“Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name.” Philippians 2:9
Paul shares an important truth with the Philippian church which
has largely been ignored in the Laodicean age we live in. It is a
principle which Moses recognized and which was the basis of him laying aside the privileges and benefits of being Pharoah’s adopted son. Hebrews 11 tells us “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.” We see in
the life of Moses how he shows us the image of Christ in his life as he keeps his eyes on the glory of God.
Therefore Every time you see therefore in Scripture we should always find out what it is there for. The word means we are to draw the following conclusion based on what has just been said. Here Paul reminds us that what he is about to say is based on the actions of Christ – His voluntary humbling of Himself, the setting aside of His rights, the taking on the flesh of a man and living in a sin cured earth in order to die on a cross for our sin. All these actions were aligned with God’s will for His life even as it led to the cross. His desire was to please God and, as a result, the following statement is true for our Lord and it can be true for us as well.
God has highly exalted Him Highly exalted is one word in the Greek meaning “to elevate above others”. It conveys the idea of raising someone to the highest possible status. Note that Paul states that God did this – the only person who stands in a position to assess the work of the Son is the Father and He has made His judgment – He is well pleased. There is no one who is greater than His Son in deed or in position.
And given Him the name God bestowed on His Son a gift – a name, the name. Name can mean authority, character, reputation, or identity. In Christ’s sake God bestowed all of them on His Son.
Which is above every name The name God has give His Son is above every other name. The word above means superior in position. No one can match the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ – it has been decreed by God Himself.
What can we learn? Paul teaches us a principle through the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. James tells us this example of the Lord is to be true for us. “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.” Peter tells the same thing. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.” Humbling ourselves to the will of God is directly linked to standing firm for God. The opposite of humbling ourselves is self-exaltation – pride. Man will either try to exalt himself or he will humble himself and allow God to asses his heart.
We are told in Proverbs “A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.” This is the example of Christ who
willingly did the will of God as God had designed it by relying on the power of the Holy Spirit to do what God called Him to do. These are exactly the two points Paul is teaching the Philippian church about how to stand firm for God in the midst of testing. Putting aside our own desires to do God’s will is the essence of humility and leads to honor from God.