Every Knee Will Bow, Philippians, 2:9-11
Philippians 2:9-11 · Vern Peterman · Jul 6, 2003
Philippians (2003), No. 23
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262256595365

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. And on this Sunday when we have quite a few guests, we want to welcome all of you and are glad that the Lord has brought you safely here to join us. As we look at this Philippians chapter 2, 9 through 11 here, one of the things that's helpful, I think, is to kind of keep the big picture in mind, that we're just looking at a few verses, but the truth is We've got a kind of a series of logical sequences in the message that Paul is conveying to the believers at Philippi. And as we've been going through this, I think it's helpful for us to take a look at what Paul has done in what we looked at last week to kind of set us up for these verses. Let's read through this one more time here. For this reason also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." What we looked at last week as we stepped through the prior verses, verses 5 through 8 are kind of a a logical sequence that sets up this passage here.

And we kind of went through four steps in following through on that. The first thing he begins in the prior verse there, Christ was in heaven being eternal deity and having heavenly glory, privilege, and honor. As we step through those verses then, Christ came to earth retaining his deity but forsaking his heavenly glory, privilege, and honor. And then the next, Christ became a man being made like us in earthly form, yet still being by nature deity. And one of the ways that we kind of showed this sequence, this blue line shows the Lord's heavenly character. He maintained that deity as he came to earth, but took on, and this is the darker line, took on an earthly form. So now we see him on earth, both man and deity. and then finally humbling himself even to the death on a cross.

And one of the points that we made and underscored last week was that a death on a cross in the Roman Empire was considered so despicable that it was not even uttered in polite company. You just didn't talk about it. And that's Paul's example. This is the ultimate in humility. This is the ultimate in humbling oneself to be able to speak of and take on voluntarily Christ was not, you know, nailed against his will on that cross. He voluntarily took on that humility, that most despicable death of all.

Now, as Paul proceeds into these next verses here, this is the perspective that he's carrying on. In Philippians 2, 5 through 8 that we looked at, because he, Christ, humbled himself. That's the summary of those verses we looked at last week. Now, Philippians 2, 9-11, God exalted him above every name. That's the simple logical sequence that Paul has laid out in these verses.

The bottom line message, okay? Exaltation comes through humility. That's what he's trying to get across and convey to the believers at Philippi. And one of the things you'll recall that we brought up in last week, the Greek and Roman cultures, neither one of them considered humility to be a virtue. If anything, it was a character weakness or worse.

All right, now, here's the big picture and you have it on your handout as well. And for those of you who are joining us for the first time here, what we do is we put this little number here to indicate that that's on your handout and it gives you the page number, okay? So this is the page one or side one there is on your handout.

What God did God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that... This is what God did, right? This is God's doing. This is what God accomplished. So then we see in the next section the response. At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That's the response to what God did. And then the final result to the glory of God the Father. That's the three parts, that's the three steps. If you were to break that verse down, those are kind of the main logical thoughts that come forward there. Let's take a look at the first one. This is examining what God did.

God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name. You notice in this particular primary or foundational block that Paul sets out here, there are two verbs. He exalted and bestowed. Those are the two things that he did, the two actions that God took. Remember we said what God did, so this specifies it. Two verbs, God exalted and God bestowed.

Let's take a more detailed look at each one of those. Would you with me? God highly exalted him. Here, Matthew 11, 27a, our Lord says, All things have been handed over to me by my Father. All things. Not a few, not a percentage, not just a couple here and there, but all things.

The next thing, John 8.54, Jesus answered, If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. Isn't that interesting? Could he have? Yes. If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me. It is the Lord God, the Father, who does that.

Now, the reference to God in Philippians 2.9 refers to God the Father.

That's an important distinction here. And we look at here, this next slide, is John 17. Our Lord Jesus is praying to the Father, and notice what stands out here. And again, you have this on your handout as well. As our Lord is praying, He prays to the Father. He says, Glorify your Son. It's the Father's to do, isn't it? And then in verse 5, Now, Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which we had with you, which I had with you before the world was." He's looking to the Father to do it. In the passage we're looking at in Philippians 2, verse 9, it is describing it as having been done. It is what God the Father did.

Now, Philippians 2.9, here's what God did. And now the second part. Remember, the first verb was exalted. The second one is bestowed. God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that, okay? This is the second verb.

Now, as we look at that one, in Scripture, from the first book to the last, one of the things that's helpful for us to get in our mind here, when it uses the name, okay, it is not simply talking about some sound or a series of letters that we attach to somebody. We tend to do that in our own culture. We give somebody a name, and people tend to develop an emotional attachment to their name, but the name doesn't necessarily automatically mean their identity. In scripture, it is used in this way.

It is used for who he is. So we see the name of the Lord, and we see that repeatedly. It's who he is. It is his identity. That's the significance there. The name of the Lord is a phrase that occurs over a hundred times in the Old and New Testaments, twenty times just in the Psalms alone. Okay? It shows up. And why the name of the Lord? It's not simply, here's a sound, or here's a series of letters making up the word. But it's referring, this is the Lord's very identity. It is who He is.

Then notice here, here's these passages in Acts 8.16 and on and into 1 Corinthians 6.11, Colossians 3.17. They all refer, and this is an interesting kind of build on to that the name of the Lord phrase that you see in the Old Testament. The name of the Lord gets extended to the name of the person of Jesus Christ.

And 1 Corinthians 6.11 even says that we have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It isn't just a label, okay? It is the very person. It is who he is and what he has done and accomplished. That's how we were justified, okay? Revelation 19, which we looked at, boy, isn't that amazing? We looked at that last year.

Revelation 19, 11 through 13 and then on into verse 16, this idea of the name shows up a few times in the passage. And in verse 12, for example, you see there he has a name written on him which no one knows but himself. Verse 13, he is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And in verse 16, and on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And something jumps out there is not only is there the mention of the name, but twice in this passage we also have called. And that's something else that's very closely tied with the use of the name.

And that is, to be called is also not simply, hey, here's the little sound we attach to you, but it points directly to the identity. Do you see this right here? He puts it together. His name is called the Word of God. It doesn't just say that's the name that we attach to that person superficially. but it is in fact the very statement of who he is. That's the point. So even to use the term called twice in that passage is underscoring the idea of the name, not as a superficial sound or title, but as identity, as who he is.

Something else that shows up in this passage, that word bestowed is one of the series of the Keres family of words that we've been bringing up here since the very beginning. This charis family of words is built on the idea of grace. Grace-given is the idea. So bestowed here is not just simply, okay, handed it off to them, you know, you get this. But it is a grace-given bestowing is the idea there.

Now, one of the things I like to do from time to time is sing in the middle of a message, okay? It's a mid-message music, okay? Can you handle that? Okay. Do you folks know this song? Is this one people have some familiarity with? Let's give it a try. It's not tough to pick up if you don't.

Jesus, name above all names, beautiful Savior, glorious Lord, Emmanuel. God is with us, Blessed Redeemer, Living Word. Let's try it again. Jesus, name above all names, beautiful Savior, Glorious Lord Emmanuel God is with us Blessed Redeemer Living Word Okay.

Now as we continue on here, here's Philippians 2, 9-11. We've gone through verse 9, and that kind of sets the groundwork, but that's only part 1 of 3, right? Now we're going to step into the second part, the response. We've looked at what God did. Now we want to take a look at what was the response to what God did, the two verbs.

The response was, at the name of Jesus, here's this word again, the name, At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow. Of those, excuse the guitar, of those in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. In Isaiah 45, which is what Paul is not quoting exactly, but drawing from, look at the very last part of verse 23, and it says, and this by the way is God, the God of the Old Testament speaking to the Jews, that to me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance."

He's not quoting it exactly. He's drawing from that, saying when this knee-bowing and this tongue-confessing goes on, it's not just, okay, there's God and somebody else. Jesus Christ is deity. Haven't we gotten that message already in Philippians? He's underscoring it again. If this is the one to whom the tongues confess, then Jesus Christ is deity. He is underscoring the message he already gave them in the prior verses, very clearly, unmistakably.

Every knee will bow, he says. Now, bowing the knee meant to acknowledge the authority and the position of one greater than oneself. You bow the knee, it means you're saying, yes, you are indeed one of higher authority You are indeed one of higher position than me, so I bow the knee. We get the message, Genesis 41-43, everyone in Egypt was ordered to bow the knee to Joseph. That expression was used, bow the knee to Joseph.

Why? Joseph was now second in Egypt. We see it again, Romans 11-4, Paul writes about 7,000 in Israel had not bowed the knee to Baal. Same expression. who had not acknowledged Baal as the authority, who had not acknowledged Baal as having the position claimed.

In Romans 14.11, Paul quoted Isaiah 45.23, which we just took a look at. He quotes it again. This is a pivotal verse.

In Philippians 2.10, he says that every creature will acknowledge the authority and position of Christ. That's the message he's passing along. No exceptions. Every knee will bow. Now, in order to underscore it, what does he do? He next says, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth. What Paul is doing here, he wants to emphasize this recognition.

He wants to focus on the fact that it includes absolutely every creature. No creature is accepted. He's not saying this particular group is going to go along with this idea. And this one over here is going to think it's not too bad an idea either. He says, every single one, it makes no difference as to their standing, it makes no difference as to their place. Every knee will bow, no exceptions. That's his point.

He is emphasizing and underscoring it by listing heaven and on earth and under the earth. In scripture, heaven and earth is used over 200 times, to give the idea of all of creation. If you want to say everything, heaven and earth, 200 times, very common phrase. However, in order to really emphasize the point, what is done in scripture, you find places in the Old Testament and the New, Philippians here is one of them, where under the earth is added to that phrase to underscore the idea every single one.

But beyond the idea of emphasis, we'll take a look at this in a minute, There's a reason for adding that to it, beyond just double emphasis. The concise Greek, to get the idea of this Philippians 2.10, comes across this way. By concise Greek, I mean, in our English translations, a lot of times the translators will add little words in English that aren't exactly in the original Greek text in order to smooth it out in the English. But in order that we get the idea of what the actual text said to the person reading it, I've carried it across this way.

So that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, heavenlies and earthlies and under-earthlies. And by the way, again, for those who are with us here, this means the second side of your handout, okay? So that the name of Jesus, every knee will bow. So far so good, but look at this. Heavenlies and earthlies and under-earthlies. Is that interesting? It doesn't come across quite like our English translation. Heavenlies. You remember in Ephesians 1-3, we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. Where? In the heavenlies. Same work, same idea. And the earthlies. And earthlies, literally. And under-earthlies. It doesn't simply mean what's underneath the ground. It's not a spiritually neutral idea of just under the soil. It goes beyond that.

The word that Paul selects would be closer to our English word, infernal. That's got a negative connotation, doesn't it? And so using it in this way would be, and infernals. That's the idea that he carries across here. Now, cultural insight, I think, is helpful for us to understand as Paul is using this word about things under the earth, the infernals. And it goes this way.

In ancient cultures, and particularly applicable to Greek and Roman cultures, there was a great fear of things that were under the water and under the earth. Tremendous fear. It was thought, for example, to be drowned to a point of death was something very abhorrent. just awful. And they were always afraid of things coming out of the ground, and afraid of caverns and caves and things of that sort. The idea of subterranean spirits and gods and goddesses and sea monsters and the like were just all throughout the Greek and Roman myths. Why? They were obsessed with the fear of these things.

Paul, in telling the Philippian believers that Jesus Christ is above all things, even the ones under the earth, gave the Philippian believers a comfort their neighbors did not have. Their neighbors were worried about these subterranean spirits and things that might come out from underneath the ground, and be careful about this cave, and don't ever do anything that might get you drowned in the water because the things under the earth would be awful. And take a look at this. This is the River Styx, which is part of the mythology of the time.

This is the goddess Theia, and those of you who are taking the Greek class may recognize the Theta, okay, there, so there's Theia. This goddess Theia was the goddess of the underworld, only, and this is an amazing contrast, Paul underscores the name of Christ in every knee-bowing and speaking the name. The goddess Theia, you are not allowed to speak her name. You could only write it, okay? So here Paul is drawing on a contrast from the culture. People couldn't speak the name of the one who was in charge of the underworld, but speak the name of Jesus.

Every name will do that. Isn't that something? He draws upon a contrast, and he gives the Philippian believers a comfort that they had never understood before, and that the people that they lived right alongside didn't understand them, no. They lived in constant fear of the things underground. And yet, here's Paul writing, everything in heaven and on earth and under the earth, they will all, every last one, bow the knee and confess, acknowledge the position of the Lord Jesus.

So in the heavenlies, Paul's underscoring the heavenlies, what do you have? You have angelic beings. And what's interesting is we look in, for example, the first couple chapters of Job, there are some angelic beings who are not on the Lord's side that even have access in the heavenlies. And it's interesting, as we studied in Revelation, the heavens will be replaced.

The earthlies, what we know now here on the surface of the earth, on planet earth itself, all the people who live here and any spiritual beings who have a domain here for a time, those are included in that group as well. And finally, the under-earthlies, the infernals, if you will, all those beings, and we read about those some also in Revelation, all those beings, evil intent or not, will acknowledge Jesus as Lord. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

This is also from Isaiah 45.23 as we took a look at there. And one of the things to remember, this word confess, a lot of times we have the idea that confessing means listing all the things you've done wrong. It's not the idea of the biblical word fundamentally. The idea is to speak in agreement, to agree with. That's the basic idea that is coming across here.

Every tongue will come to a place, every mind and heart will come to a place of recognizing, even if they don't now. They will come to a place of recognizing the place of the Lord Jesus Christ. They will recognize his position, even if now they adamantly oppose him. They will recognize his position.

Think of who you will. Think of the most wicked person on planet earth in history or present time. They will confess. They will bow the knee. No question about it. Absolutely will take place. Now, ultimately every creature in heaven on earth and on the earth will come to a place of agreeing with the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord. Either now or later. And let me give you a hint Sooner is better. That's a strong hint, by the way. Sooner is much better.

When will every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord? It's good to ask that question. Obviously, there are people who are not there now. On earth as they become believers. That's one time. There are those who have become believers, not only among us here, but all around the earth now.

And as we were studying in here in the elective before, those in prior centuries have done so. In the heavenlies, when believers are with Him, they will do so. And we read about that. Remember the 150 verses in Revelation that are in the heavenly scene? Those are all acknowledgment of of both heavenly beings as well as earthly beings that have gone to be with the Lord, of His Lordship.

During the Millennial Kingdom, as Christ reigns, absolutely. One of the things that's revealed in Scripture is when Christ will reign in the Millennial Kingdom, there will be those who will acknowledge Christ's Lordship, even though in their hearts they resist it. But the opportunity to express that will not be there. Judgments at Christ's second coming and at the end of the millennium will be additional times when they will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord.

They will bend the knee. They will come to that place of recognition of Christ's authority into the eternities to come. Let's sing another one. Hopefully the guitar works. I draw upon these because these songs particularly express the things that we've just studied. So I think it's a way to kind of underscore it.

He is Lord, He is Lord. He is risen from the dead and He is Lord. Every knee shall bow. every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is Lord. He is Lord. He is risen from the dead and He is Lord. Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Okay, we've been through the first couple of blocks there. What God did, God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name. So that, this response, at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow at those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, with an end result, to the glory of God the Father.

Paul ends this passage with that resulting passage, that resulting note. If we look at this John 17, 1-5 passage again, and again it's on the first side of your handout, Jesus spoke these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son, and this is what we underscore, that the Son may glorify you. He said this very thing. So Paul is not inventing something new here. Paul is not coming up with something and saying, hey, I've got a great idea.

He is simply laying out in clear terms what's already been made very clear to the believers before through this prayer. And as he goes on there in verse 4, he says, I have glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work which you have given me to do. Now, Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was. Do you see that? Paul is just simply laying out in sequence the very truths that have already been spelled out before.

And all he's doing is laying that out in such a way is very clear the sequence of what's taken place here. So Philippians 2, 9 through 11 is simply putting these things in a context of looking back in remembrance and acknowledging what's taken place historically.

Now one of the things that pops out here, we need to answer the question, is this idea of what's glory? What is glory? We use the word in various ways in our language, and a lot of times it helps to revisit it, simply because we kind of lose sight of how the word is used in the New Testament, because it is used in some ways that are different from common usage in our culture.

To define it, glory is the radiant essence of who God is. Okay? The radiant essence of who God is. Revelation 21-23 puts it this way, and the city, and this is the New Jerusalem, and the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. This is the glory. It is the radiant essence of who God is.

See, here we have to have these extra lights in here, and we got the sun outside and when the sun goes down it gets dark except for the other lights that we put around. This is talking about a light that continues on and on and on and on. And everything is lit by it. You don't have to have any secondary lights.

And this light, notice it isn't just a lamp that the lamb holds. It is the very person of the lamb himself. Amazing! It is God Himself. It is His radiant essence. It is the glory that will illumine the New Jerusalem for all of eternity. Now that's power. And you don't get a bill. God paid it. Now, the next thing is the Father and Son shared glory before the world was.

That we saw from the John 17.5 passage.

When we glorify the Lord, we don't give Him any glory, you know, and say, okay, Lord, here's a hunk of glory, okay? We don't add to His glory at all. All that we do, since He already is glory, is we're acknowledging and praising His glory, the radiant essence of who He is. We are glorifying Him, not because we're adding to His glory, we are simply reflecting it back, if you will, expressing and acknowledging to Him His glory. That's what we're doing when we glorify the Lord. So what's Paul saying here? What's the bottom line? Paul is dealing with this problem of division and strife.

Remember when we got to the end of chapter 1, he was talking to them, and he approached it in a very gentle way. Isn't that neat? He approached it in a very gentle way, and what he did was to start off by talking not about, hey, you've got this division problem, guys, fix it. He starts off instead by talking about them striving together and being of one mind. As we brought out, it's not just a noun mind, but being one-minded as a verb that characterizes them. So he starts off dealing with that issue and he's really continuing on with it as he's presenting these truths we've seen here this morning.

He told them in Philippians 2, the first four verses, that they must be one-minded, and that single-mindedness must be the same as Christ was minded. And I tease with the joke, He told them all to be in one accord, and it's not the one made by Honda.

But Christ's humility was shown in His willingness to set aside His heavenly glory and privileges in obedience to the Father and in service to us. What He's doing is He's saying, Look, I want you to have a good example, a good example of what this looks like, so that I won't just be telling you to do something that you don't understand. He says, I want you to be minded as Christ was minded. So he doesn't just say, okay, here's a good example, try it, give it your best earthly efforts to follow it. Instead, he says, Here's the example, but I want you to be minded as Christ was minded, because as He tells the Corinthian believers, you have the mind of Christ.

I'm not telling you to do something that you cannot do. I'm not telling you to do something in the flesh that looks good. He's not spelling that out. Ultimately, the glory due to the Lord Jesus was restored by His Father, and as He calls it here in this passage in 2.9, by grace giving Him glory, not by our Lord taking it by right or force. Our Lord prayed to the Father about the restoration of His glory, but He didn't say, OK, I want it, give it to me now! OK? Gimme! OK? Instead, it was the Father's grace giving that restored the rights and privileges and honors of His glory. Not His deity, that was there all the time. but the rights and privileges and honors of his glory.

If we look at this Philippians 2, 9-11 passage expanded and explained, you have this on the back side of your handout and so you can track with me here. For this reason, and these are the reasons that he gave us in verses 5-8, so he's not just starting in for this reason, you say, what? He is giving us the reason is the things that he spelled out in the prior verses, 5 through 8.

God the Father highly exalted Christ. Notice he had to put the additional descriptor in there. Highly exalted Christ. And grace gave him the name of the identity. Not just a, hey, here's a name, hang it on you. But grace gave him that name, which is an identity, which is above every other named identity in the created universe.

All. Every single one. So that, okay? Consequence. So that at the named identity of the God-exalted Jesus Christ, every being will acknowledge Christ's supreme authority and position. Every being. And he underscores and explains that those beings in the heavenlies and earthlies and under-earthlies, the infernals, if you will.

Okay? No place accepted, no being accepted. Absolutely everyone. and that every tongue will confess." Boy, he's underscoring it, isn't he? He's not leaving anybody out. Every tongue's going to say it. Not just the knee-bowing, but every tongue saying it. Okay?

Confess agreement that Jesus Christ is Lord of all creation. Everything created, everything, whether being or material, Lord of all. Ultimately, there will be a new creation, right? Consisting of all those who have willingly, and prior to a time of negative judgment, willingly come to a place of acknowledging these things. Attributing glory to God the Father as established between them in eternity past. You see, God didn't just come along and say, hey, I've got a great idea in the middle of having already created things. These were things that were set in motion eternity passed before the words were spoken to bring this earth and universe into creation. The application. This is where we bring it home. The application of this passage and beginning back in verse 5.

Among believers there isn't to be some sort of a social ladder. I had an instance a few months back. I was at a doctor's appointment and the doctor said, well, you're at, I said, well, I'm at Holly Hills Bible Church. And the doctor said, well, churches, aren't they kind of political? And I said, not this one.

And it's one of the things, there isn't a place for church politics. How about that? There's no place for church politics. Why? because I'm not trying to get my group to do this and yanking and pulling. Instead, it's, what does the Lord want? I'm looking out for the interest of another, not looking out for number one.

And among believers, that's to be the universal case. One mind. One-minded, Paul lays it out. That verb phreno that we've been bringing up week after week, Paul keeps harping on that. Why? He wants them one-minded. Minded as one. A mind in action, singular. There's no place for making sure that people do it my way or for personal prestige. How do I look?

The ultimate question becomes, is the Lord glorified? That's what matters. That's how I test it. Is the Lord glorified? Not, how does this person or that person stack up? Or, hey, I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine as long as you come out pretty good. The ultimate test is, is the Lord glorified? That's real different, isn't it? Worldlings don't ask that question.

People in the church do. Now, by God's design, believers in the body of Christ are to be minded as Christ was minded. This was the point we made before, as Paul laid out. The mind of Christ. Isn't that amazing? He doesn't say, okay, eventually you're going to get it, when you go to be with the Lord, you're going to have the mind of Christ. He says now, minded as Christ was minded. Right now. Right now as we're sitting here. When we get up and walk out the door, minded as Christ was minded. That's what he said. That is amazing. That is phenomenal.

Forsaking personal glory and attainment, looking out for the interests of others and the local church body. Not, boy, I've got to make sure I get what I need. What does that person need? What does this person need? What way has the Lord gifted me to address the needs of parts of the body of Christ? A real different kind of question from what the world asks. And finally, our recognition, when the time comes, will be by the Lord as He sees fit in His time. And that time may not be while we're here on planet Earth. Ultimately it won't be. Any recognition we have here may fade away.

Little story, there was a fellow who was a friend of mine years ago, I haven't seen him for a while, but the account goes like this. There was a Christian musician who was at the church, he thought he was alone, and the church was fairly dark except for the light over the music on the piano. And this Christian musician was playing, and he was playing this song, and just as he finished, this friend of mine stood in the back of the church and went...

And the guy who had just finished playing said, Rats! You stole my reward! And the concern there was just, he wanted to be between himself and the Lord. That was his heart. Isn't that a neat thing? He wanted to be between himself and the Lord, so this was, Lord, I'm glorifying you here, and if somebody else applauds, that wasn't my intent. Isn't that a neat thing?

And I think that's really what this looks to. The recognition will be by the Lord. Let's leave it for the Lord to do what's right. One of the things we're doing in the class that meets in here before is we're starting to look at church history, and one of the things we'll be looking at with some of the groups and whatnot, and frankly, a lot of the different divisions and chisms that have taken place in the thousands of denominations that are out there, have taken place in some cases because this was not understood. How about that? Thousands of denominations out there all cranking and whirling and the gears turning and everything. Why? Because this wasn't understood. That's huge. This is a pivotal, massively huge passage. Tremendous impact if it's understood.

Something else to point out here is Philippians 2, 5 through 11 and the identification truths, our union with Christ. Identification with Christ is not taught explicitly in these verses, so don't misunderstand me. I'm not trying to make the text say something it doesn't say. But each step in which we are identified with Christ is either explicitly taught or implied by the passage. What do I mean? Death. We were united with Christ in his death.

This is the Roman 6 message that shows up in Philippians 2.8. Burial. 2.8 is obviously implied as following the death. Resurrection. 2.9 is implied since obviously Christ was bestowed and given these things as a result of being resurrected. Ascension is also implied since You see his position being high.

And finally, his seating. That's what's basically laid out here. He is given every name. He is given all authority. That's what the seating means. The seating doesn't mean, okay, you've worked hard and sit down now. The seating means that he has been given a place of authority in the heavenlies. None of those things are taught as our identification with Christ or our union with him in this passage. And yet what we see is each part of these is either directly taught, as in death and the seeding, or implied by what's said there.

Let's think about this for a minute. As we look at our, even our gathering, we come here and gather and I'm glad this morning we have a number of guests with us and that's great. But as we think about this here this morning, as we gather as believers, how unique and special a thing that is. How marvelous a thing. God is doing something that is totally unlike what the rest of the world is doing.

It should be, to the world, inexplicable what we're doing here this morning. To the world, this should be incomprehensible. What on earth is going on here? I was at a church meeting one time and it was sort of an open forum and people could stand up and say what was going on, and the church was not directed to try to draw unbelievers in, but I recall this one gathering, and what they would do is they'd have a roving mic, and one lady stood up in the back, she got the mic, and she said, this is my first time here, and she said, I don't know what's going on here, but I want it. She saw what was going on and it was inexplicable by anything that she could see or explain from things she'd seen on planet Earth. This was otherworldly. How would you like to think about it in these terms? God designed what is going on in the church to be unnatural, okay? In the sense that what happens naturally in society should be something quite different from what's happening unnaturally here. This is supernatural. This is wonderful stuff.

Let's thank the Lord. Lord, we do pause here just to give you thanks, to praise you for what you have done. As we've seen here this morning, we see the bestowing that you have done upon the Lord Jesus, and we give you thanks for that. And Lord, prior to the time where it becomes compulsory, prior to the time when there is no other choice, We this morning want to give you glory, not because we can add to the glory that you have, but because we want to acknowledge the glory that is inherently yours because of who you are. And we thank you, Lord, that this is a glorifying thing to the Lord Jesus Christ and ultimately to the Father. And we just thank you for your working, your accomplishment, Lord, and we pray that as Paul has laid out these truths, that these truths would sink in in our own mind, in our own thinking, in our own understanding. We pray that the eyes of our hearts may be opened. We give you thanks in Jesus' name. Amen.