Receiving the Glory of Jesus

(Philippians 2:9-11)

What was it about Jesus that caused Him to be so loved by God and man? What were the things that led to Him receiving the highest praise and glory from men and angels?

And more importantly, we know that in Jesus we have an example to follow so that we too can enter God’s kingdom. So knowing this, what are the things we are to learn and do to receive the glory of Jesus?

Jesus came to teach mankind the path to the Father and to His eternal kingdom. In these few scriptures today we get an inkling of the great glory He received and an idea of what we too must do to receive those words all Christians want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

The Glory of Jesus

The scriptures today give us a brief insight into the glory that Jesus received. They say:

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

This is the glory that Jesus received, that everyone on heaven and should bow at the name of Jesus, confessing Him to be their Lord.

In my last two posts that considered the verses in Philippians 2 that preceded these, we looked the subject of humility. It was by humility that Christ received this great honour and glory, and it is the same for us. We must learn to be humble and so enter into the grace of the Father, recognising Jesus as Lord of lords and King of kings.

There are many aspects to this humility that Jesus portrayed for us to learn from. Humility requires or shows a number of different attitudes.

Humility suggests things like obedience, trust, love of others and pushing away of pride, arrogance, and conceit. These were all attitudes that Jesus showed while on earth and dealing with mankind. So we should take a moment to consider these things as they all work together towards the glory of God and Jesus Christ.

Trust and Obedience

It should go without saying that if we are to follow Christ and God the Father, then we must trust and obey what they have to say.

The words that Christ spoke are trustworthy and true. He spoke the truth so that we could learn the ways of God and we can trust His words because nothing He said would harm us as both the Father and the Son want what is best for their children.

Trust sometimes means accepting what is happening without knowing the end result. As we walk with Christ and follow His ways we need to trust Him because He has set the path we are to follow and will lead us to a better place. Even when we strike tough times we should trust because we know that He will lead us through.

The analogy that always comes to mind when thinking about trust is when Jesus spoke about walking in the light.

Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. (John 12:35)

When we consider that in the days when the Lord walked the earth, at night it was very dark. They did not have high powered torches or street lights to light their way when walking at night. And if the sky was overcast or there was no moon, then the darkness would have been considerable.

The only forms of light they had were oil lamps or torches of burning wood dipped in oil.

The circle of light from a burning torch or oil lamp was quite small. You would only be able to see a couple of steps ahead as you walked in the light. Unlike the high powered torches of today, some of which are like spotlights that can light the way for hundreds of yards/metres, in those days they would only be able to see ahead a few yards/metres.

So when Jesus spoke about walking in the light, He was talking as much about trust as anything else. They needed to trust in the light because they could not see far ahead. They could not see their destination, nor could they see any pitfalls, traps or dangers in their path until they were almost upon them.

This required trust to stay in the circle of light and not step outside it lest they fall in the darkness.

So too as Christians we need to remain in the circle of the light of Jesus Christ and the light of His knowledge and insight to ward off the darkness that can overtake us if we step outside of the light.

And that requires trust.

And following on from that is the need for obedience. If we trust Christ, we must obey Him. We must listen to His words and do as He says, following EXACTLY in the path He has set before us.

Disobedience has caused the fall of many because they wanted to go their own way and follow their own path. But if we are to receive the glory of the Lord in our lives, we must both trust and obey. We must listen to Jesus’ words and do them.

Pride and Arrogance

The converse of the above is those who are proud and arrogant and who can never find the ways of the Lord.

They seek their own glory and not the glory that comes from God. They trust only in themselves, thinking they know better than anyone else, including Christ.

They do not listen to the words of God and of Jesus Christ. They build their own structures of power and influence thinking these are important, but not understanding that it is through Jesus Christ that the truth will be found and the true glory of God.

We are given a wonderful picture of the pride and the arrogant and how they will not be able to stand with the Lord. Note these words from Isaiah 30.

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” And you would not, 16 but you said, “No! We will speed upon horses,” therefore you shall speed away; and, “We will ride upon swift steeds,” therefore your pursuers shall be swift. 17 A thousand shall flee at the threat of one, at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill. (Isaiah 30:15-17)

The Lord is saying here that it is by returning to the Lord and resting in Him that we shall be strong. This is all about the need for trust and obedience. We are following Christ and to follow means we need to stick with Him and not go racing off on our own course.

But then we see this second group of people who are not prepared to follow and stand, waiting on the Lord, but who take off at great speed on their own pursuits. They think they can get to the destination the Lord is leading them to more quickly by racing forward.

This is false thinking because we know the destination is to be with the Lord, but we don’t always know the pathway He is leading us through. So if we take off on a different path to the one the Lord is walking, then clearly we will end up somewhere else. And as this scripture in Isaiah 30 tells us, we will end up exposed, alone and vulnerable, like a flagstaff on a hill.

If we are to receive the glory of the Lord, then we must follow Him. We must trust and obey and learn the ways of humility that lead to the love of God. We cannot go our own way but we must walk in the light that is Jesus. Any other path will not lead us to the glory of God but to destruction.

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