MY LIFE: #65 Our Groom is God
Dr. Stephen Phinney: For the Bride of Christ, Jesus being human means that our Savior understands our weaknesses and struggles. He intercedes for us and gives us the grace to overcome.
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OUR GROOM IS GOD
“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:5-7).
There is scarcely any passage in the New Testament that has given rise to more discussion. Many cults have been formed worldwide, as men have questioned whether Jesus is God. The apostle Paul’s appeal regarding the Savior’s divinity is of absolute importance in this passage. This is clearly noted in the fact that Paul regarded the Redeemer as equal to God.
LET YESHUA’S MIND BE IN YOU
If Jesus was/is truly divine, then His consenting to become a man becomes the most remarkable of all possible acts of humility. Why would He do such a thing? Why would God come in the form of a man--a servant man? We will explore these questions within this lesson.
Philippians 2:5 (KJV) states, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” The object of this reference unfolds the example of our Savior’s love for us as His Bride and His desire to reunite us with the heavenly Father. It also displays an example of humility for us as believers. This is the highest example that could be offered. Additionally, it illustrates and confirms the importance of why God would come as a humble man--a bondservant of the kingdom of God.
The principle in this particular case is we are to embrace the Truth that God had to come in an embraceable form of man for man to embrace Yeshua as the Groom. God, in man’s minds, was too far-reaching for his own good. The Son left a state of inexpressible glory of being God, took upon Himself the humblest form of humanity, and performed in the lowest position (a bondslave) in order that He might reconcile us back to Himself. He accomplished this by placing His own seed in an earthly woman (Mary), going through the humble process of being born as a human, and growing up under the conditions of man. This evidential proof of Jesus being God now impacts His Bride significantly.
Christ Being in the Form of God
The word rendered “form” --μορφή (morphē) occurs in only three places in the New Testament and in each place, it is rendered “form.” In Mark 16:12, it is applied to the form that Jesus assumed after his resurrection and, likewise, when he appeared to two of his disciples on his way to Emmaus. “After that, he appeared in another form unto two of them” (KJV). This “form” was so unlike his usual appearance, that they “did not know Him.” The word properly means form, shape, bodily shape, especially a beautiful form, a beautiful bodily appearance, or a spiritual body. In Philippians 2:7, it is applied to the appearance of a servant--“took upon him the form of a servant” (KJV): that is, He was in the condition of a servant--or of the lowest condition. Philippians 2:6 applies this to the appearance of God.
Christ’s trinity of “forms” illustrates and demonstrates the power of the Trinity of God. Jesus reveals His form as the Father (John 10:30), a human “bondservant” (Philippians 2:7), and the “form” He took after the resurrection in His immortal, resurrected body (Mark 16:12). This word occurs often in the Hebrew in three significant ways:
As the translation of the word ציי--“ziyv”--splendor (Dan. 4:36; 5:6, 9-10; 7:28).
As the translation of the word תּבנית--“tabnîyth”--structure, model, pattern--as in building, a stone or a rock (Isa. 44:13).
As the translation of תּמונה--“tĕmuwnah”--appearance, form, shape, image, likeness, (Job 4:16; 18:1). 1
As a man is known from the appearance of his form, so is the majesty that shines in God (His figure, Jesus Christ). Therefore, before the foundation of the world, Christ was in the form of God because He had glory with the Father before the world was formed (John 17:5). Keep in mind that before He put on our nature, there was nothing humble or earthy about Him--only the magnificence worthy of being the Godhead.
The second critical factor is the word “form” is equivalent to nature or being. Jesus Christ was and is in the nature of God; His reason of existence was that of God, and He was and is divine. In support of this understanding, therefore, is why His power was seen in working miracles and in His divine appearances while on earth, i.e. “walking on water.”
The Likeness of Man as God
The “form” referred to in Philippians 2:6 is a “form” before He became a man or before He took upon Himself the “form” of a servant. It was something from which He humbled himself by making “Himself of no reputation,” by “taking the form of a bondservant,” and by “being made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7, KJV). Please remember that man was “created in the image (form) of God”. In God’s reality, Christ adopting the “form” of man didn’t move Him away from the design of the Father. We were created in the image of God. He was and is God. The human and divine are compatible.
The Power of God is God
When Christ deprived Himself of being God, He entered the humble state of “being” man. There was something He possessed, making it proper to say that He was “in the form of God,” which He laid aside when appearing in the form of a servant and the likeness of human beings. This “something” was the Father; the Father was in Him. The Greek definition of “in” is “one” or the same “being.” Jesus said in John 14:11, "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.”
In any case, be assured that His ability to perform “acts of the Father” is not of His moral qualities. Nor is there any conceivable sense that He deprived Himself of the power of working miracles so He might take the “form of a servant upon Himself.” He maintained both elements of His humble state. All the miracles He performed when He maintained the form of a servant or in His lowly and humble condition were performed by the power of God (Life of God), which was in Him.
Once we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, He implants the Holy Spirit (Life of God) inside of us, then places us in Him, and hides Himself in the Father (Col. 3:3). John 14:20 reveals this: "In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”
This is why, after Salvation, we believe humans can accomplish supernatural acts such as “casting out demons” and “healing the sick.” By going through the process in John 14:20, we inherit all the same attributes of Christ Himself, except one important quality--being God.
We, of course, cannot fully understand the manifestation of God’s glory that He may generate in the heavenly world--at least on this side of Salvation. Nothing forbids us, however, to suppose that we are given partial visibility to the manifestations, i.e. some splendor and magnificence of God in the view of the Great Sovereign of the universe.
“He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen” (1 Timothy 6:15-16).
The Lord Jesus possessed God’s glory (visible manifestation or splendor), indicating the nature of God, before his incarnation and maintained it throughout His divine earthly ministry. This is truly worthy of an Amen!
The humanity of Jesus Christ is a fundamental tenet of indwelling faith and has profound implications for the Bride of Christ, which is the Church. As a human, Jesus experienced the full range of human emotions and struggles yet lived a life without sin. This makes Him a perfect and relatable High Priest for us (Hebrews 4:15).
His humanity also enabled Him to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. As a human, He could die a physical death, and as God, His sacrifice had infinite value. His resurrection signifies victory over sin and death, offering eternal life to those who believe in Him.
For the Bride of Christ, Jesus being human means that our Savior understands our weaknesses and struggles. He intercedes for us and gives us the grace to overcome. His life serves as an example of how to live righteously - how to have righteous human marriages. His teachings guide us in our journey of marital safety. His sacrificial love is the model for the love we are to have for one another - particularly our spouses. Thus, the humanity of Jesus has a profound and transformative effect on the Bride of Christ. It brings comfort, guidance, and an assurance of His empathetic and effective intercession. It underscores the depth of God’s passion to secure Bridal member for His Son, that He would become one of us to save us and unite the born-again to become His Bride. It truly is the cornerstone of our marriages on earth as it is in Heaven.
Coming up next is #66, “The Groom is a Son.”
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