II. IN THE STAGES OF HUMAN LIFE
God was manifested in the flesh in the stages of human life.
A. Growing before Jehovah as a Tender Plant
and as a Root Out of Dry Ground
When He became a man, He was growing before Jehovah as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground (Isa. 53:2). He came out of a very poor family, and that poor family was the dry ground. He was a descendant of the royal family of David, but at His time David’s royal family had become a poor family, the dry ground.
B. In Babyhood
God was manifested in the flesh in babyhood. Luke 2 tells us that Mary wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger (v. 7). The angel told the shepherds, "This will be the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger" (v. 12). He was the unique One who was born in a manger. The manger was a particular, unique sign of the Man-Savior. A baby in a manger, signifying smallness in lowliness, was a sign of the Man-Savior’s life.
C. In Boyhood
1. Growing in Wisdom and Stature,
in the Grace of God, and
in Favor with God and Men
In His boyhood He grew in wisdom and stature, in the grace of God, and in favor with God and men (Luke 2:40, 52). Wisdom refers to the inner man, and stature refers to the physical body. The wisdom of the Savior’s deity (Col. 2:2-3) was revealed in proportion to the measure of His bodily growth. In His boyhood the grace of God was upon Him. As a boy He needed the grace of God for His human life. He was filled with the wisdom of His deity and needed the grace of God in His humanity.
He advanced in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. He was in favor with God because He was growing in the expression of God according to God’s desire. He was in favor with men because He was growing in human virtues, which were gracious to men. He was growing as a God-man before God and men.
(The Move of God in Man, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee)
