Our Incarnate High Priest

As I think about the incarnation of the Son of God, I am filled with wonder and awe at the gracious love of God to send his Son (1 John 4:9-10) along with the humility of the Son to obey (Phil 2:5-11). Because of the incarnation, we have a Savior who is 100% God and 100% man. It is absolutely essential that he is God and man. He must be God in order to satisfy completely God's righteous requirements and provide that right standing that we must have credited to our account. He must also be man, or else he could not die in our place.
In Hebrews 4:15, we find both of these blessings in one verse. "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." As the writer of Hebrews continues to extol the superiority of Christ, he shows that there is no contest--- Jesus Christ is infinitely better than the Levitical priests. While a human priest can "deal gently with the ignorant and wayward" (Heb 5:2) because he is made of the same flesh, our Great High Priest can also sympathize with our weaknesses--- because he became a man and "shared in our flesh and blood" (Heb 2:14).
However, there is a difference: Jesus Christ was tested like we are, but he had no sin. Of course, he never sinned, but he didn't have anything on which sin could lay hold, that sin nature with which we all struggle. He was free from sin in the act and the principle.
Because of the fact that he is a human, he knows our struggles and our difficulties. I remember reading a story (if I knew to whom I ought to give credit, I would) about a blind boy. This boy was walking alone, outside, when a low-hanging branch knocked him off his feet. As he sat on the ground, his head pounding, he cursed God for allowing him to be blind. God had no idea what it was like to be hit in the face without knowing it was coming. In a flash, his mind ran to Luke 22:63-64. "And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him. And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, 'Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?'" Jesus did know what it was like.
Because we have a sympathetic high priest, we can come to him with complete confidence.
"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb 4:16).