We saw why Paul wrote this, as
it might hold up Christ as an example unto them, that they
might look on the things of others and not think of themselves too
highly. So he comes to verse 5 and says
to them, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus. who being in the form of God
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and
was made in the likeness of men. Being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven
and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. Now, just a little bit of rehearsal
to get us back on track and in our right frame of mind. Last
week we studied the humiliation or the condescension of our blessed
Lord as the eternal Son of God. Paul held him up as the supreme
example of one who looks upon the things of others that he
might do them good. And he says of Christ that though
he existed in the form of God, he took upon him the form of
a slave, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,
and he became obedient unto death. He took into union with his divine
nature, human nature, but he took it without any depravity
or corruption, without depravity, and it being the will of God
that in that body that God had prepared, that he should die
and offer a sacrifice. And yet Christ freely consented
and gave himself under obedience and death according to the will
and command of the Father. Now, last week we looked at his
lowering himself. And before we consider the exaltation
of our Lord today, I want us to look back just a bit and take
a deeper look at the kind of death that our Lord died, and
what is signified by it, and what is involved in the kind
of death that our Lord died. We notice that after Paul had
written that the Lord became obedient unto death. I was reading
one of my lexicon and I noticed that one had it, obedient unto
death. In fact, all of our Lord's life,
every act, every teaching, every miracle, every work was in obedience
to the will of the Father. He had a work that the Father
had given him to do. And then his obedience extended
even to the culmination of obedience in death. He obeyed as far as
it is possible for one to obey. That is, he gave himself up unto
death. He laid down his life that he
might take it up again. But then here's what I wanted
us to see before we move along. That is, we want to note how
Paul mentioned the kind of death that Christ died. Which way? Even unto death of the cross. unto death, that death being
the death of the cross. We might say, death, I, the death
of the cross. Our Lord died, he died the death
of the cross. And this is intended that it
might emphasize the depth to which our Lord humbled himself
and was obedient unto God. He humbled himself unto the point
to die upon a cross. And there are two sorts of death,
rather, that he died here. The death of the cross, not of
natural causes. Our Lord did not die because
he became sick, like was the case with Lazarus. He did not
die by accident. but by the death of the cross,
which could be called, especially at that time, death in its most
awful form. It would be hard in that period
of time to find a death more shameful, more painful, more
disgraceful than the death upon the Roman cross. John Eady, in
his good commentary on the book of Philippians, has given a very
extended and graphic description of death on a cross at the hand
of the Roman. And I have taken some of the
thoughts of Eady and will share them with you now. That is that
the death of the cross was one of special torture and disgrace. How torturous was the death of
the cross. How disgraceful was the death
of the cross. And even under Roman law, it
was reserved mostly for slaves and for the worst kind of criminals
among them and in their society. Now the victim may have been
soundly beaten prior to having been put upon the cross, even
as was our Lord. and their last few earthly possessions
were confiscated by the soldier, and then they were stripped naked
and fastened on the cross or upon the stake, hands and feet
bound, or in the case of Christ, nailed under the cross. And as
they writhe there in their pain and agony and misery, the soldiers
might taunt and mock them as they endured their misery. And
it might be that a jeering crowd might come to make a circus out
of that one that was put upon the cross, and to make sport
of the hanging and the suffering one. Needless to say, it was
a painful, but it was a slow death. and the misery was beyond
description. And the condemned one, hanged
and crucified, might not die on the first day of being upon
a cross, but hang there until at last death came and their
body was lifeless. Now, in the case of our Lord,
he was innocent. He was not a criminal. He had
done nothing wrong or worthy of death, and that according
to both Pilate and Herod, as we read in Luke 23, 14 and 15,
I find no cause of death in him. But according to Isaiah, he was
numbered with the transgressors. Isaiah 53 and verse 12, Mark
15 and verse 28, thy Lord was treated as if he had been the
worst criminal on earth. in the Roman capital at that
time, and not only numbered with a transgressor, but one died
on either side of our Lord, and he in the middle between. This thought as we move along,
though Paul sets the Lord Jesus forth as the model to be imitated
in in what he did in behalf and for the sake of others, yet in
no way do we say that the death of Christ is restricted or limited
only as an example to be imitated. For our Lord was set forth in
that death as a propitiation. He was, according to Paul, made
sin. 2nd Corinthians 5 and verse 21,
and cursed is he that hangs up on a tree. When all passed by,
they knew that those hanging had been cursed by the law. Now,
let's sum up the humiliation or the condescension of our Lord
in bringing himself down and wearing flesh like ours. He was born of a woman. He was born of a woman, a virgin
woman, how be it a sinful woman, Mary was not without sin. And
he lay there and its humility for our blessed Lord the son
of God, to lay in the womb of a woman. His mother and her husband
were not wealthy people or socialite. They were of no great reputation
or social standing in their city. And the Lord endured the constant
criticism of the Jewish leaders all the days of his earthly life. He was a man that had no place
to lay his head. As he said on his own, he was
condemned unjustly, he was put to death on the cross, and he
was buried in a donated tomb that one man had provided for
him. And then he lay in the grave,
under death, for three days and for three nights. And then there
in the grave, after three days and three nights, his humiliation
came to an end because it was fulfilled. All that the Lord
had ordained for him had been accomplished, and he had submitted,
and he had been obedient. And then there followed upon
that the exaltation of our blessed Lord, or if you prefer, the glorification
of him into his mediatorial glory at the right hand of God. Now, as we make the transition
from humiliation, let us realize that these are two parts of a
whole, and that the latter must follow upon the former. That
as he humbled himself to die, so he must be exalted and raised
up into glory. As surely as the Lord gave himself
in death, so surely would he by the promise and the decree
of God live again and be exalted into high glory at the right
hand of God. You can see that in Acts chapter
2, 24 through 27, and in Psalms chapter 16 and verses 8 through
11. We read the statement. It is
true. It is not possible that he should
be held by death. The psalmist had written, thou
wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor suffer by holy one to see
corruption. It was not possible that death
hold our Lord beyond the appointed time. And in spite of the stone
put in the mouth of our Lord's tomb, in spite of the seal of
Pilate being there upon the grave, in spite of the soldier that
stood guard that none steal him away, and in spite of the power
of death, It was not possible for the Lord to be held under
it beyond the appointed time. It was impossible for him to
see corruption. Thou will not suffer thine Holy
One to see corruption, again as was the case with Lazarus. Now let's read the first part
of verse 9 of our text again. Wherefore also God hath highly
exalted him, as he humbled himself to the lowest degree, God exalted
him to the highest glory and honor and majesty and power and
sovereignty. But before we consider, in part,
wherein that glorification does consist, let's make a connection
that some might miss. And this involves the word therefore
or wherefore, as you might see it in some version, therefore,
wherefore, in the beginning of verse 9. Then look at the word
also. Wherefore, therefore, God also. Wherefore, also, God. God did something following and
as a result of his humbling himself. And that is that because or after
the Lord had humbled himself. And that humiliation of our Lord
can only be measured by him in the form of God humbling himself
to death upon a gibbet, or a stake, or a cross, and then even lying
in the grave. There in the grave, his humiliation
came unto an end, being complete, and when it was so, God raised
him up and exalted him into highest glory. When he had finished the
work that the Father had given him to do, and that included
laying in death three days and three nights, then he would be
glorified and he would enter into his glory. And then he would
be given dominion over all person and all things in heaven and
in earth. His suffering, therefore, was
a necessary proceeding of his entering into glory. His glory
as the mediatorial sovereignty followed his obedience and suffering,
humiliation, and such like. Reading John Owen on the subject,
The Glory of Christ, in one of his 16 volumes, I'm quoting,
that are two heads wherein all the prophecy and all the prediction
concerning Christ under the Old Testament are referred. His suffering and the glory that
followed. One, His suffering, two, the
glory that followed. Now, let's notice that these
are mentioned, they're mentioned together, and they're mentioned
in that order several times in the scripture. For example, in
1 Peter chapter 1, verse 10, 11 speaking of the salvation and
the grace that should come unto you that though the Spirit testified
beforehand of the suffering of Christ and the glory that should
follow and we need to do that it need to watch that the Spirit
of God in the prophet and and in the word of God testified
beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that
should follow. First suffering and death and
then glory. Remember Luke chapter 24 and
verse 26 Christ met the two on Emmaus Road those two men on
Emmaus Road who were Desolate and seemed to have lost all of
their hope and our Lord chided them Because they said of the
leaders who have caused him to be put to death we had trusted
this would be him that would deliver Israel and And they said,
this is now the third day. And Christ said this unto them,
quote, ought not Christ to suffer these things and to enter into
his glory, that suffering is the entrance or the way into
his glory. The Lord frequently spoke of
this order to his disciples, that he would suffer be buried,
raised again, and exalted to the right hand of God. For example,
in Luke 18, 31 through 33, that he would be put to death, he
would rise again on the third day. And he did exactly that. There is a passage in Isaiah,
chapter 53. I'm going to turn there and read
verse 10, 11, and 12. That would be the last three
verses of the chapter, and they do bear, I think, a resemblance
under the text that we have taken in Philippians chapter 2, 5 through
11. Here's what Isaiah had written
in prophecy. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He has put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see a seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul, and shall be satisfied by his knowledge, shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquity. Listen
to verse 12. Therefore, Therefore, wherefore,
as a result, will I divide him a portion with the great, he
shall divide the spoiled with the strong. Because he has poured
out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressor,
he bare the sin of many, and he made intercession for the
transgressor." Now notice what it said. God bruised him, God
put him to grief, his soul made an offering for sin, and he bore
the iniquity of many. And again in verse 12, there
are two words, therefore and because. Therefore and because. Having died, as a sin-bearer,
therefore will I divide him a portion, etc. John Brown wrote on Isaiah
chapter 53 that exaltation is based upon his vicarious obedience
and suffering, unquote, because He poured out his soul unto death
because he was numbered with the transgressor, because he
bare the sin of many, because he made intercession for the
transgressors. Then he shall have a due reward
proper and fitting for the work and the humbling that he had
done. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross,
despised the shame, and is set down on the right hand of God. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse
2. Now we might take note that Paul,
in setting forth the transition of the Lord from his humiliation
to his exaltation in our text, in Philippians chapter 2, he
does not in this place mention by name the burial, the resurrection,
or the ascension of the Lord, that is by name, though they
are implied in the text and are very well documented in many
other places in the scripture. as he went from equality with
God to death on the cross and then lying in a grave. Even so,
his exaltation went from the grave to the crown at the very
right hand of God. Let me use a quote from John
Eady's commentary on the book of Philippians. Quote, It was
no ordinary obedience, and therefore it was no ordinary reward, as
nothing could be lower than the degradation of the cross, nothing
could be higher than the mediatorial crown." Unquote. Think of that,
the words of E.D. Dare we not forget in considering
this, that His resurrection and His exaltation to the right hand
of God is proof positive and beyond question that the Son
has completed the work that the father has given him to do. It also signifies that the father
accepts it and that he is pleased with the work and the death of
his son, and he accepts it as the salvation of the elect, that
he will by that bring many sons Unto glory when Paul says Christ
has been exalted What differs this from saying that he entered
into his glory? When he was exalted he entered
into his glory when he was glorified He was exalted again Luke chapter
24 and verse 26 the glory that should follow After his suffering
we read that again in in 2nd Peter again. But we notice how
Paul sets it as to double the emphasis on the exaltation of
our Lord. Not content to say God has exalted
him, and as E.D. wrote, verbs compounded with
highly are favorites with the apostle. He uses them, and what
he is saying, Christ has been elevated. And he has been exalted. He has been raised up. And that,
above all others, raised from the lowest position in the grave
to the highest position. Hooper, I believe it is, above,
beyond, even denoting the sky, the altitude, to rise to the
highest position that one might attain or be given. And notice
how Paul defines this elevation of Christ. Verse 9 again, by
giving him a name which is above every name. In verse 10, that
to him every knee should bow, whether in heaven, whether in
earth, or whether under the earth. And verse 11, that every tongue
should confess His Lordship to the glory of God the Father. We'll have more on these verses
later, if time permits. We remember in John 17, verses
1 through 5, as the Lord finishes the upper room discourse, and
as He faced the death of the cross, in John 17, 1 through
5, the Lord petitioned the Father for the glory that he was worthy
of and which he had before the world began or was. His desire was to glorify the
Father that the Father reciprocally might glorify him. and that he
in turn be glorified after glorifying the Father. You can see the link
in John 17, verses 4 and 5. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which
thou didst give me to do. And now, O Father, glorify me
with your own self, with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was. Let's add John chapter 13, 31
and 32, also a part of the upper room discourse. It was spoken
upon the departure of Judas out of the chamber as he went out
to set in motion the events that would lead to the crucifixion
of the Lord. And it said, therefore, when
he was gone out, that is Judas, When Judas had gone out, the
Lord said to the rest of the apostles, quote, Now is the Son
of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified
in him, God also shall glorify him in himself and shall straightway
glorify him. unquote. And as the son would
glorify God in his coming death by fulfilling all things and
by bearing the curse of the law and making satisfaction to God
in behalf of the elect and being obedient, and that obedience
was in accordance with a covenant and with the purpose of God,
and he had finished the work that God had assigned him to
do. There was an agreement, called
it a covenant if you will, between the father and the son, and as
Thomas Manton wrote, he sues for his wages, unquote. He has come to do all but to
die and to lay in the grave. For as in John 12 and 23, The
hour is come when the son of man should be glorified. What a text. Hebrews 1 and verse
3, when he had by himself purged our sin, sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. After suffering all that had
been appointed unto him as priest and mediator, he then would enter
into his glory with the Father. Yea, he would sit on the right
hand of God until his enemies had been made his footstool.
Psalm 110 verse 1. Matthew 22 and 44, Hebrews 1
and verse 13. He would sit at the right hand
of God till all of his enemies had been put down and made his
footstool. Romans 8, 34, Christ died, is
risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, doing what? Making intercession for us. When we put all these things
together, we have a two-fold view of the Lord's great exaltation. Number one, Christ and the prophets
spoke in the future tense of these two things, of His suffering
and death and the glory that would follow. Yes, the prophets
and then Christ. spoke of these things in that
order. Secondly, the apostles, after
the death of our Lord, spoke of these things in the past ten
and as an accomplished fact. Christ Jesus has entered into
his glory. He is at the right hand of God. He has sat down upon the right
hand of God. And as we move along in this,
I think here is an important consideration of the exaltation
and the glorification of the risen Christ. who in the incarnation
assumed human nature and a human soul in hypostatic union with
the divine nature of the eternal sun. And this union, hypostatic
it is called, was not dissolved when he died, when he resurrected,
or when he ascended into his glory at the right hand of God. He had a resurrection of his
body. And we know the divine nature
cannot suffer and it cannot die. and though somewhat altered that
resurrection body, for he was able to go and come without doors,
without using doors, he appeared in a room, the doors being closed,
and spoke to his disciple. But in John chapter 20, After
the resurrection, he showed the disciples the scars in his hand
and in his side, and he ascended bodily into heaven. You have
that in Acts chapter 1. He went up out of their sight,
and ere he did, He lifted up his hands, the scripture said,
that he was not a ghost but had a body, a resurrected body. Luke 24 50, he lifted up his
hand and is there as the mediator between God and men as the man Christ Jesus 1st Timothy chapter
2 and verse 5 there is one Mediator between God and men the man Christ
Jesus The Lord was already exalted into heaven when Paul wrote these
things that we are studying from today. And in Philippians 3 verse
21, Paul speaks of the Lord in heaven as having, quote, his
glorious body. His glorious body, or the body
of His glory, and said that He will transform ours into the
likeness of His, for He is able to subdue all things unto Himself. Here is the point stated by men,
great men, theologically, as Owen, Gil, Edie, Hutchinson,
Manton, that his exaltation and glorifying of the Lord is not
to be restricted to the divine nature of Christ only. This he had before the world
ever began. We read that in John 17 1 through
5. This glory for a time he veiled while he
was in this world, in the flesh, in the likeness of men. Not only
is eternal glory proper unto him, and having veiled it to
some extent while he were upon the earth, he seeks now a return
to the full manifestation of the glory that he had with the
Father before the world was. Not only so, but as Hutcheson
wrote on John 17, he prays to be glorified in his whole person. Think of that and take it in,
which includes his human nature, which was to be exalted as high
as it is capable of being exalted. And yet, without his human nature
being deified, His humanity or his human nature was not deified
in the exaltation or the glorification and the glory of God to shine
in the person of Christ that the God-man, the man Christ Jesus,
yet without coalescing into one nature in his glorification. It is that human nature that
Christ assumed in the incarnation which he took to heaven. And
though it was not deified, I want to emphasize that, yet it was
glorified. And here I take a few thoughts
from that great learned skilled Puritan, John Owen. that it has
a lasting perfection, and to quote Owen, quote, it is exalted
in fullness of divine perfection in a way incapable of description
above that of angels or of men. This glorification is beyond
our describing it and beyond our comprehending it while we
dwell in this body of clay. But by virtue of its union with
the divine nature, It is exalted above all of the creatures of
God in glory, in dignity, in sovereignty, and the Son stands
the nearest to God of any. It would seem a shame, I think,
and a slight to speak on this subject and to not include the
words of the Apostle Peter in the second chapter of Acts, Verse
36 on the day of Pentecost you remember how the Spirit of God
came on that day? how Peter discerned that it was
the fulfilling of the prophecy of God, and he said that God
has raised up this same Jesus, Peter tells them, whom they crucified,
and listen, hath made him both B-O-T-H, hath made him both Lord
and Christ. God hath raised him up and made
him both Lord and Christ. This very same Jesus has been
not only raised up out of the grave, where he was put, but
he is made sovereign over all. He is exalted to a sovereign
mediatorial lordship and therefore all judgment is put into his
hand. This is typified in Joseph in
the Old Testament. who went down even into the dungeon,
then was brought out, made the second in command, every knee
bowed as Joseph went by, and such like, and judgment was put
into his hand. Now, let's close with a look
back at Philippians chapter 2. Think about it. A name above
every name. A name here is not just a proper
name, but it is the person and the character and the being and
such like. A name above every name to whom
every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. This one. is due unlimited homage,
and he exercises sovereignty over the soul of all people. He will be the judge. If I flip
back to Ephesians, which I'm doing, chapter 1 and verse 20
through 22, let me read. hath put all things under his
feet, and gave him to be head over all things unto the church. I'm sorry, let's begin in verse
20. Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead,
set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. far above
all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and
every name that is named, not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his
feet, gave him to be head over all things under the church.
Now I close with this. This is not the view of Christ
that is held and is preached in most churches in our day.
What we have said this morning is not the common view of much
of that that calls itself Christian. In the process, they make him
purely human, they steal his sovereignty, they steal his lordship,
they reduce him to being a beggar trying to enter into the hearts
of men, they take away his lordship, and they liken him far too much
to only a common man, and they take away the sovereignty and
the majesty of the Exalted One. Now this One is Lord of all. We read that in Acts. He is Lord
of all. He will be the judge. He has
the power to exercise over the things of God according to the
disposition of God the Father. He is made Lord and Christ. You do not make him personal. You do not make him Lord. You
do not make him Christ. You do not make him your savior.
He is made that by God. He is made Lord and Christ. And all we can say, thank God,
hallelujah for it. It is a wonderful, blessed, comforting
truth to our hearts.