He Arrived in a Lowly Condition [Awakening Faith]
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (Philippians 2:6 – 7)
Christ is humble-minded and not someone who exalts himself over his flock. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the scepter of the majesty of God, did not come in the pomp of pride or arrogance, even though he easily could have, but arrived in a lowly condition, as the Holy Spirit had declared he would. For he said, “Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” (Isa. 53:1).
We have declared this message to you in his presence: he came as a child, like a thirsty root in the ground. He had no form of glory — we saw him, and he was not beautiful (v. 2). His eminence was hidden from us, and he was lacking even in comparison to an ordinary man. He was a man exposed to scars and sufferings, and acquainted with grief; his face was turned away; he was hated and not held in high honor (v. 3).
He bore our iniquities, and was sorrowful for our sake, but we assumed that it was his own fault that he was persecuted, afflicted, and killed (v. 4)! In fact, he was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities. He carried the costly punishment for our peace, and his scars were the means of our healing (v. 5). We have all, like sheep, gone astray (v. 6). But the Father has delivered the Son over to death for our sins, and the Son does not even open his mouth in his sufferings. He was brought like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb says nothing before the shearer, so Christ does not open his mouth (v. 7).
--Clement of Rome
Awakening Faith: Daily Devotionals from the Early Church
Awakening Faith: Daily Devotionals from the Early Churchby James Stuart Bell and Patrick J. Kelly
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