Ephesians 4:9
9 (Now [de] that he ascended, [anabaino] what [tis] is it [esti] but [ei me] that [hoti] he [katabaino] also [kai] descended [katabaino] first
[proton] into [eis] the lower [katoteros] parts
[meros] of the earth [ge]? KJV-Interlinear
9 (Now
this expression, "He ascended," what does it mean except that He also
had descended into the lower parts of the earth? NASB
Christ is now ascended
into heaven and there has been glorified and is sitting at the right hand of
the Father.
But in order to ascend,
one must first descend.
Jesus Christ is God. That is made quite clear in the
scriptures. As God, His home was
originally in heaven. But Christ
ascended into heaven. And that means
that he had to descend to the earth, in order to then ascend.
This is the argument of
God coming to earth as man. His descent
was not merely directional, but one of humiliation.
God who is deity, became man. Man is far lower than deity and therefore
that alone is a form of humiliation.
Being man and having to deal with the many aspects of humanity such as
dealing with food and bodily waste and hygiene and so forth.
But Christ’s humiliation
did not stop there. He was hated,
slapped, spit on, beaten, stripped, intimidated, threatened, and crucified in
view of the public. He was put to death, which is the greatest of humiliations,
when the physical body is left behind, empty of its life.
Death is the state of
total helplessness. You cannot take care
of yourself. You depend entirely on
someone else to care for your remains.
You have absolutely no self-control over post death bodily functions, and
so forth.
Furthermore, Jesus went
into the underworld, and while there announced His victory, but still in those
lower most parts of the earth, He was exposed to the ultimate in humiliation in
His physical death. His body, soul and
spirit were literally blasted apart and did not reassemble, as it were, until His
resurrection.
Then and only then, after
the ultimate in humiliation and work, did Christ ascend to the post of ultimate
magnification and honor and glory.
God did originate in
Heaven. God did descend to the earth and
became equal with humanity and therefore the only qualified mediator in history. God did suffer the greatest of
humiliations. More so than anyone else
in history. No one else could possibly
come close to His state no matter what it was.
God did perform His work
to perfection despite the overwhelming adversarial attacks against Him and His
character.
God did end in victory,
and therefore the gifts that have already been mentioned, are all the more
valuable and honorable, and perfect.
Certainly worth appreciation.
Probably the real
question is, ‘Do you appreciate anything that God has done for you?’ Do you appreciate anything, ever?
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