Daily Bible Verses for 8/29/2016

Jesus Humbled Himself for Us – (Philippians 2:6-11)

Bible Verse
Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 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. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Reading Notes
Paul in these passages speaks of Jesus. But unfortunately for us the English language loses some of the meaning in the translation. The Greek language had much more meaning to the words they used. Paul tells us that Jesus is in the form of God. However, the Greek word used by Paul means that both Jesus and God the Father are of the same unchanging essence. So what Paul was telling his readers, which they understood perfectly was that Jesus and God the Father are one and the same. Therefore, Jesus and God are one! In other words, Jesus is God and we understand this today as the Trinity. The Trinity means there is only one God; however the Godhead exists as three distinct persons. God the Father, God the Son, who is Jesus Christ and God the Spirit who is the Holy Spirit. It was God’s plan of redemption from the beginning that Jesus would come. And through the incarnation He would be fully man and fully God. Thereby humbling Himself, taking on all that humanity had in order to be the perfect sacrifice for us.

Jesus the Author of all creation, the living God of Heaven, in whom all things are held together stepped out of eternity to die for us. During His time here with us, He experienced the same desires and temptations as all men, but He did not sin. We have to understand that Jesus humbled Himself in order to take our place on the cross. In other words, the living God of Heaven stepped out of eternity and took on humanity, in order to take upon Himself, God’s just punishment for our sins. There was no other way for us to receive salvation, other than for Jesus to be our perfect substitute. There was no other way for us to be reconciled to God, other than for Jesus to take our sins upon Himself at the Cross of Calvary. The word used for this is “propitiation.” This word means that Jesus, hasn’t only taken our place; but His substitution for us was perfect in every way and fully paid for our sins once and for all times, past present and future. And there is nothing else we need for salvation, other than repentance through our faith in Christ.