(14) The disciples of John. —The passage is interesting as showing (1) that the followers of the Baptist continued during our Lord's ministry to form a separate body (as in Matthew 11:2; Matthew 14:12); and (2) that they obeyed rules which he had given them, more or less after the pattern of those of the Pharisees. 2 Timothy 2:14 Verse by Verse Commentary; 2 Timothy 2:15 Verse by Verse Commentary; 2 Timothy 2:16-17 Verse by Verse Commentary; RAY STEDMAN. 2 Timothy 2:14-19: Avoiding Congregational Gangrene; 2 Timothy 2:14-16: The Life God Blesses; JAMES SMITH. 2 Timothy 2:19-21 The Foundation The House And Its Vessels; DAVID ROPER.
Genesis 9:14
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'And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud.'
Keil summed up this passage by writing that:
'This presupposes that the rainbow then appeared for the first time in the vault of heaven. From this it may not be inferred that it did not rain on the earth before the flood, but that the atmosphere was differently constituted, a supposition in perfect harmony with the facts of natural history.'[16]
The spiritual application of this is profound. Every cloud of our earthly existence is adorned with a rainbow of hope and promise. Against the dark clouds of human depression and sorrow, this symbol of the throne of God and of the Rainbow Angel holding forth the Redemptive word shines through the gloom of human fears and frustrations. The proverb that, 'Every cloud has a silver lining' is but a variable statement of inherent promise contained in the rainbow. It would also appear to illuminate prophecy. The primary and secondary rainbows are a perfect illustration of how divine prophecies carry within them both a primary, or immediate, and secondary, or ultimate fulfillment. Examples of this are seen in Matthew 2:15,18 and in numerous other Biblical texts.
Coffman Commentaries reproduced by permission of Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. All other rights reserved.
Coffman, James Burton. 'Commentary on Genesis 9:14'. 'Coffman Commentaries on the Bible'. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bcc/genesis-9.html. Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.
And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth,.. Or 'cloud a cloud'F21בענניענן 'cum obnubilavero nubem', Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Schmidt. , cause the clouds to gather thick in the heavens, and to hang over the earth ready to pour down great quantities of water; by reason of which the inhabitants might dread another flood coming upon them: wherefore, in order to dissipate such fears, it shall be so ordered:
that the bow shall be seen in the cloud; after it has pretty much discharged itself; for the rainbow is always in a thin, not a thick cloud; after the heavy showers are fallen from the thick clouds, and a small thin one remains, then the rainbow is seen in it; not always, but very frequently, and when the sun and clouds are in a proper position: and this is often so ordered, to put men in mind of this covenant, and to divest them of, or prevent their fears of the world being drowned by a flood; for when they see this, it is a sure sign the rain is going off, since the cloud is thinned, or otherwise the rainbow could not appear: and a most glorious and beautiful sight it is, having such a variety of colours in it, and in such a position and form. Some think that it serves both to put in mind of the destruction of the old world by water, through its watery colours, and of the present world by fire, through its fiery ones. Others make the three predominant colours to denote the three dispensations before the law, under the law, and under the Gospel: rather they may signify the various providences of God, which all work together for the good of his people; however, whenever this bow is seen, it puts in mind of the covenant of preservation made with all the creatures, and the firmness, stability, and duration of it; and is by some considered as an emblem of the covenant of grace, from Isaiah 54:9 which is of God's making, as this bow is; is a reverberation of Christ the sun of righteousness, the sum and substance of the covenant; consists of various blessings and promises of grace; is expressive of mercy and peace, and is a security from everlasting destruction: or rather it may be thought to be an emblem of Christ himself, who was seen by John clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow on his head, Revelation 10:1 this being a wonderful thing, as Christ is wonderful in his person, office, and grace; and as it has in it a variety of beautiful colours, it may represent Christ, who is full of grace and truth, and fairer than the children of men; and may be considered as a symbol of peace and reconciliation by him, whom God looks unto, and remembers the covenant of his grace he has made with him and his chosen ones in him; and who is the rainbow round about the throne of God, and the way of access unto it; Revelation 4:3 the Jews have a saying,'till ye see the bow in its luminous colours, do not look for the feet of the Messiah, or his comingF23Tikkune Zohar, correct. 18. fol. 32. 2. correct. 37. fol. 81. 1. .'
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernised and adapted for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rights Reserved, Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
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Gill, John. 'Commentary on Genesis 9:14'. 'The New John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible'. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/genesis-9.html. 1999.
THE BOW OF HOPE
‘It shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud.'
Genesis 9:14
We have before us, in this record, a memorable example of the adaptation of Prophecy—another word for Revelation—to the circumstances and wants of mankind. And what is this but to speak of the thoughtfulness of God Himself towards the family which he has brought into being, and which, for all its sins and backslidings, He has never disowned and never forsaken?
If the terms of the charter of restoration are so many examples and evidences of the Divine consideration, how much more the sanction with which the text closes it!
I. It has been suggested that the idea which has been supposed to lie in the words, and which has been a stumbling-block to many—that of the postdiluvian creation of the rainbow—is no part of the record. The statement before us is quite consistent with the supposition that God for the first time consecrates to a spiritual use a natural phenomenon already existing. Mindnode 5 for mac free download. Like the consecration of the element of water into a type of spiritual regeneration—like the consecration of bread, the support of natural life, into a type of Him who came down from heaven to be the food and nutriment of souls—may be the conversion of the loveliest feature of the natural sky into a token and sacrament of Divine mercy towards those who have been troubled and chastened by reason of their sins. That ‘clear shining after rain'—that special brilliancy which cannot be without the foregoing darkness—that wonderful contrast of light and cloud which seems to shape itself into a mystic bridge between earth and heaven, between the sinner and the sinless—who shall say, in the silence of Scripture—‘I do set,' or rather ‘I have set, my bow in the cloud'—whether it was, or was not, a phenomenon of the antediluvian sky? Who shall speculate upon the possible changes wrought in Nature herself by that stupendous judgment, or take count of such matters as affecting at all the truth and the significance of this record, which consecrates one of creation's glories into a perpetual monument of the Creator's love?
II. ‘It shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud.' Who has not had experience of the thing signified? Who amongst us, as he looks back upon the history of a life and of a soul, cannot bear witness to that union of mercy and judgment—more especially to that development of mercy out of judgment—which is the very point of the similitude? No cloud, no bow—no darkened sky, then no lustrous reflection. Is it not thus always? Who that knows himself, who that knows God, would dwell always in mirth and gladness? Who shall not rather, if not at the moment, yet in the retrospect, rejoice and praise God for bringing the cloud over the sky, in which alone He doth set His bow?
III. What shall heaven itself be, but the interpretation of the parable? ‘There was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.' They who shall be ‘counted worthy to obtain that world,' shall enter it after storm and tempest, after the submerging of earthly joys and the extinction of human lights, not to forget the past, but to see it and feel it forgiven, the bow illuminating the cloud and transforming it into a memorial at once of love and light.
And therefore it is, that the moments on earth most like to heaven are those spent before the Cross of the great sacrifice, there to behold sin not overlooked but atoned for—there to behold the cloud charged with judgment irradiated by a mercy ‘rejoicing against' it, telling of a redemption mighty to save, and a love which sin itself could not overwhelm nor do away.
—Dean Vaughan.
Illustration
‘Perhaps the rainbow in the cloud, the element of comfort in the darkness of trial, is a promise of Scripture, which never seems to speak home to my heart until I need it most. Perhaps it is the worship of the Lord's House, bringing soothing and succour and calm into my tempestuous days. Perhaps it is the potency of a little time spent in secret prayer. Perhaps it is the grasp of a neighbour's hand, or a word in season spoken to me by a brother in the household of faith, or the friendliness of a young child letting me know that I am not forsaken. All these, and other things as well, are remembrancers that my God thinks on me.
You recollect the twenty-ninth Psalm? It is the Psalm of the thunderstorm. From north to south, over the whole land, the storm sweeps in its tremendous march. But how soft and musical is the closing word!—'The Lord will bless His people with peace.' Yes, before the tumult, and during the tumult, and after the tumult, and by means of the tumult, God will do me good. 'I see the rainbow in the rain.''
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Nisbet, James. 'Commentary on Genesis 9:14'. Church Pulpit Commentary. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cpc/genesis-9.html. 1876.
Genesis 9:14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
Ver. 14. The bow shall be seen in the cloud.] In this heaven-bow, there are many wonders: first, the beautiful shape and various colours; in which respect Plato thinks the poets feign Iris, or the rainbow, to be the daughter of Thaumas, or admiration. The waterish colours therein signify (say some) the former overthrow of the world by water. The fiery colours, the future judgment of the world by fire. The green, that present grace of freedom from both, by virtue of God's covenant, whereof this bow is a sign. Next, the rainbow hath in it two contrary significations, viz., of rain, and fair weather; of this in the evening, of that in the morning, saith Scaliger. Add hereunto, that whereas naturally it is a sign of rain (and is therefore feigned by the poets to be the messenger of Juno, and called imbrifera, or showery), yet it is turned by God into a sure sign of dry weather, and of restraint of waters. Let us learn to look upon it, not only in the natural causes, as it is an effect of the sun in a thick cloud; but as a sacramental sign of the covenant of grace; a monument of God's both justice in drowning the world, and mercy in conserving it from the like calamity. [Isaiah 54:9-10] The Jews have an odd conceit, (a) that the name Jehovah is written on the rainbow. And therefore, as oft as it appeareth unto them, they go forth of doors, hide their eyes, confess their sins (that deserved a second deluge), and celebrate God's goodness, in sparing the wicked world, and remembering his covenant. Set aside their superstition, and their practice invites our imitation. Tam Dei meminisse opus est quam respirare .{ b}
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Trapp, John. 'Commentary on Genesis 9:14'. John Trapp Complete Commentary. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jtc/genesis-9.html. 1865-1868.
Genesis 9:14
How often after that terrible flood must Noah and his sons have felt anxious when a time of heavy rain set in, and the rivers Euphrates and Tigris rose over their banks and submerged the low level land! But if for a while their hearts misgave them, they had a cheering sign to reassure them, for in the heaviest purple storm-cloud stood the rainbow, recalling to their minds the promise of God.
I. If it be true that God's rainbow stands as a pledge to the earth that it shall never again be overwhelmed, is it not also true that He has set His bow in every cloud that rises and troubles man's mental sky? Beautiful prismatic colours in the rainbow that shines in every cloud—in the cloud of sorrow, in the cloud of spiritual famine, in the cloud of wrong-doing.
II. We are too apt in troubles to settle down into sullen despair, to look to the worst, instead of waiting for the bow. There are many strange-shaped clouds that rise above man's horizon and make his heavens black with wind and rain. But each has its bow shining on it. Only wait, endure God's time, and the sun will look out on the rolling masses of vapour, on the rain, and paint thereon its token of God's love.
S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, vol. ii., p. 28.
References: Genesis 9:14.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 227.Genesis 9:15.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 228. 9:15-11:26.—J. Monro Gibson, The Ages before Moses, p. 138. Genesis 9:16.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ix., p. 517; Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 132. Genesis 9:17.—J. A. Sellar, Church Doctrine and Practice, p. 297; H. Thompson, Concionalia—Sermons for Parochial Use, vol. i., p. 85. Genesis 9:18-29.—R. S. Candlish, Book of Genesis, vol. i., p. 157. Genesis 9:24-27.—J. Cumming, Church before the Flood, p. 412.
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Nicoll, William R. 'Commentary on Genesis 9:14'. 'Sermon Bible Commentary'. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/sbc/genesis-9.html.
Genesis 9:14. When I bring a cloud—the bow shall be seen in the cloud— It is not meant here, that the bow shall be always seen, but at certain times, often enough to put men in mind of the promise, and to stir up their belief of it. And when it is said, Genesis 9:16. I will look upon it, that I may remember, it is easy to observe, that this is spoken only after the manner of men: He, who cannot forget, needs no token or sign to put him in mind of his promise. This sign was for the comfort of man, not for the admonition of God: the meaning therefore is, that men might consider this bow as a signification that God had obliged himself to this promise, and would certainly fulfil it. The opinions of expositors have been much divided, respecting the original of this sign. Bishop Warburton, whose opinion in this instance I conceive to be just, observes, 'The bow was not then first set in the clouds, but then FIRST set as a token.' In the case before us, the most novel, or most supernatural, appearance could add nothing to their assurance arising from the evidence of God's veracity. As, on the contrary, had the children of Noah been ignorant of that attribute of the Deity, such a phaenomenon could have given no assurance at all. For what then served the rainbow? For the wise purpose so well expressed by the sacred writer, for the token of thecovenant; that is, for a memorial or remembrance of it throughout all generations.
The heathens, I doubt not, borrowed many of their fables from this sacred record concerning the rainbow. Homer says, Il. Genesis 11:28. that Jupiter established the rainbow, τερας μεροπων ανθρωπων,'a sign to man amidst the skies.' And very probably, from some tradition of this original covenant, the ancient poets feigned Iris, or the rainbow, to be the daughter of Wonder, θαυμαντος,and the messenger of Jupiter and Juno, the heaven, or air and clouds.
REFLECTIONS.—The covenant is now signed and sealed by a visible token, the rainbow; a glorious object, and a constant assurance of God's remembrance of us, and of our security from the descending waters. Observe, 1. As we are apt to be affected with visible objects; God therefore, not only in the covenant of nature, but of grace, hath instituted visible signs for our greater comfort and confidence. 2. The cause of the bow in the clouds, is the refraction of the beams of the sun. Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness, sits with the rainbow round about his throne, and therefore his people are safe from fear of evil. 3. The sign of our security in the cloud, should ever awaken our thankfulness, and lead up our minds from temporal promises thus fulfilled, to conclude the certainty of the eternal promises, which are yet in hope.
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Coke, Thomas. 'Commentary on Genesis 9:14'. Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tcc/genesis-9.html. 1801-1803.
Not always, but very frequently, which is sufficient for this purpose.
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Poole, Matthew, 'Commentary on Genesis 9:14'. Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mpc/genesis-9.html. 1685.
that. Hebrew = and [when]. Coda 2 5 8 – one window web development suite. See Genesis 9:13.
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Bullinger, Ethelbert William. 'Commentary on Genesis 9:14'. 'E.W. Bullinger's Companion bible Notes'. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bul/genesis-9.html. 1909-1922.
Hath given him a name.—Or, rather, the Name above every name. 'The Name' (for this seems to be the best reading) is clearly 'the Name' of God. It is properly the name Jehovah, held in the extremest literal reverence by the Jews, and it came to signify (almost like 'the Word') the revelation of the presence of God. See Revelation 19:12-13, where 'the name which no man knew but Himself' is the 'Word of God.' This is, indeed, made clear by the following verse; for the adoration there described is in the original passage (Isaiah 45:23; comp. Romans 14:11), claimed as the sole due of God Himself. The name JESUS, 'Jehovah the Saviour' (like 'Jehovah our Righteousness,' in Jeremiah 23:6), does contain, as an integral element, the incommunicable name of God, while the addition of 'Saviour' points to the true humanity. Therefore in that Name, of Him who is at once God and Man, 'every knee is to bow' with direct worship to Him.
PhilippiansTHE ASCENT OF JESUS
Php 2:9-11 {R.V.}.
‘He that humbleth himself shall be exalted,' said Jesus. He is Himself the great example of that law. The Apostle here goes on to complete his picture of the Lord Jesus as our pattern. In previous verses we had the solemn steps of His descent, and the lifelong humility and obedience of the incarnate Son, the man Christ Jesus. Here we have the wondrous ascent which reverses all the former process. Our text describes the reflex motion by which Jesus is borne back to the same level as that from which the descent began.
We have
I. The act of exaltation which forms the contrast and the parallel to the descent.
‘God highly exalted Him.' The Apostle coins an emphatic word which doubly expresses elevation, and in its grammatical form shows that it indicates a historical fact. That elevation was a thing once accomplished on this green earth; that is to say it came to pass in the fact of our Lord's ascension when from some fold of the Mount of Olives He was borne upwards and, with blessing hands, was received into the Shechinah cloud, the glory of which hid Him from the upward-gazing eyes.
It is plain that the ‘Him' of whom this tremendous assertion is made, must be the same as the ‘He' of whom the previous verses spoke, that is, the Incarnate Jesus. It is the manhood which is exalted. His humiliation consisted in His becoming man, but His exaltation does not consist in His laying aside His humanity. It is not a transient but an eternal union into which in the Incarnation it entered with divinity. Henceforward we have to think of Him in all the glory of His heavenly state as man, and as truly and completely in the ‘likeness of men' as when He walked with bleeding feet on the flinty road of earthly life. He now bears for ever the ‘form of God' and ‘the fashion of a man.'
Here I would pause for a moment to point out that the calm tone of this reference to the ascension indicates that it was part of the recognised Christian beliefs, and implies that it had been familiar long before the date of this Epistle, which itself dates from not more than at the most thirty years from the death of Christ. Surely that lapse of time is far too narrow to allow of such a belief having sprung up, and been universally accepted about a dead man, who all the while was lying in a nameless grave.
The descent is presented as His act, but decorum and truth required that the exaltation should be God's act. ‘He humbled Himself,' but ‘God exalted Him.' True, He sometimes represented Himself as the Agent of His own Resurrection and Ascension, and established a complete parallel between His descent and His ascent, as when He said, ‘I came out from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go unto the Father.' He was no less obedient to the Father's will when He ascended up on high, than He was when He came down to earth, and whilst, from one point of view, His Resurrection and Ascension were as truly His own acts as were His birth and His death, from another, He had to pray, ‘And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.' The Titans presumptuously scaled the heavens, according to the old legend, but the Incarnate Lord returned to ‘His own calm home, His habitation from eternity,' was exalted thither by God, in token to the universe that the Father approved the Son's descent, and that the work which the Son had done was indeed, as He declared it to be, ‘finished.' By exalting Him, the Father not merely reinstated the divine Word in its eternal union with God, but received into the cloud of glory the manhood which the Word had assumed.
II. The glory of the name of Jesus.
What is the name ‘which is above every name'? It is the name Jesus. It is to be noted that Paul scarcely ever uses that simple appellative. There are, roughly speaking, about two hundred instances in which he names our Lord in his Epistles, and there are only four places, besides this, in which he uses this as his own, and two in which he, as it were, puts it into the mouth of an enemy. Probably then, some special reason led to its occurrence here, and it is not difficult, I think, to see what that reason is. The simple personal name was given indeed with reference to His work, but had been borne by many a Jewish child before Mary called her child Jesus, and the fact that it is this common name which is exalted above every name, brings out still more strongly the thought already dwelt upon, that what is thus exalted is the manhood of our Lord. The name which expressed His true humanity, which showed His full identification with us, which was written over His Cross, which perhaps shaped the taunt ‘He saved others, Himself He cannot save,'--that name God has lifted high above all names of council and valour, of wisdom and might, of authority and rule. It is shrined in the hearts of millions who render to it perfect trust, unconditional obedience, absolute loyalty. Its growing power, and the warmth of personal love which it evokes, in centuries and lands so far removed from the theatre of His life, is a unique thing in the world's history. It reigns in heaven.
But Paul is not content with simply asserting the sovereign glory of the name of Jesus. He goes on to set it forth as being what no other name borne by man can be, the ground and object of worship, when he declares, that ‘in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.' The words are quoted from the second Isaiah, and occur in one of the most solemn and majestic utterances of the monotheism of the Old Testament. And Paul takes these words, undeterred by the declaration which precede them, ‘I Am am God and there is none else,' applies them to Jesus, to the manhood of our Lord. Bowing the knee is of course prayer, and in these great words the issue of the work of Jesus is unmistakably set forth, as not only being that He has declared God to men, who through Him are drawn to worship the Father, but that their emotions of love, reverence, worship, are turned to Him , though as the Apostle is careful immediately to note, they are not thereby intercepted from, but directed to, the glory of God the Father. In the eternities before His descent, there was equality with God, and when He returns, it is to the Father, who in Him has become the object of adoration, and round whose throne gather with bended knees all those who in Jesus see the Father.
The Apostle still further dwells on the glory of the name as that of the acknowledged Lord. And here we have with significant variation in strong contrast to the previous name of Jesus, the full title ‘Jesus Christ Lord.' That is almost as unusual in its completeness as the other in its simplicity, and it comes in here with tremendous energy, reminding us of the great act to which we owe our redemption, and of all the prophecies and hopes which, from of old, had gathered round the persistent hope of the coming Messiah, while the name of Lord proclaims His absolute dominion. The knee is bowed in reverence, the tongue is vocal in confession. That confession is incomplete if either of these three names is falteringly uttered, and still more so, if either of them is wanting. The Jesus whom Christians confess is not merely the man who was born in Bethlehem and known among men as ‘Jesus the carpenter.' In these modern days, His manhood has been so emphasised as to obscure His Messiahship and to obliterate His dominion, and alas! there are many who exalt Him by the name that Mary gave Him, who turn away from the name of Jesus as ‘Hebrew old clothes,' and from the name of Lord as antiquated superstition. But in all the lowliness and gentleness of Jesus there were not wanting lofty claims to be the Christ of whom prophets and righteous men of old spake, and whose coming many a generation desired to see and died without the sight, and still loftier and more absolute claims to be invested with ‘all power in heaven and earth,' and to sit down with the Father on His throne. It is dangerous work to venture to toss aside two of these three names, and to hope that if we pronounce the third of them, Jesus, with appreciation, it will not matter if we do not name Him either Christ or Lord.
If it is true that the manhood of Jesus is thus exalted, how wondrous must be the kindred between the human and the divine, that it should be capable of this, that it should dwell in the everlasting burnings of the Divine Glory and not be consumed! How blessed for us the belief that our Brother wields all the forces of the universe, that the human love which Jesus had when He bent over the sick and comforted the sorrowful, is at the centre. Jesus is Lord, the Lord is Jesus!
The Psalmist was moved to a rapture of thanksgiving when he thought of man as ‘made a little lower than the angels, and crowned with glory and honour,' but when we think of the Man Jesus ‘sitting at the right hand of God,' the Psalmist's words seem pale and poor, and we can repeat them with a deeper meaning and a fuller emphasis, ‘Thou madest Him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands, Thou hast put all things under His feet.'
III. The universal glory of the name.
By the three classes into which the Apostle divides creation, ‘things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth,' he simply intends to declare, that Jesus is the object of all worship, and the words are not to be pressed as containing dogmatic assertions as to the different classes mentioned. But guided by other words of Scripture, we may permissibly think that the ‘things in heaven' tell us that the angels who do not need His mediation learn more of God by His work and bow before His throne. We cannot be wrong in believing that the glory of His work stretches far beyond the limits of humanity, and that His kingdom numbers other subjects than those who draw human breath. Other lips than ours say with a great voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing.'
The things on earth are of course men, and the words encourage us to dim hopes about which we cannot dogmatise of a time when all the wayward self-seeking and self-tormenting children of men shall have learned to know and love their best friend, and ‘there shall be one flock and one shepherd.'
‘Things under the earth' seems to point to the old thought of ‘Sheol' or ‘Hades' or a separate state of the dead. The words certainly suggest that those who have gone from us are not unconscious nor cut off from the true life, but are capable of adoration and confession. We cannot but remember the old belief that Jesus in His death ‘descended into Hell,' and some of us will not forget Fra Angelico's picture of the open doorway with a demon crushed beneath the fallen portal, and the crowd of eager faces and outstretched hands swarming up the dark passage, to welcome the entering Christ. Whatever we may think of that ancient representation, we may at least be sure that, wherever they are, the dead in Christ praise and reverence and love.
IV. The glory of the Father in the glory of the name of Jesus.
Knees bent and tongues confessing the absolute dominion of Jesus Christ could only be offence and sin if He were not one with the Father. But the experience of all the thousands since Paul wrote, whose hearts have been drawn in reverent and worshipping trust to the Son, has verified the assertion, that to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord diverts no worship from God, but swells and deepens the ocean of praise that breaks round the throne. If it is true, and only if it is true, that in the life and death of Jesus all previous revelations of the Father's heart are surpassed, if it is true and only if it is true, as He Himself said, that ‘I and the Father are one,' can Paul's words here be anything but an incredible paradox. But unless these great words close and crown the Apostle's glowing vision, it is maimed and imperfect, and Jesus interposes between loving hearts and God. One could almost venture to believe that at the back of Paul's mind, when he wrote these words, was some remembrance of the great prayer, ‘I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.' When the Son is glorified we glorify the Father, and the words of our text may well be remembered and laid to heart by any who will not recognise the deity of the Son, because it seems to them to dishonour the Father. Their honour is inseparable and their glory one.
There is a sense in which Jesus is our example even in His ascent and exaltation, just as He was in His descent and humiliation. The mind which was in Him is for us the pattern for earthly life, though the deeds in which that mind was expressed, and especially His ‘obedience to the death of the Cross,' are so far beyond any self-sacrifice of ours, and are inimitable, unique, and needing no repetition while the world lasts. And as we can imitate His unexampled sacrifice, so we may share His divine glory, and, resting on His own faithful word, may follow the calm motion of His Ascension, assured that where He is there we shall be also, and that the manhood which is exalted in Him is the prophecy that all who love Him will share His glory. The question for us all is, have we in us ‘the mind that was in Christ'? and the other question is, what is that name to us? Can we say, ‘Thy mighty name salvation is'? If in our deepest hearts we grasp that name, and with unfaltering lips can say that ‘there is none other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved but the name of Jesus,' then we shall know that
II. ‘It shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud.' Who has not had experience of the thing signified? Who amongst us, as he looks back upon the history of a life and of a soul, cannot bear witness to that union of mercy and judgment—more especially to that development of mercy out of judgment—which is the very point of the similitude? No cloud, no bow—no darkened sky, then no lustrous reflection. Is it not thus always? Who that knows himself, who that knows God, would dwell always in mirth and gladness? Who shall not rather, if not at the moment, yet in the retrospect, rejoice and praise God for bringing the cloud over the sky, in which alone He doth set His bow?
III. What shall heaven itself be, but the interpretation of the parable? ‘There was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.' They who shall be ‘counted worthy to obtain that world,' shall enter it after storm and tempest, after the submerging of earthly joys and the extinction of human lights, not to forget the past, but to see it and feel it forgiven, the bow illuminating the cloud and transforming it into a memorial at once of love and light.
And therefore it is, that the moments on earth most like to heaven are those spent before the Cross of the great sacrifice, there to behold sin not overlooked but atoned for—there to behold the cloud charged with judgment irradiated by a mercy ‘rejoicing against' it, telling of a redemption mighty to save, and a love which sin itself could not overwhelm nor do away.
—Dean Vaughan.
Illustration
‘Perhaps the rainbow in the cloud, the element of comfort in the darkness of trial, is a promise of Scripture, which never seems to speak home to my heart until I need it most. Perhaps it is the worship of the Lord's House, bringing soothing and succour and calm into my tempestuous days. Perhaps it is the potency of a little time spent in secret prayer. Perhaps it is the grasp of a neighbour's hand, or a word in season spoken to me by a brother in the household of faith, or the friendliness of a young child letting me know that I am not forsaken. All these, and other things as well, are remembrancers that my God thinks on me.
You recollect the twenty-ninth Psalm? It is the Psalm of the thunderstorm. From north to south, over the whole land, the storm sweeps in its tremendous march. But how soft and musical is the closing word!—'The Lord will bless His people with peace.' Yes, before the tumult, and during the tumult, and after the tumult, and by means of the tumult, God will do me good. 'I see the rainbow in the rain.''
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Nisbet, James. 'Commentary on Genesis 9:14'. Church Pulpit Commentary. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cpc/genesis-9.html. 1876.
Genesis 9:14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
Ver. 14. The bow shall be seen in the cloud.] In this heaven-bow, there are many wonders: first, the beautiful shape and various colours; in which respect Plato thinks the poets feign Iris, or the rainbow, to be the daughter of Thaumas, or admiration. The waterish colours therein signify (say some) the former overthrow of the world by water. The fiery colours, the future judgment of the world by fire. The green, that present grace of freedom from both, by virtue of God's covenant, whereof this bow is a sign. Next, the rainbow hath in it two contrary significations, viz., of rain, and fair weather; of this in the evening, of that in the morning, saith Scaliger. Add hereunto, that whereas naturally it is a sign of rain (and is therefore feigned by the poets to be the messenger of Juno, and called imbrifera, or showery), yet it is turned by God into a sure sign of dry weather, and of restraint of waters. Let us learn to look upon it, not only in the natural causes, as it is an effect of the sun in a thick cloud; but as a sacramental sign of the covenant of grace; a monument of God's both justice in drowning the world, and mercy in conserving it from the like calamity. [Isaiah 54:9-10] The Jews have an odd conceit, (a) that the name Jehovah is written on the rainbow. And therefore, as oft as it appeareth unto them, they go forth of doors, hide their eyes, confess their sins (that deserved a second deluge), and celebrate God's goodness, in sparing the wicked world, and remembering his covenant. Set aside their superstition, and their practice invites our imitation. Tam Dei meminisse opus est quam respirare .{ b}
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Trapp, John. 'Commentary on Genesis 9:14'. John Trapp Complete Commentary. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jtc/genesis-9.html. 1865-1868.
Genesis 9:14
How often after that terrible flood must Noah and his sons have felt anxious when a time of heavy rain set in, and the rivers Euphrates and Tigris rose over their banks and submerged the low level land! But if for a while their hearts misgave them, they had a cheering sign to reassure them, for in the heaviest purple storm-cloud stood the rainbow, recalling to their minds the promise of God.
I. If it be true that God's rainbow stands as a pledge to the earth that it shall never again be overwhelmed, is it not also true that He has set His bow in every cloud that rises and troubles man's mental sky? Beautiful prismatic colours in the rainbow that shines in every cloud—in the cloud of sorrow, in the cloud of spiritual famine, in the cloud of wrong-doing.
II. We are too apt in troubles to settle down into sullen despair, to look to the worst, instead of waiting for the bow. There are many strange-shaped clouds that rise above man's horizon and make his heavens black with wind and rain. But each has its bow shining on it. Only wait, endure God's time, and the sun will look out on the rolling masses of vapour, on the rain, and paint thereon its token of God's love.
S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, vol. ii., p. 28.
References: Genesis 9:14.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 227.Genesis 9:15.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 228. 9:15-11:26.—J. Monro Gibson, The Ages before Moses, p. 138. Genesis 9:16.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ix., p. 517; Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 132. Genesis 9:17.—J. A. Sellar, Church Doctrine and Practice, p. 297; H. Thompson, Concionalia—Sermons for Parochial Use, vol. i., p. 85. Genesis 9:18-29.—R. S. Candlish, Book of Genesis, vol. i., p. 157. Genesis 9:24-27.—J. Cumming, Church before the Flood, p. 412.
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Nicoll, William R. 'Commentary on Genesis 9:14'. 'Sermon Bible Commentary'. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/sbc/genesis-9.html.
Genesis 9:14. When I bring a cloud—the bow shall be seen in the cloud— It is not meant here, that the bow shall be always seen, but at certain times, often enough to put men in mind of the promise, and to stir up their belief of it. And when it is said, Genesis 9:16. I will look upon it, that I may remember, it is easy to observe, that this is spoken only after the manner of men: He, who cannot forget, needs no token or sign to put him in mind of his promise. This sign was for the comfort of man, not for the admonition of God: the meaning therefore is, that men might consider this bow as a signification that God had obliged himself to this promise, and would certainly fulfil it. The opinions of expositors have been much divided, respecting the original of this sign. Bishop Warburton, whose opinion in this instance I conceive to be just, observes, 'The bow was not then first set in the clouds, but then FIRST set as a token.' In the case before us, the most novel, or most supernatural, appearance could add nothing to their assurance arising from the evidence of God's veracity. As, on the contrary, had the children of Noah been ignorant of that attribute of the Deity, such a phaenomenon could have given no assurance at all. For what then served the rainbow? For the wise purpose so well expressed by the sacred writer, for the token of thecovenant; that is, for a memorial or remembrance of it throughout all generations.
The heathens, I doubt not, borrowed many of their fables from this sacred record concerning the rainbow. Homer says, Il. Genesis 11:28. that Jupiter established the rainbow, τερας μεροπων ανθρωπων,'a sign to man amidst the skies.' And very probably, from some tradition of this original covenant, the ancient poets feigned Iris, or the rainbow, to be the daughter of Wonder, θαυμαντος,and the messenger of Jupiter and Juno, the heaven, or air and clouds.
REFLECTIONS.—The covenant is now signed and sealed by a visible token, the rainbow; a glorious object, and a constant assurance of God's remembrance of us, and of our security from the descending waters. Observe, 1. As we are apt to be affected with visible objects; God therefore, not only in the covenant of nature, but of grace, hath instituted visible signs for our greater comfort and confidence. 2. The cause of the bow in the clouds, is the refraction of the beams of the sun. Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness, sits with the rainbow round about his throne, and therefore his people are safe from fear of evil. 3. The sign of our security in the cloud, should ever awaken our thankfulness, and lead up our minds from temporal promises thus fulfilled, to conclude the certainty of the eternal promises, which are yet in hope.
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Coke, Thomas. 'Commentary on Genesis 9:14'. Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tcc/genesis-9.html. 1801-1803.
Not always, but very frequently, which is sufficient for this purpose.
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Poole, Matthew, 'Commentary on Genesis 9:14'. Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mpc/genesis-9.html. 1685.
that. Hebrew = and [when]. Coda 2 5 8 – one window web development suite. See Genesis 9:13.
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Bullinger, Ethelbert William. 'Commentary on Genesis 9:14'. 'E.W. Bullinger's Companion bible Notes'. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bul/genesis-9.html. 1909-1922.
Hath given him a name.—Or, rather, the Name above every name. 'The Name' (for this seems to be the best reading) is clearly 'the Name' of God. It is properly the name Jehovah, held in the extremest literal reverence by the Jews, and it came to signify (almost like 'the Word') the revelation of the presence of God. See Revelation 19:12-13, where 'the name which no man knew but Himself' is the 'Word of God.' This is, indeed, made clear by the following verse; for the adoration there described is in the original passage (Isaiah 45:23; comp. Romans 14:11), claimed as the sole due of God Himself. The name JESUS, 'Jehovah the Saviour' (like 'Jehovah our Righteousness,' in Jeremiah 23:6), does contain, as an integral element, the incommunicable name of God, while the addition of 'Saviour' points to the true humanity. Therefore in that Name, of Him who is at once God and Man, 'every knee is to bow' with direct worship to Him.
PhilippiansTHE ASCENT OF JESUS
Php 2:9-11 {R.V.}.
‘He that humbleth himself shall be exalted,' said Jesus. He is Himself the great example of that law. The Apostle here goes on to complete his picture of the Lord Jesus as our pattern. In previous verses we had the solemn steps of His descent, and the lifelong humility and obedience of the incarnate Son, the man Christ Jesus. Here we have the wondrous ascent which reverses all the former process. Our text describes the reflex motion by which Jesus is borne back to the same level as that from which the descent began.
We have
I. The act of exaltation which forms the contrast and the parallel to the descent.
‘God highly exalted Him.' The Apostle coins an emphatic word which doubly expresses elevation, and in its grammatical form shows that it indicates a historical fact. That elevation was a thing once accomplished on this green earth; that is to say it came to pass in the fact of our Lord's ascension when from some fold of the Mount of Olives He was borne upwards and, with blessing hands, was received into the Shechinah cloud, the glory of which hid Him from the upward-gazing eyes.
It is plain that the ‘Him' of whom this tremendous assertion is made, must be the same as the ‘He' of whom the previous verses spoke, that is, the Incarnate Jesus. It is the manhood which is exalted. His humiliation consisted in His becoming man, but His exaltation does not consist in His laying aside His humanity. It is not a transient but an eternal union into which in the Incarnation it entered with divinity. Henceforward we have to think of Him in all the glory of His heavenly state as man, and as truly and completely in the ‘likeness of men' as when He walked with bleeding feet on the flinty road of earthly life. He now bears for ever the ‘form of God' and ‘the fashion of a man.'
Here I would pause for a moment to point out that the calm tone of this reference to the ascension indicates that it was part of the recognised Christian beliefs, and implies that it had been familiar long before the date of this Epistle, which itself dates from not more than at the most thirty years from the death of Christ. Surely that lapse of time is far too narrow to allow of such a belief having sprung up, and been universally accepted about a dead man, who all the while was lying in a nameless grave.
The descent is presented as His act, but decorum and truth required that the exaltation should be God's act. ‘He humbled Himself,' but ‘God exalted Him.' True, He sometimes represented Himself as the Agent of His own Resurrection and Ascension, and established a complete parallel between His descent and His ascent, as when He said, ‘I came out from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go unto the Father.' He was no less obedient to the Father's will when He ascended up on high, than He was when He came down to earth, and whilst, from one point of view, His Resurrection and Ascension were as truly His own acts as were His birth and His death, from another, He had to pray, ‘And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.' The Titans presumptuously scaled the heavens, according to the old legend, but the Incarnate Lord returned to ‘His own calm home, His habitation from eternity,' was exalted thither by God, in token to the universe that the Father approved the Son's descent, and that the work which the Son had done was indeed, as He declared it to be, ‘finished.' By exalting Him, the Father not merely reinstated the divine Word in its eternal union with God, but received into the cloud of glory the manhood which the Word had assumed.
II. The glory of the name of Jesus.
What is the name ‘which is above every name'? It is the name Jesus. It is to be noted that Paul scarcely ever uses that simple appellative. There are, roughly speaking, about two hundred instances in which he names our Lord in his Epistles, and there are only four places, besides this, in which he uses this as his own, and two in which he, as it were, puts it into the mouth of an enemy. Probably then, some special reason led to its occurrence here, and it is not difficult, I think, to see what that reason is. The simple personal name was given indeed with reference to His work, but had been borne by many a Jewish child before Mary called her child Jesus, and the fact that it is this common name which is exalted above every name, brings out still more strongly the thought already dwelt upon, that what is thus exalted is the manhood of our Lord. The name which expressed His true humanity, which showed His full identification with us, which was written over His Cross, which perhaps shaped the taunt ‘He saved others, Himself He cannot save,'--that name God has lifted high above all names of council and valour, of wisdom and might, of authority and rule. It is shrined in the hearts of millions who render to it perfect trust, unconditional obedience, absolute loyalty. Its growing power, and the warmth of personal love which it evokes, in centuries and lands so far removed from the theatre of His life, is a unique thing in the world's history. It reigns in heaven.
But Paul is not content with simply asserting the sovereign glory of the name of Jesus. He goes on to set it forth as being what no other name borne by man can be, the ground and object of worship, when he declares, that ‘in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.' The words are quoted from the second Isaiah, and occur in one of the most solemn and majestic utterances of the monotheism of the Old Testament. And Paul takes these words, undeterred by the declaration which precede them, ‘I Am am God and there is none else,' applies them to Jesus, to the manhood of our Lord. Bowing the knee is of course prayer, and in these great words the issue of the work of Jesus is unmistakably set forth, as not only being that He has declared God to men, who through Him are drawn to worship the Father, but that their emotions of love, reverence, worship, are turned to Him , though as the Apostle is careful immediately to note, they are not thereby intercepted from, but directed to, the glory of God the Father. In the eternities before His descent, there was equality with God, and when He returns, it is to the Father, who in Him has become the object of adoration, and round whose throne gather with bended knees all those who in Jesus see the Father.
The Apostle still further dwells on the glory of the name as that of the acknowledged Lord. And here we have with significant variation in strong contrast to the previous name of Jesus, the full title ‘Jesus Christ Lord.' That is almost as unusual in its completeness as the other in its simplicity, and it comes in here with tremendous energy, reminding us of the great act to which we owe our redemption, and of all the prophecies and hopes which, from of old, had gathered round the persistent hope of the coming Messiah, while the name of Lord proclaims His absolute dominion. The knee is bowed in reverence, the tongue is vocal in confession. That confession is incomplete if either of these three names is falteringly uttered, and still more so, if either of them is wanting. The Jesus whom Christians confess is not merely the man who was born in Bethlehem and known among men as ‘Jesus the carpenter.' In these modern days, His manhood has been so emphasised as to obscure His Messiahship and to obliterate His dominion, and alas! there are many who exalt Him by the name that Mary gave Him, who turn away from the name of Jesus as ‘Hebrew old clothes,' and from the name of Lord as antiquated superstition. But in all the lowliness and gentleness of Jesus there were not wanting lofty claims to be the Christ of whom prophets and righteous men of old spake, and whose coming many a generation desired to see and died without the sight, and still loftier and more absolute claims to be invested with ‘all power in heaven and earth,' and to sit down with the Father on His throne. It is dangerous work to venture to toss aside two of these three names, and to hope that if we pronounce the third of them, Jesus, with appreciation, it will not matter if we do not name Him either Christ or Lord.
If it is true that the manhood of Jesus is thus exalted, how wondrous must be the kindred between the human and the divine, that it should be capable of this, that it should dwell in the everlasting burnings of the Divine Glory and not be consumed! How blessed for us the belief that our Brother wields all the forces of the universe, that the human love which Jesus had when He bent over the sick and comforted the sorrowful, is at the centre. Jesus is Lord, the Lord is Jesus!
The Psalmist was moved to a rapture of thanksgiving when he thought of man as ‘made a little lower than the angels, and crowned with glory and honour,' but when we think of the Man Jesus ‘sitting at the right hand of God,' the Psalmist's words seem pale and poor, and we can repeat them with a deeper meaning and a fuller emphasis, ‘Thou madest Him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands, Thou hast put all things under His feet.'
III. The universal glory of the name.
By the three classes into which the Apostle divides creation, ‘things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth,' he simply intends to declare, that Jesus is the object of all worship, and the words are not to be pressed as containing dogmatic assertions as to the different classes mentioned. But guided by other words of Scripture, we may permissibly think that the ‘things in heaven' tell us that the angels who do not need His mediation learn more of God by His work and bow before His throne. We cannot be wrong in believing that the glory of His work stretches far beyond the limits of humanity, and that His kingdom numbers other subjects than those who draw human breath. Other lips than ours say with a great voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing.'
The things on earth are of course men, and the words encourage us to dim hopes about which we cannot dogmatise of a time when all the wayward self-seeking and self-tormenting children of men shall have learned to know and love their best friend, and ‘there shall be one flock and one shepherd.'
‘Things under the earth' seems to point to the old thought of ‘Sheol' or ‘Hades' or a separate state of the dead. The words certainly suggest that those who have gone from us are not unconscious nor cut off from the true life, but are capable of adoration and confession. We cannot but remember the old belief that Jesus in His death ‘descended into Hell,' and some of us will not forget Fra Angelico's picture of the open doorway with a demon crushed beneath the fallen portal, and the crowd of eager faces and outstretched hands swarming up the dark passage, to welcome the entering Christ. Whatever we may think of that ancient representation, we may at least be sure that, wherever they are, the dead in Christ praise and reverence and love.
IV. The glory of the Father in the glory of the name of Jesus.
Knees bent and tongues confessing the absolute dominion of Jesus Christ could only be offence and sin if He were not one with the Father. But the experience of all the thousands since Paul wrote, whose hearts have been drawn in reverent and worshipping trust to the Son, has verified the assertion, that to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord diverts no worship from God, but swells and deepens the ocean of praise that breaks round the throne. If it is true, and only if it is true, that in the life and death of Jesus all previous revelations of the Father's heart are surpassed, if it is true and only if it is true, as He Himself said, that ‘I and the Father are one,' can Paul's words here be anything but an incredible paradox. But unless these great words close and crown the Apostle's glowing vision, it is maimed and imperfect, and Jesus interposes between loving hearts and God. One could almost venture to believe that at the back of Paul's mind, when he wrote these words, was some remembrance of the great prayer, ‘I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.' When the Son is glorified we glorify the Father, and the words of our text may well be remembered and laid to heart by any who will not recognise the deity of the Son, because it seems to them to dishonour the Father. Their honour is inseparable and their glory one.
There is a sense in which Jesus is our example even in His ascent and exaltation, just as He was in His descent and humiliation. The mind which was in Him is for us the pattern for earthly life, though the deeds in which that mind was expressed, and especially His ‘obedience to the death of the Cross,' are so far beyond any self-sacrifice of ours, and are inimitable, unique, and needing no repetition while the world lasts. And as we can imitate His unexampled sacrifice, so we may share His divine glory, and, resting on His own faithful word, may follow the calm motion of His Ascension, assured that where He is there we shall be also, and that the manhood which is exalted in Him is the prophecy that all who love Him will share His glory. The question for us all is, have we in us ‘the mind that was in Christ'? and the other question is, what is that name to us? Can we say, ‘Thy mighty name salvation is'? If in our deepest hearts we grasp that name, and with unfaltering lips can say that ‘there is none other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved but the name of Jesus,' then we shall know that
‘To us with Thy dear name are given, Pardon, and holiness, and heaven.'
Php 2:9-11. Wherefore — Because of his voluntary humiliation and obedience, and in reward thereof; God hath highly exalted him — In that manhood in which he suffered and died. Greek, υπερυψωσε, super- exalted him, or exalted him to a dignity higher than that which he possessed before his humiliation. By becoming man, therefore, or by consenting to be united to the human nature for ever, 'the Son of God lost nothing in the issue. Nor is this all; besides restoring him to the visible glory and dignity which he formerly possessed, (Php 2:11,) God conferred on him a dignity entirely new, the dignity of being the Saviour of the human race; and hath obliged all the different orders of intelligent beings throughout the universe, both good and bad, to acknowledge his dignity as Saviour, as well as Lord.' For it follows, and given him a name above every name — Namely, the name of Jesus, mentioned in the beginning of the next verse. 'This name is above all the names of dignity possessed by angels and men, because of the power and authority which are annexed to it. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, because he shall save his people from their sins. Even the name of Creator is inferior to this name; inasmuch as it was a greater exertion of goodness in the Son of God to save men by his humiliation and death, than to create them.' Some contend that the name above every name, which was bestowed on Christ at his exaltation, was the name of God's Son. 'But seeing, by inheriting that name, as the apostle tells us, he was originally better than the angels, (Hebrews 1:4,) he must have always possessed it by virtue of his relation to the Father. Whereas the name Jesus, being the name of an office executed by the Son, after he became man, it implies a dignity not natural to him, but acquired. And therefore having, in the execution of that office, done on earth and in heaven all that was necessary for the salvation of mankind, the name of Jesus or Saviour which his parents, by the divine direction, gave him at his birth, was confirmed to him in a solemn manner by God, who, after his ascension, ordered angels and men to honour him from that time forth as Saviour and Lord, Hebrews 1:6. Thus understood, the names prince, emperor, monarch, government, power, throne, dominion, and every other name of dignity possessed by angels or men, is inferior to the name Jesus, which God bestowed on his Son, on account of his having accomplished the salvation of the world by his humiliation.' — Macknight. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow — That all creatures, whether men, angels, or devils, should, either with love or trembling, be subject to him; of things in heaven, earth, under the earth — That is, through the whole universe. There can be no doubt that the first of the expressions here used, επουρανιων, rendered things in heaven, signifies angelical beings, over whom Christ is made sovereign, Ephesians 1:10; Ephesians 1:21; but whether the latter terms, επιγειων και καταχθονιων, rendered things upon earth, and under the earth, may not, as Doddridge observes, relate to the living and the dead, rather than to men and devils, has been queried. Inasmuch, however, as the latter term answers to Homer's υπενερθε, Iliad, 3. line 278, which signifies the shades below, it seems probable that by it the apostle both denotes the souls of those who are in the state of the dead, over whom Christ reigns, (Romans 14:9,) and also the evil angels in Tartarus, (2 Peter 2:4,) who shall be constrained to acknowledge Jesus as Lord, Governor, and Judge of the universe. And every tongue — Even of his enemies; should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord — Of all creatures, as well as a Saviour of men; to the glory of God the Father — Who hath constituted him, in the human nature, Governor and Judge of all. Thus all the powers exercised by Christ, and all the honours paid to him, are ultimately referred to the Father. In these two last clauses there seems evidently to be an allusion to Isaiah 45:23, Unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
Php 2:12-13, Wherefore — Having spoken of Christ's astonishing humiliation and exaltation, by which he hath procured salvation for us, the apostle proceeds to exhort them to diligence in the use of the means necessary in order to their partaking of that salvation. My beloved, as ye have always hitherto obeyed — Both God, and me, his minister, with respect to all my instructions and exhortations; not in my presence only — When I was at hand to put you in mind of what God requires; but now much more in my absence — When you have not me to instruct, assist, and direct you; which absence, as it is owing to my bonds in your cause, ought to increase the tenderness of your concern for my comfort. Work out your own salvation — Which, though begun, is not finished, and will not be finished unless you be workers together with God. Herein let every man mind his own things: with fear and trembling — That is, with the utmost care and diligence; and in the reverential fear of God, a watchful fear of your enemies, and a jealous fear of yourselves; lest a promise being left you of entering into his rest, any of you should come short of it, Hebrews 4:1. For — You have great encouragement to do this; since it is God — The God of power, love, and faithfulness, who has promised that his grace shall be sufficient for you; yea, the merciful, forgiving, and long- suffering of God, who is with you, though I am not; and worketh in you — By the illuminating, quickening, drawing, renewing, and strengthening influences of his Spirit, in and by the truths, precepts, promises, and threatenings of his word, enforced often by the pleasing or painful dispensations of his providence; both to will and to do of his good pleasure — Not for any merit of yours: or, of his benevolence, as υπερ ευδοκιας may be properly rendered. His influences, however, we must remember, are not to supersede, but to encourage our own efforts, and render them persevering and effectual. Observe, reader, 1st, The command, Work out your own salvation; here is our duty: 2d, The motive by which it is enforced; for it is God that worketh in you; here is our encouragement. And O what a glorious encouragement, to have the arm of Omnipotence stretched out for our support and comfort! 'According to the Arminians and moderate Calvinists, the word ενεργει, inwardly worketh, does not in this passage signify any irresistible operation of the Deity on the minds of men. but a moral influence only. For of Satan it is said, (Ephesians 2:2,) that ενεργει, he inwardly worketh in the children of disobedience; and, Romans 7:5, we have the effectual working of sinful passions in our members; and 2 Thessalonians 2:11, ενεργειαν, the energy, or inward working, of error. These passages, they think, no one understands of a physical, but of a moral working, which leaves men accountable for their actions, and consequently free agents. They likewise observe, that if God inwardly worketh in men by any influence which is irresistible, and to which no co-operation of theirs is necessary, there would be no occasion for exhorting them to work out their own salvation, since the whole is done by God himself.' They observe further, 'that notwithstanding the operations of the Spirit of God have a powerful influence in restraining men from sin, and in exciting them to piety and virtue, no violence is thereby done to human liberty. This they infer from what God said concerning the antediluvians, (Genesis 6:3,) My Spirit shall not always strive with men; and from the apostle's command, not to quench nor grieve the Spirit; for these things, they say, imply that the operations of the Spirit of God may be resisted, consequently that in the affair of their salvation men are free agents, and must themselves co-operate with the Spirit of God; which, they affirm, the apostle's exhortation in this passage evidently supposeth.' — Macknight.
2:5-11 The example of our Lord Jesus Christ is set before us. We must resemble him in his life, if we would have the benefit of his death. Notice the two natures of Christ; his Divine nature, and human nature. Who being in the form of God, partaking the Divine nature, as the eternal and only-begotten Son of God, Joh 1:1, had not thought it a robbery to be equal with God, and to receive Divine worship from men. His human nature; herein he became like us in all things except sin. Thus low, of his own will, he stooped from the glory he had with the Father before the world was. Christ's two states, of humiliation and exaltation, are noticed. Christ not only took upon him the likeness and fashion, or form of a man, but of one in a low state; not appearing in splendour. His whole life was a life of poverty and suffering. But the lowest step was his dying the death of the cross, the death of a malefactor and a slave; exposed to public hatred and scorn. The exaltation was of Christ's human nature, in union with the Divine. At the name of Jesus, not the mere sound of the word, but the authority of Jesus, all should pay solemn homage. It is to the glory of God the Father, to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord; for it is his will, that all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father, Joh 5:23. Here we see such motives to self-denying love as nothing else can supply. Do we thus love and obey the Son of God?Wherefore - As a reward of this humiliation and these sufferings. The idea is, that there was an appropriate reward for it, and that that was bestowed upon him by his exaltation as Mediator to the right hand of God; compare the notes at Hebrews 2:9.
God also hath highly exalted him - As Mediator. Though he was thus humbled, and appeared in the form of a servant, he is now raised up to the throne of glory, and to universal dominion. This exaltation is spoken of the Redeemer as he was, sustaining a divine and a human nature. If there was, as has been supposed, some obscuration or withdrawing of the symbols of his glory Philippians 2:7, when he became a man, then this refers to the restoration of that glory, and would seem to imply, also, that there was additional honor conferred on him. There was all the augmented glory resulting from the work which he had performed in redeeming man.
And given him a name which is above every name - No other name can be compared with his. It stands alone. He only is Redeemer, Saviour. He only is Christ, the Anointed of God; see the notes at Hebrews 1:4. He only is the Son of God. His rank, his titles, his dignity, are above all others; see this illustrated in the notes at Ephesians 1:20-21.
9. Wherefore—as the just consequence of His self-humiliation and obedience (Ps 8:5, 6; 110:1, 7; Mt 28:18; Lu 24:26; Joh 5:27; 10:17; Ro 14:9; Eph 1:20-22; Heb 2:9). An intimation, that if we would hereafter be exalted, we too must, after His example, now humble ourselves (Php 2:3, 5; Php 3:21; 1Pe 5:5, 6). Christ emptied Christ; God exalted Christ as man to equality with God [Bengel].highly exalted—Greek, 'super-eminently exalted' (Eph 4:10).
given him—Greek, 'bestowed on Him.'
a name—along with the corresponding reality, glory and majesty.
which—Translate, namely, 'that which is above every name.' The name 'Jesus' (Php 2:10), which is even now in glory His name of honor (Ac 9:5). 'Above' not only men, but angels (Eph 1:21).
Wherefore; some take this particle illatively, connoting the consequent of Christ's exaltation, upon his antecedent humiliation, as elsewhere, ; the apostle showing the sequel of his sufferings to be glory, according to that of Luke 24:26. This the Ethiopic version favours. Christ respecting not himself, but us, and our good, the glory that he had eternally, but veiled for a time, emerging (as the sun out of a cloud) upon his finishing the work his Father gave him to do, . Others take the particle causally, intimating Christ's meriting his own exaltation and our salvation, and his accepting of superexcellent glory as a reward of his unparalleled obedience, though he might have challenged it by virtue of the personal union, Hebrews 13:20, with Hebrews 12:2: obedience superior to angels' required a recompence superior to their glory, and Christ might, upon his exquisite obedience, demand his own mediatory glory, as being our Head, and that being the beginning and cause of ours. However, whether the particle of order note that of consequence, or causality, or both, there is no need of controversy, (because of the communication of properties), since the person of Christ, as God-man, was glorified.God also hath highly exalted him; the Greek elegancy imports superexalted, or exalted with all exaltation, answering to his gradual humiliation; above the grave in his resurrection, the earth in his ascension, and above the heavens, at his Father's right hand, upon the throne of his glory, to judge the world, Ephesians 1:20-22 4:10.
And given him a name: some take name literally, restraining it to Jesus, but those letters and syllables are not above every name, it being common to others, Ezra 2:2 10:18 Haggai 1:1Acts 7:45Colossians 4:11Hebrews 4:8, though upon a different account it was to Christ, even before his incarnation, Luke 1:31. Others, for the name of the only begotten Son of God the Father, John 1:14, (with Hebrews 1:4, and Hebrews 5:8), who was more eminently manifested in his exaltation, to angels and to men, than before. Others, not for any title, but the thing consequent upon his humiliation, surpassing that of all creatures, potentates on earth, and angels in heaven, Ephesians 1:20,21. Name imports power, Acts 3:6 4:7 Revelation 5:12; of the Christ, the Saviour, Matthew 12:21John 4:42Acts 4:11,12 10:43, at God's right hand, where he living to intercede, makes all comfortable to us, who in his name alone do believe, pray, praise, and do all that shall find acceptance, Matthew 18:20 28:19 John 1:12 3:18 14:13 Romans 10:13,14 Col 3:17. Power to confer all for the good of his church being given him upon his death, when with respect to the creatures he received a glory, not in regard of himself, and in itself, but in regard of its patefaction to others; from which glory, during the time of his humiliation, he had by a voluntary dispensation abstained; and the exercise of that authority conferred upon him as Mediator in that human nature, he had so obediently subjected himself to the cross. Though as God there was a manifestation, yet there was no intrinsical addition of glory; he did as man receive the name, or glory, he had from all eternity as God. So that the name or glory given relates to him according to both natures, as Mediator, God-man: not as God, so he could not be exalted at all, being the Most High; not as mere man, so a creature is not capable of Divine worship, which in what follows is expressly required to be given to him, who is superexalted by God's right hand, above every name, and every thing known by any name, Acts 2:24,33,36 5:31 1 Corinthians 15:25Revelation 17:14, with
Amazing 2 9 14 Commentary 13
Revelation 19:16.Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him,.. The apostle proceeds to observe the exaltation of Christ, for the encouragement of meek and humble souls; that whereas Christ, who so exceedingly demeaned himself, was afterwards highly exalted by God, so all such who, in imitation of him, behave to one another in lowliness of mind, shall be exalted in God's due time; for whoso humbleth himself, shall be exalted. The first step of Christ's exaltation was his resurrection from the dead, when he had a glory given him as man; his body was raised in incorruption, in glory, in power, and a spiritual one; it became a glorious body, and the pledge and exemplar of the saints at the general resurrection, of which his transfiguration on the mount was an emblem and prelude; and he was also glorified then as Mediator, he was then justified in the Spirit, and acquitted and discharged from all the sins of his people, he took upon him and bore, having satisfied for them; and all God's elect were justified in him, for he rose as a public person, as their head, for their justification; yea, in some sense he was then glorified, as a divine person; not that any new additional glory was, or could be made to him as such; but there was an illustrious manifestation of his natural, essential, and original glory; he was declared to be the Son of God with power, by his resurrection from the dead: the next step of his high exaltation was his ascending on high up to the third heaven, where he is made higher than the heavens; when he was accompanied by an innumerable company of angels, and by those saints whose bodies rose out of their graves after his resurrection; and was received and carried up in a bright glorious cloud; and passing through the air, the seat of the devils, he led captivity captive, and triumphed over principalities and powers, having before spoiled them on his cross; and then entering into heaven, he sat down at the right hand of God, which is another branch of his exaltation; and shows that he had done his work, and that it was approved and accepted of; and had that glory and honour bestowed on him, which never was on any mere creature, angels or men, to sit down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; which as it is the highest pitch of the exaltation of the human nature of Christ, so by it there is a most illustrious display of the glory of his divine person as the Son of God; who was with God, as one brought up with him from all eternity; and was so likewise when here on earth, but not so manifestly; but now he is openly and manifestly glorified with himself, with that glory he had with him before the world began: moreover, Christ's exaltation lies in his having the gifts of the Spirit without measure, to bestow on his ministers and churches, in all succeeding generations, for the carrying on of his interest, and the enlargement of his kingdom; in having all power in heaven and in earth, to complete his work and great designs; in having dominion and authority over all creatures and things, which are made to be subservient to the execution of his mediatorial office; and in having the right and power of judging the world at the last day, when there will still be a more glorious display of his eternal deity and divine sonship; for he will come in his Father's glory, and in his own, and with his holy angels: now the causes of Christ's exaltation are these: the efficient cause is God; though he made himself of no reputation, and humbled himself, these were voluntary acts of his own; yet he did not exalt himself, but God exalted him, even God the Father; with him the covenant of grace and redemption was made, in which glory was promised Christ, in consideration of his obedience, sufferings, and death; and which he prayed to him for, and pleaded for with him, having done his work; and which exaltation of Christ is always ascribed to God, even the Father; see Acts 2:33; the impulsive or moving cause, and indeed the meritorious cause, were the humiliation of Christ; because he, though he was originally so great and glorious, yet made himself as it were nothing, humbled himself to become man, and was contented to be accounted a mere man, and went up and down in the form of a servant; and because he became so cheerfully obedient to the whole law, and to death itself, for the sake of his people, and out of love to them, 'therefore' God exalted him: the exaltation of Christ was not only a consequence of his obedience and death, and his humiliation merely the way to his glory; but his high and exalted estate were the reward of all this; it was what was promised him in covenant, what was then agreed upon, what he expected and pleaded, and had as a recompense of reward, in consideration of his having glorified God on earth, and finished the work he undertook to do: it follows as an instance of the exaltation of Christ,
and hath given him a name which is above every name. The Syriac version renders it, 'which is more excellent than every name'; and the Arabic version translates it, 'which is more eminent than every name'; and the Ethiopic version thus, 'which is greater than every name': by which is meant, not any particular and peculiar name by which he is called; not the name of God, for though this is his name, the mighty God, and so is even the incommunicable name Jehovah, and which may be truly said to be every name; but neither of these are given him, but what he has by nature; and besides were what he had before his exaltation in human nature: it is true indeed, upon that this name of his became more illustrious and manifest unto men; it is a more clear point, that he is God over all blessed for evermore; and it will still be more manifest at his glorious appearing, that he is the great God, as well as our Saviour: to which may be added, that the name Jehovah in the plate of gold on the high priest's forehead, was set above the other word; so says Maimonides (m),
'the plate of gold was two fingers broad, and it reached from ear to ear; and there was written upon it two lines, 'holiness to the Lord'; 'holiness', was written below, and , 'to the Lord', or 'to Jehovah', above:
whether here may not be an allusion to this, I leave to be considered: nor do I think that the name of the Son of God is meant; this is indeed a name of Christ, and a more excellent one than either angels or men have; for he is in such sense the Son of God, as neither of them are; but this is a name also which he has by nature, and is what he had before his exaltation; and was before this attested by his Father, and confessed by angels, men, and devils; though indeed upon his exaltation, he was declared more manifestly to be the Son of God, as he will be yet more clearly in his kingdom and glory: much less is the name Jesus intended, which was given him by the angel before his conception and birth, and was a name common to men among the Jews; but it seems to design such fame and renown, honour, glory, and dignity, as were never given unto, and bestowed upon creatures; as his rising from the dead as a public person, his ascending on high in the manner he did, his session at the right hand of God, his investiture with all gifts, power, dominion, authority, and with the judgment of the world; and whatever name of greatness there is among men or angels, Christ has that which is superior to it. Was a priest a name of honour and dignity among the Jews? Christ is not only a priest, and an high priest, but a great high priest; a priest not after the order of Aaron, but after the order of Melchizedek, Hebrews 7:11, and a greater than he himself. Is a king a great name among men? Christ has on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords. Is a deliverer of a nation a title of great honour? Christ is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour of men of all nations; nor is there any other name but his, that is given among men, whereby we must be saved. Is a mediator between warring princes and kingdoms accounted a name of greatness and glory? Christ is the one only Mediator between God and man, and of a new and better covenant. Are angels, seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, great names in the other world? Christ is the Angel of God's presence, an eternal one, the Angel of the covenant, the head of all principality and power. These are all subject to him, and he is set at God's right hand far above them,
(m) Hilchot Cele Hamikdash, c. 9. sect. 1.
{3} Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a {i} name which is above every name:(3) He shows the most glorious even of Christ's submission, to teach us that modesty is the true way to true praise and glory.
Amazing 2 9 14 Commentary Matthew Henry
(i) Dignity and high distinction, and that which accompanies it.
