Jesus Set the Pattern of Humility - "I DID NOT TURN IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION"

God's Son showed humility even before he came to earth.  In heaven, Jesus had been with his Father for a very long time.  The Bible  book of Isaiah describes  the strong relationship the Son had with his Father.  It says:  "The Sovereign Lord Jehovah himself has given me the tongue of the taught ones, that I may know how answer the tired one with a word. He awakens morning by morning; he awakens my ear  to hear the  taught ones.  The Sovereign Lord Jehovah himself has opened my ear, and I, for my part,  was not rebellious. I did not turn in the opposite direction." (Isaiah 50:4, 5) Jesus wanted very much  to learn from the true God.  He showed a humble attitude and carefully listened to what Jehovah taught him. He must also have watched how Jehovah humbly showed mercy toward sinful humans.

Not all angels were humble like Jesus.  The angel who became Satan the Devil did not want to learn from Jehovah.  He became proud and started to feel that he was more important than others.  This was the opposite of humility.  As a result, he rebelled against Jehovah.  Jesus' attitude was very different.  He did not want more authority in heaven than what God had given him.  And he never wanted to use his authority in the wrong way.  For example, the Bible tells us about one time when Jesus had a disagreement with the Devil about Moses' body.  When this happened Jesus did not do anything that he did not have the right to do even though he was Michael, the angel with the most authority. God's Son showed humility and modesty.  He was happy to wait for Jehovah, the Supreme Judge of the universe, to take charge of things in the right way and at the right time. - Read  JUDE 9.

 While still in heaven, Jesus knew all the prophecies about what would happen to him as the Messiah. So he probably already knew  that he was going to suffer.  Even so, Jesus agreed to live on earth and die as the promised Messiah.  Why?  The apostle Paul showed that humility was what helped Jesus.  Paul wrote that although Jesus was a powerful angel, he did not think that "he should be equal to God."  Instead,   "he emptied himself and took a slave's form  and came to be in the likeness of men." - PHILIPPIANS 2:7, 7.

Next time: Jesus Set the Pattern of Humility - AS A HUMAN, "HE HUMBLED HIMSELF'

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