The descension of Christ…to the lower parts of the Earth

Eph 4:9-10…(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended

Love for fallen man is why Christ came down from His Heavenly position to become a mere man. God intended for Christ to become a man with flesh and blood like you and I. In God’s plan of redemption for fallen man Christ descended to earth and stepped down from His Heavenly Throne in Eternity. Jesus stepped out His Eternal mansion above, and by the Spirit was conceived in a virgin, and born of a woman during the Law of Moses. In conception He was born of Mary in Bethlehem where and for 33 years he encountered the worst conditions any human being could encounter in life. When Jesus descended…

1. He was born in a barren land
2. He was born to an enslaved people (Israel)
3. He was born in a manger
4. He caught a fish to pay taxes
5. He was a man of no reputation (33 yrs.)
6. He lived a lonesome life
7. He was a man of sorrow
8. His Apostles forsook Him at the trial
9. He died alone at Calvary
10. The father turned His back on Him when He hung on the cross
11. He died as a criminal
12. He died as a slave
13. He died a hideous death of crucifixion

Eph 4:9-10…(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended

This descension…where God was clothed with humanity is termed as “kenosis” in the Greek Text. Many pagan and heathen nations did not recognize Christ as being a man. They had to believe He was God because of the miracles He did…but back then they denied his humanity. Today they humanize Him and denounce His deity. The Gnostics denied the humanity of Christ and twisted the concept that God took upon Himself human flesh. In the death of the Saviour on the cross we read these words in the Bible, “It pleased the Father to bruise Him”…In Christ’s descension we see “love for humanity” and “love for fallen man”…The Romans were not the blame for killing Him…The Jews were not the blame for killing Him…Isaiah the Prophet said, “It pleased the Lord to bruise Him”…

The Virgin Mary

The Mother of Christ. A virgin woman chosen of God to bear the son of God, Jesus Christ. Like every member of the human family Mary, the mother of Christ was born in sin and shapen in inquity. God chose Mary to enter the race of fallen man through a mere human being that needed a Savior like every other human being in existence. Mary is in Heaven today because she needed a Savior just like all humanity needs a Savior.

In the narrative of Saint Luke 1:46,47 we find the words of Mary recited as follows, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior"...It was not human merit or personal holiness that qualified Mary, the mother of Jesus. It was God's Divinity that placed His seed into the womb of a virgin member of this fallen race to beget His Son, Jesus by the life of God within that woman. Through that incarnation and death on the cross every fallen member of the human family may find a way to be raised by God through the same Spirit of Holiness. A Spirit of Holiness that raised Christ from the grave and placed the Divine seed into the womb of the Virgin Mary.

Dedicated to the late Donald Grey Barnhouse and Brother Hubert T. Lindsey