The Humility and Majesty of Jesus Christ

Isaiah 9:2-6, 7 2   The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. 3  ... 6  For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7  Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

At this time of year we celebrate the incarnation- the Son of God entering into creation.  God is an infinite, all powerful being.  He is soooo great!  He has to be greater in size than the universe that He formed and He created all things simply by speaking them into existence.  He can make something out of nothing.  It is impossible for any creature within creation to ever create something out of nothing.  He exists outside of creation as well as transcends all of creation.  His handiwork is seen in all of creation as His fingerprints exist everywhere from the human eye, to the birth of a child, to DNA and so on.  God is awesome!  He is above all and no one is greater than He is.  God, in all of His attributes, is perfect in every way.  There is no fault in Him.  There is no way to defeat Him, to overpower Him, to trick Him, or to cause Him to sin.  He transcends time and knows the end before the beginning.  He knows who are His from the foundation of the world.  He rules over all of creation and is exalted above all as the only non-created being.  He exists in three persons and determined the plan of salvation before Adam and Eve fell.  Everything goes according to His perfect plan.  He is sovereign over all.
And because of who God is He can never be viewed as anything less than who He really is.  He is unchanging: absolutely perfect and glorious and majestic.  He is worthy to be praised!  But there is only one way by which mankind could be saved.  God had to enter into creation not in all His glory but to be exactly like us in every way apart from sin.  The only way to save us was for the Son of God Himself to live in perfect obedience to the Law of God and to stand against all the temptations of the devil.  This was the preliminary requirement to provide for our salvation.  
And so the Son of God entered into creation in weakness exactly as we enter into creation: as a baby.  A baby is weak and fragile.  It is completely dependent upon its parents for survival.  A baby cannot live on its own.  And yet the Son of God could have been born into a family of power and privilege among men, as in the home of a great king.  He could have been raised by Pharaoh’s daughter like Moses was.  He could have had all the advantages and protection among men.  Also, His physical weakness could have been only temporary.  A baby is weak but a child can grow up to be strong.  As the Son of God entered into creation as a man He could have grown physically to be taller and greater than all of mankind.  He could have still appeared as a “lion” among men.
But this was never God’s intention.  The Son of God would not enter into creation demonstrating great power and majesty but rather humility.  
Isaiah 53:2  For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 

Not only is it more humiliating to be defeated by someone who appears to be weaker than you as Jesus would defeat Satan as a man upon the cross, but by the Son of God appearing in creation in humility rather than majesty, this only magnifies the greatness of God.  The infinite, all glorious, perfect God becomes even greater to us in light of the humility of Jesus Christ.  For in glory, the Son of God cannot demonstrate humility.  Jonathan Edward writes:
“Infinite glory and the virtue of humility, meet in no other person but Christ. They meet in no created person; for no created person has infinite glory: and they meet in no other divine person but Christ. Humility is not properly affirmed of God the Father, and the Holy Ghost, that exist only in the divine nature; because it is a proper excellency only of a created nature; for it consists radically in a sense of a comparative lowness and littleness before God, or the great distance between God and the subject of this virtue; but it would be a contradiction to suppose any such thing in God.”
God cannot be humble because of who He is.  But as a created being the Son of God could be humble.  Do you understand this profound truth?  Jesus Christ chose to be humble in order for His glory to be more glorious.  The salvation that He provided for mankind is more amazing and astounding because He, as a perfect, infinite, all powerful being became the least among men.  His victory over the devil is more astonishing when you understand how He defeated His powerful enemy.  The greatest manifestation of power ever displayed was in perceived weakness as Jesus provided the atonement for our sins as He died in our place upon the cross.  
Jonathan Edwards also writes, “It was in Christ's last suffering, above all, that he was delivered up to the power of his enemies; and yet by these, above all, he obtained victory over his enemies. Christ never so effectually bruised Satan's head, as when he bruised his heel. The weapon with which Christ warred against the devil, and obtained a most complete victory and glorious triumph over him, was the cross, the instrument and weapon with which he thought he had overthrown Christ, and brought on him shameful destruction. Colossians 2:14, 15, “Blotting out the hand-writing of ordinances- nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” In his last sufferings, Christ sapped the very foundations of Satan's kingdom; he conquered his enemies in their own territories, and beat them with their own weapons; as David cut off Goliath's head with his own sword.”
Isn’t the humility of Jesus Christ amazing?  Do you recognize how far down He stepped in coming into this world to die in our place?  We all have our times where we are brought low, when we feel everything is stripped away and we are as nothing.  But any decline in our position is absolutely nothing in comparison to what Jesus Christ has done.  He came into this world as a baby for you! He suffered all on the cross for you!  He died for you!  At the same time He is filled with majesty.  He desires to raise you up to glory!  Cry out to Him!  Worship Him!

Pastor Murray Hack