He Came Down From Heaven
Stop and think about that for a moment. He came down from heaven. That thought should fill us with wonder and joy. We know why the Son came. He came to restore us to what we had been created to be way back “in the beginning.” But think for a moment what he left. What he gave up.
He’s the Son. He’s the second person of the Holy Trinity. With the Father and the Holy Spirit, he’s been there since before the beginning. He always is. There is no past tense to him. Or in him. He’s God. He’s the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. Nothing at all, not anything, not the smallest part of an atom or you or I or anything came into existence except by him and through him. Want to talk about power, that’s power.
His home is heaven. Think about all you have ever heard about heaven. Or read about heaven. It’s a place of beauty we can’t comprehend. We talk of the pearly gates and the streets paved with gold. It’s a place of no sickness or sorrow or death. Nothing evil can dwell there. Everywhere there are angels. Some are strutting (do angels strut?) around in the finest armor, clad for their battle against the host of hell. Some are playing the most beautiful music we have never heard. Songs that would make the great composers like Beethoven and Bach and Mozart weep and say, “If I could write music like that, then I would call myself a composer." Some of the angels are singing their praises to God. And their songs make the Halleluiah Chorus sound like a commercial jingle. And everywhere the angels are to-ing and fro-ing on the Father’s business with great efficiency and joy.
The Son left all of that. And he did it willingly. Unlike Satan, who wanted to be God and had to be kicked out, the Son set it all aside. To put it in very earthly terms, he went from living in the richest palace to living in the alley. The Son of God set aside all of his rights and privileges to become the servant of all, “taking the form of a slave.” (Philippians 2:7 NABRE) He didn’t have to do it. He chose to do it.
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