Christ's Gain

In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. --Hebrews 2:10

On a recent international trip I was sitting on the front pew waiting to preach. During the song service I looked on the wall at a picture of Mary holding Jesus. God becoming a man! I have always thought of the great loss Jesus experienced in having to leave heaven to become a man. I had never before thought there was gain for Him, but there are two areas of gain that I see. First, though I know little about Him, I know He is the lover of my soul. God created man like a fine automobile, but a car cannot drive on its own. I have seen in the bottom of a ferryboat a tangled and beaten-up heap of cars after a storm at sea. Those lost cars had no drivers. Jesus stepped in to become the driver in man and to make the creation perform perfectly. He comes to dwell in each of us, to drive, so to speak.

Second,when spirit dwells in flesh, the spirit will either be perfected or destroyed. In heaven, without hindrances, spirit never really sees its limitations. This is partially the problem that Satan had, thinking he was equal to God. Putting spirit in flesh is redeeming for the spirit as the short course in revealing weakness. Once spirit has lived in flesh and found that it is conquered by flesh (spirit is willing but the flesh is weak), spirit enters into humility. Clinging to and empowered by God, spirit perceives something it never would have if not presented with that new level of need: a deeper experience of the glory of God as He meets the need. Spirit as it lives and is being perfected in flesh reveals the glory of God. Having descended and ascended, does Jesus see the Father differently? If so, is it gain? Jesus was made perfect through suffering. What does this mean for me? Jesus put Himself in a place of great need, but God did more than meet the need. So maybe God the Father will never seem the same for Jesus. Has the Father gotten even more wondrous and beautiful to Jesus? Maybe for the first time in my life, I am happy that I began as a man. Having God help me in my weakness gives me a view and experience of God that no angel will ever have. We are spirits trapped in flesh; in our weakness He becomes our strength.