Oct 10

Philippians 2:5-11
Memorise 1 Timothy 3:16
“Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God”

Since the time of the Apostles till now, the doctrine of the deity of Christ has been one that has come under constant attack. Satan knows how important it is that we believe and acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ to be fully God and fully man. Therefore he has focused his attacks throughout the ages on this simple truth. The moment the church stops believing that Jesus is God, then the gospel is lost, and man can have no hope of salvation. As we have seen in the past few days, Jesus must be God, in order for him to qualify as our mediator, in order for him to be the perfect lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

One clear passage that teaches the divinity of Jesus is in Philippians 2:6. This passage comes in the context of Paul’s teaching on humility. He gives us the prime example of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was “in the form of God” and “equal with God”, meaning that He was fully God in all His glory, majesty and honour, and equal to God the Father. Yet he did not think it robbery to be equal with God. What this phrase means is that he did not think that this notion of being God in heaven and enjoying all the glory of it was something that he had to grasp after, grasping it in the manner of how a robber would grab hold of his stolen goods. He did not think it was something too much to give up, in order that he could come to earth as a man to die for our sins. Thus whilst he was still God, and he never stopped being God, he made himself of no reputation, meaning he emptied himself of his divine attributes, and took upon him the form of a servant. So he went from being in the form of God, to become physically in the likeness of man. However this did not mean he ceased being God. Whilst he was on earth, he was both fully God and fully man. That is the only way his death on the cross would become effectual for our salvation. Indeed such is the humility and love of Christ, that he was willing to forsake heaven’s glories, to come to this sin-filled world to live amongst us, to suffer abuse at the hands of sinful men, and to die the most painful and humiliating death, the death on the cross. Realise what Jesus had to give up, and what He had to suffer, in order to make salvation freely available to all of us.

At the present, few people acknowledge Jesus as God, and many would go so far as to argue and try to prove how Jesus was just a man. But the Bible promises that one day every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is indeed Lord over all!

Thought: Jesus is God! But is He lord of your life?
Prayer: Father in heaven, I thank You for giving us Jesus!