The Condescension of Jesus Christ

During the time my family and I lived in Europe, we visited the Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark, where many of the Carl Bloch paintings of the Savior are displayed. The paintings are crowded into a small room, sometimes called the King’s Oratory. There is a glass partition on the floor in front of the altar.

As we viewed the paintings, our family members took turns explaining what was happening in each one. We progressed from the birth of the Lord through His temptation by the devil and His preaching and healing. When we got to the Crucifixion I said, “And this is when He died.”

The two youngest children insisted, “No, He’s alive.” I stooped down to ask them to use their quiet voices and to explain more about the Crucifixion. That’s when I saw what they were seeing. From their angle, we could see on the glass partition the reflection of one painting superimposed on another painting. One was the painting of the Lord on the cross, and the other was the painting of His Resurrection. In both paintings His arms are stretched out, in the one on the cross and in the other as He is leaving the tomb. When I first saw the paintings imposed one on the other, it startled me. In that moment the images seemed to match perfectly. It seemed as if I were looking at the Savior’s spirit leaving His body on the cross.

Upon closer inspection I discovered the illusion, then enjoyed looking at each painting separately—The Crucifixion and The Resurrection. But the memory of the two paintings superimposed is imprinted on my mind. In a single view, they encapsulated the Lord’s condescension and His transcendent glory. And in one moment, the reality of the Crucifixion and of the Resurrection was confirmed by the Spirit in my heart and soul.

This experience has come to my mind over the years when I have studied and pondered three aspects of the Lord’s condescension: the reality of His condescension, the breadth and totality of His condescension, and the continuing blessing of His condescension for us today.

The Reality of the Condescension The condescension of the Lord Jesus Christ generally refers to His leaving His high and holy station in heaven and coming to live as a man on earth to accomplish the Atonement and Resurrection. Jesus came to live where mankind lives and as mankind lives so He could raise mankind to live where the Father lives and as the Father lives. Because He descended to earth to lift us to heaven, each one of us can have the “perfect brightness of hope” (2 Nephi 31:20) of progressing into the kingdom and presence of God.

President John Taylor (1808–87) said of the condescension of Christ, “It was further necessary that He should descend below all things, in order that He might raise others above all things; for if He could not raise Himself and be exalted through those principles brought about by the atonement, He could not raise others; He could not do for others what He could not do for Himself.”1

Nephi’s vision may be the best scriptural summary of the Lord’s condescension, to the degree a summary is possible (see 1 Nephi 11:14–33). His description of the condescension includes the Redeemer’s coming to earth; His being baptized by John; the Holy Ghost descending upon Him; His going forth among the people with great power; their casting Him out from among them; His calling of twelve apostles; His providing for angels to come down from heaven to minister unto the children of men; His healing the sick and afflicted with all manner of diseases; His casting out of devils and unclean spirits; and His being judged by the people, lifted up upon a cross, and slain for the sins of the world.

The Lord’s coming to earth was essential to the Father’s plan. There had to be a Savior, a Redeemer, a Great Mediator. Jesus told the Father, “Send me” (Abraham 3:27) because He loved God our Eternal Father and because He loved us. He explained to the Nephites, “I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me” (3 Nephi 27:13).

The Breadth of the Condescension The wonder of the Lord’s condescension is most meaningful when we contemplate how far He descended. The irony of the Jews’ rejection of Him pierces more deeply when we contemplate who He had been for them before He came to earth.

For example, before the Lord Omnipotent came to earth, He was known as “the Creator of all things from the beginning” (Mosiah 3:8; Helaman 14:12). Contrast that with the Jews’ query, “Is not this the carpenter?” (Mark 6:3). The Creator of all things became a carpenter.

Similarly, consider the contrast between “Shepherd” and “Lamb.” In the Old Testament the Lord was called the “Shepherd of Israel” (Psalm 80:1). Isaiah described Him as the One who gathers His lambs with His arm (see Isaiah 40:11). In His earthly life, that lamb-gathering Shepherd became God’s Lamb, sacrificed for Israel and for the whole world (see John 1:36).

Consider this difference. Before Jesus came to earth He was called “the Father of heaven and earth” (Mosiah 3:8). On earth He was mistaken as “the son of Joseph” (John 6:42).

When the Israelites were finally ready to enter the promised land, it was Jehovah who stopped the River Jordan and made it stand in its place so His people could cross on dry ground (see Joshua 3). Contrast His power in performing that miracle with His humility when, as Jesus of Nazareth, He was immersed by John in the same River Jordan (see Matthew 3:13–17).

In ancient Israel, Jehovah spared thousands and thousands of firstborn sons on the night of the Passover (see Exodus 12). When He came to earth in the flesh, Jesus rasied from the dead the only son of a widow (see Luke 7:12–15).

For those of us who live after the Savior’s life and suffering on earth, the hymn “Jesus, Once of Humble Birth” (no. 196) reminds us that Jesus came to earth in humble circumstances but will return one day in power and glory:

Jesus, once of humble birth, Now in glory comes to earth. But the Lord’s faithful followers who lived before His life on earth could have sung of His condescension with the same hymn, only reversing the order of the concepts in each couplet:

Once in glory o’er all the earth; Now He comes of humble birth. Once in heaven did He reign, Now He suffers grief and pain. Once, the Lord, the great I Am; Now a meek and lowly Lamb. Once His chariot was the cloud; Now upon the cross He bows. Once in glory He appeared; Now He groans in blood and tears. Once their King He was known; Now rejected by His own. Once exalted to a throne; Now forsaken, left alone. Once the great Anointed Heir; Now all things He meekly bears. 2 And each Christmas we sing in the last verse of “Silent Night”:

Jesus, Lord, at thy birth; Jesus, Lord, at thy birth. 3 But we would be correct, too, if we sang, “Jesus, Lord before Thy birth.” Long before.

“Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!

“He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;

“That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people” (Psalm 113:4–8).

The Lord Omnipotent, who reigneth, who was and is from all eternity to all eternity, descends from His most lofty position to the very lowliest—raising the poor out of the dust and the needy out of the dunghill.

The Lord Still Condescends to Lift Us Another aspect of the Lord’s condescension that helps us exercise faith in Him is this: His mercy, grace, loving-kindness, and long-suffering bless us today, tomorrow, and forever. Because He experienced the condescension of mortality, He knows how to bless and succor us. “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted” (Hebrews 2:17–18; see also Alma 7:11–13).

Can we have faith enough in Him and in the inclusiveness of His love to believe He hears and answers and helps us, even us, in our lowly, dingy, feeble state? That He still reaches to those who are spiritually in-the-dust poor and spiritually dunghill-filthy?

The Lord continues to do for mankind the things He did during His earthly ministry that were part of His condescension. He, Himself—or by angels or authorized servants on earth—preaches the gospel, administers ordinances, performs miracles, and heals the afflictions of people today. He continues to be mindful of us. He is mindful of us as a people. But most miraculously He is still mindful of us individually. In some marvelous way, and though He is not physically present with each of us, He still feels the tug on the hem of His garment from a humble handmaiden in the midst of a multitude. He still hears the cry of the blind, perceives the longing of the sincere publican, calls common men to be His servants, tells the repentant sinner to go and sin no more. He still pleads our cause universally and individually before the Father. He still calls us by name and invites us to arise and come forth unto Him. He still condescends from His high and holy place to lift us.

The gift of His grace, His love, and His condescension blesses us all. Many of us have felt that divine strength and support in our lives. I have felt it many times, but perhaps none more so than in the following experience.

One day during my service as bishop, I felt burdened, even overwhelmed, by the troubles and trials of the ward members. It seemed that every single one was suffering. In every home there was some kind of pain, heartache, sorrow, or worry. I knelt to pray, but as the sum of all the troubles accumulated in my mind, I sank from an upright kneeling position to a position of being stooped over, all the way to the floor.

In my prayer I poured out my soul, saying things like this (names have been changed):“Father, Mary is expecting a baby out of wedlock. She is no more than a girl herself. What will she do? How can she do it?”

“And her mother,” I cried. “Mary’s mother is heartbroken and devastated. How will she go on?”

The name and face of another ward member came to mind. “What about Roger? He has multiple sclerosis. The doctors say he is going to die. What will his wife and sons ever do?”

“And in the Smiths’ home. Their son is so crippled. They have taken care of him night and day for 35 years. How can they go on?”

And there were others. In every case, the answer came clearly and powerfully that God was very aware of each individual. He knew the unwed teen. He knew her mother. He had a plan for the husband with multiple sclerosis and for his wife and sons. And for 35 years, night and day, the Lord had watched over the crippled son and his family.

As each person appeared in my mind, the undeniable witness came, in words too sacred to repeat, that the great plan of happiness and the Atonement were active and efficacious in each life. One by one the burdens of these brothers and sisters were lifted from my soul. The Holy Spirit imparted feelings of comfort and reassurance as if to say, “Bishop, let the Lord take these burdens. Rise up. Do the best you can. Things will work out for these people. You’ll be fine, too. Go be their bishop. The Lord will be their Savior.”

I discovered that I had returned to an upright kneeling position. Little by little the load had been lifted. I knew with a sure conviction that the Savior knew each person. His suffering and death thousands of years ago had atoned for them. But just as certain and much more immediate was the sure knowledge that He bore their present burdens. His love was complete, His power comprehensive, and His intercession current.

Conclusion May we remember the Lord—who He is, what He has done, and what He has promised to do. Before and after He was a baby in Bethlehem and a carpenter in Nazareth, He was and is the God of Israel and the God of the whole earth. He was and is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the Holy and Only Begotten Son of the Living God. He was with the Father from the beginning. He is in the Father and the Father in Him; and in Him has the Father glorified His name (see 3 Nephi 9:15). May we remember and believe that He has all wisdom and all power in heaven and in earth (see Mosiah 4:9). And may we have faith that He yet condescends to help and lift the least and the last, even you, even me.

The “no antagonism” guideline applies to “ecumenical” threads NOT “caucus” threads.
For an article to qualify for “ecumenical” discussion it must not be antagonistic, e.g. mention beliefs which would antagonize other Freepers.

LDS Caucus privileges are forfeit.

***

I was right a few weeks ago Praise the Lord you can’t even bookmark the thead let alone save it with the title in your own personal word because the title was once omited!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2819274/replies?c=62

thread http://209.157.64.201/focus/f-religion/2650662/posts?page=1

Part 1 - Craig Evans vs. Bart Ehrman Debate: Does the New Testament Misquote Jesus?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRQ9WaxEjvc&feature=related

too all seekers of truth does truth matter?

... seems not to those who never really read they Bible or study it they let others do their thinking for them but the Lord told all of us to Search the Scriptures whether those things were so and not to relie on others.

John 5:39

39 ¶Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Acts 17:11

11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

with such unkind bad word you use you make it hard for one to answer you.

condescension

Hebrews 2:9

9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, John 1:14 (Rom. 9:5; 1 Tim. 3:16;

John 6

38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

It was Heavenly Father who sent Jesus to earth to take on the mortal body and walk among men and was also tested by Satan when in this lower state.

Matt 4

Jesus fasts forty days and is tempted—

6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Just so you know the word “condescension” referred to the fact that Jesus Christ our Savior chose to come down here to earth - to leave His Heavenly status TEMPORARILY in order to suffer and die, to experience all the trials and tribulations, pain, grief and sorrow, so no one could ever accuse Him of not caring and not understanding. Those of you who just read the title and didn’t bother to read the lovely words and meaning of the article missed the whole point - AS USUAL!

I love my Savior and do not appreciate the petty, creepy bigoted statements about Him I am reading on this thread from the anti Mormons who honestly don’t have a clue about my Savior and my Faith in Him. He is everything to me. He suffered and died for me to save me from my sins.

Merry Christmas.

“Mormonism is evil...”

On Christmas Day we celebrate the birth of the Savior. Last night I went to Temple Square and was blessed by the Spirit of the Christmas season. There was no evil there.

Just because you make a statement doesn’t make it true.

You will know us by our fruit.

Merry Christmas.

“LDS Caucus privileges are forfeit. “

In other words, the “Caucus” guidelines apply to every other religious persuasion EXCEPT The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

You can explain it away with some strange verbiage that makes no sense but the fact remains that Mormons are not welcome here UNLESS we are fighting side-by-side with other Christians to overcome causes you agree with. When the victory is won, however, and you don't need us anymore, you are willing to throw us under the bus like so much dirt.

While we Mormons were laboring side-by-side with other Christians to pass Prop 8, no one was calling us “evil” or “cult” members or anything derrogatory at all. However, after Prop 8 passed many of them turned on us. It was a real eye-opener for me let me tell you.

And the same scenario plays out here on FR. We are your friends when we are helping with your conservative causes and candidates but as soon as it becomes inconvenient to your agenda of anti Mormon bigotry, we are crapped on.

I'm not sure what you people believe anymore. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.

In a REAL cult, people are not free to express themselves. In a REAL cult, people are punished for not towing the line. In a REAL cult, innocent people are accused of horrible things. In a REAL cult, privileges are dolled out on the basis of OBEDIENCE to the leaders. FR has all the makings of a REAL cult. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints operates on the basis of FREE AGENCY.

By the way, the Jim Robinson who used to be my friend and who is a true gentleman would never mistreat and abuse his friends in this manner. I refuse to believe that it is really my friend Jim Robinson with whom I have freeped up a storm since 1998 who is in charge of this anti Mormon brigade that continues to crush freedom of speech and freedom of religion on this site. It cannot be the Jim Robinson whose home I visited and with whom I freeped every Saturday for over a year in Modesto against "Condidit". This is not the Jim Robinson who asked me to coordinate the C-Span event. It can't be! Will the REAL Jim Robinson please stand up. Merry Christmas.

“The condescension of the Lord Jesus Christ generally refers to His leaving His high and holy station in heaven and coming to live as a man on earth to accomplish the Atonement and Resurrection. Jesus came to live where mankind lives and as mankind lives so He could raise mankind to live where the Father lives and as the Father lives. Because He descended to earth to lift us to heaven, each one of us can have the “perfect brightness of hope” (2 Nephi 31:20) of progressing into the kingdom and presence of God.”

ROTFL....Sandy, you tried an end run around JR's removal of the mormon caucus label and it backfired on you.

You and all the FR mormons are perfectly free to post open threads.

IMO, kicking and screaming because the actions of some of your fellow mormons abused the caucus label and JR put a stop to it just shows that mormons can dish it out, with their 56,000 missionaries and multi-billion-dollar PR campaigns lying about a "restoration" and who God and Christ really are, but they can't take the push back.

Just keep on keepin' on...you provide us with the opportunity to post the real truth, and incidentally also provide entertainment with your.....

In my experience (having been Mormon for many years), this is a Mormon attempt to sound ‘intellectual’. However, it is not only a poor choice of words, it also shows how ‘condescending’ they are about Christ.

In Mormonism, Christ is a stepping stone, He only ‘saves’ them from physical death, not spiritual death, the LDS don’t believe in sin nature, and instead believe that they must work (by being good Mormons, going through their secret temple rituals, baptism for the dead and the like) and that Jesus is really not much more than a really good example (by being sinless He earned His godhood first). The Mormon phrase is “By grace we are saved after all we can do”.

Mormons are at the same time exclusivists (only Mormons can go to the Celestial Kingdom and become gods of their own planet) and universalists (everyone goes to at least one of the lower levels of Heaven - they have 3). In order to get to the REAL heaven (the Celestial Kingdom) you have to earn your way there. They turn Christ into a loan shark, a perfect spiritual brother (no different than us) who competed with Lucifer to be Savior, and ‘paid’ for our sins in the the Garden (not on the cross) by sweating blood, but we have to pay Him back by our good works. Nothing is free in Mormonism.

I can source all of these teachings using Mormon sources if you wish.

Don’t let Mormons fool you when they say “Jesus is our Savior and we love Him”. They redefine “savior”, “grace”, “heaven”, etc. Here is a link to a great site that has a Mormon/Christian dictionary (with Biblical references and LDS sources) that clearly shows the errors in Mormon doctrine...

http://utlm.org/onlineresources/terminologymain.htm

SD did you forget how several mormons ABUSED the caucus label repeatedly - ignoring the RM’s instructions?

You become abusive, you lose.

Or did you forget that even earlier mormons started a little ‘war’ by declaring they were going to ‘hose the pigs’. My, what a bunch of nice people eh?

Playing a victim card is so democrat SD.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.