~John MacArthur on the Incarnation of Christ
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Do you ever think about the humility of Christ? I mean, I see Him and there He is as a little boy or a young man and He's helping Joseph make a yoke in the carpenter shop to put on some oxen that He had created. I mean, He's washing the feet of twelve disciples and He it was who designed their brains. He's hungry and it was He who created the universe. The place of humility. He adopted a selfless posture...utterly selfless.
For us He did this, people. Humility is the theme of Christmas...humility. Filthy stable. Our family was in one this summer in the bottom of a barn, ankle deep in the mire and the filth where never the light of day or the sun shone, foul stench that nauseated you, almost gagged you...humiliation.
St. Augustine wrote so beautifully of His humility, so beautifully. "The word of the Father," he said, "by whom all time was created was made flesh and born in time for us. He without whose divine permission no day completes its course, wished to have one of those days for His human birth. In the bosom of His Father He existed before all the cycles of the ages. Born of an earthly mother, He entered on the course of the years on that very day. The maker of man became man that He ruler of the stars might be nourished at the breast, that He the bread might be hungry, that He the fountain might thirst, that He the light might sleep, that He the way might be wearied in the journey, that He the truth might be accused by false witnesses, that He the judge of the living and the dead might be brought to trial by a mortal judge, that He justice itself might be condemned by the unjust, that He discipline personified might be scourged with a whip, that He the foundation might be suspended on a cross, that He courage incarnate might be weak, and He security itself might be wounded, and He life itself might die." Humility.
And how humble? Look back at verse 8. "He humbled Himself." How far did it go? Well, certainly He became mortal but it went beyond that. He also became obedient unto death. You see, it was an act of obedience. He learned obedience, Hebrews 5:8 and 9, by death. The greatest act of obedience to the Father was in dying, that was God's will. And even in the garden when He said, "O Father, let this cup pass from Me," the humanness was crying out against dying, the deity was crying out against sin bearing and yet He said, "Not My will but Thine be done." He was obedient to death. He didn't just become mortal, He died. That's the worst that man can ever ever endure...all the way to the grave.
And He didn't just die, either. Look at the end of verse 8, "Even the death of the cross." It's one thing to die, it's infinitely beyond that to die the death of the cross. The ancient writers used to say that to die on a cross is to die a thousand times before you take your last breath. The pain is excruciating, unimagineable. The suffocation of the organs when the body is suspended by four great wounds is more than you can believe. The pain, the fiery pain pulsing through the body is more than we can conceive. It was a painful death.
And it was a shameful death. It was reserved for the vilest and most wicked of criminals. And you hung suspended in space, naked before the gaping gazing mocking throng. It was a cursed death. God Himself had said, "He that hangs on a tree is cursed." It was a lonely death. There was no companionship, even God was gone. And I wonder so often as I hear the words "Still, O soul, the sign of wonder of all the ages see; Christ thy God, the Lord of glory is on the cross for thee."
Incomprehensible humility. But what's so marvelous is that even in His dying, even in His dying, even in such abject depth of human suffering, He still wielded the power of God to redeem the human race. In His dying He could do that.
There was a battle fought long ago. The story came back to the king of one soldier who had a sword, who had single-handedly destroyed the enemy. And the king said to one of his soldiers, "Bring me that sword. I want to see such a sword that can do such damage."
The soldier got the sword and brought it in. Gave it to his majesty and he looked it over and he said, "Take it back. This is but an ordinary sword."
The soldier said, "Your majesty, you should see the arm that wields it."
You look at Jesus Christ and you see His humanness.
So, what do we see then? What is the Christmas story? The Lord Jesus Christ abandoned the sovereign position, accepted a servant's place, approached a sinful people, adopted a selfless posture. That's the Christmas story.
~John MacArthur
