse. The devil’s placebo temptation could be to raise your voice or something like that to establish physical dominance, bring up things from the past to attack their character making you seem like the moral superior, leave the room or drive away or give the silent treatment, etc. These responses are examples of giving into temptation and buying into the devil’s lies. In these situations, we have lost our grip on reality. In these situations, we are not seeing the problem as our sinful nature leading us into the temptations of pride, cruelty, anger and impatience, and away from Christlike humility, gentleness, kindness, patience and love. These are the weapons the devil uses to separate us from God, search for strength and peace in a world that has neither and fill us with guilt to fear standing before God’s throne.

Jesus was tempted by the devil, but he did not sin. God broke through the imaginative placebo temptations of the devil with Jesus. In the Old Testament, God gave Israel a glimpse into Jesus’ work with their worship at Temple with a priesthood and sacrifices. The Temple was an impressive building that defined Jerusalem’s cityscape whose cost and quality of the materials used would still be considered luxurious today. Though impressive on the outside, what made the Temple unique from anything the world has or will ever see was the inside. It was a rectangle with a larger front room accessible only to the priests, and a back room accessible only to the high priest once a year on Yom Kippur or the Great Day of Atonement. The back room called the Holy of Holies housed the Ark of the Covenant which acted as God’s throne or place of power and authority. Once a year, the high priest entered the Holy of Holies to offer a sacrifice of atonement, which satisfied God’s wrath and judgment against the people for their sins. Thus, the high priest brought the people’s sins in and walked out with a message of peace. This was impressive, but it was not the solution. The cure for our sins, giving into temptation and buying into the devil’s deceptive placebos is Jesus as we read in our New Testament reading from Hebrews 4,

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Jesus is superior to the priesthood because he was the one and only Great High Priest who walked in step with the Father’s will as the Son of God and never gave into temptation as we read in our Gospel reading from Luke 4,

1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

Three times then, the devil tempted Jesus with placebos, deceptions and imaginations, but Jesus resisted fighting with the Word of God, which is reality, truth, power and the love of God. So, we read of Jesus victory in Luke 4,

13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

The devil retreated, then returned when Jesus faced the cross to sacrifice his own body for our sins, and Jesus defeated him again at the cross and empty tomb. Today, Jesus remains our superior Great High Priest enthroned with all grace, mercy and peace in heaven. Through Jesus, we do not have access to a building, we have access to eternal life in the halls of heaven where our good and gracious God will provide us with rest and relief from all weakness, sin, death and the devil.

Jesus rules all things from a throne of grace as your Great High Priest to answer your calls for help in time of need. When David faced Goliath, he had a firm grip on reality because he did not buy into the devil’s lies cloaked in the hostile disagreement between the Philistines and the Israelites. David knew this was a battle against God, and he knew he was on God’s side. So, we read in 1 Samuel 17,

45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”

Calling on the name of the Lord Almighty, David went into battle against Goliath and the Lord allowed him to sink a small stone into his enemy’s skull. David had a real weapon in his battle, the Lord Almighty. And in the wilderness, Jesus was the weapon against the devil, and he used the weapon of the Lord Almighty’s word. Jesus remains your weapon as we read in our New Testament reading from Hebrews 4,

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

Hold firmly to Jesus who did not give into temptation. Hold firmly to Jesus who as we read later in Hebrews 12,

For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hold to Jesus seated in heaven with all power and authority, mercy and grace. Turn to Jesus in the Word of God in your weakness against temptation reading from Luke 4. Turn to Jesus in the Word of God to find help in your time of need reading from 1 Samuel 17. Turn to the Word of God before, during and after the devil tempts you with a placebo deception and you will always find both forgiveness and the strength to endure temptation until the devil leaves.

Wearing the superhero mask or princess tiara fill us with confidence. Our imagination is a wonderful gift, but it cannot give us confidence and help in our weakness in the real world. The devil would have you believe the Bible and Jesus are placebos, they are not. Disagreements, guilt, death, sin and the devil tempt and weaken us each day. Jesus overcame them all through his innocent sacrifice on the cross and resurrection. Jesus is your Great High Priest who hears your prayers, answers you and equips you in his Word. So, approach God’s throne of grace with confidence for help in your time of need. Amen.