1226. From Humility to Exaltation

From Humility to Exaltation

"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name" (Php_2:9).

First we will observe how Christ Himself passed from humiliation to exaltation and then we will observe how saints pass with Him.

1. Christ in His ascension passed from humiliation to exaltation. Our Lord Jesus died on a Cross of shame. He was numbered with the malefactors; He was crucified as a transgressor, in the midst of transgressors; He hung on the Cross exposed to ridicule and disgusting ribaldry. The bulls of Bashan surrounded Him; the people gaped upon Him like roaring and ravenous beasts; they passed by Him wagging their heads, and crying, "Others He saved, Himself He cannot save."

Our Lord Jesus Christ passed from humiliation and degradation to exaltation: "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name."

Perhaps the best illustration of this is to be found in the story of Joseph.

Joseph was cast into a pit, taken up and sold to the Ishmaelites, cast into prison in Egypt–in all this we have types of the humiliation of Christ.

Joseph was afterward taken out of prison, exalted to a position on Pharaoh's right hand, and given charge of Egypt. In this place of authority and power Joseph is a type of Christ in His exaltation.

We marvel at the power which God wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand. We glory in the glory of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

2. The believer, in union with Christ, passes from humiliation to exaltation. God takes us out of the miry clay and places our feet upon the Rock. We were the children of darkness, we become the children of light. We were the children of satan, children of a curse, we become the children of God, children of a blessing.

We were dead, walking according to the prince of this age, fulfilling the desire of the flesh and of the mind; but we are quickened with Christ, raised with Christ, and made to sit with Christ in the Heavenly places.

Jehoiachin is a fitting type just here. In the thirty-seventh year of his captivity, the king of Babylon lifted him up out of prison and "set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon; and he changed his prison garments: he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life: and his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life" (2Ki_25:29-30). This is just what Christ accomplishes for the believer.

The Lord Jesus opens for us the prison bars and sets us free; then He exalts us to a seat with Him upon His throne, giving us a position above all who were in Heaven before us.

Saints are sons, and sons are never strangers. Surely our fellowship is with the Father and with our Lord Jesus Christ.

What a glorious privilege! we are made to sit with Him in the Heavenlies. This is not a future exaltation, it is a present one. We are now with Him, for He carried us there when He went up. He carried us with Him in His death, and when He died we died; He carried us with Him in His resurrection, and when He rose, we rose; He carried us with Him in His exaltation, and when He ascended up on high and sat down at the Father's right hand we ascended with Him and sat down with Him. We are now potentially at the Father's right hand, exalted with Christ.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR