SLIDES

The Exaltation of the Messiah

Bob Josey

Philippians / Exaltation of Christ / Philippians 2:911

Introduction

Over the years I have witnessed to many people and have seen many different reactions from people when presented with the gospel. Some who have grown up in church get quiet knowing the gravity of the subject at hand. Others tell you that they are saved but they can’t tell you why or how. Others tell you that they are not sure they are saved, while the majority say that they are saved because they are a good person or that they do good works. Occasionally I’m told that there is  more that one way to heaven - through Moses, Buddha, Allah,  and yes, even Jesus. Their expression usually changes when I quote John 14:6 . “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’

And Acts 4:12   “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” These reactions are very common and usually very mild.

However, there are other reactions that are not so mild and could be considered a little hostile. I’ve had people tell me never talk about that again. Some have told me that are saved but when I ask them what is the basis of their salvation, the get mad and tell me they don’t want to talk about it or it’s none of my business. One man read me the riot act because his grandmother gave money to a charismatic ministry and he thought she was getting scammed.

Linda had a cousin who died in 1994 of ALS. Linda’s aunt called and asked if I would do the funeral. I told her absolutely. There was a caveat, however. I could not mention Jesus’ name. I, of course, then declined. We did go to the funeral and some Baptist preached the funeral without mentioning Jesus’ name. That family was certainly anti-Jesus because the father hated Jesus.

Today we are now going to see from Philippians 2:9-11, there will come a day in the future when those who are dead who were disinterested or hostile  toward the gospel  and rejected trusting Jesus as their Savior will do something they never dreamed on doing and some probably swore they would never do it. That same thing can also be said for those who are alive at time the event we are doing to discuss now occurs. This event will shake heaven, the earth, and under the earth. Let’s discuss what that event is and how it will change things.

A. Because The Messiah Humbled Himself, the Father Highly Honored Him by giving  Him a Name Higher than Any Other Name (2:9)

Philippians 2:9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

Verse 9 tells us that God the Father sometime in the past highly exalted the Messiah by giving Him the name that is higher that all names. At the beginning of the verse Paul tells us why did God the Father did that. He begins the verse by writing “For this reason.” The reason God the Father highly exalted the Messiah and gave Him the name higher than all names is found in Philippians 2:5-8 that we studied in our last lesson.

During our last lesson we discussed that the Messiah came to this earth by being born of a human mother and born in the body of a human who lived  a perfect, sinless life. He laid His divine attributes and prerogatives as God aside and did not use them while living on the earth. Instead He relied on the power of the Holy Spirit and depended on and was obedient to the Fathers leading. By laying aside His divine attributes and depending on the leading of God the Father, He became a bond-servant. This bond-servant died for the sins of the world.

Part of His exaltation for being an obedient bond-servant was that He was resurrected to demonstrate that His sacrifice for sin had been excepted by the Father. Another part of His exaltation was that he ascended to the Father to have His prerogatives and glory as God fully restored and to sit at the right hand of the fatter on His’ Heavenly Throne.

Now Paul mentions another highly honoring aspect of the Messiah’s exaltation.  The “and” before the word “bestowed” explains how God highly exalted the Messiah.  Because the Messiah was an obedient bond-servant, the Father highly exalted Him by giving Him a name higher than all names. In retrospect, God the Father gave the Messiah this special name before He was born in Bethlehem. While Joseph was contemplating exactly what to do about the pregnant Mary who he was betrothed to, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph and told him the following in Matthew 1:20.

20“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Joseph was to name this child Mary was carrying, Jesus.  Jesus’ Hebrew name is Yeshua. Yeshua means Savior. As the angel explained to Joseph, “He will save His people from their sins.” Yeshua was a common name in Israel. Remember a name given in that culture carried the idea of one character, position, role, rank, and/or dignity. The Messiah’s role and character of being the Savior to the world.

But Jesus name did not reach the level of honor to the world until after His death, burial, resurrection, and Ascension to the Father. Now, to those who believe in Him as Savor, Yeshua is a special and honored name, but not to the world of unbelievers. As far a I know, the only ones today who name their male children Jesus are the Hispanics.

One further item about the name the Father gave the Messiah. Messiah is not part of Jesus’ name. Messiah is a title. It means the Anointed One in Greek and Hebrew. It means the anointed One who would be a Prophet, Priest, and King. His name is Yeshua and His title is the Messiah. The is no higher and important title than Messiah - not president, not prime minister, not pharaoh, not sultan, etc.

The Purpose of giving the Messiah a Name Higher than Any other Name is so that every Living and Dead being will Honor Him and confess that He is God. (2:10 -11a)

Philippians 2:10 so that at the name of Jesus (Yeshua) EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  11  and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Now we come to the part of this verse that explains the purpose of honoring the Messiah with the name Yeshua and the change of attitude and actions among unbelievers who are dead and alive. Every being alive and dead will bow the knee to honor Yeshua.

The phrase EVERY KNEE WILL BOW in capital letters means the this was a quote from Isaiah 43:23.  We don’t have time to read it, but Isaiah 43 constitutes one of the most authoritative Old Testament affirmations of the uniqueness and power of the God of Israel.

It’s clear that all beings dead and alive, all believers and all unbelievers will bow the knee and confess that Jesus the Messiah is Lord. The interesting thing about this change in attitudes and actions among unbelievers is that some, maybe many, will bow the knee and confess that Jesus is Lord voluntarily. They may not want to do it, but they will.

All beings who will bow the knee and confess include humans, angels, fallen angles, demons, Satan, the anti-christ, the false prophet, other spirit beings in heaven such as the seraphim and cherubim, etc. Each has a abode in heaven, on the earth, or under the earth. Under the earth would include Sheol/Hades which is a holding place for the dead who did not believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament. Tartaros is a holding place for some of the fallen angels.  The Abyss is the abode of the demons.

Not only will they bow the knee but they will also confess that Jesus the Messiah is Lord. First, the word confess means “to agree with or to acknowledge.” When a Christians sins, and is out of fellowship with God, all they have to do to reinstate the fellowship is to confess their sins i.e agree with God or acknowledge to God that you have committed a sin(s).  

1 John 1:9   If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

You do not have to ask for forgiveness just admit that you have sinned. When one is saved by trusting in Jesus, all ones’ sins past, present, and future are

Colossians 1:13-14      13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14  in whom we (continually)have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The verb rescued and transferred are past tense. These two things occur when one trusts in Christ as Savior. However, the verb have is present tense and can be translated will continually have. So, verse 14 can be translated “in whom we continually have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

When an individual is born into a family, that individual will always be physically part of that family. That will never change. They will always physically be a son or a daughter to the mother and father because they have the blood and the DNA of their parents. They can be given away at birth because of different circumstances, but they will always be physically part of that family. . They can leave home after graduating from high school never to be seen again., but they will always be physically part of that family. They can even change their name, but they will always be physically part of that family. The prodigal son, even though he took his inheritance and left home to go into another county, he was always part of his father’s family.  The father was always his father and the prodigal son was always a son to the father and a brother to his brother. Nothing could ever change those facts concerning family relationships. 

When an individual trusts in Christ as Savior, they are born into God’s family become part of the Body of Christ. God is always their Father. Jesus is always their Savior.  And the Holy Spirit is always a Partner, Helper, and Comforter to that individual.  Nothing, absolutely nothing, can ever change any of those things. The question under some circumstances is if that person was really born into God’s family. Did he or she really trust in Christ as their Savior.

Every being, dead or alive, lost or saved, will not only bow the knee but will also confess that Jesus the Messiah is LORD. Some people are under the impression that when one is saved they must make Jesus as Savior and Lord or master of their lives. There is no verse that says that. Scripture says to confess or acknowledge that Jesus the Messiah is LORD. In the New Testament context of Scripture Jesus being recognized as LORD refers to Him being Yahweh of the Old Testament i.e. Jesus is God. When the New Testament was written the people being saved had to recognize Jesus as Yahweh of the Old Testament. Just like today, a person who is saved must believe that Jesus is God. One final point about this. Obviously, those who had to confess that Jesus was the personal LORD and Master of one’s life could not do this if they were dead or in a holding place under the earth.  It’s too late for them. Confession means acknowledging that He is Lord or God, not making Him Lord or God or their lives. Let’s look at several verses that shed light on this subject. The first is Romans 10:9-13.

        8  But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,

       9  that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;

       10  for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

       11  For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”

       12  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;

       13  for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”

1 Corinthians 12:3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed”; and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

Every year on the 27th of Nisan (April - May) Israel commemorates the six million Jews that were murdered during the Holocaust. It is called Yom HaShoah or the Holocaust Remembrance Day. At 10:00 AM an air raid siren sounds throughout the country and Israelis are expected to observe two minutes of solemn reflection. It is customary to pause what is being done and to reflect. This includes motorists who stop their cars in the middle of the road, standing beside their vehicles in silence as the siren is sounded.

Some when they read Philippians 2:10-11 think that at a certain time on a certain in the future everything will stop like on Yom HaShoah and every being, dead and alive, will bow the knee and confess that Jesus is God. It is possible that what Paul is referring to here will occur at he second coming of Jesus. It could be then but it could be when different groups of people acknowledge that Jesus is Lord at different times. Most Christians do so when they are saved and will all do so when they see the Lord following the Rapture (cf. Rev. 4—5). Those living on the earth, along with Old Testament saints resurrected at the Second Coming, will do so at that time (Rev. 19:11-21). Most of those living on the earth during the millennial reign of Christ will submit to Him then (Psalm 2). At the end of the Millennium everyone on the earth, and all resurrected unbelievers, will bow the knee to Jesus Christ (Rev.20:7-15).

c. The result of all beings God created honoring Yeshua by bowing the Knee and confessing that He is God, brings glory to God the Father. (11b)

All created beings will at some time honor Yeshua by exalting Him by bowing their knee to Him They will also confess that He is indeed God Himself.  To all the unbelievers and skeptics, Yeshua being God will be a reality shock to many. Another reality shock will be that since He is God, they will come to realize that Tri-unity of God does exist after all. They are going to be shocked on so many levels.

The result of all the knee bending and confessing that Yeshua is God, will being Glory to God the Father who orchestrated all.

Application

All of us as believers have exhaled Jesus in our life time and probably will again, certainly at the Rapture and at the beginning of His Messianic reign on the earth. But that should not be the only times we should exalt Jesus. It should be an almost every day affair.  Since we are called Christians or followers of Christ or the Messiah, we should always conduct our lives in a manner that exalts Jesus. We must strive though the power of the Holy Spirit never to become a reproach to Him.

Tammy Lindsey in her book Kids of the Kingdom tells this story about her daughter when she was three years old. She writes, "The praise chorus 'We Exalt Thee' took on a whole new meaning when I heard my three-year-old daughter singing her version: 'We exhaust thee. We exhaust thee, O Lord.,’”

As believers in the name of Jesus, each of us should exalt Him by being an subjective and objective witness for Jesus. A subjective witness shares the Good of Jesus with others. Also, as believers in the name of Jesus, each of us are  objective witness whether we like it or not.  Saved and unsaved are observing us live the Christian life. Jim Jackson is a daily blogger whose daily blog called Jim’s Daily Awakenings. In one of his blogs Jim Jackson wrote this.  “Like it or not, your life is a model for others. When you least suspect it, others are watching.”

So, let’s exalt Yeshua the Messiah this week by sharing the Good New with others and being a shining example of our faith in Him!

SELAH!