Reading:
Philippians 2
Philippians
2 is one of my favorite chapters in Scripture because of the clarity
with which it spells out the Gospel (how Christ redeemed us), while
simultaneously drawing lines from the Gospel to how we are to think
and live. Last
Sunday we saw the wonderful truth of drawing lines from Ephesians;
in Philippians Paul makes the connections even more succinctly. In
this same text that draws these lines with such clarity, we also have
one of
the most glorious truths of the Gospel made explicit.
5In
your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ
Jesus:
6Who,
being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God
something to be used to his own advantage; 7rather,
he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being
made in human likeness. 8And
being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming
obedient to death—even death on a cross!
9Therefore
God exalted him to the highest place and gave
him the name that is above every name,
10that
at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and
every tongue acknowledge that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father. (Philippians
2:5-11 NIV)
Verse
5 tells us that we are to think the same way Christ did when He came
seeking and saving the lost (as described in vv 6-8). Christ was the
demonstrated humility perfectly laying down his very rights as God,
living poor and subject to the same conditions we mortals live under.
Then verses 9-11, show how the Father multiplied and restored back
to Him what He laid down. For Jesus that means being given the
name that is above every name!
What
is that name that is above every name? Is it the name Jesus? Or,
is it the name YHWH? Or, as I will suggest, is it the declaration
that Jesus is YHWH—that every tongue will declare that Jesus
Messiah is indeed YHWH God to the glory of God the Father? In
order to see what I am suggesting we only have to look at the text
Paul is quoting from in Isaiah. As you read, keep in mind that LORD
is written where the Hebrew is YHWH, the name by which God revealed
Himself to Israel (see also Isaiah 42:8).
21…Was
it not I, the LORD (YHWH)?
And there is no God apart from
me, a righteous God and a Savior;
there is none but me. 22"Turn
to me and be saved,
all you ends of the earth; for I
am God, and there is no other. 23By
myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word
that will not be revoked: Before
me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear. 24They
will say of me,
'In the LORD (YHWH)
alone are deliverance and strength. '" All who have raged
against him will come to him and be put to shame. 25But
all the descendants of Israel will
find deliverance in the LORD (YHWH)
and will make their boast in him.
(Isaiah 45:21-25)
YHWH
is very jealous that His name and glory not be given to another, to
an idol, to a false savior. But the Father has been very
pleased to have the man Jesus (because the Son humbled Himself
and became man), who is the Messiah (Christ), exalted to
the highest place in the universe and given a name above every name
(I can only think of One name that high) that at the name of Jesus
(the man who was crucified for our sin) every knee in heaven
and earth would bow and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Lord (kurios) is YHWH's name translated in the Greek
Old Testament (LXX) in Isaiah 45:14-16 as the One speaking in Isaiah
45:21-25. The Greek word for Lord, kurios, is used in
Isaiah 42:8 LXX for the Hebrew YHWH (I am kurios—the Lord),
that is my name! Now we are to declare that Jesus Christ is YHWH!
To declare Jesus Christ as Lord, while paraphrasing Isaiah
45:23, is nothing other than to declare Jesus Christ as YHWH!
That is giving Him the name that is above every name!
The
next time someone knocks on your door and suggests that we are not to
worship Jesus but only Jehovah (just a variation on YHWH by
adding vowels differently—YeHoWaH rather than YaHWeH), remember
that every knee will eventually bow and every tongue will eventually
declare that Jesus Christ is Jehovah (YHWH) to the glory of God the
Father! So start proclaiming it now!
Love
the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,
Jerry
