«　WEEK 2　DAY 3　»

　　Phil. 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of a cross.

　　Heb. 5:8 Even though He was a Son, learned obedience from the things which He suffered.

　　When the Lord came down to earth, He emptied Himself of the glory, power, position, and image in His deity. As a result of His emptying, those without revelation did not recognize Him and would not acknowledge Him as God, considering Him merely as an ordinary man. In the Godhead the Lord voluntarily chose to be the Son, submitting Himself to the authority of the Father. Hence, He said that the Father was greater than He (John 14:28). The Son's position was a voluntary choice of our Lord. In the Godhead there is full harmony. In the Godhead there is equality, yet it is happily arranged that the Father should be the Head and that the Son should submit. The Father became the representation of authority, and the Son became the representation of submission. (CWWN, vol. 47, “Authority and Submission,” pp. 141-142)

　　We are human. Submission for us is simple. We can submit as long as we humble ourselves. But the Lord's submission is not a simple matter. The Lord's submission is more difficult than His creation of the heavens and the earth. In order to submit He had to empty Himself of all the glory, power, position, and image in His deity. He also had to take on the form of a slave. Only then could He receive the qualification of submission. Hence, submission is something created by the Son of God.

　　Formerly, the Father and the Son shared the same glory. When the Lord came down to earth, He dropped authority on the one hand and picked up submission on the other hand. He set His heart to become a slave, to be restricted in time and space as a man. But this is not all. The Lord humbled Himself, becoming obedient. The obedience in the Godhead is the most wonderful thing in the whole universe. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, a painful and shameful death. In the end, God exalted Him to the highest. He that humbles himself will be exalted. This is God's principle.

　　Today many ask, “Why do I have to submit?” They also ask, “Why do I have to submit to you? I am a brother, and you are a brother.” Actually, men do not have a right to say such things. Only the Lord is qualified to speak this way, but He never said such things. There was not even such a thought in Him. Christ represents submission, a perfect submission, just as God's authority is perfect authority.

　　Hebrews 5:8 tells us that the Lord's obedience was learned through suffering. Suffering brought obedience to Him. True submission is found when there is still obedience in spite of suffering. A man's usefulness is not in whether he has suffered, but in whether he has learned obedience in suffering. Only those who are obedient to God are useful. If the heart is not softened, the suffering will not go away. Our way is the way of manifold sufferings. A man who yearns after ease and enjoyment is of no use. We must all learn to be obedient in sufferings. When the Lord came to the earth, He did not bring obedience with Him; rather, He learned it through sufferings.

　　Salvation not only brings joy; it also brings submission. If a man is only for joy, his experiences will not be abundant. Only submissive ones will experience the fullness of salvation. Otherwise, we change the nature of salvation. We need to be submissive, even as the Lord was submissive. The Lord became the source of our salvation through obedience. God saved us with the hope that we would submit to His will. When one meets God's authority, submission is a simple matter, and knowing God's will is also a simple matter, because the Lord, who was submissive throughout His life, has already given us His life of submission. (CWWN, vol. 47, “Authority and Submission,” pp. 142-143, 146)

　　Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 47, “Authority and Submission,” ch. 5