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Christ Before Coming to Earth
17
A Voluntary Sacrifice
Jesus could have kept the glory of heaven. But He chose to step
down from the throne of the universe in order to bring life to the
dying.
Nearly two thousand years ago, a voice was heard in heaven,
“A body You have prepared for Me. ...
‘Behold, I have come—
In the volume of the book it is written of Me—
To do Your will, O God.’”
Hebrews 10:5-7
Christ was about to visit our world, to become flesh and blood.
If He had appeared with the glory that was His before the world was
created, we could not have endured the light of His presence. In
order that we could behold it and not be destroyed, He shrouded His
glory and veiled His divinity with humanity.
Types and symbols had foreshadowed this great purpose. The
burning bush, in which Christ appeared to Moses, revealed God.
This lowly shrub, that seemed to have no attractions, enshrined the
Infinite. God shrouded His glory so that Moses could look on it and
live. Similarly, in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by
night, God’s glory was veiled so that finite human beings could look
at it. So Christ was to come “in the likeness of men.” He was the
incarnate God, but His glory was veiled so that He could draw near
to sorrowful, tempted men and women.
[9]
Through Israel’s long wandering in the desert, the sanctuary
was with them as the symbol of God’s presence. See
Exodus 25:8
.
Likewise, Christ pitched His tent by the side of our tents so that
He could make us familiar with His divine character and life. “The
Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and
truth.”
John 1:14
.
Since Jesus came to live with us, every son and daughter of
Adam may understand that our Creator is the Friend of sinners. In
every divine attraction in the Savior’s life on earth, we see “God
with us.”