"kenosis"--the emptying was a part of his greatest miracle!

The Word for today:
2 Kings 13, 14

Today, "Stand in the Rain" will answer a question from Aron, which he asked in response to the November 11th article titled "Those who will follow are led."

Q. This "emptying" of Jesus is hard for me to understand, given that Jesus comes across as the most consistently powerful "person" in the entire Bible...
I am having trouble reconciling the powerless Jesus with the powerful Jesus. How can I understand this better?

A. Hi, Aron--

Jesus had all the power in the universe!

What he did, by choice, was become one of us in order to take my place and your place at a cross where "he became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him." (2 Cor. 5:21) "For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way." (Heb 2:17)

So the eternal Son of God willingly laid aside the glory of his divinity:
"He emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men."
"Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:7, 8)

Nowhere does any of this state that he did not do miracles! He did multitudes of miracles! There were times when multitudes followed and "he healed them all!" (Matthew 12:15)

He walked on water, fed 15,000 with a few loaves and fishes, raised three people (that we know of) from the dead; he turned water into wine, stilled the storm, restored sight to the blind...

He did so many wonders that, "if they were written one by one, the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." (John 21:25)

The blog article you are responding to quotes Luke 4:1 in order to show that Jesus was led by the Spirit, just as we are:
"Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert."

The topic of the article was God's guidance. It shows that Jesus modeled our dependence on the Holy Spirit for guidance.

The very same scripture--Luke 4:1--also shows the source of Jesus' miracle power:
"Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert…"
So he was a model for us in this regard as well. We are to live a life empowered by the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus did in the days of his incarnation, when "he became flesh and dwelt amongst us." (John 1:14)

I hope this answers your question, Aron.

Your final remark is, "I am having trouble reconciling the powerless Jesus with the powerful Jesus. How can I understand this better?"

Let me say, Aron, that there is no 'powerless Jesus!' Jesus had all the power in the universe available to him. He was "full of the Holy Spirit," we've just read in Luke 4:1. In John 3:34 we read that "God's Spirit is upon him without measure or limit."

I hope you keep learning and learning about Jesus. I pray that you'll "Stand in the Rain" with us day by day, and that you'll ask any questions you have.

If you stay with us, you'll find that the Jesus of Scripture is the Creator God, who made something--a universe of universes--out of nothing!

Then, as the Redeemer God, he became one of us in order to pay the "wages of sin" (Romans 6:23) that we can't pay. When he rose from the dead, he'd performed a greater miracle by far--he'd made good out of bad!

And this greatest miracle depended on the "kenosis"--the emptying--of Philippians 2:7.

But even when he'd emptied himself to become 100% man, he was always 100% God at the same time. There was never a moment when he was not God. He emptied himself of the prerogatives of deity, choosing to live on this earth with certain limitations. But they were self-limitations.

So the emptying itself was a part of his greatest miracle! It was a necessary part of the miracle of bringing you and me and countless other believers back from the dead.

In order for him to say, "Aron, come forth to eternal life," he had to become one of us; he had to bleed the same blood in order to die the same death.

It's been a privilege to answer your question, Aron. God bless you and keep you.

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