`In the fulness of time Christ took our nature upon Him, He did wholly submit His reasonable will, all His

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affections and desires, unto the will of His heavenly Father: and in this renouncing of the arbitrament of His will,

and in the entire submission of it unto the Will of His Father, did the form of a servant, whereof our apostle speaks,

formally consist' (Dean Jackson).

So all embracive is the submission of the will of Christ to that of the Father, that in Matthew 26:39 the

Evangelist uses the verb thelo `not as I will', while in Luke 22:42 he uses boulomai as well as thelo `if Thou be

willing ... nevertheless not My will'. Of these two words, Dr. E.W. Bullinger says in his Lexicon, `thelo to will, to

wish, to desire, implying the simple act of volition'; `boulomai, to wish, to desire, to have that desire from which

thelo springs, to have a mind, intention, or purpose formed after mature deliberation'.

It is of the very essence of `the form' of a servant, that will, desire, and purpose, should be entirely subservient to

the One acknowledged as Master. When the mother of Zebedee's children made her request, she said `grant that

these my two sons may sit, the one on Thy right hand, and the other on Thy left, in Thy Kingdom'.

It is not within the province of `the form' of a servant to `grant' such a request, and so the perfect Servant said,

`to sit on My right hand, and on My left, is not mine to give'.

Not only in the course of His life and activities generally, but in those things that belong specifically to His

ministry, the Saviour manifested at all times, the reality of His condescension.

`I can of Mine own Self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and My judgment is just; because I seek not Mine own

will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me' (John 5:30).

Christ is pre-eminently set forth as `The Sent One' in John's Gospel and it is written `for He Whom God hath

sent speaketh the Words of God' (John 3:34). `My doctrine is not Mine but His that sent Me' (John 7:16).

This is the first of seven such declarations found in this gospel (John 8:28,47; 12:49; 14:10,24, and 17:8). Not

only did He, in perfect harmony with `the form' of a servant, submit His will to and receive His message from the

Father, but the mighty works that He wrought, are all attributed to the One that sent Him. The works that the

Saviour did were `given' Him to `finish'.

`I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given Me to finish, the same works

that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father hath sent Me' (John 5:36).

The works that the Saviour did, were the works of Him that sent Him (John 9:4). `If I do not the works of My

Father', said Christ, `believe Me not' (John 10:37).

So completely did Christ take upon Him `the form' of a servant, that it could be written of Him `even Christ

pleased not Himself' (Rom. 15:3). This self-emptied servant therefore descended to depths which none of us could

reach, and when the work of condescending grace was accomplished, He made it clear that He could use expressions

which must for ever be beyond our right or power.

While all this is blessedly true, it would be an incomplete statement of truth to leave the matter there. This

Servant was unlike any other. All others are servants by the very fact of their creation, He became a servant by an

act of condescending love. Consequently when He knew that His hour had come, when He could say `I have

finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do' (John 17:4) a new note is struck. For the first and only time in

Scripture the words `I will' are uttered in any recorded prayer :

`Father, I WILL that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My

glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world' (John 17:24).

This `I will' is uttered in view of the day when `the form of a servant' will have been put off, and glory again

The expression `in likeness of men becoming', neither necessarily implies nor excludes the reality of the nature

which Christ assumed. That reality has already been affirmed by the words `taking the form of a servant', even as

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Arbitrament = power or liberty of deciding; choice, decision, determination.