The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Philippians 2:9-11,
Here is the place God the Father has set for his one and only Son. The "highest place", the most exalted position, the highest station in God's order of things. The name the Father has given Jesus Christ is a name that all will bow to, sinner and saint alike, angel or demon, a name that every knee should bow to and every tongue confess as Lord.
This is appropriate as Christ, the Son of God is the creative agent within the Trinity. In John 1:1-4 we read, "In the beginning was the Word [Jesus Christ - see verse 14], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind." Anything, anyone that has life does so only because the Son of God made it so. Likewise, in Hebrews 1:1-2 we read, "In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe." Jesus Christ, as God's Son, is the member of the godhead we refer to as the "Creator". The writer of Hebrews goes on to make a very powerful statement about Jesus Christ in the following verse, "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word."
However, in this passage in Philippians, the Son of God has been exalted by the Father to the highest place because he did not cling to all that attends his deity, but was willing to give it up in an astonishing humility to come to planet earth and do something unspeakably remarkable. He came into his own creation and willingly died on that miserable cross to make a way for us into his family, paying the penalty for all our sins. Sins of the whole world for all time! As Paul says in Philippians 2:7-8, "He [Jesus Christ] made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!" The writer of Hebrews tells us he did this with joy! Hebrews 12:2.
Jesus Christ's humility and the sacrifice of himself on that cross made something entirely impossible, possible. Those of us who live in this lost and fallen world, sinful and rebellious, estranged from God, ripe and ready for his judgment in a lake of fire, now have available the very most important asset anyone could possibly have: righteousness! A right standing with God, a place in his family, a place at his table, eternal life free from the decay and misery that manifests God's judgment of this life. No more death, no more crying, no more pain! No more sickness, no more weakness, no more infirmity. A life of fullness, meaning and purpose that mankind was originally designed for prior to his fall in the garden. Because of Jesus Christ's humility and sacrifice we can have this righteousness credited to our account with God by simply embracing him in faith.
It is no wonder to me that God the Father has set Jesus Christ to this exalted position, where everyone, everywhere will bow to him and call him Lord. The wise do so in this life and receive for themselves all Jesus Christ has done for us and all that is represented in his inheritance. Fools will wait till later, when all things are revealed, at exactly the wrong time - when it is too late. They will bow to him and call him Lord as they are cast in to that fiery lake of burning sulfur, because they refused to acknowledge Jesus Christ at the appropriate time, when it could have been done so through faith.
Jesus Christ is Lord!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
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