The Humility of Christ

Proverbs 16:19
“Better to be of humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.”


This verse first reminds me a lot of Jesus who said He was: “gentle and lowly in heart”.

Matthew 11:29
“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Jesus was wisdom personified. This also reminds me of the testing in the wilderness by Satan. Satan was offering to basically divide his spoil with Jesus. This didn’t work because Jesus knew Satan owns nothing and everything belongs to God. Satan is the embodiment of pride. His original sin was pride. He is evil, so therefore it would make sense that ultimate goodness is humble. This is hard to comprehend because to think of the God of the universe being humble seems like it would be an oxymoron, but it’s not. Our God is a humble God. We should be thankful for this fact because we could have a God who is an evil task-master, but we don’t. We have a God who came into the world to serve us, save us and die for us. We have a Master who washed His disciples’ feet. This is our Master. What better Master could we have? When He was on earth, Jesus spent time with the lowly, those who were the marginal of society. He came to seek and save the lost. He spent His time with the poor, the needy and the broken, which we all are really, if we would admit it. Today, Jesus is doing the same thing, spending time with those who are lowly and meek, saving and healing them, just like He did while He was on earth.

James 4:6
But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”

Jesus said:
Matthew 5:3-10
 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
    For they shall be comforted.
 Blessed are the meek,
    For they shall inherit the earth.
 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    For they shall be filled.
 Blessed are the merciful,
    For they shall obtain mercy.
 Blessed are the pure in heart,
    For they shall see God.
 Blessed are the peacemakers,
    For they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
    For theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Blessed are those who are emptied of self and pride and filled with Jesus and His Spirit. We cannot be humble, merciful or pure in heart apart from the Spirit of God.

Jesus said:
John 15:5
 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

Jesus came to identify with our weaknesses. This is our High Priest who was led into the wilderness of temptation filled with evil spirits, and the one who is most evil of all (Satan). We may think demonic attacks we have been through have been tough and I assure the worst demonic attack you have ever experienced is nothing compared to what our High Priest experienced here on earth.

Hebrews 4:15

“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Satan tempted Jesus, offering Him all the kingdoms of the world (as if he owned them) if Jesus would bow down and worship him.

Matthew 4:10
Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”

Jesus was in submission to God the Father all the while He was here on earth. He came to serve both His Father and mankind by seeking and saving the lost. Jesus was not about to destroy His role and destiny as Savior of the world by succumbing to these temptations by Satan. We must never underestimate the difficulty of what Jesus experienced. He experienced such horrible sorrow and demonic attacks that we cannot even begin to comprehend. The worst thing of all that He experienced was the wrath of God on Him for the sins of the world, which was so huge and horrendous that only God Himself could pay the infinite sin debt.

This is an Old Testament prophecy of Jesus:
Isaiah 53:3
“He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”


Jesus experienced horrible sorrow and rejection here on earth, but that is not the end of the story!

Hebrews 12:2
“looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

We too can also overcome the horrible sorrow and rejection we experience in this life by emulating our Savior who died but rose again to life and ascended to the right hand of the throne of God. We can find the victory in any situation because Jesus has overcome the world!


Paul said:

1 Corinthians 11:1
“Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.”

We need to imitate our Savior who, even though He was God, emptied and humbled Himself to save us and now is exalted at the right hand of the Father.

Paul also said:
Philippians 2:3-11
“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

If Jesus could humble Himself, we most certainly can do the same. If we humble ourselves in this life, God will exalt us in heaven.

James 4:10
“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

1 Peter 5:6
“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,”