Three Stages of Jesus' Earthly Mission

Many people who try to argue that Jesus is not God have failed to understand that there were three stages to Jesus' mission on earth. Let's review those together from Scripture: 

1. Self-Humiliation

The first stage was His self-humiliation. This is the one that many people overlook or fail to understand when they erroneously deny the deity of Christ. They try to argue that if Jesus had to pray to God, then He could not be God. They also argue that if He could die, then He cannot be God, since God cannot die. But let me explain it to you like this.

The Word was with God and was God eternally, but then the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. This is called the incarnation. 

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being...And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." (Joh 1:1-3,14)

In order for that to happen, the Word had to empty Himself of all His glory (including all of His divine attributes). That is called the kenosis or emptying (Phil 2:7), which was part of His humiliation. 

"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men." (Php 2:5-7)

Notice that Paul said Christ emptied Himself. That word "emptied" comes from the Greek word "kenoo" meaning to abase or to empty. The word "kenoo" comes from the Greek word "kenos", which is where we get the English theological term kenosis. We use the word kenosis to refer to the fact that Christ first emptied Himself of all His glory.

Thus He limited Himself in His human form to the same limitations every person has, so that He could be tempted in every way just as we are yet without sin (Heb 4:15). He was the divine Son of God completely dependent upon the Heavenly Father for everything. He only did what He saw the Father doing (John 5:19). He only said what the Father commanded Him to say (Joh 12:49). And in the garden of Gethsemane, He suffered under the weight of what He was about to go through, which was to carry all the sins and infirmities of the whole world in His body on the cross, and feel complete separation from the Father (Mat 27:46). But each time He prayed about it, He submitted to the Father's will and said to Him, "Yet not as I will, but as You will" and "...My Father... may your will be done." (Mat 26:39,42; cf. Lk 22:42). Hence He did go to the cross and die for the sins of all mankind, which was the Father's will. For it was the Lord's will to crush Him (Isaiah 53:10). 

His humiliation also included His experiencing temptation (Mt 4), experiencing hunger, thirst, fatigue, rejection, suffering, rejection, betrayal, His passion, shame, disgrace, being beaten and spat upon, His crucifixion, and death. All of that was part of His humiliation. All four gospels record this historical fact that He was crucified, died, and was buried (Mat 27; Mk 15; Lk 23; Joh 19). 

Some people mistakenly think that Jesus did all of His miracles simply by virtue of the fact that He was God. But that is not true. Scripture tells us that after He was baptized in water, He received the baptism with the Holy Spirit. This is how He became endued with power. He did all of His miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit, the same way that we do them by faith in Jesus' name as His followers. He showed us the way that we should walk in all things including this.

2. Resurrection

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the second stage of His earthly mission, and it is well documented in all four gospels (Mt 28; Mk 16; Lk 24, and Jn 20), as well as the epistles and the Apocalypse of John. He is the One who was dead and behold He is alive forever and ever (Rev 1:18). He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End (Rev 22:13). And He still refers to the Father in Heaven as "My God" (Rev 3:2, 12).

After His resurrection, He appeared to many people. The apostle Paul summarizes these appearances:

"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas (Peter), then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." (1Co 15:3-9).

His appearances did not end with the ones recorded in Scripture. He has continued to appear to many people in these last days, including to many Muslims around the world and others from all nations.

3. Exaltation

The exaltation of Christ is the third stage of His earthly mission, which includes his ascension into heaven, His glorification, and His coronation as King of Kings, where He sat down at the right hand of God. This is also well documented in Scripture, including in the gospels (Mk 16:19; Lk 24:51) and the epistles (Heb 10:11-14; Acts 7:55–56; Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1; Rev 3:21). Paul puts it like this:

"Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Php 2:8-11).

That last part of the passage speaks of the fact that He is coming back again as Judge of all men. 

Closing Words

I have explained from Scripture that there were three stages to Christ's earthly mission, which included His self-humiliation, His resurrection, and His exaltation. Moreover, I have emphasized that His self-humiliation included His kenosis, incarnation, temptation, suffering, rejection, betrayal, crucifixion, and death. I have also explained that His exaltation included His ascension, glorification, and enthronement at God's right hand. But let us never forget that He is also coming back to judge the earth in righteousness. I pray that He would find me ready on that day, and hope the same is true for you, too.

Attribution notice: Most Scriptures quotations taken from the NASB, copyright The Lockman Foundation, used by permission. Graphic image courtesy of Eric Echols, used per the Fair Use Act for commentary and educational purposes only.

Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Is Jesus God?, Coronation of Christ as King, Supremacy of Christ, The Sinlessness of Christ, The Son of Man, and Christ's Two Ascensions. I also recommend my daughter Charity's music video called Coronation in Jerusalem. You may also access the Main Directory for this blog, or my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what G-d's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of G-d, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe. 

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.