Most days we have a nice view of the “sun going down,” that big ball of fire that provides us with light and heat, the closest star to the earth, slowly sinking in the western sky. Of course, we are told that the earth is actually revolving around the sun, so the sun does not actually “go down,” it just appears that way to us because of the earth rotating on its axis.

That made me think of a play on words, “The day the Son went down,” speaking of our Lord Jesus. It did not just appear that He came down to earth as one of us – He actually did just that. And as I thought about that phrase, I realized that there are several days in history that could be described that way.

John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.

Let’s start with the first coming of our Lord, the event we commonly know as Christmas. Martin Luther wrote a lengthy hymn about this entitled, “From Heaven above to earth I come. (The Lutheran Hymnal #85). Another Christmas hymn tells us “Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, love divine” (Lutheran Worship #46). Yet another hymn says “Love divine, all love excelling, Joy of Heaven to earth come down” (The Lutheran Hymnal #351). From the love of our heavenly Father came the gift this world so desperately needed: The Son went down, was born as a man, took our flesh upon Himself so that He might be one of us. We speak of this often, as we do when we speak the words of the Nicene Creed: Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.

 The Son went down so that He could live among us without sin and thereby have the perfect offering to pay for sin. It is our sin and disobedience that made it necessary for the Son to go down from heaven. Because of sin, all men were doomed to die, to be apart from God. That was our Lord’s just and fair judgment against sin, your sin. But God was not willing to let you die eternally. He wanted you to be with Him. So His love led Him to make the Son go down for you.

The day the Son went down, what we celebrate as Christmas, was the beginning of what theologians call the humiliation of our Lord. This comes in part from Philippians 2:

Philippians 2:5-8 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!

His humiliation is not that He became a man, but that as a man, He willingly laid aside the power He had as the Almighty. He still had His power and authority as God, but for us men and for our salvation, when He came down, He chose not to use them. He came to accomplish our salvation, to live as one of us, to pay the penalty for your sins and mine. He set aside His divine power so that He could offer Himself as your payment.

—to be continued—

You are invited to join Donna Snow, Cheryl and me on a Reformation Tour “In the Footsteps of Luther April 6-17, 2025.  You can find the brochure here. It promises to be a wonderful trip. If you have any questions, contact me: mike@revmattil.org