Christ Jesus, though He existed in the unchanging essence of God, did not consider equality with God something to cling to, but emptied Himself, by taking the nature of a servant, being born a human being. And being found in human form, Jesus humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8, my translation)
See How Jesus Loves His Followers
The Scripture above may have been taken from an early Christian hymn, and reminds us that Christ’s story began with his pre-existent divine glory. He always was and is the eternal Son of God, being with God the Father and God the Spirit in eternity past, equal with them in power and majesty.1 In the fullness of time, God the Son took upon Himself all the essential qualities and ordinary frailties of human beings, except that Christ was sinless.
Sincere and well-meaning Christians have erred in their interpretation of these verses, so let us exercise caution. The New Testament teaches that Christ is fully God and fully human in one Person — 100% God and 100% human.
Christ grew up before God like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. Jesus was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces, He was despised, and we held Him in low esteem. (Isaiah 53:2-3)
He left His Father’s throne above (so free, so infinite His grace!),
Humbled Himself (so great His love!), and bled for all His chosen race.
’Tis mercy all, immense and free; for, O my God, You found out me.
Amazing love! How can it be that You, my God, should die for me?2
Emptying By Addition, Not Subtraction
Notice the careful language in Philippians 2 above: God the Son emptied Himself by taking the nature of a servant. He did not renounce or diminish His deity in any way, but Jesus temporarily gave up the outward expression of His divine dignity.3 The Lord’s emptying was by addition, not by subtraction. God the Son remained 100% God and also became 100% human. These two natures were not combined or confused. Still, they were united to each other forever (yet remaining distinct) in one Person. Jesus the Christ (Messiah), will return for us in His glorified resurrection body to give His followers similar resurrection bodies!4
Hanby’s Song
A hymn by Benjamin Hanby (1833–1867) expresses this mystery well:
Who is He born in the stall, at whose feet the shepherds fall?
Who is He in deep distress, fasting in the wilderness?‘Tis the Lord! O wondrous story! ‘Tis the Lord! the King of glory!
At His feet we humbly fall. Crown Him! Crown Him, Lord of all!5
The Miracle of Christ’s Incarnation
It may be hard to understand this, as it is to comprehend the Holy Trinity. But this is what the Bible teaches. C.S. Lewis called the Son of God’s incarnation (His en-flesh-ment) the Grand and Greatest Miracle. “Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this… It was the central event in the history of the Earth—the very thing that the whole story has been about.”6 God Himself came down to be born as a baby in Bethlehem. He became human without ceasing to be divine.
God the Son never ceased to be God. That’s impossible. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John show Jesus exercising divine wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth during His time on earth. Christ never lost any of His deity, but sometimes His divine attributes were veiled (not visible).
We Needed The Middleman
Because of human sin, we needed a peacemaker between God and us, and Jesus comes as the Prince of Peace.7
Job prayed, “If only there were someone to mediate (arbiter, umpire) between us, someone to bring us together.” Jesus answered Job’s request and said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” The Apostle Paul wrote. “There is one God and one Mediator between God and humankind, the man Christ Jesus.” The Apostle John added: “My dear children, I write this so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (Job 9:33; John 14:6; 1 Tim 2:5; 1 John 2:1-2)
Out of His deep, deep love for us, Jesus was humiliated all during His earthly life and especially on the cross. Christ emptied Himself so that He could live for us, die for us, rise for us, and send the Holy Spirit to fill us with new life. Jesus gives us the full measure of His blessing, maturing us more and more to reflect His character traits. Christ also fills us with His joy and gladness.8
Christ’s humanity made His atoning death for us possible. Christ’s deity made His atoning death for infinitely valuable, powerful, and effective for saving us.
Jesus’ Resurrection and Exaltation
But Christ did not stay humiliated. After His death and burial, Philippians 2 says:
Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at Jesus’ name every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. Every tongue will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:9-11)
Jesus retains His human body forever, and He will return to judge the world on the last day and restore His creation perfectly.9 Christ will pay back trouble to those who trouble His people and give relief to us who are troubled. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from Heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels.10 Aren’t you glad Christ came for us and is coming back for us?
Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many. And He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him… The Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. (Heb 9:28; 1 Thes 4:16-17)
Beloved, let us re-appreciate how sacrificially our Savior loves us and what He gives us now and in the future.
O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him.
O come, let us adore Him. Jesus is Christ the Lord!
Notes (various Bible translations): 1 See John 1; Col 1; Heb 1. 2 “And Can It Be That I Should Gain” by Charles Wesley (1738, alt. 1990). 3 Amplified Bible (2015) on Verse 7. 4 1 Cor chapter 15. 5 “Who is He in Yonder Stall?” by Benjamin Russell Hanby (1833-1867). 6 Miracles, chapter 14. 7 Isa 9:6, 26:3; John 14:27, 16:33; Col 3:15; 2 Thes 3:16. 8 See Rom 15:29; Eph 4:13; John 15:11, 16:24. 9 Ps 96:13, 98:9; Matt 25:31-32; John 5:22; Acts 10:42; Job 42:10; Joel 2:25-26; Acts 3:19-21. 10 2 Thess 1:6-7.