Sermon Tone Analysis

Why is the Resurrection a big deal?

- Why does Christendom have a day to celebrate it?

You may already know the answer to this, but I’d love to reconfirm it for you and increase your gratitude to God and your faithfulness of abiding in Christ, the risen Lord.

PRAY

The Significance of Christ's Resurrection & Exaltation - John 8:50-59, Philippians 2:9-11

Let’s go back to where we left off last week as we described the significance of Christ’s Incarnation & Humiliation:

His exaltation in glory (above all creation) begins with the Resurrection… - the Turning Point

The Christ Hymn that I’ve chosen as central text for this two-part series presupposes that the hearers, the collective worshippers/singers, also understand and profess the truth of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.

- None of this makes any sense if he is not raised.

It’s like the letter to the Hebrews, from which some say the resurrection is conspicuously absent.

The word resurrection may not be used, but the truth and impact of it is blatantly assumed:

Describing Jesus as priest in the order of Melchizedek, the author explains...

He was descended from the tribe of Judah (fulfilling his role as the rightful heir to the Davidic throne).

So in his role as great high priest, he is not descended from Aaron (the tribe of levitical priesthood).

Instead, he is appointed by God to be a priest in the order of Melchizedek.

- With reference to Christ, this describes both his deity and the proof of that power in his resurrection from the dead.

Therefore, in explaining how Jesus introduces a “better hope” (v.

19) and is the guarantee of “a better covenant” (v.

22), the author concludes:

They were prevented by what from continuing in office?

[death] - And Hebrews is SUPER clear that Jesus gave his life (he died) as the perfect sacrifice to atone for sin.

But death doesn’t prevent HIM from continuing in office, why?

Because he rose again to conquer sin and death!

Just in case anybody missed the resurrection in there, here’s the concluding benediction in Hebrews:

Similarly, the resurrection is not absent from this Christ Hymn; rather, it is a fundamental (and crucial) presupposition.

So let’s explain the significance of the resurrection as the turning point for God the Father exalting the Son (just as his condescension to become a man [incarnation] was the beginning point of His humiliation):

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ Validates His Person & Work

[as well as prophecies foretold of the Messiah, and his purpose (ministry), promise, and power]

With reference to His person most specifically, I’d like to draw out two particular implications: his deity and authority

Specifically His Deity and Authority:

The Bible declares his deity.

[The Bible: God’s word authored through the agency of men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit]

To whom does this refer?

God the Son, coming to earth as a man, has made the Triune God known.

Jesus acknowledged his deity.

God the Son who walked in perfect obedience to God the Father.

- He was and is God, the Second person of the Godhead, co-equal with the Father and Spirit in every way.

Why did they want to stone him?

What was he claiming by stating “I AM”?

When God revealed himself to Moses in a burning bush and commissioned him and gave him authority, this is how he described himself:

Now Jesus was saying not only that I AM sent him (commissioned him and gave him authority), which was the case, but he was claimed to BE “I AM.” - This was abundantly clear, and they were going to stone him for what they considered blasphemy, so he slipped away because his hour had not yet come (as John frequently describes the coming time when Jesus would allow himself to be crucified for the truth of this claim).

Seven other ways John’s gospel records Jesus describing himself as the I AM with an accompanying metaphor: I AM the Bread of Life (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51); I AM the Light of the World (John 8:12); I AM the Door of the Sheep (John 10:7, 9); I AM the Good Shepherd (John 10:11,14); I AM the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25); I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6); and I AM the True Vine (John 15:1, 5).

He claimed to have the authority to lay down his life and take it up again.

...and therefore to forgive sins and give resurrection life to those who “obey” him.

(John 8:51)

Speaking in John 10 of the fact that he would lay down his life for his sheep and take it up again, he adds:

Jesus told Martha before raising Lazarus from the dead:

At the last supper with his disciples (which John records beginning all the way back at chapter 13), he includes the prayer that Jesus prayed to the Father.

It begins this way:

The point to be made here is that Jesus, as God, has the power and authority to grant eternal life, to grant access to God.

Let’s return now to the Christ Hymn in Php 2:

The Father’s Exaltation of the Son (Also) Affirms His Deity and Authority

The Result of Christ’s Humiliation:

God (the Father) Exalted Him

In the Christ Hymn of Philippians 2, Christ continues to be the central theme, but now, instead of being the main actor, the attention shifts to God the Father elevating the Son.

This he accomplishes in two ways: by super-exalting him (or exalting him to the absolute highest place), and by giving him the highest name.

Peter O’Brien explains that both linguistically and contextually, it is better to understand this exaltation not as a comparison to his position in his preincarnate state, but taking the superlative as “an elative force connoting Jesus’ exaltation to a position over the whole of creation.”

- [Peter Thomas O’Brien, The Epistle to the Philippians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1991), 236.] --- This can be seen in the universal purpose of his exaltation communicated in the last two verses, that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Him as Lord.

Speaking of that same point, LORD (κύριος in Greek) is almost certainly the best understanding of the name that God confers upon him, equivalent to the personal name of God in the Old Testament: Yahweh.

The first-century scandal of a crucified Lord and the purported failure of the divine plan for the Messiah is flipped on its head and proven to be perfectly adequate and complete.

The Result of Christ’s Exaltation:

Universal Worship of Jesus as LORD

The fulfillment of this will take place in its fullness at the parousia, that is the second coming of Jesus.

- Thus God (the Father) confirms here not only Jesus’ divine identity and authority, but also his future destiny.

Significance to You:

In Him you can have spiritual life.

In Him you can face death with comfort and courage.

The sting is out of death:

And listen to the testimony of this same Apostle Paul when himself faced with certain death:

In Him you can face life with comfort and courage.

In Him you can have lasting joy and purpose.