Obedient unto Death. Philippians 2:8. “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Jesus was not forced to take on the role of a servant. He embraced it as God’s perfect servant. That servant nature should be reflected in us as we are privileged to serve our Lord Jesus Christ and His people. He was not only like a human being, but He took on the outward characteristics of a man, and then He “humbled Himself and became obedient unto death.” He prayed as a man, with strong crying and tears. God heard Him because of His submission to His Father. He did not waver in His determination to do the Father’s will. He was ultimately saved from death through resurrection.
The death of Christ was an act of obedience to the Father. When He “knew He had accomplished all things,” He surrendered Himself into the Father’s hands and intentionally released His own spirit in a triumphant culmination of the greatest work ever done. He died in humiliation as one cursed and degraded, yet He finished the work of salvation for mankind “by Himself.” He purchased our redemption by paying the full price required by the righteousness of God. We have been redeemed by “the precious blood of Christ.”
He was truly human in appearance because He was “found in fashion as a man,” not a superman. In the Lord’s attitude towards people, He was humble, not proud. In accepting His work on earth, He was obedient to death, not a bitter man. This is what God wants from me. He felt hunger and pain in His daily life and knew what weariness was like. In love, He saw the value of others, even those overlooked by society, religion, and sometimes families. He shed the light of hope in the darkness of souls born in sin and hardened by iniquity. This is what God wants from me.
In service to His God, He used what was His alone for the benefit of others. In sacrifice, He gave everything He had, including Himself, to be an offering for our sins. During the suffering He endured, He did not complain but trusted and committed Himself to God. This is what God desires from me. In His public life, He lived, walked, acted, and spoke with dignity, integrity, authority, and grace. When He spent private time with His disciples, preparing them for what lay ahead, He taught, mentored, and led them with integrity.
In His personal life, He prayed, wept, and trusted God completely to be with Him as He carried out God's will perfectly. This is what God wants from me. During His death on the cross, He was quietly submissive to God’s will and forgiving toward those who opposed Him, ignored Him, stayed far from Him, and crucified Him. In the darkness that concealed men from Him, and when God's comfort was absent, He silently endured all that God gave Him to do. As He departed from His body just before He died, He confidently showed the entire universe that He had completed everything He was sent to do. This is what God wants from me.