The Highest and the Lowest

Throughout the Bible God is frequently called the Most High. For example,

• And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand. (Gen 14:20)

• There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. (Ps 46:4)

• For the Lord Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth. (Ps 47:2)

• It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me. (Dan 4:2)

• He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. (Lk 1:32)

This is worth meditating on: There is no one higher, no one with more authority, than God.

But as with most truths, this truth has a counterpart: God is also the Most Low. Granted, that phrase is not used in the Bible, but it encapsulates the extraordinary humility of God.

John 13 says,

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. (vv. 3-5)

What do we see when we look at Jesus? We see the humility of a servant. But then he goes lower, much lower. Paul writes:

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross! (Phil 2:5-8)

“Even death on a cross!” In discussing the rights of Roman citizens, Cicero (106-43 BC) mentions the shame of crucifixion:

Wretched is the loss of one’s good name in the public courts, wretched, too, a monetary fine exacted from one’s property, and wretched is exile, but, still, in each calamity there is retained some trace of liberty. Even if death is set before us, we may die in freedom. But the executioner, the veiling of heads, and the very word “cross,” let them all be far removed from not only the bodies of Roman citizens but even from their thoughts, their eyes, and their ears. (Rabirius, 5.16)

And Seneca (about 4 BC-65 AD) highlights the physical pain of crucifixion:

Is there such a thing as a person who would actually prefer wasting away in pain on a cross—dying limb by limb one drop of blood at a time—rather than dying quickly? Would any human being willingly choose to be fastened to that cursed tree, especially after the beating that left him deathly weak, deformed, swelling with vicious welts on shoulders and chest, and struggling to draw every last, agonizing breath? Anyone facing such a death would plead to die rather than mount the cross.” (Moral Letters, 101.14)

Jesus descended to the lowest form of death—naked and bleeding while nailed to a public cross. And that is where we meet our Savior. The cross of Christ destroys human pride because it requires us to descend. In the words of one psychologist, “Modern man can’t see God because he doesn’t look low enough.”

After Jesus died, he continued to descend. The Apostles’ Creed says: “He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to hell.” The concept of Christ’s descent to hell stems from several verses, including Ephesians 4:

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says:

(What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) (vv. 7-10)

The Most High is the one who “descended to the lower, earthly regions.” “Lower, earthly regions” is a strange expression in Greek; it most likely refers to the underworld. (For support, see chapter 12 of my book.) So, after descending to the lowest place on earth and the lowest place in the afterlife, Christ “ascended higher than all the heavens.”

God is the Most High who became the Most Low “in order to fill the whole universe.”

But keep this in mind: God’s nature doesn’t change so he has always been humble. He didn’t suddenly become humble 2,000 years ago on a cross. He has been descending to humans since the Garden of Eden. And now that he has ascended “higher than all the heavens,” he will not lose his humility and become arrogant because “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb 13:8).

The one seated on the highest throne is the same one who hung on a lowly cross. The most exalted is the most humble.

This is worth meditating on for all eternity.

Les Bridgeman

I have served as a high school Bible teacher and counselor in Asia and the U.S. I am passionate about understanding and teaching the Bible. Here’s a link to my book page.