Basic HTML Version
Chapter 1
145
God. He veiled the demonstrations of Deity, which had commanded
the homage, and called forth the admiration, of the universe of God.
He was God while upon earth, but He divested Himself of the form
of God, and in its stead took the form and fashion of a man. He
walked the earth as a man. For our sakes He became poor, that we
through His poverty might be made rich. He laid aside His glory
and His majesty. He was God, but the glories of the form of God He
for a while relinquished. Though He walked among men in poverty,
scattering His blessings wherever He went, at His word legions
of angels would surround their Redeemer, and do Him homage.
But He walked the earth unrecognized, unconfessed, with but few
exceptions, by His creatures. The atmosphere was polluted with sin
and curses, in place of the anthem of praise. His lot was poverty and
[1127]
humiliation. As He passed to and fro upon His mission of mercy
to relieve the sick, to lift up the depressed, scarce a solitary voice
called Him blessed, and the very greatest of the nation passed Him
by with disdain.
Contrast this with the riches of glory, the wealth of praise pour-
ing forth from immortal tongues, the millions of rich voices in the
universe of God in anthems of adoration. But He humbled Himself,
and took mortality upon Him. As a member of the human family, He
was mortal; but as a God, He was the fountain of life to the world.
He could, in His divine person, ever have withstood the advances of
death, and refused to come under its dominion; but He voluntarily
laid down His life, that in so doing He might give life and bring
immortality to light. He bore the sins of the world, and endured
the penalty, which rolled like a mountain upon His divine soul. He
yielded up His life a sacrifice, that man should not eternally die. He
died, not through being compelled to die, but by His own free will.
This was humility. The whole treasure of heaven was poured out
in one gift to save fallen man. He brought into His human nature
all the life-giving energies that human beings will need and must
receive.
Wondrous combination of man and God! He might have helped
His human nature to withstand the inroads of disease by pouring
from His divine nature vitality and undecaying vigor to the human.
But He humbled Himself to man’s nature. He did this that the
Scripture might be fulfilled; and the plan was entered into by the