Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-12-23

One of the evidences of the inspiration
of the Bible is the fact the Holy Spirit
has enabled the writer's to express In
a short compass what would take pages
10 unfold. An illustration of this is
found In the verses that constitute the
golden text of the quarter. Paul under
/ the guidance of the Spirit summed up
here i'm a very brief compass all that
we have been considering during the
last three months, and a great deal
more. All that Jesus suffered for us is
summed up I'm the humiliation that he
allowed for US. ft
THE STEPS IN HIS HUMILIATION,
II we study carefully the words that
are spoken OF His humiliation we shall
see that there are at least seven steps
in 1t. the highest being In heaven, the
lowest in the depths of hell when he was
God-forsaken He was In the form of
God; He was God Himself, for this is
what the original language means; His
first step downward was to empty Him
self: the second was to take upon Him
self the form of a servant, and the
Greek makes IL more emphatic in saying
a bond-servant; the third was to take
the likeness of man; the fourth to hum
BILE Himself, even as a man and take
the poorest or homes as His own; the
fifth was to become obedient; the sixth
to become obedient unto death; the sew
enth to become obediept to the most
shameful death any one could suffer, the
death on the cross.
Shall we look at these a little more
carefully? II was necessary that the
first step be taken II any of the others
were to follow; Jesus as a God alone
could not have satisfied the demands
of the situation; 1t was absolutely nee
essary that He divest, Himself Of all
In, nd -
that He could be able to lift US up to
the place from which we had fallen and
to which God desired to restore us. So,
deliberately laying aside all of the pow
ers that belonged TO Him as God, as well
as all of the glory and honor. He took
the first step that led to the place where
He could satisfy all of the demands Of
the case and save US from ourselves. The
second step was also necessary 1t fol-
lowed the first naturally. He took upon
him the form of a servant after He
had laid aside the form of God; It was
through the idea of servant that He
was to express the will of His Father
and God, and carry out the plan that
He had agreed upon with Him before
the foundation of the world. As a SER
want He might have taken the form of
an archangel but had He done So He
would not have been able to feel all of
the temptations VI men, anu mus WOulu
not have been to us the perfect Saviour
that He is; therefore He became In the
likeness Of men. He assumed our nature
that He might know and feel all that we
feel. that He might take our place alb
solutely and suffer for us vicariously.
AS man He took a lowly place. He
might have lived In all the wealth and
luxury of the world. The silver and the
gold were His, and the cattle upon a
thousand hills. The earth is Jehovah's
and the fullness thereof. So that had He
chosen to have 1t, there Is nothing that
could have been withheld from Him. In
stead of this, however, He chose in be-
coming man. to come as the weak. help
less infant of family so poor they had
to offer a dove as their offering, and to
be satisfied with a stable for lodgings in
the crowded village of Bethlehem; He
chose as His home a little village that
was so despised In the eyes of the Jews
that IT had become a proverb for that
which was undesirable; He chose life
that required hard labor to keep starva-
ton from the door; He chose one with