December 16 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Philippians 2:5–11

Devotional

There is such a great difference between our birth and the birth of Christ. In our birth we were fully passive, but in His birth, Christ was fully active. Man can ask the question, although it is ungodly to do so: “Did I ask for this life?” Strictly speaking, that is correct, man did not ask for this life. None of us did; we are all placed here. The amazing fact is that Christ did ask for this life. He asked for a life that was subject to all miseries, yea, to condemnation itself. Neither can we say that Christ only started to live, when He was born from the Virgin Mary. We began our life from the moment we were born from our mothers, but Christ lived before His incarnation; He is from everlasting.

Before the world was, He lived in glory with His Father (John 18:5). He could say, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). He is the everlasting Father, whose goings forth has been from of old, from everlasting. He was from all eternity with His Father. He was called “the Word.” John says, “The Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1, 3). He gave up all that glory to humble Himself to be the Savior of sinners. Is He not altogether lovely to you?

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.