In Palmer Alaska you can enjoy mountain views from almost anywhere in town. But if you hike up into the mountains you can enjoy details that you can’t see from the valley below. And if you summit a peak you can take in the view beyond the ridge. The views from the valley, the trail and the summit each offer a different perspective. The more viewpoints you take in the more you realize that there is just so much more to see.
We are studying our fundamental belief in the God the Son. There is nothing more fundamental to our faith than Jesus. But these are fundamentals that are deep and cannot be exhausted. Looking at Jesus is like looking at the Alaskan wilderness. The more you see the more realize that there is so much more to see.
Philippians 2:1-11 takes us up several different summits of the glory of the Son, each giving a different view of who He is. The text teaches much of the SDA Fundamental Belief #4: The Son.
God the eternal Son became incarnate in Jesus Christ. Through Him all things were created, the character of God is revealed, the salvation of humanity is accomplished, and the world is judged. Forever truly God, He became also truly human, Jesus the Christ. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived and experienced temptation as a human being, but perfectly exemplified the righteousness and love of God. By His miracles He manifested God’s power and was attested as God’s promised Messiah. He suffered and died voluntarily on the cross for our sins and in our place, was raised from the dead, and ascended to heaven to minister in the heavenly sanctuary in our behalf. He will come again in glory for the final deliverance of His people and the restoration of all things.
Summit #1: The Son as God
Verse 6 says, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.”
There is much debate on the nature of Christ. But the Bible gives us many simple and beautiful descriptions of the Son as divine.
John 1:1-4 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called , Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Matthew 1:23 Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
Hebrews 1:8 But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
In some of the conversations Jesus had with religious leaders we see that He intended to communicate His divinity and they understood what He was saying.
John 5:18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
John 8:57-59 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
Luke 5:20-21 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?
Sending a servant would have shown God’s authority. But coming Himself shows God’s love (1 John 3:16, John 15:13).
The Son as God is a perfect sacrifice. One that we can trust. We need righteousness, not just sympathy. We have been ransomed by the “precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:19). Our “faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:21) not a human savior.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Summit #2: The Son as Man
Follow what the divine Son did for us (vv. 7-8)…
…He emptied himself!
…He took the form of a servant!
…He humbled himself!
…He was born in the likeness of men!
…He was found in human form!
Jesus referred to Himself as the “son of man” seventy-seven times in Gospels (Matthew 8:20; 26:2).
The creator of humanity became the son of humanity (John 1:14, Galatians 4:4, Matthew 1:1, Romans 1:3; 9:5; Mark 6:3). If we only see Him as the “Son of God” and not the “Son of Man” we miss something. He came as the second Adam to redeem Adam’s race ( 1 Corinthians 15:45-49). We don’t have to walk according to the flesh because the Son “condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3).
The book of Hebrews reveals the Son as both divine and human. Notice the significance of the fact that the He is human in these texts:
Hebrews 2:17-18 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Hebrews 4:14-16 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 5:1-2 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.
Summit #3: The Son on the Cross
There are many and deep theories of the atonement. Why did Jesus have to die? That a big question with many differing answers.
The wages of sin as death does not reveal a decision that God made but a reality of who He is. It is not out of a desire to be cruel but out of the reality that He is life and apart from him there is no life. The death on the cross is a big deal because it was our death. The died for us (1 Thess. 5:10). He tasted death for everyone (Hebrews 2:9).
“Christ was treated as we deserve that we may be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. ‘By His stripes we are h
Desire of Ages, Page 25
The cross is central to our understanding of God!
Galatians 6:14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
“The sacrifice of Christ as an atonement for sin is the great truth around which all other truths cluster. In order to be rightly understood and appreciated, every truth in the word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, must be studied in the light that streams from the cross of Calvary.”
Gospel Workers, Page 315
Summit #4: The Son Exalted
The Son was not only broken on a cross but He exalted on the throne! After the cross Jesus didn’t retire. He rose! He ascended to the Father! He took back up that glory (John 17:5) that He set down to become like us. He was worshipped as a Lamb who was slain (Revelation 4).
Let Jesus be more to you!
Maybe you have been looking at Jesus. But in the way the person on the streets in Palmer looks at a mountain peak… from one angle and at a distance. And that view is glorious, but it is a small part, and there is so much more. Let Jesus take you up the trail and to the summit for a view to remind you that He is so much more. Maybe the way you need to see Him is as God to trust His power, or as man to relate to Him, or on the cross to receive life from him, or exalted to worship Him!