Untitled Sermon

exaltation

Four steps:

His resurrection, His ascension, His coronation, and His intercession.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2001). Philippians (p. 140). Chicago: Moody Press.

Resurrection -

, cf

,

Coronation - , ; 10:12

Intercesion

, ; , ; ; ; ; ; 9:24

Ascension passages:

Jesus foretold it (; ; ; ; ); 20:17

the event is described (; ); ; ; 1 Tm. 3:16

it is referred to (e.g. in ; ; , ; ; cf. ; ; ; ; ; );

associated with the sending of the Holy Spirit (; ; );

the giving of gifts to the church (, );

the certainty of our heavenly home ();

Christ as our Forerunner ()

and his intercession for us (; );

his role as Priest-king, hearer of prayer and bestower of grace (); etc.

Who? Jesus

y mediante el cual creéis en Dios, quien le resucitó de los muertos y le ha dado gloria, para que vuestra fe y esperanza sean en Dios.

1 pet 1:21

Acts 1:31 after 40 days

The great God is expressing a value-judgment about his Son: nothing will do but that he should be lifted up to the highest of all, for, in the Father’s eyes, he is the highest of all.

Motyer, J. A. (1984). The message of Philippians (pp. 120–121). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Motyer, J. A. (1984). The message of Philippians. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

The early sermons of the apostles affirm His resurrection and coronation (His position at the right hand of God), and allude to His intercession for believers (, ; , ; cf. , ; ; , ). refers to the final element, His ascension

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Php 2:9). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

name

Christ’s new name which further describes His essential nature and places Him above and beyond all comparison is “Lord.” This name is the NT synonym for OT descriptions of God as sovereign ruler. Both before (; ; ; ; ; ) and after (; ; ; ; ; ; ) the exaltation, Scripture affirms that this was Jesus’ rightful title as the God-Man.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Php 2:9). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

all confess

The entire intelligent universe is called to worship Jesus Christ as Lord (cf. ). This mandate includes the angels in heaven (), the spirits of the redeemed (, ), obedient believers on earth (), the disobedient rebels on earth (), demons and lost humanity in hell ().

Exomologeō (will confess) is an intensive form of homologeō (to confess, agree with) and refers to an open, public declaration. At the time about which Paul is here speaking, however, such a confession will not lead to salvation, because that supreme blessing will already have been received or forever forfeited. Before death or the Lord’s return, the promise is 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” (). But as the apostle makes clear later in that same letter, in the day of judgment that confession will not change the spiritual status of those making it. Quoting Isaiah, he says, “For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall give praise to God’ ” (; cf. ). On the lips of those who belong to God, this will be a willing, continuing, and loving declaration of allegiance and adoration. For those who have rejected Him, the confession will be unwilling but irresistible, a compelled acknowledgment of Jesus Christ as the sovereign Lord of the universe by those under His immutable judgment.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2001). Philippians (p. 146). Chicago: Moody Press.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Php 2:10). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

connection to resurrection

3:10 and 3:20-21

that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

application: our vindication

As Jesus promised: “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted” (; cf. ; ). Echoing that principle, James said, “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you” (); and Peter wrote: “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time” (). is not simply a picture of the humiliation and exaltation of the Son of God.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2001). Philippians (pp. 138–139). Chicago: Moody Press.

application Salvation

A. W. Tozer wrote in the same vein

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2001). Philippians (p. 149). Chicago: Moody Press.

To urge men and women to believe in a divided Christ is bad teaching, for no one can receive half of Christ, or a third of Christ, or a quarter of the Person of Christ! We are not saved by believing in an office nor in a work

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2001). Philippians (p. 149). Chicago: Moody Press.

But as just cited, it was God the Father who “has made Him both Lord and Christ” (), and in order to be saved it is necessary for a person to “confess … Jesus as Lord, and believe in [his] heart that God raised Him from the dead” (), a truth repeated a few verses later: “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved” (v. ). Acknowledging Jesus as Lord must include submission and obedience, because, by definition, the title of Lord assumes it.

The centrality to the gospel of the lordship of Jesus Christ is abundantly clear. In the New Testament, He is called Lord some 747 times. In the book of Acts, He is referred to as Savior only twice, but as Lord 92 times.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2001). Philippians (p. 147). Chicago: Moody Press.

Lord

stresses the uniqueness of the divine name Lord (Yahweh): “I am the Lord your God” (); “I am the Lord; that is my name” (); “I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior” (); “This is what the Lord says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and the last; apart from me there is no God” (); “I am the Lord, and there is no other” (). By quoting in , the hymn appropriates the unique divine name Lord for Jesus.

Hansen, G. W. (2009). The Letter to the Philippians (p. 163). Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

In a Roman colony, Philippians would hear the acclamation that Jesus is Lord as a shocking allusion to the declaration of the Roman imperial cult that Caesar is Lord. In the ideology of the imperial cult, Jupiter and the gods gave divine authority and divine names to Augustus Caesar. In the theology of the hymn of Christ, God gave the divine name to Jesus so that he will be the Lord acclaimed and worshipped by all. By quoting this hymn, Paul presents the exaltation of Jesus as Lord in language that reflects and subverts the Roman imperial cult

Hansen, G. W. (2009). The Letter to the Philippians (p. 163). Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.