The Incarnation of Christ

Introduction

Christmas Hymns

During the Christmas season we so often think about christ as a helpless infant.

This is helped along by the songs we sing at this time of year.

Away in a Manger

“The little Lord Jesus”

The little Lord Jesus

We must understand that the coming of Christ is a demonstration of His glory.

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem

We must never allow the images of Jesus as an infant to take away from us an acknowledgment of His deity.

Jesus even as a baby is fully God and is the glorious Creator of the universe.

Verse 9

The use of “the glory of the Lord” hearkens back to a great deal of Old Testament imagery.

In the Old Testament, “the glory of the Lord” almost always referred to the LORD’s Shekinah glory.

The shepherds were witnessing the same manifestation of the Lord’s glory that the Israelites witnessed in the wilderness, Solomon witnessed at the Temple, and Ezekiel witnessed leaving the Temple.

cf.

,

This was one of the first communications God had with His people in over 400 years.

Verse 11

The angels do not refer to Christ as a baby or infant in the first place, but rather as Savior and Lord.

Verse 18

Two Response

The response to this message was wonder!

They did not respond with an “awww” so to speak.

The people were confused and taken aback by this message.

Verse 6

1. The word translated “form” in Greek means nature.

Thus, even though Christ shared the same divine nature He chose not to use it to His own advantage but rather to condescend to us and serve and die for us.

2. What is translated “a thing to be grasped” carries the idea of “something to be used to His own advantage.”

a. The sense is that of property taken by force or violence; especially property which one believes they have a right to.

b. So, Christ, rather than fighting to hold on to all the rightful claims of divinity, emptied Himself, of His own will, in obedience to the Father.

3.

3. He gave up what was rightfully His so that we could escape what was rightfully ours. He gave up what He rightfully deserved so that we could have what we never deserved.

4. Christ Jesus, Paul said, is of the very essence (morphē) of God, and in His incarnation He embraced perfect humanity. His complete and absolute deity is here carefully stressed by the apostle.

a. Robert P. Lightner, “Philippians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 654.

Verse 7

1. Christ took on the “form” or “nature” of a slave.

a. This is the same word as in verse six. (morphe)

b. A slave was a, “Person totally responsible to and dependent upon another person.”

i. James A. Brooks, “Slave, Servant,” ed. Chad Brand et al., Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 1511.

ii. Compare this to the glory that He left behind.

2. He was not born to a rich family or one of prestige.

a. cf.

3. He never gave up His divine nature. He had both the divine and human natures in one person.

a. Christ, as deity, was fully aware as He was being born. This is the ultimate humiliation for the Creator of the Universe.

4. The present verse says nothing about such things, but rather teaches that his ‘kenosis’ or self-emptying was his taking the servant’s form, and this involved the necessary limitation of his glory which he laid aside in order that he might be born in human likeness.

a. Ralph P. Martin, Philippians: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 11, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1987), 109.

b. Bring this back to Christmas. He limited His glory to be born as a human baby. But, He was still God!

5. In other words Christ did not hesitate to set aside His self-willed use of deity when He became a man. As God He had all the rights of deity, and yet during His incarnate state He surrendered His right to manifest Himself visibly as the God of all splendor and glory.

a. Robert P. Lightner, “Philippians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 654.

Verse 8

1. The free choice of Christ is seen in the fact that “He humbled Himself.”

a. His free choice was made to glorify God by showing love to you.

2. He is God nothing said He had to die on the Cross for our sins. He could have justly condemned us all to hell.

a. At any point, legions of angels would come and save Him at His command. But He died on the Cross out of love for us and obedience to the Father so that glory might be brought to His Name.

3.

Verse 9

1. We see in this verse a common theme of Scripture applied to the life of Jesus. That is that God exalts the humble.

a. Since Christ was perfectly humble and obedient, God exalted His Name above every name.

b. Through this God brought glory to His name.

2. It is God the Father who has exalted Jesus. He did not exalt Himself.

a. Again, we see Jesus’ humility and obedience to the Father.

b. This brought glory to God.

Verses 10-11

1. The ultimate purpose of God in all of this is to bring glory to His Name. His Name is glorified through the death, resurrection, and exaltation of His Son.

2. You can either willingly bow the knee in this life or forcibly bow the knee in the next.

3. All creation will once again give worship to the Creator as all has been subjected to Christ!

a. Demons, sinners, angels, and saints alike will bow their knees and confess Christ is Lord and give glory to God!

4. This, Christ accomplished through His self-emptying in order to die on the Cross for the sins of man.

a. This is what we need to think about at Christmastime.

b. God came down to earth in total humility to die on a Cross for sinners who could not save themselves.

c. Yes, Jesus was, in His humanity a baby born of a virgin, but He was always the Almighty God who created you and cares about you more than you could ever know.

d. This humility is also His greatest glory!

i. The grace shown to mankind in the person and work of Christ is the single greatest demonstration of God’s glory.

Conclusion

Remember

Next time you listen to a Christmas hymn about baby Jesus.

Remember that He is the Almighty God who created and sustains you!

Remember that He came as a human to die for your sins so that you could live if you believe in Him and enter into a personal relationship with Him.