Please click here to read the article/devotion on "The Humility of Christ" from Philippians 2:5-8
“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
(Philippians 2:9-11 ESV)
When Jesus about to finish His work on earth, He prayed to The Father about the glory from The Father so that people may see the glory of the Father (Look at John 17). Now when we direct our attention to Philippians 2 verse 5-8 and also on Philippians 2:9, we see that after what Christ had done in His obedience to His Father, God glorified or exalted His Son. Verse 9 begins with the word “Therefore” (NIV and ESV) and it is because of what is written from verse 5 to 8 (which is Christ obedience to God the Father) - Christ' Humiliation leads to Christ' Exaltation - "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 14:11). Christ humbled Himself in obedience, to the death on the cross. He set the example that we are to follow. And God exalts those who humble themselves.Notice first of all that the source of exaltation is from God the Father - God has exalted Jesus Christ the Son, and the purpose of this exaltation is on verse 11 that is “to the glory of God the Father”. Westminster Catechism describes that this exaltation of Christ consist of: Jesus Christ resurrection (Luke 24:36-39; 1 Cor 15:4); His Ascension (Acts 1:9-11); God set Jesus at His own right hand in the heavenly places (Eph 1:20); and that God has appointed a day in which Jesus will come again to judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31). But here in Paul’s letter to the Philippians Church, Paul describes this in a summary if i may say which is found in verse 9 that is “God has exalted him (Jesus Christ) to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.” In other words God has put Jesus to the highest that it can possibly be - Jesus become the most supreme.
Now this statement, has a very profound meaning in our live as God’s children. Do you find yourselves in frustration because of the turbulent times of the world that we live in? When you looked on all evil act that human could do to other people, let it be terrorism, or gang-rape or all other injustice acts, have you ever wondered what in the world is going on? What about those ruthless kings or government or wealthy people that have ever lived where they did everything just for the sake of themselves, with atrocities acts, they live with all the pleasures they could afford and yet no justice is being made.. do you hear all of these? or maybe you are experiencing it and wonder how could be the name of Jesus Christ will ever be honored as it should? Now this statement of God that exalts Jesus Christ to the highest, should give us hope and comfort! So what hope or comfort that we could grasp from this profound truth?
Last sunday, we just celebrated the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and this resurrection means a lot for us, God’s children - this event is just the beginning of the exaltation that Christ received. If we read on 1 Corinthians 15, we will find a lot of the word “raised” (verse 4,12,13,14,16,17). Let’s take for an example on 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 which says “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” If we look in detail including the greek word, the word “raised” or in greek “egeiro” in the sense of resurrection is always in the passive (not active) form, which means that Jesus was being raised (not that Jesus can’t - because He is God). Jesus is fully God and fully man, and in his state of dead, God raised Him up from the dead. We see here even in His resurrection, Jesus obeys God’s will - He waits until the time God raised Him up. It shows Christ submission to God although He is able to resurrect Himself because He is God the Son (2nd person of the Trinity). Now the first hope that we could have in faith is from the answer that Paul gave to the problem he faced in the Corinthians church at that time. There were teachers at Corinth claiming there would be no resurrection. In answer, Paul gives one of the clearest, most concise definitions of the “gospel” found anywhere in the Bible. He shows how a denial of the resurrection of the dead is a denial of the gospel itself, and how believing in the gospel gives one hope for the next world as well as for the present. Look below on verse 12-13:
“Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.”
How can you say there is no resurrection of the dead? Paul said. There is resurrection! Proof? Because Christ has been raised. For us today, this has become our future hope that one day we too will be raised, because Christ has been raised. There is an act of solidarity between Christ Resurrection and our resurrection in future. Are we glad to hear that death has no power over us? It only has its power for a while but just as Jesus was raised, we too will have the victory over death - because God will raise us! But it is not just a future hope, instead this should impact our present day to day live, because as Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians, if Christ was not raised, everything including our faith is in vain - but it is not, Christ was indeed raised and therefore we are no longer in the power of sin, we are living with a meaning, to live for His Kingdom. It is true that we have not yet been resurrected in a physical sense because we are not dead yet, but we (believers) have been resurrected in a spiritual sense. Look on some verses below:
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” (Colossians 3:1 ESV)
“having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,” (Colossians 2:12-13 ESV)
“even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:5 ESV)
Everything that has been preached about Christ death and resurrection is true, so let’s live a life as God’s people, following His suffering and enjoying the joy of living in Christ.
Second that Jesus Christ who has came many years ago, and being crucified on the cross to be our Savior will once again came as a LORD of all where everyone, i say everyone whether it is in heaven, on earth or even under the earth will bow down on their knee and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord - everyone, no exception will have to submit under the Lordship of Jesus Christ whether they (or we) like it or not. All of man’s authority will be ceased away on that day, and all will be under Jesus Christ righteous authority. This is a certainty and therefore should give us hope that every injustice, or every evil deeds that men may do is just temporary.
A name is not just a name, but a name carries the character. It describes whoever is attached to that name. And so, God exalted Jesus the highest name that is above every name, and that name is LORD and therefore the implication is if He is LORD then every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is indeed Lord (and He acts as Lord), to the glory of God the Father. Does it make sense? The word Lord in greek comes from the word “kurios” which has a large variety of meaning from: sir, owner, master, a name of respect, ruler / king / supreme authority, a name for a wife calling her husband. I believe the apostles of the Bible had a deeper understanding of the concept of Lordship than we do and yet they addressed Jesus as their Lord, or their Lord and Savior. They were all from a culture that understood that to refer to someone as their Lord meant that the Lord was their master, or owner, or supreme authority and that their only function was to serve their Lord. It surely gives us hope that God exalted Jesus to the highest and call him LORD of all meaning that he will rule everything under his feet / authority - meaning that total victory is made sure where only righteousness governs, but also to acknowledge Jesus as Lord should have an implication to our live day to day.
In our society today, especially in Western culture, we do not want anyone to Lord it over us. After all, we are free and independent people. We prefer Jesus to be our Savior because that appeals to us -- to be saved from the consequences of our sins -- it is very humanistic. What is really difficult is to say that Jesus is Lord in our lives and really mean it and live it. Not just say it as a Christian slogan.
Romans 10:9 says “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” It says, "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord..."But it does not end there. It only begins there. Jesus, in fact, does not even want us to make such a confession if we are not willing to act upon it. He does not want us to call Him "Lord" and "Master" if we are not willing to commit to doing the things He says. He said, "And why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" (Luke 6:46). Instead, our deeds need to match our words: "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." (Colossians 3:17). To confess Jesus' Lordship with our mouths while not submitting our lives to Him is empty. If He truly is our Lord, then He controls both our words as well as our deeds.
Christianity is a relationship with a real living "person" named Jesus. It is about a transformed life because we have met King Jesus and bowed our knee to Him as our Lord and King. The reality of Christianity is that Jesus is alive and we can know Him intimately.
Look again on the verse it consist of 2 parts:
1. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord → or taking Jesus as our LORD
2. Believe that God raised Him from the dead → meaning that Jesus is alive today.
Once we acknowledge Jesus as our Lord, that makes us to be His “servant”, we become a subject to His rule and authority. Nevertheless we are servant to whoever we serve, the question is do we serve Jesus or Satan? Once we are born again, we enter into God’s family and kingdom where Jesus is our covenant brother as well as our Lord and King. This king wants to have an intimate relationship with us, and so He teaches us and governs our lives so that we have the way of life.
For all the humanity today, the question is not whether we will bow our knee and confess Jesus as our Lord, because everyone will do that eventually. The question is when? Will you bow before Him and acknowledge Him in your life as Lord and Savior now? Some are still denying who Jesus is today but there will be a day where you can’t deny that He is truly the Son of God, and He is indeed Lord. Will you accept it when it is already too late? Again, we will bow down before Him one day - are we ready? Are we looking forward on His second coming to welcome Him and to spend the eternity with His presence?
To conclude, it is important to note that Christ is just as active now, in His estate of exaltation as He was in His estate of humiliation. Christ did not leave the earth for His own sake. He went to prepare a place for us (John 14:3). He also are now continuously making an intercession for His people (Hebrew 7:25). He continues His conquest of all His and our enemies, and the last enemy is death itself, then He will deliver up the kingdom to His Father, and we will enjoy communion with God directly. Christ exaltation will never end: as Christ is the first-fruit of all, and as we shall be like him, we too will enjoy the everlasting fellowship with Christ.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Paul
Previous related article: "The Humility of Christ" from Philippians 2:5-8
- http://www.the-covenant-kingdom.com/Jesus-is-Lord.html
- http://www.bible.ca/ef/expository-romans-10-9-10.htm
- http://kevinpierpont.com/the-exalted-christ-philippians-29-11/
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