Mike
Scriptures: Philippians: 2:5-8 Exodus 21::2-6 Isaiah 50:5-7 Hebrews: 5: 8 Colossians: 2: 9
Philippians 2: 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
When I started to look at this subject, I was very unsure what I was going to find and what impact it was going to have.
I now have a greater understanding of the cry in the garden, “If there be any other way”. The creator of the universe voluntarily left His throne and made a portion of Himself visible, in doing so He created the greatest chasm that humanity could ever cross, from Infinite Majesty to death on a Roman cross, that we might be ransomed from death. It’s a massive concept to grasp, for this reflection I see three things that apply.
1 He made himself of no reputation.
This does not mean that He was deprived or dispossessed of His deity; it means that when He became Man, He emptied Himself, that is refused to avail Himself of the use of His divine attributes, that He might teach the meaning of absolute dependence on the Father.
He voluntarily laid aside His glory. He took off His royal robes and came amongst us as a man but He was still, and always will be, the same divine, royal Person
For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
2 He took upon Him the form of a servant.
He was in the form of God, that is, as much God as He was afterward a servant, He obeyed as a servant the customs of Israel.
Obedience to die for us flowed out of a bonded servant relationship with the Father. There was a custom in Israel regarding servantship related in Exodus 21.
Exo 21:2 If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
Exo 21:3 If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.
Exo 21:4 If his master has given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.
Exo 21:5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:
Exo 21:6 Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.
In light of the master’s goodness and his blessings for the servant, the servant could make a life-long commitment to his master. The opening of the ear was a commitment made by the servant, not motivated by debt or obligation, only by love for the master.
Isaiah has captured the total commitment of Christ to the father.
Isa 50:5 The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.
Isa 50:6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
“The Lord God hath opened my ear”, the commitment of Messiah to the Father was sure, and despite knowing the agony awaiting Him, Christ had a steadfast determination to obey the Lord God and follow His way, “so I set my face like a flint”, and nothing will turn Him aside.
3 He humbled Himself, and became obedient to death on the cross.
He was born in little Bethlehem and lived in Nazareth, He worked with His father as a humble carpenter and many times had nowhere to lay His head.
“Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered, even to a death on the cross”, the most degrading and shameful death known yet He willingly submitted to this awful indignity because He loved us so.
“For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous”.
Reflection.
The unsearchable, God from beyond the beginning, chose to reveal His desire for a family and came to this earth.
You Looked Out Upon Us through the Eyes of Jesus Christ & spoke to us through His Mouth. You chose to take on the role of a bonded servant, became obedient unto death, the death on the cross.
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