For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich” (2 Cor. 8:9).
Paul wrote these profound words as he urged generous giving for the relief of needy saints. He could present no stronger argument for sacrificial giving than the amazing self-impoverishment of our Lord Jesus Christ. None was richer than He; none became poorer.
What was His poverty? The conditions under which He was born and lived certainly indicate poverty. At His birth there was “no room in the inn” (Lk. 2:7). The state of affairs has not changed much even now! Places and hearts abound where there is no room for Him.
His family was all too ordinary, not from the rich of the land. They offered for the dedication sacrifice a pair of doves, which was the Law’s provision for those who could not afford a lamb (Lk. 2:24; Lev. 12:8).
He was hungry in the wilderness during the days of His temptation. He who feeds the sparrows and causes His rain to fall on the righteous as well as the unrighteous, suffered the pangs of hunger. He whose habitation was the glories of heaven became homeless during His earthly career.
“Wand’ring as a homeless stranger,
In the world Thy hands had made!”
He who clothes the lilies of the field in such splendor that “even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Mt. 6:29), the Lord Jesus had such a limited wardrobe. No designer labels either! It was easily disposed of at the foot of the cross.
When this One says, “Life does not consist in the abundance of things one possesses,” there is the ring of truth to it. He lived it. The devil said (and I paraphrase): “I want to make you an offer you can’t refuse–I will give you all the kingdoms of the world.” But the Saviour knew and lived in the other, real world. Therefore, He was able to turn down the offer. He knew real riches and asked, “What shall it profit a man if He shall gain, the whole world and loses his own soul?” (Mk. 8:36). When He says “…a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Lk. 12:15), He must be taken seriously.
All of this was not His real poverty; these steps of impoverishment, costly though they were, are secondary. His poverty was something by which we were made rich. We are not made rich by the mere hardship and penury of His outward lot in life.
“He became poor.” This statement directs us to a definite point in time (cf. Phil. 2). It is a reference to His incarnation and all that proceeds from it–His becoming man to redeem man–including His glorious work on the cross. The Mighty One, who brought the universe into existence and sustains it by the word of His power, was born into the world as a baby. The Sovereign Lord of earth and heaven showed up on this rather insignificant planet as a Servant. He whom the angelic hosts had served with unquestioning obedience became a Servant to sinful men. Looking at Him, you would have never known that He was the God of all creation. He veiled His glory in a body of flesh. He let Himself be seen, heard, handled.
To appreciate His real poverty, we must first grasp His true riches. His true riches are those which He had in His preincarnate life. (Read Col. 1:15; Jn. 1:1ff; 17:5; Heb. 1:3; Jn. 10:30.) All that He shared with the Father in unclouded fellowship throughout eternity was His true wealth. None was richer than He.
His poverty in the fullest sense was the descent which He took–He who put the stars, the sun and the moon in their courses–when He became the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. The gracious stoop described in Philippians 2 reached its lowest depth when He became our sin-offering and mercy seat on the cross. There He became obedient to death, even the death on a cross, to save those who are disobedient to God.
The ultimate poverty of the Lord Jesus, and the brilliant manifestation of His grace, was the poverty of His own spirit, when He was forsaken by God, “when He who knew no sin was made sin for us.”
“On Him the mighty vengeance fell,
That would have sunk the world to hell.”
For all the sins that were ever committed, that are being committed, and that will ever be committed, there is one Perfect Sacrifice; they were all heaped upon Him and He died for them all. He went into the depths of the sea of God’s wrath and endured its raging storm to save the lost children of Adam.
“And none of the ransomed ever knew,
How deep were the waters crossed,
Or how dark was the night which the Lord passed through,
Ere He found the sheep that was lost.”
Such is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We were pitifully poor–in rags, homeless, Godless, hopeless, lifeless, enslaved and condemned. In Christ, we are made indescribably rich. From the incalculable and inexhaustible riches He gave by becoming poor, from our abject poverty we are lifted up to share His infinite and glorious riches. Thus we have: redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins; peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; newness of life–objectives to live for and motives to live by; victory over self, the world and the wicked one; joy unspeakable and full of glory. The list literally goes on forever.
We are “enriched in Him” (1 Cor. 1:5). Without Him we are as poor as we ever were. God has seen to it that forever we will be drawn to His Son for every joy and blessing in eternity: “God…hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). “All the promises of God in [Christ] are yea, and in Him Amen…” (2 Cor. 1:20).
Oh, that the Holy Spirit would sharpen our sense of wonder! We should never cease to be amazed at His gracious love toward us. And when we are filled with wonder, we will be moved to worship.
His beauty shineth far above
Our feeble pow’r of praise,
And we shall live and learn His love
Thro’ everlasting days.
The knowing this, that us He loves,
Hath made our cup run o’er;
Jesus, Thy name our spirit moves,
Today and evermore.