Not only do we see those things, but we see not only the extent and purpose of His humiliation, we see the motive of His humiliation. And my, what a statement it is. Again we see it in verse 9, that He by the grace of God. Do you know what moved Jesus Christ to suffer for us? What did? What’s the one word? Grace, grace, the greatest word there is. Grace. Do you know what grace is? It’s free lovingkindness. When we didn’t deserve anything, when we deserved – let’s say this. When we didn’t deserve what we got but deserved what we didn’t get, we got what we didn’t deserve and didn’t get what we did deserve. You can untangle that later. That’s grace. You say, “What prompts grace?” Love. God’s great unbounded love prompted a gracious deed in our behalf. And solely on the basis of His own good pleasure, and solely on the basis of His sovereign will, did Jesus die, not by the hands of men alone, not by the deed of Satan alone, but by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God, He died for our sins.
Jesus made the statement, “No man takes my life from me” – John 10 – “I lay it down of myself.” The Bible says here, “In His love, not that we loved him,
but that” – what? – “He loved us, and sent His son to be the propitiation” – or the satisfaction – “for our sins.” He was the substitute.
Then we see one other thing in this verse, and that’s the results of His humiliation. He was crowned with glory and honor. Oh, what a fantastic thing it is to realize that after Jesus had accomplished this task of substitutionary death, He was exalted to the right hand of the Father, and there He sits on a throne through which He reigns and will reign forever and ever and ever.
In Hebrews chapter 5, it talks about – verse 4, “And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made a high priest, but that He said unto Him, ‘Thou art my Son, today have I begotten Thee.’“ In other words, Christ didn’t glorify Himself; God glorified Him. And so Jesus was crowned by the Father with glory and honor. Philippians 2 says that He was highly exalted, and God has given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 21 tells us that Jesus Christ has been set over all principalities and powers. He’s been set over all might and dominion, and everything that is and is to come. And so the result of His humiliation was His exaltation.
And so the writer says to the Jewish reader, “We do not apologize for the cross. We do not shove it under the rug. For the cross magnifies the Lord.” The fact that He was a man, the fact that He died was no problem, for that was not the natural thing for him to do. He condescended to do that. So far from Christ humiliation and death being something of which we are ashamed, it is something for which we glory.
And so Jesus is a worthy substitute. And He became that perfect substitute by becoming a man. If He had not become a man and died for us, we would die in our sins.
Jesus made the statement, “No man takes my life from me” – John 10 – “I lay it down of myself.” The Bible says here, “In His love, not that we loved him,
but that” – what? – “He loved us, and sent His son to be the propitiation” – or the satisfaction – “for our sins.” He was the substitute.
Then we see one other thing in this verse, and that’s the results of His humiliation. He was crowned with glory and honor. Oh, what a fantastic thing it is to realize that after Jesus had accomplished this task of substitutionary death, He was exalted to the right hand of the Father, and there He sits on a throne through which He reigns and will reign forever and ever and ever.
In Hebrews chapter 5, it talks about – verse 4, “And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made a high priest, but that He said unto Him, ‘Thou art my Son, today have I begotten Thee.’“ In other words, Christ didn’t glorify Himself; God glorified Him. And so Jesus was crowned by the Father with glory and honor. Philippians 2 says that He was highly exalted, and God has given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 21 tells us that Jesus Christ has been set over all principalities and powers. He’s been set over all might and dominion, and everything that is and is to come. And so the result of His humiliation was His exaltation.
And so the writer says to the Jewish reader, “We do not apologize for the cross. We do not shove it under the rug. For the cross magnifies the Lord.” The fact that He was a man, the fact that He died was no problem, for that was not the natural thing for him to do. He condescended to do that. So far from Christ humiliation and death being something of which we are ashamed, it is something for which we glory.
And so Jesus is a worthy substitute. And He became that perfect substitute by becoming a man. If He had not become a man and died for us, we would die in our sins.