The Rich Became Poor!

There is a beautiful and amazing verse in II Corinthians 8:9 -- so rich in meaning that it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to fully grasp!  In the KJV, we read:
     "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor; that ye through His poverty might become rich."

The Apostle Paul tells us in the second chapter of Philippians that Christ was not only "in the form of God", but also "equal with God", and yet, "made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross."

It is hard for us to comprehend that He who sat on the throne of the universe would come to earth where the shepherds found Him "lying in a manger."  Matthew tells us that throughout His public ministry, He had "no where to lay His head."  He had no money to pay the tax, so he had to catch a fish that had the needed coin in its mouth.

When He was arrested, his friends all "forsook Him and fled".  No one defended Him at His trial.  On the cross, the soldiers took the clothes on His back which were His only personal possessions.  He had to be buried in a borrowed tomb.  No home, no money, no possessions, not even a tomb of His own in which to lie.

But how my heart rejoices today that He had a Cross -- a Cross on which to die that we might live --
Praise His Wonderful Name!!  And because He was obedient to the death of the Cross, "God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name".  Philippians 2:9

The glorious truth is that through His poverty we can become rich -- through His homelessness we can have a mansion in heaven -- and through His death on Calvary we can have everlasting life!  I am so thankful that Jesus, my wonderful Lord, "became poor to ransom my soul"!