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God exists in secret. Matt. 13:11 tells us that God does not always
explain everything clearly to us. He hides some truths. Isaiah 45:15 makes it very clear that God does in fact
hide Himself from us.
Truly, You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, Savior! (NASB) Is. 45:15 He wants our searching. He wants us to search and seek for Him (Jer. 29:13-14a). God wants our searching
because it draws us to Him. Why did Jesus need to grow in wisdom? The result of our search for the answer to
the question will reveal a mystery about the God-human. So here we go.
He Came Like A Man. We are given a hint about why Jesus had to learn in Phil.
2:5-7
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. (NASB) Phil. 2:5-7 In this passage we learn that Jesus existed in the “form” of God. The Greek word for “form” is MORPHE and
it means that Jesus was the essence of God. He was completely and totally God. In this passage we also discover
that Jesus was in the MORPHE of a human. He was totally and completely human and looked like a man - “likeness
of men.” He was totally and completely both God and human. Now that is a mystery. How did that effect Him?
How did God do this?
The answer to these questions is found in the phrase “emptied Himself.” The Greek for “emptied” is
KENOSIS. In some way the divine part of Jesus emptied Himself. What did He empty Himself of? John 17:5 gives
us one clue,
Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. (NASB) John 17:5 Jesus says that He once had glory, and it appears from the event that occurred on the Mount of Transfiguration
in Matt. 17:2 that Jesus hid the radiance of His glory when he was born in our human world.
Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. (NASB) Matt. 17:1-2 He hid the light of His glory while He lived as a man.
Jesus had willingly “emptied” Himself or let go of some other things too! Matt. 24:36 tells
us that Jesus did not know everything,
But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. (NASB) Matt. 24:36 Why didn’t Jesus know everything since He was God? The answer is that He willingly limited the use of His
divine knowledge while He was among us so that He could experience life as a human. Otherwise, He could not
have experienced human life and understood us.
Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God . . . For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. (NASB) Heb. 2:17-18 Conclusion. We know that Jesus limited Himself in at least two ways when He
entered this world as a human. He limited His knowledge and He hid His glory. Therefore, he had to grow in
wisdom as a child; but He learned quickly because He was a perfect man. He limited His glory. Otherwise He
would have never died because people would have been afraid of Him. He experienced life as a man - sleeping,
eating, growing tired, and ultimately dying. He was God who became a man with the goal to experience life as
we would. But His goal was not to live like us but to die for you and me in order to forgive our sins, and
He did. Yes, Jesus astonished people because He was not an ordinary boy. He stunned everyone. That is what
we would expect of God.
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