He Came Down

He Came Down

The figures of speech in the Bible always point to a literal reality. And the reality with God is that he comes to his people. He responds to our needs. He intervenes. We see it over and over in the Old Testament.

God came down to rescue his people from slavery: “I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land” (Exodus 3:8).

He came down to reveal himself to Moses: “The LORD came down in a cloud and stood there with him; and he called out his own name, Yahweh” (Exodus 34:5).

He came down to fill the Holy of Holies with his glorious presence: “When all the people of Israel saw the fire coming down and the glorious presence of the LORD filling the Temple, they fell face down on the ground and worshiped and praised the LORD” (2 Chronicles 7:3).

All these ways God came down pointed toward his coming down in the flesh to live with us and walk among us. “No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven,” Jesus said (John 3:13). “I am the bread that came down from heaven” (John 6:41).

When we are told that Jesus came down to earth, the “coming down” refers not to his physical descent, but to his lowering himself, humbling himself. “He came down to the lowest level” (Philippians 2:8, NIRV). Just as he came down to rescue his people from slavery, to reveal himself, and to fill the world with his glorious presence, he came down in Christ to rescue his people from slavery to sin, to reveal himself in human form, to fill the world with his glorious presence.

And he will come again to do it all once more in the final consummation of his Kingdom. “The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). When he comes again, he will come down for good. He will make his home with his people for all eternity.

You are the God who comes! You have not just made me and then left me on my own. You intervene. You reveal yourself. You come so that I can know you and enjoy your glorious presence. So come in all your fullness into my life and into my very being, and make yourself at home.