Humiliation Before Exaltation
HUMILIATION BEFORE EXALTATION
Philippians 2:5-11
Verses 6–11 is an early Christian hymn in honor of Jesus Christ. It is the most important section of the letter to the Philippians and provides a marvelous description of Christ’s self-humbling in his incarnation and death, together with his subsequent exaltation by God to the place of highest honor. First, let us examine His humiliation.
I. The Scriptures speak of Jesus’ as God before He revealed Himself in the flesh. The Scriptures present Him in a place of glory, living in the presence of God. He was in the form of God, but chose to temporarily take on the form of humanity in order to provide deliverance for mankind fron our sins. His humility is shown in that he chose of His own accord to take on a lesser form for the sake of lesser beings. Moreover, the Scriptures leave no room for doubt as to the fact that He was divine in origin. John 1:1 states, "In the beginning was the word… and the Word was God." Colossians 1:7 informs us that He was before all things. Hebrews 1:10 tells us that it was He who "laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the works of His hands." Revelation 13:8 describes Him as "the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world." This becomes extremely believable when we consider four actions that He took which describes His humility.
A. He Made Himself of No Reputation (v. 7). Think of the reputation He had in the Heavens, before the world was, and how much He stripped off Himself when He appeared amongst men to be despised and rejected. He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.
B. He Took Upon Himself the Form of a Servant. 27 describes Him as the Creator of the ends of the earth, whom angels delighted to serve and adore, who was in the form of God, but took on the form of a servant, that He might bring blessing to a rebellious world.
C. He Was Made in the Likeness of Men. He Himself took part of the same flesh and blood, for it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren. Matthew 20:28 describes Him as “The Son of Man who came not to be served, but to serve, and to give.". He who was the "express image of the invisible God" takes upon Him the likeness of a sinful humanity.
D. He Became Obedient unto Death (v. 8). He became obedient, but not to the desires of a sin-blinded world, but to the will of His Father.He delighted to do the will of the Father. Nothing on earth or in Hell could turn Him aside from His great and gracious purpose.
E. He Became obedient Even unto the Death of the Cross (v. 8). From our natural standpoint it is simply appalling to think of the Eternal and Beloved Son of God submitting to be nailed to a Cross by those whom He lovingly wanted to save. The utter unworthiness and guilt of men could never make itself more hideous before the eye of Heaven. But the unending grace of God is revealed by His obedience. He was giving "Himself as a ransom for us all." The Just One was willingly suffering for the unjust, that He might become a bridge over troubled waters by which man could cross over to God.
The young seminarian was excited about preaching his first sermon in his home church. After three years in seminary, he felt adequately prepared, and when he was introduced to the congregation, he walked boldly to the pulpit, his head high, radiating self-confidence.
But he stumbled reading the Scriptures and then lost his train of thought halfway through the message. He began to panic, so he did the safest thing: He quickly ended the message, prayed, and walked dejectedly from the pulpit, his head down, his self-assurance gone.
Later, one of the godly elders whispered to the embarrassed young man, “If you had gone up to the pulpit the way you came down, you might have come down the way you went up.” The elder was right. God still resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.