+I. As an historical fact.+--It is quite certain.
+II. As displaying in its circumstances every variety of human
character.+
+III. As accompanied by striking prodigies.+--The darkened sun, the
quaking earth, the cleft rocks, the rent veil, the opened
graves.
+IV. As furnishing an illustrious example of the passive
virtues.+--Taught us how to suffer and to die.
+V. As being the brightest manifestation of self-denying and
self-devoting love.+
+VI. As constituting the sole meritorious cause of human
salvation.+--Who is the sufferer? The Son of God. Why does He
suffer? As a prophet, as a martyr, as an example? Yes; but
chiefly as a sacrifice for sin.
+VII. As producing the most wonderful moral transformations.+--On
individuals, on communities, and on Christendom.--_G. Brooks._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 9-11.
_The Exaltation of Christ_--
+I. Was a Divine act.+--"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him"
(ver. 9). As a recognition of the humiliation and obedience of
Christ, God exalted Him to the throne of mediatorial sovereignty. As
Bengel puts it, "Christ emptied Christ; God exalted Christ as man to
equality with God" (Compare Ps. viii. 5, 6, cx. 1, 7; Matt.
xxviii. 18; Luke xxiv. 26; John v. 27, x. 17; Rom. xiv. 9; Eph.
i. 20-22; Heb. ii. 9).
+II. Was the acquisition of a name of pre-eminent dignity and
significance.+--"And given Him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus" (vers. 9, 10). Jesus is the same as Joshua, or
Jehoshua, only framed to the Greek pronunciation and termination.
Joshua, who brought the hosts of Israel into the rest of Canaan, was
originally called Hoshea, but it was changed into Joshua or Jehoshua,
by an addition of the first syllable in the Divine name Jehovah,
perhaps to intimate that not Joshua of himself, but Jehovah by Him,
would complete the deliverance and rest of Israel. The name Jesus
means Jehovah-Saviour, or Jehovah-Salvation, and Jesus is so called
because He saves His people from their sins. The name cannot be given
to any other being; it belongs solely and absolutely to the one
Jesus. "Here we should probably look," says Lightfoot, "to a common
Hebrew sense of name, not meaning a definite appellation, but
denoting office, rank, dignity. In this case the use of the name of
God in the Old Testament to denote the Divine Presence or the Divine
Majesty, more especially as the object of adoration and praise, will
suggest the true meaning; since the context dwells on the honour and
worship henceforth offered to Him on whom _the_ name has been
conferred. To praise _the name,_ to bless _the name,_ to fear _the
name_ of God, are frequent expressions in the Old Testament." The
name of Jesus marks the pre-eminence of Jesus--it is the "name above
every name." That name wields the mightiest power in the world
to-day. A modern writer of reputation has said: "There is a wave--I
believe it is only a wave--passing over the cultivated thought of
Europe at present, which will make short work of all belief in a God
that does not grip fast to Jesus Christ. As far as I can read the
signs of the times and the tendency of modern thinking, it is
this--either an absolute silence, a heaven stretching above us, blue
and clear and cold, and far away and dumb; or else a Christ that
speaks--He or none. The theism that has shaken itself loose from Him
will be crushed, I am sure, in the encounter with the agnosticism and
materialism of this day." The name of the exalted Jesus is the
salvation of the world in more senses than one.
+III. Entitles Him to universal homage.+--"Every knee shall bow . . .
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord"
(vers. 10, 11). Beings above, below, and on the earth shall
acknowledge the supremacy and deity of Jesus, and unite in a
universal and consentaneous act of praise and worship of His Divine
majesty. On the door of the old mosque in Damascus, once a Christian
church, but now ranked among the holiest of Mahometan sanctuaries,
are inscribed these remarkable words: "Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an
everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all
generations." For more than twelve hundred years the inscription has
remained unimpaired by time and undisturbed by man. What is it
waiting for? Already a Christian Church has been founded in that
ancient city, and the Gospel is preached there every Sabbath. The
world's submission to Jesus is drawing near.
+Lessons.+--_The name of Jesus_--1. _Is unique in its reputation._
2. _In its moral influence among the nations._ 3. _In its saving
power._ 4. _In the homage paid to it._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._