Because of the difference between God and man, it was not an ideal world that Jesus had entered; instead he came into a world of sin, misery, and death. As Sin-bearer he was duty-bound to abolish death with the provision made by God’s grace. The cross of Christ was self-humiliation to the lowest depths conceivable. Because of the dignity of being the Son of God, weighed against the damnation of being the Sin-bearer for all humanity, it would be found that there is no parallel to this humiliation and it is inimitable and unrepeatable.
The humiliation began in Mary’s womb by the Holy Spirit and conception of the virgin. The entrance into and development in the womb of one who was herself sinful, as all other members of the human race, are indicative of the condescension. Jesus did not partake of Mary’s sin nature, but He did of her substance.
The humble station in life at Nazareth, baptism of John at Jordan, temptation in the wilderness, weariness with toil, hunger and thirst, sufferings and persecutions, mockeries and insults in arraignment before the high priest and Pilate, the agony of Gethsemane… all exemplify the humiliation that converged upon Jesus and reached its climax in Calvary.
The humiliation did not end with the cross. His spirit went to paradise but his body was laid in the tomb. The Son of God was in the grave as respects His body and He remained under the power of death for a season. Only with the resurrection was humiliation ended. The resurrection was the first phase of that exaltation whereby is bestowed upon Him the highest exaltation conceivable. The second coming of Christ will be the second phase and He will be glorified along with the saints and humiliation will become Satan and his fallen angels of deception. |