RevivalWomen

DAY 8 – THE HUMBLE HEART OF GOD

“ Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it [a]robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Phillipians 2:5-8 NKJV

It’s not unusual for God’s sovereignty to be born through humility. Consider God’s sovereignty and the humility that is found in the person of Jesus Christ. They almost contradict each other. In Jesus we have the sovereign God—who humbles Himself. The sovereign God has a humble heart. What a remarkable truth! Philippians 2:5–8 details the humble heart of God. Each phrase is significant. The passage starts with “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God” (NKJV). The word that is translated as “form” speaks of a change in form. Some translations use the word nature here. But the verse is not talking about God’s nature; it’s talking about the form in which we perceive God’s nature. Nature describes essence; form describes how we view that essence. The word here clearly means the form of God, not the nature of God. To be sure, Jesus is by nature God. But this phrase speaks of Jesus being in the form of God and then changing.

John tells us that “God is Spirit” (John 4:24 NKJV). Apparently, we are to understand that before Jesus became a man, He was Spirit. The writer of Philippians goes on: Jesus, “being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.” Other versions of the Bible translate this as “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped” (NIV). I think “grasped” is a better translation here. The word means to lay your hands on something, to cling to. Jesus, in the form of God, did not think that form was something He had to tenaciously cling to in order to be God. In other words, He could give up the free form of a spirit and still be God; He could take a body of flesh and remain equally God. He didn’t need to cling to the form of God in order to retain what it means to be God.

So, Christ gave up that form and “made Himself of no reputation.” He “made Himself nothing” (NIV). The idea here is that of “emptying.” Jesus emptied Himself and came to earth to live among us and die for us. The Giver of Life, the One who created life, the sovereign God submitted Himself to obedience and death, but not just any old death—not a quiet death during His sleep or a wayward donkey accident. He submitted Himself to death, “even the death of the cross,” the most cruel, violent, wicked, abominable death known to mankind. Marvel at the humble heart of God!