We see now what it meant for the Son of God to empty himself and become poor. It meant a laying aside of glory (the real kenosis) ; a voluntary restraint of power; an acceptance of hardship, isolation, ill-treatment, malice and misunderstanding; finally, a death that involved such agony—spiritual even more than physical—that his mind nearly broke under the prospect of it. (See Lk 12:50 and the Gethsemane story.) It meant love to the uttermost for unlovely human beings, that they through his poverty might become rich.  The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity—hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory—because at the Father’s will Jesus Christ became poor and was born in a stable so that thirty years later he might hang on a cross. It is the most wonderful message that the world has ever heard, or will hear. We talk glibly of the “Christmas spirit,” rarely meaning more by this than sentimental jollity on a family basis. But what we have said makes...

  2:7-8 “And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross.”  Paul wishes to unite the saints in Philippi in the holy bands of love.  To do this, he takes them to the cross. In the cross there is a cure for every spiritual disease.  There is food for every spiritual virtue in the Savior. We never go to him too often.  Spurgeon Study Bible Notes; Philippians 2:7

  Emptying himself means that he made himself null and void and renounced his privileges and rights.  He exhibited the opposite of “vainglory” (kenodoxia, GK 3029; NIV, “vain conceit”; v. 3), which ascribes false honor to oneself and asserts one’s pride of place over others.  The KJV translation, “made himself of no reputation,” captures Paul’s intent here in v. 7. David E. Garland, “Philippians,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Ephesians–Philemon (Revised Edition), ed. Tremper Longman III, vol. 12 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006), 220.

  The means whereby the incarnation came about is the virgin conception, commonly known as the virgin birth—the miraculous action of the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary—so that what was conceived was fully God and fully man in one person forever (Mt 1:18–25; Lk 1:26–38).  He did this in order to become the Redeemer of the church, our Prophet, Priest, and King, and thus to save his people from their sins (Mt 1:21).  By becoming one with us, the Lord of Glory not only shares our sorrows and burdens, he is also able to secure our redemption by bearing our sin on the cross as our substitute and being raised for our justification (see Rm 4:25; Heb 2:17–18; 4:14–16; 1Pt 3:18). Stephen J. Wellum, “Incarnation and Christology,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1666.

  Typology and Jesus Mt 2:15 New Testament writers understand Jesus to be the fulfillment of the Jewish story told in the Jewish Scriptures. One way they emphasize Jesus as this fulfillment is by highlighting an OT figure, object, or event, and then connecting it to Jesus. In this correspondence, the OT “type” is shown to be brought to completion in Jesus (who is sometimes called the “antitype”). For example, Matthew connects Jesus with Israel by citing Hos 11:1, which speaks of God’s son, Israel, coming out of Egypt. Matthew shows that Jesus, like Israel of old, will be delivered from Egypt by God (see Mt 2:15 and note; 2:20–21). Therefore Israel is “a type” of Jesus (with Jesus as the “antitype”). For another example, consider the temple in John’s Gospel. Jesus fulfills the purposes of the temple (God’s presence with his people; cf. Jn 1:14–18). And according to Jn 2:13–22, Jesus could speak of his body (his self) as the temple (Jn 2:20–21). John also goes on to show how vari...

  When a man (like Herod) or a woman (like Herodias) divorces their spouse in order to marry another, this is not the circumstance for which Moses’ words about divorce was intended.  On the contrary, this is abusing the Law of Moses to commit adultery . But publicly, Jesus used the Pharisees’ trap to continue to talk about his own agenda. Peter Bolt, "Mark," in The NIV Grace and Truth Study Bible, ed. R. Albert Mohler Jr. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2021), 1365.

  Three times the Lord Jesus speaks of “hell.” Three times (in the footnotes of the NIV, ed. note) he says, “their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.”  These are awful expressions. They call for reflection rather than exposition. They should be pondered, considered and remembered by all who claim to be Christians.  It matters little whether we regard them as figurative and symbolic. If they are, one thing at least is very clear.  The worm and the fire are symbols of real things. There is a real hell, and that hell is eternal. J. C. Ryle, Mark, Crossway Classic Commentaries (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1993), 140.

  I remember this Southern Gospel group when I was a kid. They were an evangelism team. The music with the keyboards may sound a bit hokey, but the lyrics are significant in our consumeristic age. 

  Jesus Christ confirmed that John the Baptist was continuing the tradition and responsibility of the prophets, beginning with Elijah. Jesus also added what the prophets had been saying all along, “Listen to Me (look at Me) when I’m talking to you.” Another affirmation of the importance of Elijah in redemptive history was his appearance with Moses and Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus had taken three of His disciples—Peter, James, and John—away to share a glimpse of His holiness and glory (Matthew 17:1–8; Mark 9:2–8; Luke 9:28–36). During this surreal moment of intense light, sudden cloud cover, and a voice from heaven, the disciples saw Elijah talking with Moses and Jesus. There in one moment were three common men in the presence of three very uncommon men. Peter, James, and John were seeing Moses, the giver of the Law; Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God; and Elijah, the man who was called to be God’s mouthpiece to those who had received and broken the Law—people desperate...

  J.C. Ryle on Mark 9 v 33-34 (CSB) 33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” 34 But they were silent, because on the way they had been arguing with one another about who was the greatest. How strange this sounds! Who would have thought that a few fishermen and tax collectors could have been overcome by rivalry and the desire of supremacy?  Who would have expected that poor men who had given up everything for Christ’s sake would have been troubled by strife and dissension as to the place and precedence which each one deserved? Yet so it is. The fact is recorded for our learning.  The Holy Spirit has caused it to be written down for the perpetual use of Christ’s church. Let us take care that it is not written in vain. It is an awful fact, whether we like to admit it or not, that pride is one of the commonest sins which beset human nature. We are all born Pharisees. We all naturally think far better of ours...

  The problem is not that Hell exists , for it must, since God is holy.  Rather we must distinguish between the biblical meanings of good and evil because the problem is that men don’t want to understand that sin is offensive in the eyes of a supremely holy God.  Sin is not rated by a scale.  Hell is eternal separation from God and can be pardoned only by a truly supreme sacrifice, accomplished by the substitutionary death of the Son of God on the cross.  The afterlife is determined in the land of the living by how people respond to Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself to rescue lost souls, “snatching them from the fire” (Jude 23 NIV). Billy Graham, The Reason for My Hope: Salvation (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2013).

9:10–11 The case is clearer with Rebekah because she had twins. God’s choice of the younger twin before their birth showed his gracious election and indicated again that God’s blessings are his to hand out and that they were not an automatic birthright of all ethnic Jews; see note at v. 6. 9:12–13 The divine purpose was revealed from the beginning of the Hebrew nation when God chose one twin over the other. The prophet Malachi traced God’s differing treatment of two nations to this divine choice (Mal 1:1–5). Both nations were punished for their sins, but only one received grace. I have loved Jacob means God chose or elected his descendants (the nation of Israel), whereas I have hated Esau means that God rejected the nation that stemmed from him (Edom). 9:14–15 Is there injustice with God? is a rhetorical question, inspired by the fact that it is difficult to grasp the fact that God does not need to treat all sinners the same in order to be just. Jesus taught the same truth in the pa...

  Mark 9 v 21(CSB) 21 “How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father.  We read a fearful description of the miseries inflicted by Satan on the young man whose case is here recorded. And we are told that he had been in this awful state “from childhood” (verse 21). We must labor to do good to our children even from their earliest years. If Satan begins to harm them so early, we must not be behind him in diligence to lead them to God. How soon in life a child becomes responsible and accountable is a difficult question to solve.  Perhaps far sooner than many of us suppose. One thing at all events is very clear: it is never too soon to strive and pray for the salvation of the souls of children —never too soon to speak to them as moral beings and tell them of God and Christ and right and wrong.  The devil, we may be quite sure, loses no time in endeavoring to influence the minds of young people. He begins with them “from childhood.” Let us work hard to c...