Christ, the Exalted

According to the first chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus was the Word from the beginning, “and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (vv. 1-4; 14). 

Jesus was, is, and always will be God. This is simply an unchanging reality. In His incarnation, Jesus “lowered” Himself. He willingly left His proper place, relinquished His divine rights, lived a perfectly obedient life, experienced a criminal’s death, and was placed in a borrowed tomb. It is Jesus’ humble obedience and submission to His Father that causes the Father to exalt and honor Him by re-elevating His Son to His rightful place. The resurrection of the Savior is visible confirmation that Jesus’ life was altogether righteous and His death was an entirely sufficient sacrifice. Consequently, with a striking “therefore” Paul explains the exaltation of Jesus and its superlative consequences in Philippians 2:9-11:

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.

Unmistakably, Jesus stands in a class entirely His own and deserves reverence, respect, and recognition to the glory of the Father. Most easily overlooked and most joyfully understood is “the name” that the Father has bestowed upon the Son. What is this name “that is above every name”? Why will every creature in the universe bow the knee at its pronouncement? The historical context and the textual content of Philippians 2:5-11 give us the answer. In these verses Paul quotes an early church hymn, which implicitly recognizes that Jesus is alive. In other words, from its beginning, the early church unequivocally accepted the bodily resurrection of Jesus. However, His is unique; the first of its kind. Besides Jesus’ resurrection, the Bible records further instances of individuals who were brought back to life, three in the Old Testament and six in the New Testament: the widow of Zarephath’s son (1 Ki 17:17-24), the Shunammite’s son (2 Ki 4:18-37), the man in Elisha’s grave (2 Ki 13:20-21), the widow of Nain’s son (Lu 7:11-17), Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:21-43), Lazarus (Jn 11:1-44), Tabitha (Acts 9:36-43), Eutychus (Acts 20:7-12), and many saints following Jesus’ resurrection (Matt 27:51-53). Yet in each of these events, every one of the individuals tasted physical death once again. Jesus, on the other hand, is the everliving One (Rev 1:17-18). In his book aptly entitled Resurrection, Hank Hanegraaff makes the following claim and subsequent deduction.

The resurrection is not merely important to the historic Christian faith; without it, there would be no Christianity. It is the singular doctrine that elevates Christianity above all other world religions. Through the resurrection, Christ demonstrated that He does not stand in a line of peers with Abraham, Buddha, or Confucius. He is utterly unique. He has the power not only to lay down His life, but to take it up again… His claim to be the only way has to be taken seriously. If on the other hand, He is merely one more person in a pantheon of pretenders, His proclamations can easily be pushed aside. That is precisely why the resurrection is axiomatic to Christianity. Through the resurrection, Christ demonstrated that He does not stand in a line of peers with Buddha, Baha’u’llah, Krishna, or any founder of a world religion. They died and are still dead, but Christ is risen.

Following the resurrection, the early church decisively recognized Jesus as God! As a matter of fact, the closing verses of the hymn make this crystal clear. They assert “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, … and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (vv. 10-11). The words are taken from Isaiah 45:22-24 in which God says, “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’ Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength.” The name that is above all other names and has been bestowed upon Jesus is LORD - YHWH, the personal name of God. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses; the self-existent, self-sufficient, promise-keeping God. It is only God who can save, so Jesus must be recognized and worshiped as God (Rom 10:9; Acts 4:12).

This is glorious news! The Bible indicates that Jesus is the firstfruits, the forerunner, the prototype that assures every believer of the certain hope of resurrection life. He is also the Good Shepherd who came that His sheep might have life and have it abundantly. The Father loves the Son because He lays down His life for the sheep that He might take it up again (Jn 10:10-11; 17-18). He has also exalted Him accordingly. Let us love, adore, and worship the resurrected Savior as He deserves as well. And let us do so like the eyewitnesses to the resurrected Christ - with great joy (Lk 24:52)!

Hebrews 1:1-4 (ESV) - “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”