Many thousands of years before Jesus came to earth, God had created an angel called Lucifer who was perfect in wisdom and beauty. Lucifer was appointed by God as the head of the angelic order. But, being lifted up with pride and discontented with his appointed lot, Lucifer sought to go up and to exalt himself (Ezekiel 28:11-17; Isaiah 14:12-15). Thus he brought sin into God's creation. God cast him down immediately - and he became Satan. Pride is therefore the root of every sin and evil in this universe. When Adam sinned, he too became infected with this Satanic pride. Every child of Adam is now born with this infection. To redeem man from this poison, Jesus humbled Himself. As sin originated in the pride of Lucifer, so our redemption originated in the self-humbling of Jesus. We have as much of the mind of Christ as we have of His humility. This is the infallible gauge of spiritual growth.

The very coming of Jesus to earth from the glory of Heaven is in itself a marvellous demonstration of His humility. But we are told further that, even "as a man He humbled Himself" (Philippians 2:8). "Made like His brethren in every respect" (Hebrews 2:17), He took His place before God as all other men. He became nothing so that God might be everything. This is true humility. Jesus identified Himself totally with man. He believed in the essential equality of all human beings, irrespective of race, family, position in life, etc., and became one with the least and lowest in the social strata. He came below all, that He might be the servant of all. It is only the one who gets beneath others who is able to lift them up. And that is how Jesus came.

For thirty years, Jesus submitted to an imperfect foster-father and mother - because this was His Father's will. He knew far more than Joseph and Mary; and was sinless, unlike them. Yet He submitted to them. It is not easy for man to submit to those who are intellectually or spiritually inferior to him. But genuine humility has no problem here - for one who has truly seen himself as nothing in God's eyes, has no difficulty in submitting to anyone whom God appoints over him.

Jesus chose a fairly unimpressive profession - that of a carpenter. And when He entered into His public ministry, He had no prefixes or suffixes to His name. He was not 'Pastor Jesus.' Much less was he 'The Reverend Doctor Jesus!' He never sought nor desired any earthly position or title that would exalt Him above the common people whom He had come to serve. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

When the crowds once flocked after Him, wanting to make Him their king, He quietly slipped away from their midst (John 6:15). He desired to be known only as 'the son of man.' He never sought nor cared for the honour of men. He lived before His Father's face alone, and was quite content to go all through life ignored and despised by men. The Father's approval alone mattered to Him.

The humility of Jesus did not permit Him to judge anyone. God alone is the Judge of all men; and any man who judges another thereby occupies the place that God alone is entitled to occupy. As a man on earth, Jesus said, "I do not judge anyone" (John 8:15). He committed all judgment to His Father. There too we see the beauty of His humility.

We see the humility of Jesus in His seeking for the fellowship of His disciples in prayer. In the garden of Gethsemane, He asked Peter, James and John to pray with Him, because His soul was "deeply grieved to the point of death" (Matthew 26:38). Jesus was conscious of the utter weakness of the flesh that He had taken on. That was why He sought their fellowship in prayer.

Because Jesus humbled Himself, therefore God exalted Him to the highest position in the universe (Philippians 2:9). Those who go the farthest along the way of humility will sit with Jesus on His right and left hand in glory. All through Jesus' life He kept going down. He came down from Heaven and kept going down, down, down all the way to the cross. Never once did He reverse this direction and seek to go up.

There are only two spirits operating on the earth today. One, the spirit of Satan (Lucifer) urging people to go up - whether it be in the world or in Christendom. The other, the Spirit of Christ leading people to go down like their Master. Like the corn of wheat, Jesus went down, and all His true disciples can be identified unmistakably by this characteristic.

The humility of Jesus is seen in all its brilliance in His death. There never was a more unjust trial than the one Jesus went through. Yet, He submitted to injury, insult, injustice, humiliation and ridicule, in silence. He did not call down curses on His enemies. He neither threatened revenge nor called for angelic assistance. He gave up all His rights as the Son of God. The 'clenched fist' is an appropriate symbol of the human race - signifying both the desire to hold on to one's rights, powers and possessions, as well as the desire to fight back when attacked. Jesus on the other hand, willingly opened His palms to receive the nails on the cross. His palms were always open, giving, giving and giving. Finally He gave up His own life as well. This is true humility.