Welcome back, my dear friends. It is now time to meet the God/man Jesus Christ in the flesh. The arrival of Jesus Christ on Earth marked a pivotal moment, as he, in the flesh, revealed both the existing glory of his divine side and the soon-to-be-explored facets of his human nature.
Through this lesson I want to show you through God’s Word how Jesus, through His voluntary submission to the Father’s will, surrendered His divine prerogatives, experienced the limitations of humanity and embarked on a redemptive mission to reconcile the broken relationship between God and man. He achieved this through His death on the cross, His burial and His resurrection — the price required by God the Father for this reconciliation.
I want us to understand the love and compassion He had for us, as well as the pain, agony and rejection He suffered for us. The task He was sent on by the Father was of no small consequence.
He came to a world of lost sinners who really didn’t care about what He had to say. Yes, the Jewish people were looking for the Messiah they had been promised in the Old Testament. They were looking for a King to arrive and free them of Roman rule and reestablish the King David times of peace and plenty. But this man was an ordinary commoner just like them.
He came to a world that was under the domain of Satan, who was not willing to give up any of those sinners who were destined to join him in Hell.
First, we must understand the two different persons — His Divine side, His Deity, and His human side, His mortality — that made up Jesus as the person who walked the earth as God/man. Let’s start with His divine side, characterized by being the Alpha and Omega, the exact likeness of the unseen God and the Creator of all things, which showcased the unparalleled glory and honor he held in Heaven before his earthly journey:
- the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Revelation 22:13 (NIV)
- The exact likeness of the unseen God. Colossians 1:15 (TLB)
- He was the Creator who made everything in heaven and earth, the things we can see and the things we can’t; the spirit world with its kings and kingdoms, its rulers and authorities; all were made by Christ for his own use and glory. Colossians 1:16 (TLB)
- He was before all else began and it is his power that holds everything together. Colossians 1:17 (TLB)
- He shines out with God’s glory, and all that God’s Son is and does marks him as God. Hebrews 1:3 (TLB)
- He regulates the universe by the mighty power of his command. Hebrews 1:3 (TLB)
- He was far greater than the angels, as proved by the fact that his name “Son of God,” which was passed on to him from his Father, is far greater than the names and titles of the angels. Hebrews 1:4 (TLB)
- God said, “Let all the angels of God worship him.” Hebrews 1:6 (TLB)
- Before anything else existed, there was Christ, with God. He has always been alive and is himself God. John 1:1
- 3 He created everything there is—nothing exists that he didn’t make. John 1:3
I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture of who Jesus Christ is with all His attributes that define Him as God. Let’s understand Philippians 2:6-8 before we move forward.
6 who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bondservant and being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross. Philippians 2:6-8 (NASB)
Philippians 2:6-8 sheds light on the self-emptying nature of Jesus, not relinquishing his deity but laying aside the privileges of heavenly glory, omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience to take on the form of a servant.
So, what exactly did Jesus empty Himself of? Let’s dig deep into God’s Word to answer this question. Without an understanding of what it means to empty Himself, you are open to the false prophetic claims of Earthly Religions that are being taught today.
Doctrine of Kenosis
The term “kenosis” encapsulates the doctrine of Christ’s self-emptying, emphasizing the laying aside of privileges rather than the abandonment of deity.
Jesus did not empty Himself of His divine attributes — no such attributes are mentioned in the verse, and it is obvious in the gospels that Jesus possessed the power and wisdom of God. Calming the storm is just one display of Jesus’ divine power.
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. Mark 4:39 (NIV)
In coming to earth, the Son of God did not cease to be God, and He did not become a “lesser god.” Whatever the “emptying” entailed, Jesus remained fully God:
“9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,” Colossians 2:9.
It is better to think of Christ’s “emptying” of Himself as a laying aside of the privileges that were His in heaven. Rather than stay on His throne in heaven, Jesus “made himself nothing.” He veiled His glory, and He chose to occupy the position of a servant.
The kenosis was a self-renunciation, not an emptying Himself of deity. Nor was it an exchange of deity for humanity. Jesus never ceased to be God during any part of His earthly ministry. He did set aside His heavenly glory. He also voluntarily refrained from using His divinity to make His way easier. During His earthly ministry, Christ completely submitted Himself to the will of the Father (John 5:19).
19 So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. John 5:19 (NLT)
As part of the kenosis, Jesus sometimes operated within the limitations of human nature. God does not get tired or thirsty, but Jesus did,
6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. John 4:6 (NIV)
As God, Jesus knows all things. At least once, Jesus voluntarily surrendered the use of His omniscience, and answered the Apostles’ question with His human nature.
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Matthew 24:3 (NIV)
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Matthew 24:36 (NIV)
During other occasions, Jesus’ omniscience was on full display.
Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael
43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”
44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.
“Come and see,” said Philip.
47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
50 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.” John 1:43-51
The one who was existing in the form of God took on the form or “nature of a servant.” The word “taking” does not imply an exchange, but rather an addition. The “form of God” could not be given up, for God cannot cease to be God; but our Lord could and did take on the very form of a lowly servant when he entered human life in his incarnation.
7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature] of a servant, being made in human likeness. Philippians 2:7 (NIV)
All the Gnostics in the early church propounded the first heresy that He emptied Himself of His deity, that the deity entered Him at the time of His baptism and left Him at the cross. Well, this theory is not substantiated anywhere in the Word of God. He emptied Himself of something, but it was not of His deity.
He was 100 percent God when He was a baby reclining helplessly on the bosom of Mary. Even at that time, He could have spoken this universe out of existence because He was God. There was never a moment when He was not God. The apostle John writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Jesus did, however, renounce or set aside His privileges in several areas:
1) Heavenly Glory — While on earth, He gave up the glory of a face-to-face relationship with God and the continuous outward display and personal enjoyment of that glory.
55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Acts 7:55 (NIV)
2) Independent Authority — During His incarnation, Christ completely submitted Himself to the will of His Father,
30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. John 5:30 (NIV)
3) Divine Prerogatives — He set aside the voluntary display of His divine attributes and submitted Himself to the Spirit’s direction.
4 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. Luke 4:1-2 (NIV)
4) Eternal Riches — While on earth, Christ was poor and owned very little.
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9 (NIV)
5) A Favorable Relationship with God — He felt the Father’s wrath for human sin while on the cross.
45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (Which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”. Matthew 27:45-46 (NIV)
Therefore, while the Son of God fully possessed his divine nature, attributes and prerogatives, he did not fully express them; they were veiled. At times, he did express them, such as when he read people’s minds (Matt. 9:4) and worked divine miracles (Luke 5:3–10). But the Master willingly submitted himself to the life of a slave. He surrendered the preincarnate glories from which he came. He left the worship of saints and angels to be despised and rejected by men, submitting himself to misunderstanding, denials, unbelief, false accusations, and every sort of reviling and persecution. As God the Son, he had every right to exercise his divine prerogatives at will. Yet, as the suffering servant of Yahweh, he surrendered himself to the will of the Father in everything.
Join me next time as we look at Jesus Christ the God/man and examine his human traits.
Until next time, my friends, may His mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you.
