Why would Jesus, a member of the Trinity, leave heaven to become a man? Not only did Jesus come to live as a Man, but He also died as a Man. This devotion looks at the rest of the story and why Jesus came.
Nuggets
- Jesus took on bodily form so that we could see God.
- If Jesus came so that we could see God, He came to show us how God wanted us to live.
- God wants to restore His relationship with us — mankind as a whole and individuality.
- Jesus trampled death.
How Did Jesus Become a Man
Usually when I pull up research, there is a whole bunch of it. While I tend to look at the whole verse, every once in a while, there is something that kind of sticks out because it doesn’t fit with where the current devotion is heading. However, it is something I want to address in the future.
So, I stick it in the drafts folder. This is one of those drafts.
Maclaren’s sermon Some Reasons Why the Word Because Flesh is one that caught my eye. Oh, yeah. If we are seekers, who know all of the reasons that Jesus became our Savior.
But remember, we are looking at this through the lens of how we tell others what we believe. So, let’s take a look at some things.
Let's Put It into Context
“Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being …” (Phil. 2: 7 NLT)
This verse has always confused me. The translations I usually read say something like, “Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity” (Phil. 2: 7 CSB).
If Jesus emptied Himself, how was He still 100% God?
The “… gave up his divine privileges …” (Phil. 2: 7 NLT) makes it more understandable. But what does that mean?
It means that the divine attributes of everlasting, sovereign, all powerful, good, holy and righteous, and love, etc. were removed from His being. Oh, yes. Jesus was still holy, righteous, and loving. It was not at divine level.
Instead, Jesus was like any other newborn babies. The wisdom wasn’t there. The self-sufficiency wasn’t there. The majesty wasn’t there.
Probably the biggest of the biggies was “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us …” (II Cor. 5: 21 CSB). Jesus was given the opportunity to sin — but He didn’t.
I think Manton summed it up best. He wrote, “He emptied Himself of the Divine glory, not by ceasing to be what He was, but by assuming something He was not before.”
There are a lot of great verses about what this entailed for Jesus. Some of them are Psalm 113: 6, John 14: 28, Hebrews 2: 7, Psalm 22: 6, Isaiah 53: 3, and Mark 9: 12.
Sometimes, I think we believe there was this huge tug of war going on within Jesus — His physical nature against His divine nature. Well, there was.
That is happening in us, too.
It is so easy for us to say, “Oh, but Jesus didn’t sin because He could withstand because He was divine.” Didn’t work that way.
If Jesus was supposed to be us, He couldn’t have His divineness on which to “fall back.” He had to be us so we could see us could do it.
Remember, Jesus was the substitute — the propitiation — so that we could be redeemed. That means He had to be us — body, soul, and spirit.
Show Us Who God Is
“Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (Jn. 14: 9 CSB)
Jesus took on bodily form so that we could see God. We’ve done a whole series on seeing God.
To read a related devotion, click the appropriate button below.
I know, we still don’t see God because Jesus lived a couple of thousand years ago. But we didn’t see Abraham Lincoln either. We didn’t see Charles Darwin.
Oh, we have pictures of them, so we know they lived???
We don’t see Julius Caesar. Galileo. Socrates.
Yes, we know them because what has been written about them has survived.
We know Jesus because what has been written about Him has survived. Through that, we see God.
It comes down to whether we are going to believe what we read. We have eye-witness accounts. Are we going to choose to believe them?
Be an Example
“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mt. 16: 24 ESV)
If Jesus came so that we could see God, He came to show us how God wanted us to live. He came to be an example. We are supposed to imitate Jesus.
To read a devotion in the What Does It Mean series, click on the appropriate button below.
I love what Maclaren said. He wrote, “Perfect manhood is dependent manhood.” If Jesus hadn’t been a Man, He couldn’t become a perfect man. We can’t be perfect if we do not submit to God. That was Jesus’ example.
When we think, for the disciple, perfection is holy, sanctified, and righteous, (How Do Disciples Mourn?), we see that, not only do we need to see the example Jesus gives us, but we also need to imitate Him to pull it off.
Oh, yes. The road to sanctification is hard. Sanctification is the transformation of mind, body, and soul beginning with regeneration and ending with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness. Regeneration is the change in us that God brings about when we go from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
Restore a Our Relationships with God
“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (II Cor. 5: 18 ESV)
We get so caught up in God’s laws and commandments. We — and worldview people — get the mistaken notion that we have to 100% perfect in doing all the do’s and not doing any of the don’ts.
Problem is, we can’t do that. If we were able to follow God’s law, we wouldn’t need a Savior.
We can’t, so we do.
That lowers the priority of obedience. No, it doesn’t take it off the table, but we don’t need law obedience for salvation.
God wants to restore His relationship with us — mankind as a whole and individuality.
More than that, Jesus wanted to restore our sonship with God. We just had a couple of devotions on that. Only those who have ABCDed are children of God.
To read a related devotion, click the appropriate button below.
Trample Sin
“He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign LORD will wipe away all tears. He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people. The LORD has spoken!” (Isa. 25: 8 NLT)
Sin is when we disobey God and break one of His laws and commandments. These laws and commandments not only show us what we have done wrong, but they also show us the character of God. It is an attitude that encourages us to exercise our free will and not follow God.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they allowed sin into the world.
To read a related devotion, click on the appropriate button below.
We’ve talked multiple times about Jesus’ blood provided the atonement that purified us. That satisfied the penalty for our sins.
But that isn’t the end of the story. Jesus didn’t just bleed out and stay dead.
“… Then the men asked, ‘Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day” (Lk. 24: 5-7 NLT).
Jesus trampled death. Still not the end of the story.
Sometimes, it is easy to think that is only referring to physical death. It isn’t.
Jesus is more concerned about our spiritual health than our physical health. Remember, death has three prongs:
- Physical death
- Separation from God
- Spiritual death
Physical death is low priority because this life is short. Eternity is long. Whether we are separated from God or restored to a relationship with Him is paramount. That decides where we spend eternity.
When Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, He set a sunset date on sin’s hold on us. Only God knows when that date is.
Making the Connections
Jesus became man because He chose to become man. Well, if we are supposed to have— and we do have — free will, He had to have a choice, too.
He chose us.
God did not force Jesus to be our Savior. He gave his life willingly. “No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded” (Jn. 10: 18 NLT).
He did this for us.
In order to do this for us, Jesus has to take on our nature. “For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham” (Heb. 2: 16 KJV).
Don’t cross your eyes at verily. All the other versions translated took on as help. To me, took on means Jesus got a body that included a sinful nature. The help, to me, reads assist. That is not what happened.
Jesus is the only One who could restore our relationship with God.
Making the Connections to Self-Discipline
We are also considering what we would say if a non-believer asked us. Here is the worksheet again. What would you tell someone about God forgiving and forgetting sins?
- What does the Scriptures say?
- What do I believe?
- Why do I believe the same/differently than the Scriptures?
- What are the talking points when witnessing to a non-believer?
Related Links
I have created a worksheet of the questions above. Click on the button below to access it.
How Do We Apply This?
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Gracious Heavenly Father. You asked, and Jesus accepted. You designed a plan of salvation that only Jesus could accomplish. Thank You He loves us so much that He accomplished the plan at great cost to Himself. He became one of us so that He could be our example. Lord, we claim Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer. Amen.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
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