Lam 3:21-23; I recall this (doctrine) to my mind, and it gives me confidence. Because The Lord's mercy never fails; His grace provisions never cease, they are renewed every morning; Great is Your faithfulness... Therefore I have hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait silently on Him.
In our study of the doctrine of the winner believer. Heb 12:2; Rev 2:7; We have noted that winner believers are the unknown, unsung heroes of history. 2Cor 6:9; who are the targets of God's grace imputations that support all of mankind.
We are now in a segment about the ultimate winner in God's plan our Lord Jesus Christ. The passage in Heb 12:2; establishes Jesus as the pioneer and perfecter of faith (the doctrine) who is our role model for the application of faith (doctrine) by using the Faith rest drill as a problem solving device.
Last time we noted that because of the virgin birth as true humanity, Jesus Christ was born trichotomous with a body, soul and spirit just like Adam was created. When our Lord died physically, His person went in three different directions.
He dismissed His spirit into the presence of God the Father, John 19:30; So His human spirit went to heaven. His body went into the grave. His soul went to Paradise, a compartment of Hades, where at the time all of the Old Testament believers were waiting.
Only after Jesus' resurrection, when the perfect righteousness of the humanity of Christ was accepted in heaven were the Old Testament saints transferred to the third heaven where they remain at this time along with every other believer who has died since that time.
In His humanity He walked as a Man, God the Holy Spirit sustained him,
His humanity was absolute righteousness, He fulfilled the Mosaic law and He revealed God's integrity to the human race.
Several miracles that occurred simultaneously with Jesus Christ's death revealed His unique identity. The temple veil that was between the holy of holies and the holy place was torn in half. Matt 27:51a;
The tearing of the veil indicated that the barrier between God and man had been removed at the moment when His death(s), both spiritual and physical were finished.
God split the veil indicating the finished work of Jesus Christ who was judged for the sins of all mankind in his human body on the tree (cross). Jesus Christ body was "crushed" to provide access to God for the entire human race. Isa 53:5; Heb 10:19,20;
"...and the earth shook and the rocks were split". Matt 27:51b; This was such a powerful earthquake that the rocks were fractured into pieces.
Matt 27:52-53; "And the tombs were opened; and many (not all) bodies of the saints who had died arose, and came out of the graves after (associated with) His resurrection, and went into the holy city and appeared unto many."
These people who lived in the area and had recently died were resurrected. They were brought back to physical life as a witness of Jesus' identity. This was necessary in part because all the disciples except John were at the moment in hiding because of their fear of being arrested. Matt 26:56;b
These miracles resulted in many believing In Jesus true identity as the Son of God and as a result being saved. Among the saved were the Roman centurion who was responsible for managing the crucifixion and those with him. Matt 27:54;
Since Jesus' birth and death were trichotomous (body, soul, and spirit) His resurrection was also trichotomous.
In resurrection, the omnipotence of God the Father returned our Lord's human spirit to the body in the grave, the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit returned the human soul of our Lord from Hades to His body in the grave.
We see from this that the power that resurrected Jesus Christ from the dead is the same power that sustains us inside God's protocol plan for Church Age believers.
In John 10:18; Jesus Christ said He could have raised Himself but He did not. According to the kenosis protocol, Jesus Christ never used His own omnipotence to act independently of the Father's plan.
It is because of this that Jesus Christ is the only Savior. Acts 4:10-12;
He is the only one who could be and was judged for all of mankind's sins as a substitute for mankind's sins on the cross.
This results in the reality that we who have believed in Him for eternal salvation have Him as our one Lord. Eph 4:5; "One Lord (Jesus Christ), one faith (The Word of Christ), one baptism (union with Christ)."
"One Lord" means Jesus Christ is the basis for our unity. "One faith" means we are all saved in exactly the same way, by believing the doctrine regarding Jesus Christ.
"One baptism" refers to God the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation entering us into union with Christ forever. We will always be in union with Christ. This is documented throughout the New Testament scripture by the use of the prepositional phrase "in Christ."
In our study regarding Jesus Christ as the ultimate winner in God's plan of grace several times we noted the "kenosis" protocol that was the basis of His humility.
We have noted that one of the most important characteristics of those who are winners in God's grace plan is humility.
In Jesus unique case as the God-man in hypostatic union the "kenosis" protocol was a major facet of His unique humility. This brings us to a review of the doctrine of the kenosis protocol that is also known as the doctrine of the humility of Jesus Christ in hypostatic union.
The concept of "kenosis" is derived from the Greek word "kenoo" that is translated "emptied" in Phil 2:7a; in the NASB. "Kenoo" means "to empty oneself" or "to deprive oneself" of a normal proper function.
The word means that during the dispensation of the hypostatic union, our Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily restricted the independent use of His divine attributes in compliance with the Father's unique plan for His unique incarnation of undiminished deity combined with perfect unglorified humanity during the first Advent.
This means that Jesus Christ did not use any of the attributes of His divine nature to benefit Himself, to provide for Himself, to glorify Himself, or to act independently of God's protocol plan for the Church Age by the compromising God's plan for His prototype spiritual life.
One single compromise of the integrity of the protocol spiritual life by the human nature of Jesus Christ would have meant that there would be no usable operational type spiritual life for Church Age believers.
During the dispensation of the hypostatic union the prototype spiritual life was provided to empower the human nature of Jesus Christ to resist every temptation with no assistance from His Divine nature.
His humanity had to use the mechanics of the prototype spiritual life to maintain His human perfection so He could remain to be qualified to go to the cross and be judged for the sins of the entire human race and die a forensic substitutionary spiritual death in order to satisfy or propitiate God's perfect holiness.
During the dispensation of the hypostatic union, our Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily restricted the independent use of His divine attributes in compatibility with His own objectives and purpose in living among men with their limitations.
By following this protocol He established in His humanity a spiritual life that became the precedent for the Church Age. Christ voluntarily restricted the independent use of His divine attributes, but certain functions of deity such as His continuous holding of the universe together continued invisibly.
During the dispensation of the unglorified humanity of Christ in hypostatic union Jesus Christ continued to posses His Divine attributes even though gave up the independent use of them apart from the directive will of God the Father.
During the dispensation of the unglorified humanity of Christ in hypostatic union, our Lord veiled the preincarnate glory of His deity by giving up the outward appearance of God and voluntarily taking on Himself the form of man.
The preincarnate glory of Christ was veiled, but was never surrendered. This glory was temporarily revealed on the Mount of Transfiguration Matt 17:2; and at Gethsemane there was a momentary flash of His glory. John 18:6;
During this time Jesus Christ never surrendered any of the attributes of His Deity. His unglorified humanity in the hypostatic union was perfect and impeccable; and the Deity of Christ was united with perfect unglorified humanity
This is called the doctrine of the humility of Christ. The union of the Deity of Christ with His unglorified humanity was a necessary factor of His humiliation.