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 But
the real story of the birth of Jesus is to see it from heaven’s
perspective. What was really going on there theologically? That’s
what you find in Philippians, chapter 2, more clearly than in any
other passage of scripture. So, Philippians, chapter 2 is the
theology of the incarnation, whereas Luke 2 is the history of it.
Philippians, chapter 2:6-11 is the classic text on the “kenosis”,
the self-emptying of Jesus. That is the classic text on the theology
of the incarnation – what was actually going on there when that
little baby was born, what was going on from heaven’s vantage point.
There is a sequence here, and I would like to share the five steps
that occurred in the incarnation; five steps as God became man, as
God entered the world to be born in Bethlehem. We could say this is
the real Christmas story.
So, step one – God abandoned a sovereign position.
The second person of the Trinity abandoned a sovereign position.
Verse 6 says, “Although He existed in the form of God, He did not
regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied
Himself.” Jesus had all the privileges. No question. All the
privileges of glory. And He chose to use the privilege to become a
servant to the Father and a Savior to sinners for the sake of
sinners and the sake of the glory of the Father. He is like a king
who takes off his robes, takes off his crown, comes down off his
throne, and puts on the rags of a slave.
Secondly, not only did He abandon a sovereign position, He accepted
a servant’s place. Verse 7 says, “Having emptied Himself, taking the
form of a bondservant.” He didn’t just look like a servant; He
really became one. His being even as God was to be a servant. At the
moment He divested Himself of the robes of majesty, at the moment He
set His crown down and walked out of the throne room, He put on the
apron of a servant. He is a servant, according to Isaiah 52:13-14;
He is a suffering servant. If anyone was ever a servant, He was a
servant. He took upon the inner essence, the very being of a
servant. He, the sovereign Master of the universe, became a true
servant of God. As truly as He was God, so truly was He a servant of
God.
Thirdly, He not only abandoned the sovereign
position, accepted a servant’s place, He approached a sinful people.
This too, is part of His condescension. You could understand that an
infinitely holy God would have no desire whatsoever to associate
with a sinful people. But having divested Himself of His majesty,
having taken on the role of a servant and, more than that, literally
having become a servant, His service to the Father was rendered by
coming to this sin-cursed planet, approaching a sinful people.
That’s what He did.
Number four – He adopted a selfless posture. Once He got here, as a
man, He could have taken on a number of possible postures in life.
He could have chosen any level of society; He could have put Himself
in any situation. He could have been born into the families of the
highest and best, the greatest and noblest, but He adopted a
selfless posture. Verse 8 says, “Being found in appearance as a man,
He humbled Himself.” He ends up in a little carpenter shop, working
alongside His father, Joseph, making a yoke for the oxen of a
farmer. And He was the One who made the universe. We find Him
washing the feet of the twelve disciples, and yet He commands the
hosts of two thousand times ten thousand, and thousands and
thousands of angels. He adopted a selfless posture.
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Finally, number five. He humbled Himself. How far
down did He go? All the way down to becoming obedient unto death.
That was the Father’s will, that He come into the world, and die in
the place of sinners. He came down to become shamed, to become
cursed. He was made a curse for us it says in Galatians. He received
the full fury of the judgment of God upon Him. He came all the way
down – all the way down to death. And not just humbled, and not just
to death, but look at this – even death on a cross.
The apostle Paul, in writing this, descends one more level because
nothing was more horrifying, nothing was more ignominious, nothing
was more cruel than to be executed on the cross, the worst torture
instrument ever dreamed up by anybody. Not only was it painful, but
it was shameful. It was reserved for the death of the vilest, the
most despised. Hanging there in utter disgrace, humiliation, shame,
and nakedness.
Death on the cross was a horrible, horrible thing. The added
loneliness of Jesus when He said, “My God, My God, why have you
forsaken me?” He came down and humbled Himself. How far down? Even
to the point of death. How far down? Even death on the excruciating
cross.
And so, when that little child was born in Bethlehem,
it was the Lord of Heaven abandoning a sovereign position, accepting
a servant’s place, approaching a sinful people, adopting a selfless
posture, even to death on a cross.
So, when we read the narrative in Luke, and we read that Mary gave
birth to her baby, we can fill that simple statement with all of
this profound, theological reality. That’s why we worship Him.
That’s why we adore Him. That’s why we remember His death for us.
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