When one of the young mothers in our church posted a picture of her little boy on Facebook a while ago, it occurred to me that Jesus was once a wee little one like that. He was a completely helpless baby at birth who depended entirely upon His mother for His survival. When Philippians 2:6, 7 tells how Jesus, "being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men," it barely gives us a hint of how He "made Himself of no reputation,...coming in the likeness of men".
One Person of the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent Trinity willingly became first just a fertilized ovum planted in Mary's womb, and then developed gradually over 9 months until birth. After He was born, He had to learn absolutely everything. Can you see Him noticing His little hands for the first time as He involuntarily waved them in front of His eyes? He had given up being omniscient; He had to learn how to sit, crawl, walk, talk, eat by Himself, read, etc. just like anyone else. He had given up being omnipresent; He was limited to being in one place at any one time. He had given up being omnipotent; He could do nothing for Himself. He had to be fed and carried and have His diaper (or whatever they used) changed like every baby before and after Him.
The One who is described as the Word, who was in the beginning, who was with God and was God, and through whom everything was made (John 1:1, 30) had willingly confined Himself to a human body. What a marvel! God was experiencing what it was to be tired, hungry, cold, hot, rejected, misjudged. Hebrews 4:15 says, "we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses..." After returning home to Nazareth with His parents at the age of 12, it says "He was subject to them..." He experienced being a teenager. And He "increased in wisdom and stature" as He grew up over the years (Luke 2:51, 52).
Hebrews 4:15 goes on to say, that He "was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." So He experienced temptation as well. Satan tried to tempt Him to take an easier route to providing salvation that what was in the eternal plan for Him: "the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, 'All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me'" (Matthew 4:8, 9). Again, Satan, through Peter, tried to suggest that He shouldn't have to go the route of the cross. "From that time, Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, 'Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!' But He turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men'" (Matthew 16:21-23). And in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus struggled with having to endure the crucifixion and bearing the sin of all the world and experiencing separation from the Father. He prayed earnestly, desperately, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me..." Three times He asked if He could, please, please, please, be released from this assignment. But how thankful we all are that He went on three times to say, "...nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will" (Matthew 26:39, 42, 44).
So Jesus understands us when we suffer and struggle. That is why we are admonished to "come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).
Maybe even more importantly, we should think about the fact that the eternal Jesus could be contained in a human body. When we receive Him, He now is contained in our mortal bodies. It was a mystery through all the thousands of years, but Jesus' finished work makes this possible..."the riches of the glory of this mystery...which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). Christ Himself in you! All of Him! All His nature, His resurrection power, everything we need for "life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3)! We need to focus on this fact and walk around with the awareness of His very real presence in our spirits.
When the accuser wants to hang around and point out all our faults and flaws and failings, we need to tell him, like Jesus did, "Get behind me, Satan!" And remind ourselves and him, "You, devil, are forever defeated and disarmed by my Saviour (Colossians 2:15) and He, the victorious One, actually lives in me. I am more than a conqueror through Him. He always leads me in His triumph. The faith He gives me is the victory that overcomes the world. I overcome because greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world" (Romans 8:37; 2 Corinthians 2:14; 1 John 5:4 and 4:4).
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