EMPOWERED TO BE EMPTY 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.’ Phi 2:5. This is one of the most remarkable verses in the Bible. It describes the incredible offering of the Son within the fellowship of the Godhead, and more than that, it gives us a vital key by which we, the ‘sons of men’, can become ‘sons of God’. Our verse states that the Son existed ‘in the form of God’. This means that in the Trinity, He was utterly co-essential with the Father and Holy Spirit, and not one whit lesser in power, glory, authority, prerogatives, etc. At the same time, He was utterly unique in His identity and role. He was God the Son. As such, it was His prerogative to be the total and perfect expression of all the sonship that could ever be. There was no room for any other sons. And that is precisely why the Son of God ‘emptied Himself’. He did so to make room for us to become sons of God with Him (though we will never be gods ourselves). Paul wrote, ‘Though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich’. 2Co 8:9. Then, having laid aside all His prerogatives as God the Son, He further emptied Himself of His glory, power and initiative, placing these in the trust of the Father for another day. Then He willingly became the obedient Son of God, begotten in the ‘bosom of the Father’. Joh 17:5. Joh 1:14, 18. Psa 2:7. Heb 1:5. 1Jn 4:9. He would, henceforth, do nothing in the intrinsic power of His own sonship until after His resurrection. Instead, everything He did and said was by the power laid down to Him by the Father. He would not be revealing Himself, but would always fulfl the Father’s will and reveal Him. He now belonged to the Father as His love-slave. But the point we are building to, is that even the ‘emptying’ itself was not by His own power or capacity, but by that which He received. This capability was laid down to Him by the Father. The implications of this are astounding! It means that the entire activity of the Son, from beginning to end, is by the capacity received from outside of Himself – from the Father. If He had done anything by His own ability, to that extent, He would have revealed Himself and made Himself the Father’s benefactor. As well, He would have made our path to sonship impossible, for we have no resources at all to offer in becoming like Him. Jesus said, ‘I can of Myself do nothing … I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me’. He later said, ‘When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me … I always do the things that are pleasing to Him’. Joh 5:30. Joh 8:28-29. (See also Heb 2:16.) So what did the Father give to the Son that enabled Him to empty Himself? He committed to the Him ‘all the fullness’ as His own possession. Paul wrote, ‘It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell’. Col 1:19. Jesus said, ‘All things have been handed over to Me by My Father … no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him’. Mat 11:27. (See also Joh 3:35. Joh 13:3. Joh 16:15.) In committing to the Son ‘all the fullness’, there was nothing held back. The Father anointed Him with the sevenfold Spirit of God, the fullness of the Spirit of Yahweh (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). He had the Spirit without measure, and by this He was anointed as Messiah. In Him now dwells ‘all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’ and ‘the fullness of Deity in bodily form’. He is ‘full of grace and truth’. Isa 11:2. Joh 3:34. Col 2:2-3, 9. Joh 1:14. By the anointing, He is now the Father’s Son who has been given the name above every name. Phi 2:9. As well, He is the Father’s Slave who has been given a righteousness to fulfl. He is also the Pioneer of our salvation, and has ‘learned obedience’ by His offering. Heb 5:8. Isa 53:11. Along with this, He has four administrations. He is King with resurrection power. As Priest, He ministers new creation life. As the Prophet, He is the Word of God who calls us into fellowship with the Father and Son. And as the Firstborn, He inherits all things. These are the ‘seven treasures of grace’ received from the Father by which the Son emptied Himself through all its stages to the point of death so that we could be made sons with Him. Without this fullness, He would not proceed. Now we are called to have the same ‘mind’ and attitude as Christ. But how can we ‘empty’ as the Son did? We have no power within ourselves to do so. This is where He comes to our aid. Heb 2:16. When we express our mind to join the Son in His offering, and thus become His possession, then the Father takes a portion the Son’s fullness and lays it down to us as well. Joh 1:16. We become ‘partakers of Christ’. Heb 3:14. Then we know that we have this ‘treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us’. 2Co 4: 7. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ blesses us with ‘every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ’. Eph 1:3-4. Now we can join Christ in His offering because we are receiving a portion of the very same anointing that is upon the Son.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 14:32:23 +0000
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