Christ's perspective in coming to earth.
During the Christmas season we celebrate the grand night God visited earth as a baby. But to the rest of the universe the event looked like an astounding humiliation. God, the Creator of all, took on the unimpressive body of a human being to endure a confining life and grisly death on planet Earth.
Paul points to this death to show that God can take even the darkest moment in history and turn it into good. The cross, and Jesus' not staying dead, proves that nothing is powerful enough to stamp out a reason for joy - joy "in the Lord," as Paul says.
Victory in Jail
Thus even the normally depressing state of imprisonment didn't bother Paul. As he wrote Philippians, he must have recalled his first visit to Philippi. Then, a most unusual jailbreak occurred: the jail broke, but the prisoners didn't (Acts 16:22-28).
Even when Paul stayed in jail for long periods, God used the experience to advance the gospel. As he wrote Philippians, conversations were occurring among the Roman palace soldiers, forced by guard duty to overhear Paul's daily ministry.
Paul summarized his life philosophy in a famous "to be or not to be" soliloquy, concluding that "to live is Christ and to die is gain" (1:21). God is even stronger than death, and that makes a Christian's joy indestructible. |
