One of the things frequently overlooked in the Incarnation is the eternal sacrifice that Jesus made. I don’t here mean the once-for-all nature of his sacrifice at the cross. I mean the very sacrifice of his coming altogether and what that really means for Jesus in eternity.

If you ask many Christians what happened to Jesus after his ascension, you often run into a bit of confusion. Some simply don’t know. They know he went back to Heaven and don’t really think of much beyond that. Others seem to be under the view that Jesus came to earth as a man – taking upon himself human flesh for 33 years – and, having died upon the cross, whips back up to Heaven and everything returns to how it was before. There seems to be little to no realisation that Jesus didn’t shed his humanity at his ascension, but eternally remains the God-Man.

On this latter view, there seems to be a sense that, yes, Jesus condescended to come to earth and that was a big deal. Yes, they say, he became a man and identified with his creatures and that was significant. Yes, he lived his life on earth as a man and even suffered a horrific death on a cross as a man. But then, after the resurrection, Jesus (they aver) heads back to be with his Father, rules in power and majesty and everything is basically back as it was before. This means Jesus sacrifice to save his people was a temporary one. A short thirty-three year bit of suffering and then back to be with his Father, everything back to normal, all hunky dory.

But the scriptures are clear. There is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim 2:5). It is worth noting, Hebrews 2:17 says ‘he had to be like his brothers and sisters in every way, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in matters pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.’ And in what way is Jesus a faithful High Priest? Hebrews 7:23-25 tells us, ‘many have become Levitical priests, since they are prevented by death from remaining in office. But because he remains forever, he holds his priesthood permanently. Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.’ There are other such verses we could look at but these make clear that Jesus holds his priesthood permanently and does so as a man who is just like us – that is, remaining fully human in every way – so that he can mediate on our behalf as one who sympathises with us even now.

This necessarily impacts our reading of Philippians 2:5-11:

⁵ Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,

⁶ who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God
as something to be exploited.
⁷ Instead he emptied himself
by assuming the form of a servant,
taking on the likeness of humanity.
And when he had come as a man,
⁸ he humbled himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death—
even to death on a cross.
⁹ For this reason God highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow—
in heaven and on earth
and under the earth—
¹¹ and every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus is presented in these verses as having emptied himself and humbled himself by taking on the form of God’s servant – no longer appearing equal with God (though ever remaining so in reality) – and becoming a man. The eternal Son of God, who was co-equal with his Father, became like one of his creatures, took on the role of God’s servant (thus appearing unequal) by becoming a man. He humbled himself further by becoming obedient to his Father, with whom he was fully equal in glory but to whose will he now submits, and is further humiliated both by dying – which God cannot do and is the preserve of his creatures alone – and doing so in such a way (death on a cross) that is shameful and humiliating even for creatures used to the idea of dying in principle. His willingness to do this for the sake of God’s glory and our salvation is the reason why God has highly exalted him and given him the name at which every knee will bow.

But his high exaltation isn’t as he was before. His humiliation, in a sense, is permanent. Jesus continues to have the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. Jesus didn’t just revert back to his position in glory just as it was before the Incarnation. He forever remains the God-Man, the High Priest who is just like us, interceding for us with the Father, wearing that humiliation for all eternity. Jesus obedience in becoming a man remains permanent for our sake.

There are other features of his humanity worth thinking about here too. As the God-Man, Jesus never emptied himself of all the power that is in God. As the one who is fully divine, Jesus did not lose any aspect or power that was his when he took on a human nature. But that human nature meant his divine attributes were not fully on display. He fully possessed all his divine attributes, but the full expression of those divine attribute was limited. Much like the speed limiter on your car, all the power existent in your car remains under the bonnet when you turn it on, but the full expression of that power is necessarily limited. Your car doesn’t lose any power and still has the ability in itself to go as fast as it ever could, but your speed limiter – something added to the car – limits the full expression of that power. Jesus’ humanity did not cause any of his divine attributes to cease to exist, nor did they cause any of them to lose their power, but his humanity limited the full expression of those divine attributes.

Now, that may be the case on earth some think, but now he’s back in Heaven, surely all those divine attributes suddenly get fully expressed again? Let’s not forget, Jesus remains fully human. He remains in glory in every way as we are. Which means, just as the full expression of his divine attributes on earth were limited even though they remain fully possessed, the full expression of his divine attributes are similarly limited in their expression even now. Jesus humiliation and sacrifice was not a matter of thirty-three years and then all gets back to normal. Rather, Jesus has forever limited the expression of his divine attributes so that he might, as Hebrews puts it, ‘be like his brothers and sisters in every way, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in matters pertaining to God.’

It is notable that Jesus, when he became a man, submitted to fully depending on the Spirit. Though he remained fully God, he lived his life as a human man who fully relied upon God’s Spirit. As Michael Reeves put it in Christ Our Life:

Born in the power of the Spirit, he lives and acts as a man in the power of the Spirit. At his Baptism in the Jordan, the Spirit anoints him, then sends him into the lifeless wilderness just as he had once sent him into the lifeless void in Genesis 1. Returning to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, he announced and defined his ministry in the synagogue at Nazareth using the words of Isaiah 61: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour’ (Luke 4:18-19). So, he healed, did good, and drove out demons – all in the power of the Spirit (Matthew 12:28; Acts 10:38). Later he would offer himself up on the cross by the Spirit (Hebrews 9:14) and be raised from the dead by the power of the Spirit (Romans 8:11).

Once again, however, we have to contend with the fact that Jesus remains forever the God-Man. He didn’t shed his humanity after his resurrection or ascension and remains fully human even now. As Bruce Ware helpfully put it in The Man Christ Jesus:

When Jesus took on our human nature and accepted his dependence on the Spirit, it seems that he accepted this way of life forever, from that moment forward without end. Since he would always be the God-man, and since he would always in his person have his human nature joined to his divine nature, he would always need the Spirit to empower him in his humanity for all that he would continue to be called on to do as the Messiah. When he became also human, he did so forever. And when he became also human, he became forever dependent on the Spirit.

All of this is to say, when we think about Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf, we have to think in far bigger terms than just the hours he suffered on the cross. We have to think beyond the suffering and betrayal suffered in the week leading up to the cross. We have to think beyond the suffering and persecution faced during his earthly ministry. We have to think even beyond his coming to earth as a man, not grasping onto equality with God, for thirty-three years. We must think that part of Jesus’ sacrifice included the permanent, ongoing giving up of the full expression of his divine attributes so that he could remain an appropriate and acceptable mediator who is just like one of us. And that, when you think about it for any length of time at all, is massive.

We so often limit the extent of what Jesus gave up. We limit the extent of what Jesus did on behalf of his people. But as the one who forever became the God-Man, with all that entails, the Incarnation marks the point at which Jesus offered a permanent sacrifice, eternally giving up certain things and permanently taking other things upon himself, for our sake. Jesus’ sacrifice wasn’t momentary, wasn’t minor and wasn’t limited to a fairly short lifetime on earth. The scale of what he gave up and for how long he gave it up necessarily impacts how we view all that he did for us. And I think the glory that belongs to him is all the more evident and all the greater when we understand this.