who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a slave, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

One of the greatest realities of the gospel of Christ is that He truly did humble Himself on our behalf. The Scripture reveal to us that He is the One who spoke all of creation into existence. He is the One who breathed into man on that sixth day and gave us all life. He is the One that met with Abraham, brought down the plagues on Pharaoh, led the people out of Egypt, gave us the Law, and on and on and on. He knew how rebellious we were. He knew what we truly deserved. Yet, He humbled Himself, descended Jacob’s and became one of us so that He could save us from God’s wrath.

For Christ, this condescension, was the truest humility. From a human perspective, He should never have left His exalted position. He deserves that exaltation. He deserves all worship, praise, and honor. Yet, He laid it aside, for us.

This is different than the humility we experience. When we humble ourselves, we merely come into alignment with what is true about us, throwing off our false views of our own estimation. When Jesus humbles Himself, He truly does have to lower Himself from who He really is. We humble ourselves from who we think we are. He humbles Himself from who He truly is. This is monumental when we begin to understand this truth.

The below photos are of Jacob’s Ladder at a nearby park. 

AS FOR THE PASSAGE ABOVE: It is from Philippians 2:6-8. It is the clearest statement of Christ’s deity by Paul in his epistles. Paul is showing Christ’s equality with God, having the same form of God. This equality comes in that He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Many misunderstand this verse, thinking Christ would actually be committing robbery by considering Himself as equal. But the phrase is just the opposite. It was/is not robbery for Him to consider it because equality with God belongs to Him already. Before His condescension , He was seen in all His glory. During His condescension, that glory was laid aside, while His divinity was not. He could not lay aside His essence. That would be like us laying aside our humanity. We cannot do so, neither can He lay aside His divine nature. But He can and did lay aside His glory, taking on human flesh, in the form of a slave (the lowest position in all of humanity), going to the cross on our behalf.

All photos are copyright © Timothy J. Hammons 2021.