Jesus made Himself nothing and took on the form of a servant, being made in human likeness…
The Greek word for ‘made Himself nothing’ is kenóō, literally meaning to empty yourself out, to deprive yourself of force, or to void out… Jesus voided out His deity and laid it down. Jesus was fully God and fully man, but He did not operate, or do what He did as God, He did it as a man. Jesus did not empty Himself of His Godhood… He remained fully God, He did however empty Himself from operating and functioning as God. Jesus became the second Adam, lived a perfect life as a man, did many mighty works as a man and paid the price for the sins of mankind as a man.
Why did Jesus lay down His deity and choose to fully function as a man?
Jesus came to restore what Adam lost – He came to demonstrate what a person of faith in covenant with God could do… Jesus used the same faith, grace and power of the Holy available to us to live a holy life full of power. Jesus did not use anything more than has been to us as new covenant believers… He raised the dead, He healed all manner of sickness, He exercised total power over all of the works of the devil and He overcame all temptation and lived a sinless life by grace, through faith, in the power of the Holy Ghost.
If Jesus did all of that by using His deity, then in order for us to be able to follow His example, we would have to become deity, which of course is never going to happen! Instead Jesus laid down His deity and operated as a human being by grace, through faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said, “As believers, you will do the same works that I do, and you will do even greater works than I have done…” Jesus did what He did as a Spirit filled, faith filled man of God, operating under grace – as Spirit filled believers, we are Spirit filled, faith filled people of God, and when we operate according to grace, in His Name, we can do what Jesus did, how He did it, and with the same results that He had… even greater.
Some people say, “How can you ever consider yourself to be equal to God and think that you could ever do what Jesus did, let alone greater works?” No, we will never be equal to God, however He [Jesus] made Himself equal to man, demonstrated the power of God operating through a man, and then paid the ransom for all of the sins of men – now we can do what Jesus did, not because we are equal to Him, but because He became equal to us and then gave us His power, authority and supernatural ability in the Holy Spirit.
Let us now continue the works of Jesus in His mighty Name…
Go now by grace, through faith in Jesus Name – GO NOW in the power of the Holy Spirit, in the authority of Jesus and preach good News to every person, make disciples of all nations, baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, speak in new tongues, lay hands on the sick and see them recover, cast out demons, contend for miracles, signs and wonders and continue the works of Jesus in His mighty Name!
Make this confession of faith - say this out loud with me…
“John 17:17 says that I am sanctified and set apart by Your truth - Your Word is truth - Your Word absolute truth – the Word is for me to walk in, to accept as final truth and for me to stand on, to declare by faith and for me to do – I am who the Word says that I am - I can do what the Word says I can do - I can be who the Word says I can be - Christ in me can do all things – I can do all things through Christ - I have absolute POWER over ALL the Work of the enemy – nothing shall by any means harm me – I have power to raise the dead – I have power to heal the sick – I have power to do the works of Jesus – I have total authority over all of the works of His hands in Jesus Name! – the power and the authority of the creator of all things is on the inside of me – when I speak by faith, I ALWAYS have what I say – As I speak the Word, the Father ALWAYS watches over it to perform it – The Father loves it when I expect Him to ALWAYS perform His EVERY Word! – I always expect the Father to bring to pass every word that I speak according to His Word – God is not a man that He should lie – His Word is literal, His Word is truth and His Word is final!”
