| Christmas The Humility of Jesus' Self-Emptying
"But emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being
made in the likeness of men."
Philippians 2:7 ::: As part of His humble descent from Heaven to earth,
Jesus set aside
the exercise of His divine privileges. The next step in Jesus' pattern of humility
as He came to earth and
lived among mankind was His emptying of Himself.
But Scripture is
clear that while on earth our Lord claimed to be God:
"He who has
seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).
At no time did He stop
being God. The Greek word for "emptied" gives us the theological term kenosis,
the doctrine of Christ's self-emptying.
The kenosis basically reminds
us of what we saw in:
Jesus' humble refusal to
cling to His advantages and privileges in Heaven.
The Son of God, who
has a right to everything and is fully satisfied within Himself,
voluntarily emptied Himself. We have already noted that
Jesus did not empty Himself of His deity,
but He did lay aside certain prerogatives.
For one thing, He gave up
His heavenly glory.
That's why, in anticipation of His return to the
Father, Christ prayed,
"Glorify Thou Me together with Thyself,
Father,
with the glory which
I ever had with Thee before the world
was" (John 17:5). Jesus also relinquished His independent authority
and completely
submitted Himself to the Father's will:
"Not as I will, but as Thou
wilt" (Matt. 26:39). During His time on earth,
Christ also voluntarily limited the use and
display of His divine attributes.
One good illustration of this
concerned His omniscience,
His knowledge of all things. In teaching
about the end-times and His second coming,
Jesus said, "But of that
day and hour no one knows,
not even the angels of heaven, nor the
Son, but the Father alone" (Matt. 24:36). Jesus' self-emptying demonstrates
a wonderful aspect of the gospel.
Unlike man-centered, works-oriented religions,
the biblical gospel
has God's Son willingly yielding His privileges
to sacrifice Himself
for sinners like us. ::: Suggestions for Prayer:
Pray that you would become more appreciative
of the sacrificial humility Jesus Christ exercised on your behalf. For Further Study:
Scripture does not record a lot about Jesus'
boyhood.
But the account we do have verifies His emptying.
Read Luke 2:39-52.
What does verse 47 imply about Jesus' nature?
How doverses 51-52 exemplify His emptying? Dear Father, thank You for the perfect birth of Jesus Christ , His sinless life, and His total obedience , even to the cross, for our sakes, thank You so much for your instruction manual, which we call our Bible. Thank You for showing us a "more excellent way" to live. Thank You for sending your Son Jesus to model for us the perfect unconditional love that You have for us and want us to have toward You. Most of all, we thank You for the greatest love story ever written, the story written in blood on an old rugged cross nearly 2,000 years ago. The ultimate love story, Jesus giving His life, so that all those who call on Him to be their Savior may live eternally with You. In His name, Amen. 
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