Day 28

“See, my servant will act wisely, he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.” — Isaiah 52:13

In Paul’s acclamation of the person and work of Jesus, he says, “Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

This summary of Christ’s deity spans from eternity to eternity, and it is important we understand it. To deny Christ’s deity is to undermine everything about Him. Colossians 1:6 tells us, “For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

From this position of supreme authority, Christ so humbled Himself that when He came to earth, it was knowing He’d be rejected and scorned, especially by His own people. It was knowing for three years He’d live the life of a pauper, never owning more than the clothes on His back. It was knowing He’d grieve and suffer over many whose hearts were closed to His teachings. It was knowing He’d be betrayed, arrested, humiliated, tortured, and condemned to die by one of the cruelest means conceived by man. He knew that he would be made to be sin, and stand as our substitute before the just wrath of His Father. We cannot fathom what Jesus endured on the cross as God turned His face away.

Isaiah 53:11 states, ‘After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities’. From noon until three, darkness fell over all the land while the Son of Man was dying. But beyond the agony of the cross, what satisfied Jesus was looking through the corridors of time, and seeing generation after generation of His people reconciled to God and saved through His blood shed on that cross. Sinless He lived, but made sin for us, He died so that we may live. Therefore, God exalted Him to the highest place in all creation. And in His grace, God has given us the privilege of seeing Him exalted to the highest place in our lives as our one true LORD and Saviour.

Prayer: Precious Lord, I thank you in humility that your death was my death, and consequently, your resurrection has become my life. i pray that my life on earth will always be lived in your strength and for your glory. i thank you, lord, for this privilege.

To reflect upon: What does exalting Christ mean to me personally? How would I best describe the ways in which Christ is exalted in my life?