To Our Perpetual Wonder and Praise
Q27. Wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist?
Ans. Christ’s humiliation consisted in His being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross, in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.
In speaking of Christ’s humiliation we are reminded that in so becoming he was not always in such a condition. But speaking in the past tense, ‘consisted’, yet reminds us that this is no longer the case (but more of that in the next Q&A.
From eternity He lived in glory, the glory of the triune Godhead with the Father and the Spirit. But with the Incarnation all that changed.
The testimony of the Bible is that though He was rich yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich. The joy of heaven became the man of sorrow. The Lord of angels offered up strong cryings and tears unto Him who was able to save Him from death. God the maker of all things was born an infant. He who made the stars was cradled in a manger. He is the Lord of heaven and of earth, yet for His birth they borrowed a stable, for His burial another man’s tomb. “The foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has not where to lay his head.” Though He was the King of kings, there was no place for Him in the inn. Born in a stable He was reared in a carpenter’s home and learned the trade of Joseph.
In His Person Christ is the Lawgiver. But in His human nature He undertook to pay all our debts. So He volunteered to be made under the law, and obeyed its every command. He endured all the sufferings and miseries life has for men. Though He was Son yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered.
Volunteering to answer for our sin He endured the wrath of God which we deserved. As the shadows of Calvary fell over His soul, Jesus prayed: “Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not my will but Thine be done.” When the punishment we deserved broke upon Him, our Lord cried: “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” He who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. He drank the cup of our curse that at His Table we might drink the cup of His blessing. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us. Following the death on the cross where He became this curse for us, He was buried and continued under the power of death for a time.
We can never thank our Saviour enough for all He became, for all He did, and for all He endured for us.
Adapted from William Childs Robinson