Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
“And because of this, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus should bow every knee belonging to heavenly beings, and to earthly beings, and to those who are under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Philippians 2:9-11
Yesterday, we began with this, from Hebrews 12: “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God.” Today, Paul reveals to us that there was a reason God so highly exalted His Son Jesus, the same reason that was suggested in the verse from Hebrews 12.
Here are the verses that preceded the ones from Philippians, quoted above:
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in God’s form, did not consider equality with God as a prize to be seized upon, but divested himself, assuming the form of a slave, made in the likeness of men; and finding himself as a man in appearance, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death – the death of a cross.”
Jesus has been exalted above the heavens by God because he humbled himself so low and so completely to God. Solomon counseled his son, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16:18), and he also said, “before honor is humility” (Prov. 15:33). God honored Jesus because Jesus was humble.