Let us turn again to God's Word
in the chapter that we read, Philippians chapter 2. And I want to center your attention
with the Lord's help this morning upon words that we have here
in verses 6, 7, and 8. Philippians 2, 6, 7, and 8 concerning
Christ Jesus who Being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and
took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The context, of course, is one
in which the apostle is speaking of the necessity of humility. It's a great theological chapter,
and yet it's a very practical chapter at the same time. He says at verse three, let nothing
be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let
each esteem other better than themselves. look like every man
on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. And then we have the words that
I've read just now, 6, 7 and 8, the words of our text. He is speaking then of how they
are to leave aside all strife, all vain glory or pride or boasting,
there to desire that lowliness of mind, there to seek the mind
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then, in the words of the
text this morning, We see something of the humility of the Lord Jesus. And the theme I want to take
up is that of the threefold humbling of the Son of God. The threefold
humbling of the Son of God. And we see it in the eternal
covenant, we see it in the incarnation, and we see it in the crucifixion. It is a remarkable portion of
scripture that we have here from verse 6 through to verse 11. It's one of those great Christ-centered,
Christological passages that we find time and again in Holy
Scripture. Not surprisingly, of course,
because the written Word of God bears testimony to Him who is
the Word incarnate. You could say to the Jews, search
the Scriptures, in them you think that you have eternal life, and
these are they that testify of me. As Joseph Hart says, the
scriptures and the Lord bear one tremendous name, the written
and incarnate words in all things are the same. But there are those
portions in the Bible which are so striking when it comes to
the content. And this is one of those passages,
verses 6 to 11, and we've looked at it on previous occasions and
yet there's a sense in which almost every time one comes and
reads through these verses and seeks to think and meditate upon
these words, there's so profound a depth of truth to be discovered.
And so this morning, as I said, I want us to think about this
threefold humbling of the Lord Jesus Christ. To begin with,
I'll say something with regards to how here we see Him in the
form of God. We see Him, secondly, in the
form of a servant And then thirdly, we see him in fashion as a man. And that's the division then
that I want to follow. First of all, what we are told
here in verse 6, concerning Christ Jesus, who, being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Now this word, form, Most interesting
words were told, it refers to the inner, the essential and
the abiding nature of a person, their very mode of being. And
so what we're being told here is that Christ, the Son of God,
is, in the language of the Nicene Creed, very God, of very God,
begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father. That is the force of the language
and the very word that the apostle is using. He is in the form of
God. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. Equality with God was not something
that he needed to be grasping after, because he is truly God's. Or remember the language that
we have elsewhere. As I say, there are several passages
in Holy Scripture that speak so clearly of the glories that
belong to Jesus Christ as the Son of God. and we have that
language that's found in the opening chapter of the Hebrews
epistle and there at verse 3, who being the brightness of his
glory and the express image of his person. and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged
our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high,
being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance
obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of
the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have
I begotten thee, and again I will be to him a father, and he shall
be to me a son, and again When he bringeth in the first begotten
into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship
him. And of the angels he saith, Who
maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and
ever. A sceptre of righteousness is
the sceptre of thy kingdom. There is a description then of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that one who so humbled
himself as to become a man in the fullness of the time. In him, says Paul, dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodiless. And so here, in this sixth verse,
we see that he is God. He's in the form of God. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. And really, in that second clause
of the verse, the truth of his deity is being underlined. He thought it not robberous to
be equal with God. The word here has the idea of
seizing hold of a thing. It has the idea in a sense of
pillage and plunder, taking hold of something that you have no
right to. It's interesting, Dr. Gill in his commentary says,
the form of God and equal with God signify exactly the same
truth. He doesn't need to lay hold or
to plunder equality with God. It is that that is his by right. Now, we know how that Satan,
Satan would seize after that equality with God. Is he not
spoken of? Back in Isaiah chapter 14 in
the historical context it's true that the reference is to the
haughty Nebuchadnezzar, the great Babylonian emperor. But there's
a deeper spiritual significance to what is being said there in
Isaiah 14. It's not just a reference to
Nebuchadnezzar that we have. But it's ultimately a reference
to that fallen angel, to Satan himself. Isaiah 14, 12, O art
thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning, O art thou
cut down to the ground which did weaken the nations. For thou
hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the
mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most
High." As I say, historically We have to recognize that it's
speaking of that man Nebuchadnezzar whom we read of also in the book
of Daniel whom God visited with a terrible judgment and he lost
his reason and he began to behave like a brute beast of the earth.
God humbled him and he was brought to acknowledge ultimately the
sovereignty of God. who doeth according to his will
among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or say to him, What doest thou?
That's what he was brought to acknowledge. But here we see
his pride. But it's not just Nebuchadnezzar.
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, O day star, sun of
the morning, He says in his heart, I will ascend into heaven, I
will exalt my throne above the stars of God. It's Satan. Satan
is that one who would seek to make himself equal with God.
When he comes in those temptations to the Lord Jesus, the folly
of it, he would have Christ to fall down and worship him. This
proud angel And remember it was at the instigation of Satan that
man also was brought to seek after an equality with God. When
the devil comes to Eve there in the Garden of Eden and Eve
partakes of the bidden fruit and Adam also partakes of that
fruit. Oh, remember what the temptation
was. there in Genesis 3-5 God doth
know that in the day that ye eat thereof your eyes shall be
opened and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil and when
the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was
pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise
she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto
her husband with her and he did eat They both partake of that
that God had prohibited. And so they fall, or they seek
after that equality with God. They imagine they shall be as
gods, and they fall. And they become then the very
servants of Satan himself. Just like that proud emperor
Nebuchadnezzar. seeking to exalt himself, he
is humbled to the very dust. Oh, how different it is when
we think of him who is set before us in Scripture as the last Adam,
the first Adam, false through unbelief, through
pride, but what of him whom we see as the last Adam, that one
spoken of in 1 Corinthians 15. The first man is of the earth
earthly, the second man is the Lord from heaven, says the Apostle.
He took not upon him the nature of the angels. He took upon him
the seed of Abram. He comes for Abram's seed. For as much as the children were
partakers of flesh and blood, he likewise took part of the
same. Or we read of God sending his
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. He identifies
with man as a sinner though himself he is the sinless one, the holy
harmless Jesus. How he humbles himself. And yet
here we have this plain statement declaring the truth of his day
who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God." This is that matchless condescension that
we sang of in our opening praise. Oh, what matchless condescension
the Eternal God displays. Where do we witness it? We witness
it in the Lord Jesus Christ, the mind of Christ. the humility
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's in the form of God. But
then secondly, in verse 7, we read of him also in the form
of a servant, but made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant. Now this is really
his first humbling. This is the first humbling, when
he takes upon him the form of a servant. We observe that it's the same
word that is used as we have in verse 6, being in the form
of God. As I said, that's the specific
character, that's the essential form, he is God. And the same
word is used when he's mentioned here in verse 7 as that one who
is in the form of a servant, the eternal son of God. Very
God of very God, he becomes the servant. And how and when does he become
the servant? Well, he becomes the servant
in terms of the covenant. the covenant of redemption, the
covenant of grace. And when does he become the servant?
Well, that is in eternity. It's an eternal covenant. Doesn't
the prophet Zechariah speak of that council? That council between
the persons in the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that council
particularly concerning the Father, And the Son and the Spirit there,
witnessing these things, Zechariah says, the Council of Peace shall
be between them both. Oh, it's in that Covenant, that
Eternal Council, outside of time, that the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Eternal Son of God, becomes the Servant. And God says, Behold
My Servant. whom I uphold, mine elect, in
whom my soul delighteth. This is his humbling, you see.
We observe how that the covenant is an eternal covenant. It is
as eternal as God himself is eternal. That means it always
was, always is, always will be. It's not really possible for
us to think in terms of eternity, and often we use contradictory
language in seeking to speak of eternity. We might speak of
eternity past, and eternity to come, but that's nonsense. There's
no past, and there's no future with eternity. Eternity takes
us outside of the realm of time and of space. Eternity is where
God is. That's the third heaven. And
as I said, the covenant is as eternal as God himself. Now, thinking of the Lord Jesus
Christ and thinking of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God,
He is and always was and always will
be the eternal Son of God. He never ceases to be God. And yet, at the same time when
we think in terms of the eternal covenant, He was and is and always
is, always will be, the servant. It's the same word that is used
in each of these verses. It's a very strong word form. And so, we find the Lord Jesus
in the course of his ministry making statements such as this,
he says in John 10.30, I and my Father are one. Now that is
true when we think in terms of the Godhead. God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the doctrine of the Triniton.
Though there be three persons, yet there are not three gods. God is one. Here, O Israel, the
Lord our God is one Lord, but God subsists in three persons. And Christ says, I and my Father
are one. But then, in John 14, 28, the
Lord says, My Father is greater than I. Well, how can they be
one? How can they be equal? And yet,
how can the Lord Jesus go on to say, my Father is greater
than I? Well, there in John 14 He is
speaking in terms of the covenant. In that covenant He willingly
became the servant of God. But He never ceased to be the
Son of God, who is equal with God. And how When we think of
that covenant, this is a voluntary act on the part of the Son of
God. What does it say in the text?
He made Himself of no reputation. He made Himself of no reputation
and took upon Him the form of a servant. He did it willingly. He did it voluntarily. That's
the truth that we have here. Now, the interesting thing is
that this expression, made himself of no reputation, is the translation
of a single word. It's the word that is usually
translated as empty. And in modern versions, they
often translate it literally, that he emptied himself. The
Greek word is keno, and from it we get what's called the kinetic
theory concerning the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
emptied himself. You can think of the line of
the hymn of Charles Wesley, emptied himself of all but love. And it's a very misleading statement
he's at. The very idea that Christ should
empty himself, empty himself of everything but love. You see,
there are some who imagine that he emptied himself of his deity. He never did that. He never did
that. He didn't empty himself of his
of his Godhood. He never ceased to be God. Even
when he was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, that
holy thing, that human nature that was to be joined to the
eternal Son of God, that babe that was born to Mary, that little
babe, was the Son of God, manifest in the flesh. Even that little
babe. And then as he grew as a child,
as he came into his teenage years, as he grew up into youth, into
manhood, At every stage of his human development, the development
of that human body, he was never anything less than God. And that's the beauty really
of the way in which the translators of our authorized version have
tried to bring out the true significance of this word. What is he doing
when he becomes God's servant? He is making himself of no reputation. This is the first part of his
humbling himself. And it's interesting to consider
what God's purpose is in this covenant, this covenant of grace.
What is the grand end of the covenant? Well, all is for the
glory of God, as we see at the end of Romans 11. Of him and
through him and to him are all things. to whom be glory forever
and ever. And we see it here as the Apostle
brings this great passage to a conclusion in verse 11. We're considering verses 6, 7
and 8, but Samuel continues at verse 9. Wherefore, having spoken
of Christ humbling himself, wherefore God also has highly exalted him,
giving Him a name which is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, with things in heaven and things
in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and the ultimate end,
to the glory of God the Father. That's the ultimate end. Christ
becoming the servant of the Father, the servant of God in the eternal
covenant. What is the end of the covenant?
It is the glory of the Father. It is the glory of God. And we
have it again, there's that... I find it a difficult passage
in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. that other remarkable chapter
that speaks, of course, so plainly of the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. So, it doesn't just speak of
the resurrection of Christ, it speaks of the general resurrection
at the end, the end of time. 1 Corinthians 15, 23. Paul says, every man in his own
order, this is the resurrection, Christ the firstfruits, afterward
they that are Christ's at His coming. Then cometh the end,
when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the
Father, when He shall have put down all rule and all authority
and power. For He must reign till He hath
put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death. for he hath put all things under
his feet. But when he saith, All things
are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted which did
put all things under him. And when all things shall be
subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject
unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all
in all. That is the great point and purpose
of the covenant, that God may be all in all. And what is Christ? He's the mediator of that covenant.
He's the servant of God. And all that He does, all this
humbling of Himself, is ultimately for the glory of God. There is
the first stage. He humbles himself in the eternal
covenant of grace. He made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant. Well, we said something
with regards to Christ the form of God, Christ the form of a
servant. And then thirdly, I want to say
something with regards to what we have in verse 8, fashion as
a man. And here we come to the second
and the third parts of his humbling. First of all, he humbles himself
when we think of the incarnation. when we think of him actually
in the fullness of the time becoming a man. And so, the end of verse
7, beginning of verse 8, he was made, it says, in the likeness
of men and being found in fashion as a man. That's the incarnation. Now observe
the difference here. We have that word form used previously. Verse 6, the form of God. Verse 7, the form of a servant. But no, it doesn't say the form
of a man. No, it says being found in fashion. The margin here says habit. as a man. It's a very different
word. It really points to the external,
the accidental, and the fleeting appearance. It's a very different
word. You see form, as I said, as the
idea of the specific character. It's a much stronger word. The
inner, the essential, the abiding nature of a thing is what form
suggests. But this word fashion refers
to the external, the accidental, the fleeting. It's a different word altogether.
And what do we see here then? Well, we see that in the Lord
Jesus Christ there is that essential deity. In the Lord Jesus Christ
we see him as that one who is essentially the mediator. And
it's as the mediator of the covenant that the Lord Jesus Christ humbles
himself again and becomes a man. It says at the end of verse 7,
he was made in the likeness of men. He's a true son of Adam. He's a true son of Adam. He's
like Seth. Go back to the Old Testament,
Genesis 5 and verse 3. We're told Adam lived 130 years
and begat a son in his likeness, after his image, and called his
name Seth. And in the Septuagint version
of the Old Testament, the Greek version of the Old Testament,
that the writers of the New Testament were clearly familiar with, in
that Greek version of the Septuagint, it's the very same word that's
used there in Genesis 5.3 concerning Seth, born to Adam, he begat
a son in his likeness. It's the same word that we have
here at the end of verse 7, that Christ was made in the likeness
of men. He's a real man. A man there is, a real man. How often we sing those lines
of the hymn. That's the wonder of it. That's
the Lord Jesus going into that second aspect of his humiliation
when he takes to him the likeness of man. and so we see him upon
the earth in fashion as a man. Oh, in God's eternal purpose
we have to remember He is always that One who is spoken of as
the Son of Man. That term is used even in the
Old Testament in reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. In the
fullness of the time He would be born of the Virgin
Mary. God would prepare a body for
him. But there are those passages
in the Old Testament which are anticipating his appearance in
the fullness of the time. Think of those three strangers
that come to Abraham. As God is about to destroy the
wicked cities of the plain Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham is entertaining
three strangers. They're angels. Subsequently
we read of two angels going to Sodom. But one of the angels
remains behind with Abraham and that one is the angel of the
Lord. We've mentioned the angel of
the Lord on previous occasions and sought to consider something
of the significance of those appearances. Or the New Testament
tells us, I think it's Hebrews 11 now, that some entertained
angels unawares. Those angels that appeared to
men, they didn't appear as men like to describe angels today, or draw
angels today, they appeared as real men. And those that were
entertained by Abraham, they were real men, but one of them
was the Angel of the Lord, he was the Son of Man, was the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. We read of him there in Daniel
chapter 7 and verse 13. I saw in the night visions, says
Daniel, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the
clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they
brought Him near before Him." All this title you see, the Son
of Man, it reminds us of Christ in His office as that One who
has come as the Mediator of the Covenant, who in the fullness of the time
was made of a woman. He is that one who is the seed
of the woman, promised back in Genesis 3.15. That one who subsequently
is spoken of as the seed of Abraham. And then as the seed of David. He is Abraham's son, he is David's
son. But he appears as a real man,
a true man. And that's the second phase of
his humbling himself. He humbles himself in the Covenant.
He humbles himself in the Incarnation. And then thirdly, he humbles
himself as he executes that great work that the Father had committed
to him in that Covenant. What does it say here at the
end of verse 8? He humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Oh, he humbles
himself as a man. And how does he humble himself?
He submits to the law of God. He is that one who is God, of
course, is the promulgator of the law. It's God's law. Moses
is but the mediator of the law. And yet here we see him as that
one who is subject to his own law, made of a woman, made under
the law. And what do we see in his life?
We see a life of obedience to that Lord of God. the theologians
speak of the active obedience and the passive obedience what
they're saying is the active obedience is the life, the life
that he lives how he must do the will of him who has sent
him and finish his work, how he must be about his father's
business how he will honor and magnify the law by obeying every
one of its commandments and fulfilling all righteousness. All that moral law, you see,
it's so magnified by the lives that the Lord Jesus lives, holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than
the heavens, is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone the believers. Or what has he wrought by that
obedient life? He has woven that garment of
righteousness, that robe of salvation, and it's that with which he clothes
his people. That's how they're justified
before God. It's that righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ that is imputed to them, reckoned to their account.
But he doesn't only magnify the moral law in the obedience of
his sinless life, he also fulfills all the ceremonial laws. Well, we see him as that one
who is the great anti-type of all the Old Testament sacrifices.
He is truly the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. is obedient, not only in living,
he is obedient also in dying. And that's what it states here.
This is the ultimate of his humiliation. He will die that accursed death
of the cross. He is obedient. Found in fashion as a man, he
humbled himself and became obedient unto death. even the death of
the cross." So mark those words, even the death of the cross. What is the death of the cross?
It's that accursed death. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us, says Paul. Because
it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. For that was an accursed death
that he died, and he had died that death for those who were
the accursed sinners. As many as are under the law
are under the curse. It is written, Cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law
to do them. Those that he came to die are the cursed ones. They've
not obeyed the law. James says if we obey all the
commandments and offend in one point, we're guilty of all. What
has the Lord Jesus Christ done? He has taken that curse to Himself
and He has borne that terrible penalty that was due to the sinner.
He has died the just for the unjust to bring the sinner to
God. That's the humiliation of the
Lord Jesus. He humbled Himself in the covenant,
the eternal covenant, He humbled himself in the incarnation when
he became a real man and he humbles himself in that cruel death that
he dies as a substitute and makes that wonderful sin-atoning sacrifice. It's the mind of Christ. What
humility! Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus. A three-fold humility. And it
struck me, thinking of these things. We have that word back
in Jeremiah 22-29 where God addresses men and says, O earth, earth,
earth, hear the word of the Lord. Earth, earth, earth. Three-fold. With those, of course,
The children of Adam, we were made of the earth. And so God
formed the first man, took of the earth, formed his body, breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, he became a living soul.
But now Adam has sinned, you see. We all sinned in Adam and
we're all mortal. And we shall die. and the body
shall return to the earth as it was and the spirit to God
who gave it and how God addresses us just as we are earth, earth,
earth or that we might be those who are truly humbled and humbled
in the dust we might learn what real humility is and learn it
from the Lord Jesus Christ as I said at the beginning the whole
context here is that of the the truth of humiliation. It's a practical passage. Let
nothing be done through strife or vainglory, pride, boastings. In lowliness of mind, let each
esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. How do we become
followers of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, the Lord tells us quite
plainly, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself. It's denial, it's self-denial.
Let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. It's a call to humbleness of
life. We're to be clothed with humility,
we're told. For God resisteth the proud,
but giveth grace unto the humble. Humble yourselves therefore,
says Peter, unto the mighty hand of God, that she may be exalted. in due time. And we see it, oh,
we're to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. What does all the Lord's
humbling of himself lead to? Well, that glorious exaltation. Oh, there's no crown without
the cross first. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven
and things in earth and things under the earth and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. Oh God, grant us grace to make
that confession by the Holy Spirit to say that Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.