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Before becoming Man, the Son of God never had to obey, for He Himself was Ruler over all – over wind, waves, animals, people and angels. He is the Creator of all things and He upholds “all things by the word of His power” (Heb. 1:3). Everything is subject to Him, and all creatures are obligated to obey Him, yet He humbled Himself to become an obedient Child (Lk. 2:49,51) and an obedient Man. The Ruler became Man and learned through experience what obedience is – especially in that which He suffered – “though He were Son” (Heb. 5:8). Incomprehensible humiliation! To be sure, the Lord Jesus did not have to learn obedience like we have to learn to obey. He learned obedience because for Him as Ruler it was something new. We by contrast learn obedience because by nature we are disobedient.
Obedience and love were inseparably united together in the Lord Jesus, as John 14:31 shows: “... That the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father has commanded Me, thus I do.” His motivation ever was love – love to His heavenly Father and to lost mankind. The Lord never needed any motivation beyond this. We can only imagine how much it must have gladdened God the Father to see a Man on this earth who loved Him with all His heart and was fully obedient.
The Lord Jesus never let Himself be drawn away from obedience to His Father. He even mildly rebuked His mother when, at the wedding at Cana, she urged Him to do something. Politely yet firmly He told her, “What have I to do with thee, woman? Mine hour has not yet come” (Jn. 2:4). He always acted according to His relationship to His heavenly Father.
The Lord Jesus never refused or hesitated to do the will of God. No, to do it was daily His food (Jn. 4:34). Apart from that will, He, you might say, could not live. Even at the moment when greatest sufferings were before Him He was ready to submit fully to the Father’s will and be obedient. When the Lord Jesus was in agonizing conflict in Gethsemane, He prayed, “But not what I will, but what Thou wilt” (Mk. 14:36). In another gospel it says, “But not as I will, but as Thou wilt” (Mt. 26:39). Thus we find both the “what” and the “as” in full obedience and harmony with His Father. How firm was the Lord’s purpose to go to the cross! He set His face as a flint (Isa. 50:7). He was obedient, cost what may! Worship is due Him!
The Free Will Of Jesus Christ
The Lord Jesus came to this earth of His own free will in order to be the Lamb for sacrifice. “Of His own free will” means to do something of His own volition or choosing, voluntarily, without being compelled to do so by persons or circumstances. Everything that the Lord wanted to do and did, of course, corresponded to the will of His Father in heaven. Yet He did it of Himself: “Behold, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of Me – to do Thy good pleasure, My God, is My delight” (Ps. 40:7-8).
The life of Jesus is pictured for us in many Old Testament types. In the type of the Hebrew bondman (Ex. 21:1-6) we find His readiness to renounce His rights out of love for His Master (God), His wife (the Assembly) and His children (those who are His). How selflessly He served people, even when He was tired. The woman at Jacob’s well experienced this fact (Jn. 4). He came to the well so He might reach her heart, for that was the desire of His heart. To do this He would freely give up rest and relaxation.
Our Lord’s free will is indicated in the directions for the burnt offering (Lev. 1:1-3). The burnt offering was a free will offering which pointed to the Lord Jesus freely delivering Himself up to die.
If the Lord Jesus had “only” lived His life on earth in obedience, this would have been magnificently great. However, His free will lends additional splendor to the life of our beloved Lord. He could say, “On this account the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again” (Jn. 10:17).
Free will is always associated with feelings of love and affection. As we have already seen, no one on earth had greater love than the Lord. He loved us so much that He gave Himself for us of His own accord. Worship is due to Him for this!
Obedience And Free Will – A Wonderful Harmony
The Lord’s obedience as well as His free will are each unique and worthy of adoration. Both qualities are displayed in perfect balance in Jesus’ life. In the Gospel of John especially we find several examples of this unique harmony.
Thus the Lord said in John 8:42, “If God were your Father ye would have loved Me, for I came forth from God and am come from Him; for neither am I come of Myself, but He has sent Me.” Here we find both in one sentence:
He came because the Father had sent Him.
We see a further example in John 10:17-18 where the Lord said, “On this account the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it again, I have received this commandment of My Father.” Here too we have free will and obedience in one statement.
What a wonderful person is our Lord, who at all times was perfectly obedient and at the same time did all of His own free will! We cannot rightly comprehend this harmony, and we are often lacking in both.
What About Us?
Although being much like the Lord Jesus ever remains beyond our reach, He is still our example. When we consider Him in His humiliation and are inwardly moved thereby, then the desire arises in us to be more like Him. We human beings are by nature “sons of disobedience,” therefore we need a new nature capable of true obedience. It goes against the grain of the natural man to recognize an authority above him. We would most rather be free and independent. Yet, whoever is cleansed by the blood of Jesus not only has the duty to be obedient, but he also has a new nature that wants to be obedient (1 Pet. 1:2,14; 1 Jn. 5:3). Thus it is not for us a slavish obedience, but obedience out of love – a voluntary obedience. Let’s think of John 14:15,21: “If ye love Me, keep My commandments” and, “He that has My commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves Me.” Here obedience and love are directly united together.
Is our obedience a voluntary, ready, joyous obedience? Is it an obedience that brings joy to our Lord? A believer knows what pleases Him. Yet, we often do things that we know very well signify disobedience.
As we have already seen with the Lord Jesus, our life of faith is a matter of our attitude of heart. In the final analysis it is a matter of love. Perhaps we can say, “We will display greater obedience and free willingness the greater our love is to the Lord Jesus.”
If something is done out of free will, it will be done differently than if one is merely acting out of a sense of duty. One can see this in the little things of daily life. Therefore let us always earnestly ask ourselves whether and what we are doing for the Lord is out of obedience and love freely and willingly. May we let the Lord Himself spur us on to give ourselves freely to Him. This will then be a rich blessing for us – and how greatly our Lord will be honored thereby!
By Manuel Dietermann; translated from the German publication Folge Mir Nach, June 2018