1-3-1 Voluntary Humiliation

Have you ever chosen to voluntarily humiliate yourself?  I witnessed that at church yesterday.  We got to see a wonderful Father's Day video, set on Father's Day afternoon.  One of the two men in the vid went to church dressed like a clown.  His children had given him all kinds of ridiculous clothes for Father's Day, because his family has a tradition Dad wears his gifts to church on Father's Day morning.  The dad stated, "Their love language is humiliation."  What he was really demonstrating was that he loves his kids and that he has a wonderful sense of humor to submit to that type of "attention".  This was not true humiliation, of course, but more the eye-rolling kind.

However, today, we are looking at the mystery of Jesus Christ choosing to voluntarily submit Himself to the will of Father and, in so doing, to humiliate Himself.

I hesitate to call the doctrine of the Trinity troublesome, but to the limitations of the human mind, it is.  We humans want to understand all things.  We want to ... know it all, and when we don't, or can't, we are troubled.  I believe this is part of our being made in the image of God.  He put this thirst for knowledge and understanding within us.  This seeking is part of how the Holy Spirit leads us to salvation.

The Trinity is inscrutable.  1-3-1:  one God (who appears mainly as Father/Spirit in the Old Testament) - - - 3 Persons of God clearly revealed in the New Testament - - - as One.  That's not even a good sentence, for goodness' sake!  How are we to grab hold of that?!

Fortunately for us, the apostle Paul gives us some key information about the Trinity in today's Scripture: Phillippians 2:5-11

⁵ You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had,

⁶ who though he existed in the form of God
did not regard equality with God
as something to be grasped,
⁷ but emptied himself
by taking on the form of a slave,
by looking like other men,
and by sharing in human nature.
⁸ He humbled himself,
by becoming obedient to the point of death
—even death on a cross!
⁹ As a result God highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow
—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—
¹¹ and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.

The first important point to see is that Paul restated the common belief among the other apostles and in the early Christian church - -  Jesus Christ is God Himself, not an "exalted human", not a "good man", not an "enlightened teacher" or other such nonsense.
Jesus existed in Heaven with Father eternally, no beginning, no end.  The apostle John knew this truth to be so foundational he opened his gospel book with a similar assertion, telling us that "the Word" (Jesus) was not only with God "in the beginning", but that He was/is God.

 1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. 2  The Word was with God in the beginning. 3  All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4  In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.

John 1:1-4 (NET)

The next important point was that Jesus did not consider His equality with Father and/or Spirit something more important than the salvation/redemption of all mankind.  Herein we see the unfathomable love of the Son for us people, that he voluntarily humiliated Himself by "taking on the form of a slave", not a slave to us but a slave to Father, in order to satisfy through His choices Father's inflexible demand for a sinless sacrifice to cover our sins.

That was His first "voluntary humiliation".  The second was, of course, His Passion, as we call it in Christian terminology - - - that is, His submission to Father's plan of death, burial and resurrection.

I've got to stop a moment and say, "Don't you just love what God did there?"  Low in the grave He lay....the forces of Satan were no doubt rejoicing!  They were firmly convinced they had won!  And, although it was a ghastly devastation in the eyes of the disciples, God was sovereign.  It was all part of His plan.  I'm sure you have days of "ghastly devastation" too.  We all do.  If we trust Him, though, and celebrate His unimaginable love for us, we realize that in the middle of "ghastly" He will work beauty and glory and incredible grace.

Ok, moving on....
So, after Jesus finished his second "voluntary humiliation", He rose from the dead, and after a few days ascended to Heaven, where He now sits at the right hand of God.  We aren't given all the details of what happened when His body lay in the grave or when He was not with people in those days following His resurrection.  We do get a glimpse of Him presenting Himself before Father to proclaim the "It is finished" in Heaven.  That was given in a vision to John, and is recorded in Revelation 5, and alluded to in Philippians 2:9.  How beautiful and glorious!  Thus began the Church Age.  Hallelujah!

Of course, today, not every knee bows to Jesus Christ (vs. 9-11).  Although Jesus once again is with Father in Heaven, His Holy Spirit dwelling in the hearts of the redeemed, He has not yet returned to Earth as conquering King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Although He is worshipped (as depicted in Rev. 5) now, and by us His own beloved children, He is not acknowledged by all for Who He is.  That is future; that is yet to come.

"Bow now or bow later", as the saying goes.  I'm delighted to "bow now".  All praise to my glorious Savior!

Father, thank you for John 3:16.  I don't fully understand Three-In-One, but that's okay too.  May this mind be in me as it was in Christ Jesus....may I walk before you in utter obedience and in celebration of Your divine plan.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Source:

http://biblehub.com/commentaries/philippians/2-5.htm