Christ Descended, Part 3
Thursday, March 28
That is why the Scriptures say, “When he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to his people.” Notice that it says “he ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world. And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself. (Ephesians 4:8-10)
Some translation renders verses 9 like this: "He descended to the lowly place of the earth." The one who ascended and now fills the entire universe with Himself, who gave gifts to us, is the same person who first descended from heaven to be incarnated so that He can die for us on the cross (Ephesians 2:14-17). This sequence parallels the order of Psalm 68, where God first descended to deliver His people and triumph over His enemies before ascending to His dwelling place.
Moreover, this is the same perspective we find in John's Gospel. As the humiliation and subsequent exaltation of Christ in Philippians 2:6-11, Paul may therefore have in mind not so much descent and ascent in spatial terms, but humiliation and exaltation as a result of which Christ gives the church His gifts in order for the maturity of the church.
Although this reference to Christ's descent at His incarnation and death has been regarded as something of a digression to Paul's main point, it appears to have been made in order to show that the passage from Psalm had to refer to Christ, since an ascent implies a previous descent, and Christ is the only ones who descended (from heaven) before ascending (back to heaven).
Doing the Word
Worship Christ for who He is: the Victor.
Prayer
Dear Father, thank You for giving me a special gift to function in the body of Christ. Help me use it to glorify Your name. In Jesus' name. Amen.