“TOUCHED” – (TO ENTER INTO). Hebrews 4:15 Our Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, sympathizes with our weaknesses and empowers us to overcome sin because He triumphed over the tests of temptation. He did not face temptations because of His sinless nature, but He experienced the full range of temptation without sin. His temptations never resulted in sin, unlike ours, because there is nothing in the Lord Jesus Christ that is inclined or attracted to sin.
We do not have to yield to sin when faced with temptation because we have received a new nature. Our Great High Priest suffered and was tempted; He experienced conflict and rejection, hungered and thirsted, wept and prayed. He has been “touched” by the same things we go through. This is not pity or simply feeling sad for us, but sympathy, because He “in all points” passed through everything we encounter.
His temptation was not to sin, but He went through adverse circumstances, attacks of Satan, unbelief by His own people, and even by His siblings. He was tempted by the slowness of those He loved and who followed him, and by their lack of faith and comprehension of His teaching. They were slow to connect His words and promises to themselves. His temptation was apart from sin, or sin apart from Him – either way it means the complete absence from sin because He is the Holy God.
There was no inclination on His part to do what Satan wanted when He was tested. Instead, the True Light shone brighter when the darkness of evil and the evil one were exposed. There is nothing in our Lord’s person and nature that is inclined toward sin, and there was nothing in His work that was moved to do wrong. He “loved righteousness and hated iniquity.” The nature and character of our Lord Jesus Christ were totally impeccable.
A sympathetic Great High Priest can help and support any believer whose faith is weak or wavering. He was like us in temptation, so we could be like Him in victory over it. He resisted and overcame temptation, so He would help us to resist and overcome when we're tempted. He is always ready and available to us, and through Him, we can live victorious lives despite the enemies against us.