Lesson for February 16, 2020
The Book of Philippians
Chapter 2:7-11
Verse 7
“But emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”
Jesus Christ from His own sovereignty made a decision to become true humanity. The greatness of this decision can never be overemphasized because our salvation and our eternal future are all based upon His decision. There were actually two great decisions related to our salvation. The first was the decision of sovereign deity which is described in this passage – He deprived Himself of the proper function of deity. The second was the decision was to fulfill the salvation plan mentioned in Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42.
The Greek word for emptied is “kenoo” meaning to deprive one’s self of a proper function. Jesus Christ deprived himself of the proper function of His deity, while remaining deity. There are three words used to describe the humanity of Christ. The Greek word for form is “morphe” refers to inner essence. The next important word is likeness which is the Greek word “homoioma,” which means outer appearance. The third word is appearance which is the Greek word “schema,” which means overt resemblance. When we put these words together, we have the Person of Jesus Christ in Hypostatic Union. Christ had a real physical body, fashioned like any male physical body, but what He did not have on the inside was a sin nature. Inwardly the true humanity of Jesus was impeccable. The essential difference between Christ and the other members of the human race was His sinless nature.
Christ voluntarily took on Himself the form of mankind in order to redeem man from sin, to reconcile man to God, and to propitiate God the Father. All of these purposes were accomplished at the Cross. In fulfilling the plan of God the Father, Jesus Christ did not exercise His divine attributes to benefit Himself, to provide for Himself or to glorify Himself. He also provided a perfect example for all believers with regard to living the Christian life because He accomplished His purpose with the power and filling of God the Holy Spirit.
In His humanity, Jesus Christ “veiled” His glory as deity. The glory of Christ as deity was veiled but never surrendered. On the Mount of Transfiguration, the glory of His deity was revealed. While the deity of Christ was united with perfect humanity, He was still subject to humiliation, temptation, distress, weakness, pain, sorrow, and certain limitations. This continued until His resurrection.
From His own free will Jesus Christ did not use His attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence. These attributes were not surrendered but voluntarily restricted in keeping with the Father’s plan. During His time on earth, Christ gave up the independent exercise of certain divine attributes and depended on the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Father in the performance of all miracles and all supernatural events. He depended upon maximum doctrine resident in His soul for all normal functions of His humanity.
Christ voluntarily restricted the use of His divine attributes in compliance with God the Father’s plan. This was the great issue in the three unique temptations of Jesus Christ. They were unique because no one else has ever been tempted that way. He was tempted by Satan with regard to rulership of the world, turning stones into bread, after going without food for forty days, and throwing Himself off the top of the Temple to see if the angels would save Him.
These temptations of Christ were legitimate temptations because they dealt with using His attributes independently of God the Father’s plan. (Matthew 4:1-11) Therefore, Christ did not exercise His divine attributes for His own benefit or His own glory. He did not give up His deity, but He gave up the independent exercise of His deity. To execute the Father’s plan, the humanity of Christ relied on God’s grace, just as we do, plus the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and the Bible doctrine resident in His soul. Consequently, the independent exercise of His deity and the independent exercise of His divine attributes was not to be held on to (grasped), otherwise God the Father’s plan would have been neutralized. So, He temporarily restricted the use of His divine attributes. (Philippians 2:6)
Christ took upon Himself the likeness of mankind and for this reason He prayed for glorification of His true humanity in John 17:5. Jesus Christ had not emptied His deity or His divine glory but at this point He had not yet achieved the strategic victory over Satan of the Angelic Conflict. Therefore, in John 17:5 Jesus was praying for victory for His humanity in paying for the sins of the world which would restore His divine glory in His glorified body after the Resurrection.
Verses 8-11
“Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.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.”
Christ suffered humiliation. It was a humiliation for deity to be in union with humanity, even though He was perfect humanity. Being found in appearance as a man was His humiliation. For the perfect humanity of Christ to come into contact with our sins was maximum humiliation while bearing our sins on the Cross. (I Peter 2:24) He was sinless and then suddenly He was bearing the sins of the world. He resisted every type of sin, every temptation that ever came to Him He resisted it, and suddenly every sin ever committed from Adam and Eve down to the end of time was poured out on Him, and that was His humiliation. That’s what it is means when it says, “he humbled himself.”
By becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross means He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the Father’s plan of salvation. This phrase gathers into one entirety the obedience of the humanity of Christ to the authority and the plan of God the Father by taking the sins of the world on Himself and being judged for those sins on the Cross. The Garden of Gethsemane was a good illustration of the intensity of the temptation prior to the Cross and Christ’s recognition of God the Father’s authority.
For this reason also, God highly exalted Him is in contrast to the humiliated Christ. The intensive pronoun (Him) always gives great emphasis on the person involved, and it denotes the Lord Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of the Father after His resurrection and ascension. Exalt means to raise someone to the loftiest heights, to exalt supremely, to exalt to the maximum. God the Father produces the exaltation of the Person of Jesus Christ after Christ’s resurrection from the dead.
And bestowed on Him the name which is above every name is the proof of the exaltation of Christ. It shows the result of the resurrection, ascension and session emphasizing the uniqueness of the Person of Jesus Christ as He is seated at the right hand of God the Father. Part of Christ’s victory in the Angelic Conflict is the Resurrection, the Ascension and The Session, at which He received His royal title of King of kings and Lord of lords. So, bestowing a name above every name is a way of saying that Jesus Christ ranks above everyone – angels and mankind.
So that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow further emphasizes the superiority of Jesus Christ over all beings. The reason why so much emphasis is placed upon bowing is because when this happens, we will be in a resurrection body and all believers will have maximum doctrine, therefore maximum appreciation of what is occurring at the Rapture of the Church. The bowing is a correct posture as a result of what is in the soul.
Jesus is the human name of Christ, and it means Savior or deliverer and denotes His Jewish royalty. He is Jewish royalty from birth; He is royalty from resurrection, ascension and session; and both of the titles above of royalty are tied into His human name.
Of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth refers to the bowing before Jesus Christ by Church Age believers as members of the Royal Family of God as a result of the Rapture. There are two categories of Church Age believers at the Rapture who bow their knees before Christ: believers alive at the Rapture and believers who die before the Rapture occurs. A corrected translation of the phrase “in Heaven” is “of Heaven.” In other words, it refers to all Church Age believers who are in Heaven as a result of the Rapture and all believers who alive when the Rapture occurs. I Corinthians 15:54 designates these believers as mortals taking on immortality. I Thessalonians 4:13-18 tells us about both categories of believers at the Rapture.
And that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father means all of us are going to acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ. Interestingly enough, the resurrection body will have a tongue! Confess in this verse means to acknowledge. Confess is the Greek word “exomologeo” and it means to acknowledge. This is a reference to the verbal acknowledgement of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. This will be the acknowledgement of Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords by the Royal Family of God in our new resurrection bodies. This verbal acknowledgement occurs at the time we bow before the Lord after the Rapture. Lord is the Greek word “kurios,” which is often used simply to indicate the royalty of Jesus Christ; His royalty in Hypostatic Union at the right hand of the Father, the royalty that brought about the Church Age, the royalty as a result of our union with Christ and royal family forever.
In resurrection bodies, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit will be number priority for all members of the Royal Family of God. When we acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ, it is going to glorify God the Father. God the Father is perfect therefore His plan is perfect, and the Father is the author of the plan of salvation and the Christian life and He is therefore glorified by our acknowledge of His Son Who executed the Father’s plan.