There can surely be no more dramatic example of willingness to give up honour and privilege than that of Jesus Christ—he who exchanged the sapphire-paved courts of heaven for the dirt and dust of Palestine. It is worth meditating on him for a few moments.
Jesus Christ is, and always was, the Second Person of the Trinity. He is the image of the invisible God, the radiance of God’s glory, and the exact representation of his being (Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3). Before anything was created, he existed eternally with the Father. Through him, all things came into being: the earth, the sun, the distant stars and galaxies, the Himalaya mountains and the Pacific Ocean, the insects and birds, the lions and squirrels. He understands the earth’s ecosystems and weather patterns; he knows and controls every atom in existence, from the organs of our own bodies to the furthest star in the universe. He is, and always has been, perfectly pure and holy, infinitely loving and supremely wise (John 1:1–3; Hebrews 1:2–3). Along with the Father, he is the object of heaven’s worship; before the Son and the Father every creature in heaven and on earth bows down and sings, To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!
(Revelation 5:13)
In attempting to express the incomparable glory of Christ, Isaac Watts wrote:
Join all the glorious names
of wisdom, love, and power,
that ever mortals knew,
that angels ever bore:
all are too mean to speak his worth,
too mean to set my Saviour forth. https://hymnary.org/text/joinallthegloriousnames1
By considering the incomparable majesty and glory of Christ, we begin to understand something of the honour that is due to him as the Son of God, the one who was in the form of God
(Philippians 2:6).
And yet, Christ did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped
(Philippians 2:6). He was willing for a time to lay aside the privileges and prerogatives of deity, to become human, and to serve those who did not love or honour him (Philippians 2:7–8). In doing so he exchanged the freedom of divine sovereignty for the limitations of a human body, power over the entire creation for dependence on human beings, and the worship of angels for the rejection of sinners. Can we begin to understand the extent to which Jesus was willing to forego honour and privilege?
Once again, we must resort to poetry to express something of the extent of Christ’s love and the depths of this mystery that we call the incarnation:
From heaven you came helpless babe
Entered our world, your glory veiled
Not to be served but to serve
And give your life that we might liveThis is our God, the Servant King
He calls us now to follow Him
To bring our lives as a daily offering
Of worship to the Servant King https://www.grahamkendrick.co.uk/home/stories-behind-the-song/the-servant-king-from-heaven-you-came2
6 Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.