Matthew 1:18-25 The Glory of the Incarnation

But we can get so lost in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season that we can easily forget that the glory of it all, and what makes the incarnation so special in the first place.

The incarnation is the glorious truth that...

The Eternal Son of God took on human flesh to save us from our sins.

That’s what we celebrate this time of year.

God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place for our sins and give us the greatest gift any of us could ever be given: Eternal life.

But eternal life did not start with the cross.

It started with the Virgin Birth and the glorious incarnation of Jesus Christ.

But what usually happens is that we don’t get much further than that.

We know we are supposed to believe that Christ was born of a virgin and that He took on human flesh, but we don’t get much further than that.

We just know that’s just what Christians have to believe.

So what I want to do this morning, is to take the virgin birth and the incarnation of Jesus Christ and move it beyond a theological curiosity.

Something Christians merely believe, and show you the glory.

Show you the glory of the incarnation and all that it means that the eternal Son of God took on human flesh to save us from our sins.

So here’s how we are going to do that.

We are going to work through Matthew 1:18-25 to get the overall story of Christ’s birth and I’ll do some running commentary and interesting tidbits all along the way.

And then after that we are going to come back and look at 10 Golden Truths of the Incarnation.

What makes the incarnation so glorious in the first place?

So let’s start with Matthew 1:18...

Story

Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

Christ’s birth was no ordinary birth.

He was born of a virgin. A mother who had never known an intimate relationship with a man.

And yet, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

The virgin birth of Christ is a fundamental doctrine of our Christian faith.

You have to believe it to be a Christian because without the virgin birth Christianity itself completely unravels.

Let me give you three reasons.

Bible Untrue

First, if Christ was not really born of a virgin, then the Bible is not true, and it is not the Word of God.

If Christ was not really born of a virgin, then how would we know He died on the cross for our sins? How would we know He rose again?

How would we know anything in the Bible was actually true?

Without the virgin birth, Scripture is not inerrant or infallible and the foundation of our faith comes crumbling down.

Non Eternal Christ

Number 2. If Christ was not born of a virgin, then He is not the eternal Son of God.

Human life starts at conception.

And if Christ had been born through the normal process of a man and woman coming together, then that union would have created an entirely new person who did not exist before.

That’s all of us. All of us had a beginning.

But Jesus did not have a beginning.

He is the eternal Son of God.

He was never created nor did He ever come into being. That’s heresy.

We believe, that as the second person of the Trinity, One with the Father and the Spirit, Jesus Christ always was, is, and is to come.

He is eternal. He has always existed, and He existed before His incarnation.

And through the virgin birth, God prepared a human body with a human nature for Jesus to incarnate in, without creating an entirely new person because that would mean that Christ was born a man and became God which is a heresy.

Instead, the eternal Son of God who existed before the foundation of the world, came into the world and took on human flesh in the incarnation to save his people from their sins.

He is fully God and fully man. One person. Two distinct natures.

The virgin birth proves that Jesus Christ really did exist before His incarnation and really is the eternal Son of God.

No Gospel

Thirdly, without the virgin birth, we lose the gospel itself.

To save us from our sins Christ had to be both a Suitable Substitute to pay for our sins and Pure Sacrifice to atone for our sins.

As a Man, Jesus was a Suitable Substitute who could actually Pay for Adam’s sin. But as the GodMan, He was also a Pure Sacrifice perfectly sinless in every way.

Through the virgin birth, Christ was descended from Adam without ever being “in Adam” so He did not inherit and of Adam’s original sin.

The Bible says all of us sinned in Adam because He was our father. So now we inherit Adam’s original sin - the death, guilt, and inner corruption we all share.

Everyone born in Adam is dead in their trespasses and sins because they inherit Adam’s sin and guilt as their own, because we all sinned in him.

But Christ did not have Adam as an earthly father. Like the first Adam He had a Heavenly Father.

Now that’s not to say that Mary wasn’t a sinner or that somehow women have nothing to do with passing on original sin.

But it is to say that we sinned in Adam because he is our father, head, and representative.

Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

By being born of a virgin, Christ is a New Adam. Paul calls him the Last or the ultimate Adam (1 Cor 15:22).

By being descended from Adam through Mary, he was a Suitable Sacrifice for our sin.

Man sinned against God so man had to pay for their sins.

By by being born of a virgin, He is a pure sacrifice for our sins, because he did not inherit any guilt of original sin nor did He have any sin of His own to atone for.

Jesus was was born in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3) and yet, Hebrews 4:15, he was without sin.

He lived a perfect and sinless life that we all failed to live, and He died the death we all deserved on the cross in our place for our sins to pay our debt to God.

And now through faith in Him, God, by His sovereign grace, takes us out of Adam and put us in HimChrist

Just as Adams sin became our sin. Jesus’ life becomes our life. His death becomes our death.a

God justifies us and declares us righteous in Him because He fulfilled all the demands of the Law on our behalf.

Both the righteous requirements of the Law do this and live, and just punishment we deserved for the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23).

As Paul says For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive (1 Cor 15:22).

And Romans 5:18-19 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

Through the virgin birth Christ was descended from Adam without ever being “in Adam.”

And He had to be. He had to be a Suitable Substitute who had the legal authority to pay for our sins. Man sinned against God.

And he had to be Pure Sacrifice who could actually pay for our sins with a perfect and sinless life to be a spotless lamb, life for life, and give us the forgiveness of God.

So the virgin birth an essential doctrine of our faith that strikes at the very gospel itself.

Without it, the Bible is not true, Jesus is not the eternal Son of God, and the gospel is a lie instead of the power of God for Salvation for everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16).

And yet, who had ever heard of such a thing? Who had ever heard of a child born of a virgin. Absolutely impossible.

People don’t just wake up one day pregnant and find out they’re pregnant.

There are some necessary steps you have to take to get there.

How could this be?

Well that was Mary’s question. In Luke 1:34-35 Mary said to the angel [Gabriel who had come to announce the birth of Christ], “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”

Christ was conceived by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit. An absolute miracle.

And from the very beginning, from His conception, Jesus was set apart to carry out the will of God and do something even more impossible than the virgin birth: save sinners.

The Christ

That’s why Matthew says now the birth of Jesus Christ.

That’s not arbitrary. Matthew is doing something very intentional there.

The Christ is a Messianic Term. He is the Messiah.

Messiah, in Hebrew, simply means “Anointed One.” Someone chosen by God, set apart, and empowered to carry out the work God has given them to do.

In the Old Testament, Prophets, Priests, and Kings were anointed by God to carry out His will.

Well as THE Messiah, THE Anointed One, Christ is THE Ultimate Prophet, Priest, and King.

He is The True and Better Prophet anointed by God to preach the truth. The good news of the gospel that through faith in Him all might be saved.

He is The Great and Better High Priest anointed by God to offer His life as a once for all sacrifice for our sins and intercede for us at the right hand of the Father.

He is the True and Better King of David who conquers all of our enemies of Sin, Satan, and Death.

2. Showers His Kingdom with healing, rest, and blessing like rain on freshly mown grass (Ps. 72:6).

And 3. Builds God a permanent House, the Church, where God will dwell with us as our God and we will be His people forever and ever and ever.

That is why Christ came. That is why He was born from a virgin’s womb. To bring the fullness of Salvation to all of God’s People.

Verse 19...

Matthew 1:19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

Now you have to understand, Mary and Joseph were not married yet.

Later on in verse 25, Matthew makes it explicitly clear that Joseph knew her not until she had given birth to a son, meaning even after they were married, they did not come together until after Jesus was born so that there would be no confusion, Christ was truly the Son of God.

But again, contrary to the Catholics, Mary did not stay a virgin because they Bible says Jesus had several other brothers and sisters who would have been His half brothers and sisters born of Mary and Joseph.

And in Jesus’ day, a betrothal was something much stronger than what we would normally think of as an engagement today.

Basically, a betrothal was a binding contract where the man and woman were considered legally married even though the wedding was as much as a year later.

The betrothal period was a time of testing and faithfulness where the bride and groom would have little, if any, social contact, and they would prove their faithfulness to one another before they forever committed to one another in marriage.

Which is why Joseph resolved to divorce her quietly.

From his perspective Mary had been unfaithful. And as a just and righteous man who loved God and loved His Law wanted no part of a corrupt marriage that was already rocked by infidelity before it even started.

Plus, if he did marry her, it would have been a tacit admission of guilt that the child was his thus inviting shame on his name and the Name of God he claimed to follow.

But he was also merciful too. He did not want to put Mary to open shame.

That’s what that word means. Its the same word Paul uses for what Christ did to the demonic principalities and powers through His death on the cross in Colossians 2:15.

Even though he had every right, Joseph did not want to shame Mary by making her a public spectacle and instead wanted a private divorce in the presence of only two witnesses.

And here’s the thought that struck me as I read this this week.

Joseph was a just a righteous man. He loved God and he strove for godliness and the glory of God in all of his life.

He was also a compassionate man. He wasn’t out to get his. He could’ve gone after Mary.

But he was willing to suffer loss and shame a great personal cost for the good of other people.

And that is the man God to whom entrusted His Son.

Good Dads

Men that is the kind of father God wants all of us to be.

Righteous. Godly. Striving for the glory of God in every way no matter the cost.

But also compassionate. Kind. Loving others first and suffering whatever it takes for their good.

Isn’t that what being a dad is all about?

We lead our families in the Lord and we suffer and sacrifice whatever it takes for them.

It doesn’t matter if it costs us.

Its all for God’s glory and the good of the ones He has entrusted to our care.

Is that our life? Just and righteous. Striving for the glory of God and pouring ourselves out for the good of others?

That was the dad that was good enough for Jesus, and that is the dad God wants all of us to be.

Verse 20...

Matthew 1:20-23 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

Two things I want to highlight for you from this passage. The two names of Christ.

The angel says you shall call His name Jesus and then Matthew quotes Isaiah to say the virgin birth was to fulfill a prophecy about the Messiah where His name would be Immanuel which means God with us.

The name Jesus is the Greek form of Jesus’ Hebrew name Joshua.

And in Hebrew, Joshua means Yahweh Saves or Yahweh is Salvation.

Yaweh is God’s name throughout the Old Testament.

It gets translated as LORD in all caps to show us God alone is One True Lord, Master, and Sovereign of all things.

That’s why the angel says you will call His name Jesus for or because He will save His people from their sins.

Even Jesus’ own name preaches the gospel and the good news of God’s grace that is only found in Him.

And the angel, quoting Isaiah, says and they shall call His name Immanuel, and then translates that as God with us.

Immanuel is not so much Jesus’ name as it is His title and identity.

He is Immanuel. He is God with us. He is God incarnate who took on human flesh.

When you put both of those together, Jesus and Immanuel what God shows us that Jesus is God Himself come to reconcile us back to God and take away all our sin.

This tells us two things.

One that Jesus Christ really is fully God and fully man. Two natures one person.

And two, as the perfect GodMan, Jesus is the only Mediator for our sins.

He alone can stand in the infinite gap between us and God, between His holiness and our sin, and make peace through the blood of His cross.

Like Job longed He stands between us and God lays his hand on us both (Job 9:33).

What that means is that there is no other name under heaven by which men must be saved (Acts 4:12).

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).

Do you want to be saved from your sins? The only answer is Jesus. He alone can reconcile you to God and bring you who are far off near by the blood of His cross.

Put your faith in Him. Trust in Him alone for salvation and God will forgive all your sin. There is no other way.

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ.

This is why God send Christ into the world. To save us from our sins because we cannot save ourselves.

Like Jesus’ name says, “Yahweh saves.”

Finally Matthew 1:24-25...

Matthew 1:24-25 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Notice the picture of living faith. Joseph woke from his sleep and immediately did as the Lord commanded him.

He trusted the word of the Lord and obeyed no matter the cost.

He didn’t care what people would think. He didn’t have all the answers.

But he obeyed the Lord. He followed by faith in what God had said.

So should we.

He took his wife, but did not consummate their marriage until after Jesus was born so that there would be no doubt that He was the Messiah.

They called His name Jesus, the Name above every other name, and as the Christmas Hymn says, “Christ the Savior was born.”

10 Golden Truths

Now, having done all that I want to touch on 10 Golden Truths of the virgin birth and Incarnation.

What does it show us about the glory of Christ?

What makes His incarnation so glorious in the first place?

Some of these are going to be derivative of what we already talked about and some of them are going to be brand new.

But here’s how I want these to work.

I don’t expect you to remember all 10. In fact we are going to fly through them.

These are more like golden nuggets, sweet morsels of doctrine to savor in your mouth and feed your soul.

This is going to be fast paced because I want these truths to bombard us with the love, grace, and mercy of God in the incarnation and virgin birth of Jesus Christ so that by seeing His glory we might love Him more in return.

So don’t try to memorize these. Let them wash over you

And the ones that make your affections flutter for the glory of God and your heart soar in love for Christ grab hold of those, whichever ones they are, and never let them go.

Now most of these were inspired by some quotes from Thomas Watson in his book A Body of Divinity, and they are so good I want to share many of them with you.

Thomas Watson was a Puritan and you could throw a dart at one of his books, open a random page, and you would be hard pressed not to find a sentence that does not make you soar on eagles wings.

Now with all that said Why was Christ born of a virgin and what is the significance of His incarnation?

What Golden Truths show us the glory and love of Jesus Christ in humbling Himself and becoming a man.

Number 1, Christ became a man...

1. To Remove Eve’s Reproach and Crush the Head of the Serpent

Paul says in Galatians 4:4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law.

The virgin birth and Christ being born of a woman harkens back to the very first gospel preached by God Himself in Genesis 3:15.

Speaking to the Serpent in Genesis 3:15 God said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Christ came to fulfill that promise.

Why the emphasis on being born of a woman? The Bible usually traces genealogies through men.

Here’s what Watson says with a slight modification to make it easier to hear.

Christ was born of a woman, that he might roll away the reproach from the woman, which she had contracted by being seduced by the serpent. Christ in taking his flesh from the woman, has honored her…that is, at the first, the woman had mad man a sinner; so now to make him amends, she should bring him a savior (Watson, 192-193).

Its this theme that in Christ, the One born of a woman, there would be redemption.

But that’s not all. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.

Christ would crush the head of the serpent. He would stomp on Satan’s head and in the process Satan would bruise His heel.

That’s exactly what happened with the crucifixion. Christ was crucified on Golgotha, the place of the skull.

His cross drove a stake through the serpent’s head to destroy the one who has the power of death, the devil (Hebrews 2:14).

Here’s the big idea. The virgin birth, Christ being born of a woman with now human father, was an announcement from God that the Serpent Crusher had come.

He was going to redeem his people and make all things new.

Take away all of our sin, death, and curse and bring us back into the paradise of God’s eternal Eden.

Number 2...

2. To Show Salvation is a Miraculous Work of God’s Grace and Not Human Effort

Christ was born of a virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit.

God alone brought it about. It was not through human effort. A man and a woman did not come together to create a savior.

The virgin birth, itself, is a reminder that salvation can never come through human effort.

We cannot work our way to God or obey our way out of sin.

Our salvation only comes through the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.

We must be born again. And the new birth, just like the virgin birth, is a sovereign work of God’s power and grace.

Number 3...

3. To Reveal God to Us

No man can see God’s face and live (Exodus 33:20).

God’s holiness and glory would literally kill us in our sin.

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature (Hebrews 1:3).

John 1:18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

It is impossible for us to know God unless God reveals Himself.

But in Christ, we see the fullness of God. We see Him in a way we could have never seen Him otherwise.

Watson says, Through the lantern of Christ’s humanity, we may behold the light of Deity (195).

In other words through the lantern of Christ we behold God’s glory.

In Christ and His life, death, and resurrection we see the full revelation of all God is.

All of His holiness, wisdom, power, justice, wrath, righteousness, love, mercy, and grace.

And in seeing God, we are able to worship Him again for all that He’s worth just as He created us to and find all of our life in Him.

Number 4...

4. To Appease God’s Wrath

Watson says, He took our flesh that He might take our sins, and so appease God’s wrath (194).

On the cross, the full weight of our sins was laid on Christ.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Is 53:6).

Again Watson says, Our sins are like vermin crawling in our souls…[They] are as the sands of the sea for number and the rocks of the sea for weight (Watson 201).

And every one of them was put on Him.

Now there is no more condemnation for all those in Christ Jesus. Everyone of our sins has been paid thrown into the depths of the sea to be remembered no more.

5...

5. To Be Our Mediator and Bring us Near to God

We touched on this earlier, but I want to hit it from a different angle.

Look at Hebrews 2:14-17 “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things....For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve just ran past those words: For surely it is not the angels that He helps.

Of course Christ helps us and not the angels.

But this actually shows us something incredible about the great love and mercy of Christ in taking on our flesh to save us.

If Christ were to come for anybody, why would He not come for the angels who sinned?

First they are more glorious.

The more glorious the nobles, the more glorious the king.

By worldly standards, wouldn’t the angels have brought more glory to Christ.

And second, they are more useful for His Kingdom.

They are more powerful. More intelligent. Surely they would have served Him better than we.

But in this, the glory and love of Christ is revealed. It is not the angels that He helps but the sons of Abraham.

If we were choosing who to save, we would’ve chosen the ones who make us more glorious or are more useful to our service.

But not Christ.

He came for the weakest. The lowest. The most helpless.

Watson says Christ leaves angels, those noble spirits, the gold and the pearl, and comes to poor sinful man, [the brass and the iron] and draws him into his embrace (Watson 196).

How great the love and mercy of Christ in condescending to us, bypassing the angels, not because of any good we could offer Him in return, but only the kindness of his mercy and grace.

Number 6...

6. To Be Our Great High Priest Who Helps us in our Weakness

Hebrews 4:15-16 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

When we are burdened and tempted with sin, we can run to Christ. We can find refuge in Him.

He sympathizes with our weakness. He was tempted in every way as we are yet without sin.

Hear John Owen. What will Christ not do for us? He who emptied and humbled himself, who came down from the infinite height of his glory to take our finite nature into union with his infinite nature, will he not meet all our needs and answer according to his infinite wisdom all our prayers for help? Will he not do all that is necessary for us to be eternally saved? Will he not be a sanctuary for us? (Owen, The Glory of Christ, 47).

Christ took on human flesh to be our great and merciful high priest.

So if you are burdened or weighed down with sin. When you are being tempted…Run to Christ! He knows the way out.

Seven...

7. To Show the Power of God to Save Sinners

No one had ever heard of someone being born of a virgin. The very thought of it was impossible. And that’s precisely the point.

The virgin birth shows us that there is nothing impossible with God (Luke 1:37).

Jeremiah 32:27 Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?

When talking about salvation Jesus said With man this is impossible, but all things are possible with God (Matthew 19:26).

God alone has the power to save and He testified to that power by doing the impossible in the virgin birth.

Number 8...

8. To Fulfill all the Righteous Requirements of the Law

We saw this earlier.

For our sin to be forgiven, Christ had to fulfill both the demands of the Law in obeying all of God’s commands on our behalf, as well as pay the Law’s penalty for our sins which is death.

Christ did this through His active obedience of living a perfectly holy life and his passive obedience of bearing God’s wrath on our behalf.

And now through faith in Him, we are justified. We are declared righteous. All of our sin has been forgiven and Christ’s righteous life has been credited to us as our own.

Romans 3:23-24 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Number 9...

9. To Show us What it Means to be Truly Human

Christ is the only man to ever live as God intended without any sin.

Sin is not intrinsic to our human nature. Its an invasion. A cancer.

And Christ in His perfectly righteous life, shows us what it means to live all of our life for the glory of God.

Christ is our example. As His disciples we should strive to follow in His footsteps.

As Watson says, Was he made like us? Let us be made like him in holiness of life…Oh let us be so just in our dealings, so true in our promises, so devout in our worship, so unblameable in our lives, that we may be walking pictures of Christ. Thus, as Christ was made in our likeness, let us labour to be made in His (Watson, 202).

And finally last but certainly not least...

Christ was born of a virgin and took on human flesh...

10. To Show Us the Glorious Love of God

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

It was in love that God the Father sent Christ.

It was in love the Holy Spirit prepared a body for Him in the virgin’s womb.

And it was in love that Christ took on human flesh and became incarnate.

It was an act of the Triune God to save His people from their sins.

Or to use the words Watson says Christ incarnate is nothing but love covered with flesh (Watson, 194).

It is so easy to just pass over the incarnation. To assume it, and take it for granted.

To forget that Christ left the glory of heaven and emptied himself.

Philippians 2:6-7 He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

And why? To save sinners. Christ’s incarnation was nothing but an act of pure love and infinite grace.

Again Watson, He stripped himself of the robes of his glory, and covered himself with the rags of our humanity. If Solomon wondered that God should dwell in the temple which was enriched and hung with gold, how may we wonder that God should dwell in man’s weak and frail nature (Watson, 197).

The incarnation should drive wonder, worship, and love deep into our soul for Christ.

What kind of God would do this? What God would become a man for us?

Marry himself to us forever in human flesh only to be rejected by men, and suffer and die for our sins?

Only Christ. And now He intercedes in heaven on our behalf so that not a single one of us would ever be lost even with all of our weakness, frailty, and faithlessness.

Conclusion

That’s the glory of the incarnation.

The Eternal Son of God took on human flesh to save us from our sins out of nothing but His love, mercy, and grace.

I can think of no better way to end this sermon than with one last quote from Thomas Watson.

He was poor, that he might make us rich. He was born of a virgin, that we might be born of God. He took our flesh, that he might give us His Spirit. He lay in the manger that we might lie in Paradise. He came down from heaven, that he might bring us to heaven. And what was all this but love?…Behold the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge (Watson, 196).

Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading

Philippians 2:5-11 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 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.

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