None of us can ever imagine the high position of being God, even at a worldly level where God is someone very high, above all else. The Bible gives a view of God with all his infinite attributes that is awesome. Isaiah 40:25 asks, “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” He is so infinitely high, Isaiah says, that for God to see the great things that are in heaven, he has to infinitely humble himself. Think of it, just to see the great things in heaven, let alone on Earth. Why? Firstly, there is an infinite distance between the high, eternal essence of the Creator’s nature and being, and the essence of any creature he created. Since there is no comparison, a comparison between him and his creation is made in Isaiah 40:15: “Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust on the scales; All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.” There is no measure or proportion between an infinite Being and all creatures, which are “nothing,” even “less than nothing.”
Second, because of his infinite self-sufficiency for his own blessedness, happiness, and eternal satisfaction, we are not essential. Not only are we nothing, but God doesn’t need anything from us. Even our righteousness and praise don’t add anything to him. He is self-sufficient. Think of it: the distance between the eternal Creator God and us makes us nothing as creatures, and secondly, his self-sufficiency makes us completely useless and irrelevant. So, the Bible shows that for such an infinitely perfect being to condescend from the prerogative of his excellent status and glory and to take notice of the most glorious things in heaven is a universal wonder of wonders; it is a great act of self-humiliation.
If we understand that, we will understand the shocking wonder of Paul’s words in Philippians 2. If such is the infinite distance between the high, self-sufficient, eternal God and all creatures, to even look upon us is a great humiliation. What great humiliation is it, then, for the eternal Son of God, who not only looked upon and beheld us, but in infinite pity and humiliation, took the seven steps Paul lays out for us, as we saw in verse 6 last week?
We saw the seven ladder steps of great humiliation and selfless love:
- “who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,” meaning he did not treat his equality with God as a treasure to be selfishly, greedily grasped or proudly shown off.
- He “emptied himself,” emptying his heavenly, bright glory as God, his independent authority as God, and his eternal riches as God.
- He took “the form of a bondservant.”
- He came “in the likeness of men.”
- He was “found in appearance as a man.”
- He “humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death.”
- And finally, “even the death of the cross.”
What a shocking picture! We have read stories and seen movies where the greatest king leaves all his riches, position, and glory for his people. We look at that with shock and admiration, but how should this humiliation of the greatest king deeply impact our minds? Brothers, I plead deeply on behalf of the Holy Spirit to think of these verses. The Holy Spirit has written them in a song-like form for us to again and again think about, so that our minds are deeply impacted by this.
This is the gospel mystery, the divine secret that brings new life to selfish and proud men and women. Until we are awestruck by this humiliation, we will never be delivered from our oppressive selfishness and vain pride. We all continually struggle with internal and external conflicts in life, groaning to be delivered. There is continual groaning from morning to night in families, at work, in the church, and in all relationships. That deliverance can come only when you grasp this great humiliation of Christ in your soul. This heavenly vision lifts us from the poor, low, cheap selfishness and vain pride, from scrambling for worldly pride, and clears all confusion, bringing peace and rest to our minds. As Christians, we live so joylessly and without peace, being slaves of selfish pride and vain pride. Oh, may the Holy Spirit help us to grasp this.
This truth brings saving faith. Why do men not believe Christ is God and get saved? Vain pride blinds them and makes them think, “How can a glorious God humble himself to this extent of the cross?” For unbelieving, selfish, proud eyes, Jesus doesn’t seem like God at all. May God help you exercise that saving faith through this truth. Jesus Christ voluntarily left the highest position in the universe and went to the very lowest position on Earth in order to save us from God’s judgment.
Paul, writing to the Philippians and calling them to unity, then practically teaches that unity can only come from cultivating a true lowliness of mind and selfless love. He sets before us the greatest example of a lowly mind and talks about three states of Christ. We saw two states of Christ last week: his pre-incarnate glory and his humiliation in incarnation. Now Paul talks about his third state: his incarnate exaltation. Sadly, Roman Catholicism and even Protestant Christianity are content to see Christ in his humiliation without a proper understanding of his exaltation, so this passage gloriously unfolds for us the exaltation of Jesus Christ.
We will look at verses 9-11 under two headings:
- What did God do to Jesus as a response to his humiliation?
- What will the universe do to Jesus as a result of God’s act?
God’s Response to Christ’s Humiliation
Firstly, what did God do to Christ as a response to his humiliation?
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name.
“Therefore” takes us back to verse 8: Because Jesus was willing to humble Himself and be obedient to death on the cross, because Christ did that voluntarily. Notice that up to verse 9, everything describes what Jesus did and how he humbled himself, but in verse 9 the agent has changed, and now we do not read of what Christ does, but what the majestic God does to Christ. Two things God did:
First, God highly exalted Him. “Highly exalted” is an amazing, compound word that occurs only here in the New Testament. It may be translated “super-exalted” or “hyper-exalted.” It means God lifted him to the highest pinnacle. He exalted him above all other things. How did God exalt Jesus? The Bible lists four steps of his exaltation. We also studied in Isaiah 53 that he was raised up, lifted up, highly exalted, and is now reigning over the universe.
The first step of his exaltation is resurrection. Men pushed him down, humbled and killed him. In Acts 2, Peter says, “This Jesus whom you crucified and killed, God raised up again from the dead.”
The second step of exaltation is his ascension to heaven. We see in Acts that he was taken up to heaven as the disciples watched.
Then Acts 2:33 says, “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God.” The third step: he went to sit on the Father’s throne at His right hand. What does that mean? It is the language of a coronation. Sitting at the right hand was always the symbol of power and authority. God lifted Jesus up first by resurrection, second by ascension, and third with what happened in heaven. We didn’t see his coronation, but we can believe what Scripture says: he is coronated at the Father’s right hand.
Then finally, the fourth step: he was given a sovereign mediatorial reign/rule. Acts 5:31 says, “He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a prince and a Savior to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” Peter says the reason you are repenting and receiving the Holy Spirit is because of his coronation and his mediatorial reign. In Ephesians 1:21, it says that Christ was raised from the dead—that’s resurrection—and seated at the right hand in heavenly places—that’s coronation. And then it describes his mediatorial reign: he is far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. Verse 22 says God has put all things in subjection under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church which is His body.
His mediatorial reign consists of his three offices: King, Prophet, and Priest. William Hendrickson writes, “As King, having by His death, resurrection and ascension achieved and displayed His triumph over His enemies, He now holds in His hands the reigns of the universe and rules all things in the interest of the church. As prophet, He through His Spirit leads His own in all truth. As priest, He on the basis of His accomplished atonement not only intercedes but actually lives forever to make intercession for those who draw near to God through Him.”
So God highly exalted him in four steps. Step one: God raised Him from the dead. Step two: He ascended to heaven. Step three: His coronation; he was raised to the state of God’s right hand. Step four: His mediatorial reign, where he was given the right to rule. “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”
The second thing God did was to give him the name which is above every name. Men did not exalt Jesus. They cast insults, jeered and spit upon him, and called him names. Even now, they insult his name. In a meeting, just say “Jesus” to friends, and you can feel the irritation begin. They are ashamed of that name, which shows how perverted and opposite the world is. But God the Father gave Jesus the name above all names. The word “gave” means bestowed. Jesus so fully and completely accomplished redemption that God wholeheartedly and generously, graciously, and beneficently poured out on him gifts, the gifts of exaltation. God exalted him and gave him the name above every name.
“The name…the name,” with the definite article, “the name which is above every name.” Now what is THE name which is above every name? A title name that will literally cause Him to be ranked above all other beings. It will be a title that is characteristic of His essence that will identify Him as superior to all other beings. It is a superlative name, one beyond all others.
What is that name? Down in verse 11, it says that “every tongue must confess that Jesus Christ is…Lord.” That’s the name that is above every name. That’s the supreme name. We may be used to that name, but it is so very unique. It is the name “Lord,” which is equivalent to the Old Testament name of God, Yahweh, a name so sacred that the Hebrews would not even pronounce it. When they were reading the Scripture and came to Yahweh, they would read “Adonai,” which means “Lord.” So “Jesus is Lord” means “Jesus is Yahweh,” the eternal God.
Giving this name above every name is part of Christ’s glorification. It comes from rich biblical history. If you read the Old Testament, whenever God binds someone to him in an eternal covenant relationship and promises glorious things, he is pleased with a man and gives him unique privileges and a position; he gives him a new name. Remember the name of Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel, and Simon to Simon Peter. So here Jesus Christ is glorified and given a name above every name: “Lord Jehovah,” which indicates a sovereign ruler with all power and authority. A name of majesty. That is the name of monarchy. The New Testament refers to Jesus Christ as Lord 747 times. The apostles said in Acts 10, “we preach Jesus Christ, He is Lord of all.” Some people want to preach another gospel, that you can accept Jesus as Savior but not as Lord. That is heresy.
We may ask what the difference is. Jesus was already God before he became man; he got back what he already had in the beginning. No, he got infinitely more. See, earlier he had that glory as God, but now this highest glory is given to him as a God-man, which he could never have had earlier. Now he is glorified as a mediator, glorified as King, Priest, and Prophet, which was not the case before. He could not get that glory earlier as only God. But now his glory is much higher. Not only as the Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, but by his incarnation, he received all glory, rights, and privileges in the Godhead as a God-man and became fit for the mediatorial role of King, Priest, and Prophet. Only now does he have the glory of being the only mediator between God and man. He can take care of all the prerogatives of God on one side, and on the other side, sympathize with all the needs of man. He didn’t have that glory earlier. He is much more exalted.
The Universe’s Response to Christ’s Exaltation
Now we see what the universe will do to Christ as a result of God’s exaltation.
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
What will be the universal response to God’s action? He will receive universal worship with no exceptions. The entire universe—every knee and every tongue—will bow and worship him. There is an amazing prophecy, which Paul is just copying from Isaiah 45:22: “For I am God, and there is no other. ‘Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! I have sworn by Myself; The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, And shall not return, That to Me every knee shall bow, Every tongue shall take an oath.”
This is the Old Testament prophecy language talking about Jehovah taking an oath to bring universal worship and submission to himself. Paul says that will happen through Christ. To emphasize the universal nature of Christ’s exaltation and lordship, Paul adds, “of those in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth.” Every created being will submit to Jesus Christ.
In heaven, all the big angels, seraphim, and cherubim will willingly bow before Jesus. The angels are awesome creatures of great power and glory. The holy angels, the elect angels, myriads and myriads, the thousands upon thousands of angels will bow their knee and worship Jesus. And then all the redeemed saints will bow to Christ, from Adam to the last believer.
On Earth, those who have tasted his sovereign grace will bow willingly before Jesus. What about those who are not saved? People sitting here who have still not bowed to him in true faith—touch your knees. Those feet will one day bow to Christ’s Lordship. All others in this generation, including many of the mightiest—our Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Prime Ministers Narendra Modi, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, the most powerful men who have ever lived—Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Pharaohs, Caesars, great kings, wealthy tycoons Ambani, Adani, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, dons, and rowdies—will bow against their wills, but they will bow.
Under the Earth, think of Satan, the most proud creature, who will bow, and all his powerful demonic forces will bow before the Lord Jesus Christ. Powerful demons who control villages and cities today; certain demons apparently have territorial power over entire nations (Dan. 10:13). But they all will bow before the Lord Jesus Christ. Every knee should bow: things in heaven, things on Earth, things under the Earth.
Then what? They will not be able to curse, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. What does confess mean? Exomologeo means to acknowledge, to affirm, and to wholeheartedly accept. Everyone will agree that he’s Lord. How will unbelievers and demons say that?
One preacher explains this often: hell is pictured as the demons and unsaved, the damned, blaspheming and cursing God. God isn’t going to allow that to go on throughout eternity. He explained it by using the analogy of the limit of pain. Some people can endure only a small amount of pain before they will submit to anyone torturing them. Others can endure much more pain before they are broken. As a boy, you may have wrestled with a bigger boy who got you in a painful hold and increased your pain until you would agree to do or say what he wanted. If he let up on the pain, you would defy him and say, “I’m not going to do it.” So, he would increase your pain until you said, “Okay, I’ll do what you want!” Once we are released, maybe we will say, “I will not do it,” and say, “You are a fool,” and run away. But men cannot run away from Jesus at that time.
This preacher speculates that in hell, God is going to inflict on every person or demon the amount of pain necessary to bring that being into submission, where under duress and unbearable pain, he cries out, “Jesus is Lord.” If God were to lessen the pain, the person would defy God. So God increases the pain to the point where they submit and then holds them at that level throughout eternity. They keep confessing “Jesus is Lord” for all eternity. I don’t know that you can prove his theory from Scripture, but it does make sense. However God does it, there isn’t a rebellious creature on Earth or in hell who will not acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord. It will be a forced confession, but every knee shall bow before Jesus. If people will not willingly give glory to God in this life, they will do so against their will throughout eternity.
And what’s the ultimate end or purpose? Look at it: “to the glory of God the Father.” God will secure glory to himself in this work of the exaltation of Jesus. God, who said, “Who can you compare me with? There is no one like me,” has taken an oath that every knee will bow to him. Now Scripture here says every knee bowing to Jesus will glorify God. Therein is the mystery of the Trinity: that when the Son is glorified, the Father is glorified. Perfect glory to the Son is perfect glory given to the Father. Today, many fools claiming to be wise have become mad by questioning this foundational truth of Christ’s equality with the Father, which all our forefathers and true churches fought for throughout 2,000 years. They come on YouTube and to your homes.
The passage is so clear: to honor Jesus is to honor the Father. Jesus himself said, “He who honors the Son honors the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father” (John 5:23). That’s the mystery of the Trinity. Because Jesus and the Father are one, to glorify Jesus is to glorify the Father. So we see the exaltation of Jesus. As a response to his humiliation, God highly exalted him. As a response to what God did to Jesus, he will receive universal, full worship. Without exception, every knee and every tongue will worship him.
Lessons and Applications
So what lessons can we learn? This passage teaches an inseparable connection between deep theology and practical Christian life duties. Many people have advised me, “Pastor, why do you take so much time explaining theology and verses and words? You should just superficially, briefly, quickly explain the verses and then go to practical lessons. That will not only be a very interesting sermon, you will have many views and likes on YouTube, and many will come to church, because people listen to theology initially and then switch off. Be like so many churches: just use Scripture as a pickle and then keep saying practical things. Why so much time on theology?”
Look at this passage. What can be more deep or mysterious theology than the incarnation of Jesus becoming man, humbling himself? What mystery is greater than the mystery of the incarnation? Why does the apostle go on and explain that, not only here, but in all the epistles, with so many verses of theological explanation before he comes to the practical?
Because Paul knew how the Holy Spirit works. The Holy Spirit doesn’t illuminate minds and transform hearts with just empty practical principles. They may be an interesting speech to us, and we may think they are useful and practical, but the Holy Spirit illuminates and transforms a heart only when we grasp deep truths, and grasping that truth gives us strength to change our will to practice the applications in life. If we have to have the mind of Christ, he shows us the mind of Christ in the theology of the incarnation.
The problem with today’s preaching and the problem with today’s Christians being so weak, so superficial, and not growing, is because they do not take time to understand deep truths and become well-grounded in the most profound mysteries of their faith. “Ah, practical, practical!” they say. When we speak theology, they get sleepy. I was like that. I listened only to emotional, practical preachers, and my Christian life was very weak.
If you are weak and superficial in understanding the truth, you will be weak in practice, weak in Christian life, and weak in handling life’s trials and sufferings. Sometimes in our church, I rejoice to see people in deep trials stand so strong and triumph. I have never seen them blaspheming God or running after the world. Why? Because they have grown deeply in the truths for years. You see people going to such superficial churches—with only nice, practical ideas and entertaining preaching, no deep, grounding truth—who cannot stand small struggles and problems in life. There is no practical wisdom.
Only deep, strong, sound, and robust doctrine can give birth to a strong, godly life with a mature Christian character. The foundations of Christianity are doctrine and practice. God has joined these two inseparably. Men are trying to separate them, with terrible consequences in the church today. I hope you will not be so naive and immature as to say, “Oh, come on, Pastor, finish the deep truths and come to the practical applications.” Practical, you say?
Okay, now practically, I will tell you this passage shows the great importance of lowliness of mind. Humility is the foundation of Christianity, the mother of all graces. Edwards, in his classic book Religious Affections, points out that there is a false humility which professing but unconverted people can have. Anyone who is truly converted will display what he calls “gospel/evangelical humiliation.” Listen to his words: “Gospel Evangelical humiliation is a sense that a Christian has of his own utter depravity, exceeding sinfulness, insufficiency, despicableness, and odiousness, which will reveal itself in the frame of his heart, consisting in a mean [worthy of little regard] esteem of himself, as in himself nothing, and altogether contemptible, and always trying to mortify every desire to exalt himself, and a free renunciation/giving up of his own glory. He says, “This is a great and most essential thing in true religion. The whole goal of the gospel, everything concerning the new covenant, and all God’s dealings towards fallen man in grace, are calculated to bring to pass this effect. They that are destitute of this, have no true religion in heart, whatever profession they may make, and how high soever their religious affections may be;…” Do you have this true lowliness of mind? Without it, Edwards says you do not have true divine grace in your heart.
If so, today we studied the exaltation of Jesus Christ. The exaltation of Jesus Christ is a great encouragement to everyone in every way. There are five encouragements:
- The exaltation of Jesus Christ is a great encouragement for you to come in faith to Jesus Christ. Acts 5:31 says, “He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a prince and a Savior to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” If you are not truly converted, you can come trusting Jesus. Just come in faith. Don’t think about how you are or that you should change. No, no. Come as you are. He is the exalted Prince and Savior, and he grants repentance and forgiveness of sins to those who come to him. He is exalted for that.
- If you are still unconverted, you must be confused, wondering where your life is going and where the world is going. If you ask me where the world is going, why are there so many political injustices, earthquakes, famines, bloodshed, and nations against nations, Jesus said in Matthew that it is all leading to a day when he is the supreme ruler of the universe and every knee will bow and confess he is Lord. If he is so big, why does he not come immediately? Scripture gives only one reason: because he is graciously patient, and so that you should not perish, you should come for repentance today.
- Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” If not, touch your knee as you’re sitting; that knee will bow, and your mouth will confess “Jesus is Lord” for all eternity. God will wring from every unbelieving mouth the confession that Christ is Lord, and that will be the final proof of his Lordship. His Lordship will send you into hell for living a life against him and refusing to submit to him. Your eternal song in hell will be suffering and screaming, “Jesus is Lord.” What a foolish thing to refuse that today.
- You are not playing with a Jesus who sadly died on a cross. You are playing with a highly exalted Jesus who is given the name of universal authority and sovereignty. He alone is the only mediator who can reconcile you to God. He alone can grant repentance and change your heart, or else, even after 10 billion years of suffering in hell, that heart will not repent. You better not fool around with that Jesus. He is not a sad, weak Jesus begging you to come. He stands in all his regal splendor and exaltation. He commands you to believe and repent, and if you defy his saving Lordship, you’ll come under his damning Lordship. Almighty God has decreed, having exalted him, that he is going to see to it that every last person in this building is going to bend that knee and make that confession. Do it today and be saved, or do it eternally and suffer in hell.
- To those who claim to be believers but are not true believers, this is an encouragement and a warning to you as well. Is Jesus Christ your Lord? He asks false believers in Luke, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I say?” If Jesus Christ is Lord, and you claim you are saved, why are you not doing what he commands? Don’t live a lie. If he is Lord, then he deserves first place in our hearts and in our lives. Then he is worthy of all our time, our talents, our praise, and our love. If he is Lord, his words are to be obeyed above everything else. Here he says, “do not do anything with selfish ambition and vain pride, but with a lowliness of mind, consider others better than yourself, and do not look at your own interests, but at others’ also.” Are your Lord’s words in your family and in your church? Last week, some of you said you were convicted. Are you resisting it, feeling resentful, or asking God to give you the grace to change according to this?
Are you trying to rationalize and say, “No, no, God can’t be expecting that from me”? Are you giving excuses like Adam, “I cannot be like this because my husband is not like that,” or “my wife is not like that”? The Lord doesn’t expect this from you; he commands it. If you claim Jesus is Lord, his command is to live in your marriage doing nothing in selfish ambition and empty conceit. You’re to regard your wife as better than yourself. You’re not to look only upon your things, but also upon hers. Don’t say you are a believer and don’t call me Lord if you are not obeying these words of the Lord.
Exaltation as an Encouragement to Humility
The main theme of this passage is the unity of the church, which comes from a lowliness of mind. I hope we are able to see that all the problems in our families and churches are because of our native selfish ambition and vain pride. Unity cannot come in the home or the church until we are delivered from selfish ambition and vain pride and learn the graces of a lowliness of mind and selfless love. These graces do not come naturally; they can only come to us when we have the mind of Christ and fix his example in our minds.
“Pastor, it is very difficult to live like that,” you might say. “A lowliness of mind, selfless love, considering others better than myself, and not looking at my own needs. I may be dishonored, I may be wrongly treated, and I will lose my status and prestige. I have lived with self-pride all my years.” But ask your conscience what you have achieved with selfish ambition and vain pride other than conflicts and no peace. Nobody respects you. Do you see yourself going down and down?
The exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ is an encouragement to humility. The practical promise of this passage is that when you humble yourself in the pattern of Christ, when you have the mind of Christ, you will willingly humble yourself, giving up your selfish pride, status, and rights. In humility, you serve others, and God will highly exalt you. This is heaven’s rule. This is the providential rule. It is always the humble that God exalts. Just as Jesus was exalted in a way that glorified God, if you want to glorify God in your family and church, humble yourself, and God will be glorified by honoring your humility.
The Bible is filled with this promise, and knowing our pride, it repeats it again and again in the Old and New Testaments. There are so many verses in Proverbs, such as, “Pride comes before destruction, but with humility comes wisdom, and the lowly in spirit will divide and enjoy the spoil.”
This is repeated so much in the New Testament. Jesus taught, “For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted” (Luke 14:11). The Lord taught this to his disciples again and again in the Gospel of Matthew. We saw it on a number of occasions. Matthew 23:12 says, “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.” You lift yourself up, and God will push you down. You push yourself down, and God will lift you up. It’s the promise of a reward for faithful humility. It’s a promise of blessing for sacrifice. Paul repeatedly writes about that in all his epistles. Peter said it in 1 Peter 5:6, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.” James reiterates it in James 4:10, “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
Just as day follows night, glory always comes after self-humility. Self-sacrifice and humility always bring honor and are rewarded by God. Jesus is a great example of that. This is the promise of God attached to our humiliation. When God says through the Apostle Paul, with a lowliness of spirit and selfless love, “Look at others as superior to yourself, be not concerned with your own things only but the things of others,” he gives you a promise: “Just as I exalted my Son, I will exalt you.”
So the exaltation of Jesus Christ should encourage us to seek and cultivate humility. In a family where there is no respect between husband and wife or from children, practice these principles of humility. See how God will honor you. Practice this in the church, and God will highly exalt you.
Exaltation as an Encouragement in Trials
The exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ is also an encouragement in trials. Jesus endured the cross, and the Father strengthened him and gave him grace for that awful ordeal. The cross, the resurrection, and the subsequent exaltation of Jesus show that God can transform the most grotesque of human sins against us into the greatest of divine triumphs. Any suffering or tragedy we face can redound to the glory of God.
The great British preacher, Charles Spurgeon, knew this encouragement from Christ’s exaltation. When he was only 22, his popularity had spread throughout London. Thousands were flocking to hear him preach. To accommodate the crowds, his church rented the Surrey Gardens Music Hall, which seated at least 10,000. The opening service there was Sunday, October 19, 1856. Word spread, and when they opened the building, people crowded in, taking every seat, packing the aisles and stairways, while thousands more stood outside, hoping to hear through the open windows. When Spurgeon arrived and saw the crowd, he was almost overwhelmed. The service began, and everything seemed to be going well.
But just after Spurgeon began to pray, the place was thrown into confusion. Someone in a gallery shouted, “Fire!” Another on the ground floor shouted, “The balconies are falling!” A third voice cried, “The whole place is collapsing!” People panicked and began rushing for the exits, but there was no room. Some fell through the balcony railings to the floor below. As some rushed out the doors, the crowd outside saw it as their opportunity to get a seat and began rushing in. Spurgeon tried to calm everyone, but before it was over, seven people had been crushed to death, and 28 others had been severely wounded. The whole thing had been orchestrated by enemies who were jealous of Spurgeon’s popularity and wanted a reason to bring him down.
Spurgeon himself was devastated by what had happened, so much so that a man who knew him well reported that 25 years later, when the event came up, Spurgeon was overcome with emotion. His critics used the event to bring all sorts of slander against the young preacher. Spurgeon withdrew for over a week, unable to preach or do anything. But as he walked in a friend’s garden, our text flashed into his mind: “Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.” As he meditated on the exalted Christ, he found strength, and when he returned to the pulpit, he spoke on these verses. Let them comfort you in a time of tragedy.
Exaltation as a Secret to Constant Joy
The exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ is the secret to an always-joyful Christian life. Think of the Apostle Paul—this man is joyful because he practices these principles of a lowliness of mind and selfless love. Only when you have such a lowliness of mind does the Holy Spirit fill you with his fruit of joy always.
Spurgeon said, “If Christ is exalted, then the highest stage of man should reach is—For me to live is Christ—to have no wish, no thought, no desire but Christ. Christ is all.” Our forefathers, who were matured in grace, spoke about attaining the sweet feeling of self-annihilation. As long as there is a big selfishness remaining in us, it will mar our sweet rejoicing in Christ. Until we get rid of it, we shall never feel constant joy. I do think that the root of sorrow is self. If we once got rid of that, sorrow would be sweet, sickness would be health, sadness would be joy, and poverty would be wealth.
“If you would seek happiness, seek it at the roots of your selfishness. Cut up your selfishness and you will be happy.” Spurgeon also said, “I have found that whenever I have yielded to the least joy or vain pride, when I have been praised, I have made myself weak and miserable. I have then been prepared to feel acutely the arrows of the enemy.”
This truth of Christ’s exaltation will keep you constantly joyful if you deny yourself and follow Christ. Think of your relationship to Christ. You have watched the father’s joy when, step by step, his boy has climbed to opulence or fame. You have marked the mother’s eye as it sparkled with delight when her daughter grew up to womanhood and burst forth in all the grandeur of beauty. You have asked why they should feel such interest, and you have been told, “because the boy was his or the girl was hers.” They delighted in the advancement of their little ones because of their relationship. Had there been no relationship, they might have been advanced to kings, emperors, or queens, and they would have felt but little delight. But from the fact of kinship, each step was invested with a deep and stirring interest.
It is so with the Christian. He feels that Jesus Christ, the glorified Prince of the kings of the Earth, is his brother. While he reverences him as God, he admires him as the man-Christ, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, and he delights in his calm and placid moments of communion with Jesus, to say to him, “O Lord, You are my brother.”
Is there real union between Christ and all his people? Every member of Christ’s church is a member of Christ himself. And when we read that our Head is crowned, oh, rejoice, you members of his feet or his hands! Though the crown is not on you, yet being on your Head, you share the glory, for you are one with him. See Christ yonder, sitting at his Father’s right hand! Believer! He is the pledge of your glorification. He is the surety of your acceptance, and moreover, he is your representative. The seat which Christ possesses in heaven, he has not only by his own right, as a person of the deity, but he has it also as the representative of his whole church, for he is their forerunner, and he sits in glory as the representative of every one of them.
Think that you are exalted too in him, seeing that you are a part of himself. You are happy if you know this, not only in doctrine but in sweet experience too. You must seek and learn to live wholly on Christ—to sorrow when you see Christ maligned and dishonored, to rejoice when you see him exalted. Then you will have a constant cause for joy. Sit down now, O reviled one, poor, despised, and tempted one. Sit down, lift up your eyes, see him on his throne, and say within yourself, “Little though I be, I know I am united to him. He is my love, my life, my joy. I care not what happens, so long as it is written, ‘The Lord reigns.’”
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 