March 29, 2024 -- Proverb 29:23 -- Humbled for a Season and then Highly Exalted

One's pride will bring him low,
    but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.
Proverbs 29:23 ESV

You are likely familiar with the expression: “Pride goes before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Its variant is echoed here. The second phrase introduces something new, an opposite. Look at the opposite, and you’ll know something about Jesus. He left the splendours of heaven, crowned with glory and honour, eternally delighted in the Father and Spirit, Who both delighted in Him and One another, and He became a man. He started from the place of glory and plunged Himself so low. He embraced humility. He obeyed every law and regulation set by the Father in heaven. He lived in poverty. He was homeless. He even, at the end of His life, washed His disciples’ feet, a task so lowly that no Jewish servant would be asked to perform it, only foreign slaves could be required to do this task. Yet Jesus took the lowest place in obedient love for His Father and for those He came to save.

At the cross, punished in the place of the very people who rejected Him, Jesus prayed for His Father to forgive them—His persecutors, His betrayers, His enemies, you and me. The world sees this as the moment of His greatest humiliation—yet it is also the start of His glorification. Jesus was being lifted up, literally and figuratively, as the Savior of the World. All who look to Him find salvation.

Steven Lawson, in preaching on Philippians 2, no one ever started from a more lofty position and became lowly. Only Jesus. No one ever took such humility and abasement. Only Jesus. No one has ever been lifted to a higher place. Only Jesus. And, when the end of history collides with Jesus’ return in glory, then every eye will see Him, every knee bend, and every heart confess Him the Lord, to the glory of the Father.

This is what it celebrated on Good Friday. It is Good precisely because the Scripture is fulfilled. It is Good because the Father in heaven is glorified in Jesus. It is Good because the Spirit of God convinces men of their sin and their need for this glorious Savior. It is Good because through it we see Jesus glorified and realize in Him, all who believe share His humiliation and His glory.

For the Clergy and People

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, the Giver of all spiritual gifts: Send down upon thy clergy and all Congregations committed to their charge the healthful spirit of thy grace; and that they may truly please thee, pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing. Grant this, O Lord, for the honour of our Advocate and Mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.

from: DIVINE SERVICE BOOK FOR THE ARMED FORCES, 1950, page 25.

Today’s hymn has a long introduction; you can listen to it and learn about its history, or go right to the 2:32 second mark and just listen.

https://youtu.be/_oHlAoxMXI4?si=WsLdWn5cPY5V1f1u “Ah, Holy Jesus”