◄ What Does Philippians 2:8 Mean? ►

The humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ is as much a reality as His deity. He is as truly Man as He is infinitely God. He is eternal in His divinity but born at a point in time into the human race, for a specific purpose. The Lord Jesus was born to become the representative Man, upon Whose shoulders rested the future of humanity and the salvation of the human race.

He was sent by the Father to pay the price for the sin of the whole world through His sacrificial death, but He came willingly from His heavenly home in order to become the federal Head of a new race of mankind, through His resurrected life.

Although fully God, the Lord Jesus emptied Himself of His glory and came in the likeness of men. As God incarnate, His human body was knitted together in His mother's womb. He was the eternal Son of God, chosen before the world began to become the Seed of the woman Who would crush the serpent's head and redeem Adam's fallen race.

The incarnation is a concept that staggers the limitations of our human mind and false teachings that deny or diminish His Person and position abound. Many deny His eternal deity and equality with the Father. Others reject the perfection, purity, plausibility, and person-hood of His humanity, but unless fully God, He would not have been good enough to pay the price of sin, for God alone is good. And unless He was also fully human, He could not have become the representative-Man, our Kinsman-Redeemer, and the appointed federal Head of a new creation of mankind. Only the perfect Son of Man could have died in the place of the fallen sons of men. Only the eternal Son of God has power over death. Only the risen God-Man could give His resurrected life to those who believe in His name, making each one part of a new creation in Him.

He set aside the glory He shared with the Father from eternity past, and condescended to be born into the fallen race that He Himself had created in His own likeness. It was the Father who loved the world so much that He gave His precious Son to become our substitute for sin. And it was Christ Who was not only willing to be born into the fallen human race which had became rebellious sinners, at enmity with God, but He willingly chose to die the most cruel and painful death... even the death of the Cross, and to be labelled as a hated and despised criminal for love of those that loathed and rejected Him.

And by His death, He paid the price for man's sin and destroyed the power of sin and death in the lives of all who trust in Him, thus becoming the Federal Head of a new creation of humanity. Should we not follow His perfect example and humble ourselves under the hand of God and say as did Christ, 'Thy will not mine be done,' to His praise and glory?

Heavenly Father, the reality of Who the Lord Jesus Christ truly is and the realisation of what He gave up to become a Man Who humbled Himself to the point of death, even death on a Cross, for my sake, is staggering. Thank You for Your amazing grace and for Your amazing love. I pray that I may humble myself under Your mighty hand and learn to say in whatever situation I find myself, 'Thy will not mine be done,' to Your praise and glory. In Jesus' name, AMEN.