Exalted Above Every Name

The humbled Christ is the exalted Lord. Philippians 2 does not end with the cross as though humiliation has the final word. After speaking of Christ's obedience unto death, Paul says in PHILIPPIANS 2:9 (ESV), "Therefore God has highly exalted him." The One who came low is above every name. That means Jesus must not be treated as a small religious option. He is not one voice among many equal voices. He is Lord. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. This is comfort and warning. It comforts believers because the world does not have final authority. The rejected Christ is exalted. The crucified Savior reigns. Evil does not sit on the throne. Human pride does not have the last word. It warns us because no one can avoid Christ forever. Every knee will bow. The question is not whether Jesus will be acknowledged as Lord, but whether we bow now in faith or later under judgment.

ACTS 17:31 (ESV) says God has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed, and of this He has given assurance by raising Him from the dead. The resurrection declares that Jesus is not a dead teacher remembered by followers. He is the risen Lord. Christmas is therefore not soft in the way the world often imagines. The child born in Bethlehem is the King before whom every knee will bow. The humility of His first coming does not cancel the majesty of His lordship. So worship Him rightly. Not as a seasonal figure. Not as a helper added to self-rule. As Lord. The name above every name belongs to Jesus Christ.