More Thoughts

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isa. 57:15)

My translation: “For this is what I say, I who am exalted on high, lofty and residing perpetually in eternity, I who am holy in reputation, authority, and character: I dwell in the sacred sanctuary on high, near (among) the crushed and contrite, the humble and lowly spirit (life, breath), to restore to life (nourish, recover) the humble (depressed) mind, and to repair (save, preserve) the heart (will, feelings, intellect) of the broken (bruised, contrite, humble, oppressed).”

It seems to me that the sense here is not that God dwells on high and also with the lowly, but that He dwells on high with the lowly. As if “on high” is where the humble also dwell. Those who exalt themselves are actually positioning themselves in the lowest places, while those who are broken and contrite dwell on high with the humble God. Humility is not contrary to exaltation, but is necessary and complementary to it. Pride is what brings one low. Our thinking is all backwards. It is like swinging at the park. If you move your body in the direction you want to go, you will not get anywhere. But if you move your body in the opposite direction, pushing against the swing, you will soar.

Who is like the Lord our God, Who has His seat on high, Who humbles Himself to regard the heavens and the earth! The Lord raises the poor out of the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap and the dung hill, that He may seat them with princes, even with the princes of His people. (Ps. 113:5-8)

He humbles Himself to enjoy, experience, and gaze joyfully upon the high and lofty sky and space, and also upon the common earth, the nations and the world. He raises up weak, poor man from the ashes (earth, clay, mud), and lifts the beggar (destitute) out of the rubbish pile. He causes him to dwell among princes as an equal with His free people (flock).

When Jesus humbled Himself to come among us as Man (Phil. 2:5-7), He was not going against His nature. It was the inevitable result of a humble God gazing upon His people with delight. Of course He would come as one of us, for the holy dwells with the humble. They are two sides of the same coin. God-Man is not a contradiction, but a completion of the desire of a God who is meek and lowly of heart (Mt. 11:29) to be one with the bride He has created to be one with Himself.