Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name…
PHILIPPIANS 2:9 (NIVUK)
In Philippians 2:5-11 Paul invites his readers to keep their understanding of the gospel in clear focus by looking persistently at Jesus. Paul reminds us that the incarnation: the coming of Christ into the world, is an event unique in all of human history. Jesus’ birth, his life and ministry, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension, are all historical facts (vv.1-8). It is also a historical fact that God has exalted this Jesus of Nazareth to the highest place and given him a name that is ‘above every name’ (v.9).
Following his resurrection, the Lord appeared to his disciples on many occasions over a period of 40 days – appearing and disappearing in the power of his resurrected body to one or more individual believers, to the apostolic band of brothers, and even to five hundred saints at one time, to make the fact of his resurrection a certainty beyond any possible doubt (1 Corinthians 15:5-8).
However, before the fact of the Lord’s resurrection began to be spread abroad on earth, the full significance of Jesus’ exaltation was made manifest in heaven: the risen Christ appeared at the gates of heaven before myriads of angels dissolving no doubt into tears of joy, applauding, worshipping, celebrating; Jesus proceeded on to the very throne of God. On this throne, where only God may sit, Jesus, as a man, sat down, carrying the gloriously acclaimed name of Jesus to the highest place of all (Philippians 2:9).
We read the words of scripture, as they speak to us of Christ, with hearts moved and spirits lifted, because we are in union, through the Spirit, with this same Jesus who lived and died and rose again that we may be raised up with him. There is a relationship and a bond between the believer and Christ that no force in heaven and earth can break.
Though it is a fact of history, and a tenet of faith that Jesus has been exalted to the throne of highest honour, the exaltation of Jesus and the magnifying of his name is yet to be confessed in all the earth, but will be: for at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus, the crucified, risen saviour of the world, is Lord (vv.10-11).
Paul explains the reason for this present and future exaltation of Jesus. The eternal Son of God, though co-equal with the Father, laid aside his glory and, in the power of the Holy Spirit, humbled himself in submissive obedience to the Father’s will, even to the point of death (vv.6-8). This he did, and rose again that we may be partakers of his divine glory (Romans 8:17). So it is that we see Jesus: ‘Now lifted up by God to heaven, a name above all others given, this matchless name possessing’ (Philippians 2:9 ISV).
If all of this is encouraging to us, and it surely must be, declares Paul (vv.1-2), then how can disunity in the body of Christ exist? If our eyes are truly on Jesus then our love for him must, of necessity, overflow to all others in the body of Christ, that the love of God revealed in Jesus and shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5) rightfully becomes, of all the vitalising gifts of the Spirit, the most desired and prized gift of all (1 Corinthians 13:13).
Prayer Loving Father, as we reflect on the journey from Christ’s humility to his exaltation, let us be reminded that true greatness in the kingdom of God is achieved not through power or prestige but through humble service and faithful obedience. Let us celebrate the name of Jesus, bowing our knees and proclaiming his lordship in every aspect of our lives. In Jesus’s name, Amen.