C
Charles Spurgeon

The Exaltation of Christ

Charles Spurgeon | November 2, 1856 | 38:04
Exaltation of Christ Union with Christ Suffering and Glory Humiliation of Christ Sovereignty of God Self Surrender Comfort in Affliction Kingship of Christ Christian Joy Perseverance

Spurgeon draws three consolations from Christ's exaltation: the fact of it brings joy through union with Christ, the reason reveals humiliation as the path to glory, and the person behind it — God the Father — assures suffering saints that the same hand will crown them.

Primary Verses

Philippians 2:9 Philippians 2:6 Psalms 22:6

Scripture Reading and the Shadow of Calamity

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Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

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Philippians 2-9-11. I almost regret this morning that I avenged you to occupy this pulpit, because I feel I thought that the quiet and repose of the last fortnight had removed the effects of that terrible catastrophe, but on coming back to the same spot again, and more especially standing here to address you, I feel somewhat of those same painful emotions which well-ni-prostrated me before.

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You will therefore excuse me this morning if I make no allusion to that solemn event or scarcely any. I could not preach to you upon a subject that should be in the least allied to it. I should be obliged to be silent if I should bring to my remembrance that terrific scene in the midst of which it was my solemn lot to stand.

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God shall overrule it doubtless. It may not have been so much by the malice of men, as some have asserted it was perhaps simple wickedness. an intention to disturb a congregation, but certainly with no thought of committing so terrible a crime as that of the murder of those unhappy creatures.

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God forgive those who were the instigators of that horrid act. They have my forgiveness from the depths of my soul. It shall not stop us. However, I shall not attempt to preach upon this text, I shall only make a few remarks that have occurred to my own mind, for I could not preach today, I have been utterly unable to study, but I thought that even a few words might be acceptable to you this morning and I trust to your loving hearts to excuse them.

The Christian's Heart Always Returns to Christ

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Oh, Spirit of God, magnify thy strength in thy servant's weakness, and enable him to honour his Lord, even when his soul is cast down within him. When the mind is intensely set upon one object, however much it may, by divers' calamities be tossed to and fro, it invariably returns to the place which it had chosen to be its dwelling place.

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Ye have noticed in the case of David. When the battle had been won by his warriors, they returned flushed with victory. David's mind had doubtless suffered much perturbation in the meantime. He had dreaded alike the effects of victory and defeat, but have you not noticed how his mind in one moment returned to the darling object of his affections? Is the young man Absalom safe, said he, as if it mattered not what else had occurred, it his beloved son were but secure.

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So, beloved, it is with the Christian. In the midst of calamities, whether they be the rack of nations, the crash of empires, the heaving of revolutions, or the scourge of war, the great question which he asks himself and asks of others too, is this,

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Is Christ's kingdom safe? In his own personal afflictions, his chief anxiety is, will God be glorified, and will his honour be increased by it? If it be so," says he, although I be but a smoking-flex, yet, if the sun is not dimmed, I will rejoice, and though I be a bruised-read, if the pillars of the temple are unbroken, what matters it that

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My read is bruised? He finds its sufficient consolation, in the midst of all the breaking in pieces which he endures, to think that Christ's throne stands fast and firm, and that though the earth hath rocked beneath his feet, yet Christ standeth on a rock, which never can be moved.

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Some of these feelings, I think, have crossed our minds. Amidst much tumult, and divers rushings to and fro of troubled thoughts, our souls have returned to the darling object of our desires, and we have found it no small consolation after all to say, it matters not what shall become of us. God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.

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This text has afforded sweet consolation to every heir of heaven.

The Believer's Relationship and Unity with Christ

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Allow me very briefly to give you the consolations of it. To the true Christian there is much comfort in the very fact of Christ's exaltation. In the second place there is no small degree of consolation in the reason of it. Therefore also God had highly exalted him, that is because of his previous humiliation. And thirdly, there is no small amount of really divine solace in the thought of the person who has exalted Christ.

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Wherefore, God also, although men despise Him and cast Him down, God also hath highly exalted Him. I. First, then, I in the very fact, of Christ's exaltation there is to every true, Christian a very large degree of comfort. Many of you who have no part nor lot in spiritual things, not having loved a Christ nor any desire for his glory will but laugh when I say that this is a very bottle of cordial to the lip

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Of the weary Christian, that Christ, after all, is glorified. to you it is no consolation because you lack that condition of heart which makes this text sweet to the soul. To you there is nothing of joy in it, it does not stir your bosom, it gives no sweetness to your life for this very reason that you are not joined to Christ's cause nor do you devoutly seek to

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Honor him. But the true Christian's heart leapeth for joy, even when cast down by divers' sorrows and temptations, at the remembrance that Christ is exalted, for in that he finds enough to cheer his own heart. Note here, beloved, that the Christian has certain features in his character which make the exaltation of Christ a matter of great joy to him. First, he has in his own opinion, and not in his own opinion only, but in reality a relationship to Christ,

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And therefore he feels an interest in the success of his kinsmen. Ye have watched the Father's joy when step by step his boy has climbed to opulence or fame. Ye have marked the mother's eye as it sparkled with delight when her daughter grew up to womanhood and burst forth in all the grandeur of beauty. Ye have asked why they should feel such interest, and ye have been told because the boy was his or the girl was hers.

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They delighted in the advancement of their little ones because of their relationship. Had there been no relationship, they might have been advanced to kings, emperors or queens, and they would have felt but little delight.

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But, from the fact of Kindred, each step was invested with a deep and staring interest. Now it is so with this Christian. He feels that Jesus Christ, the glorified prince of the kings of the earth, is his brother.

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While he reverences him as God, he admires him as the man, Christ, bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, and he delights in his calm and placid moments of communion with Jesus to say to him, O Lord, thou art my brother. His song is my beloved, his mine, and I am his. It is his joy to sing. In the blood with sinners, one Christ Jesus is, for he is a man, even as we are, and he is no less and no more man than we are, save only sin.

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Surely, when we feel we are related to Christ, his exaltation is the source of the greatest joy to our spirits. We take a delight in it, seeing it is one of our family that is exalted.

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It is the elder brother of the great one family of God in heaven and earth. It is the brother to whom all of us are related. There is also in the Christian not only the feeling of relationship merely, but there is a feeling of unity in the cause. He feels that when Christ is exalted, it is Himself exalted in some degree, seeing He has sympathy with His desire of promoting the great cause and honor of God in the world.

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I have no doubt that every common soldier who stood by the side of the Duke of Wellington felt honored when the commander was applauded for the victory, for said he, I helped him, I assisted him, it was but a mean part that I played, I did but maintain my rank, I did but sustain the enemy's fire, but now the victory is gained.

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I feel an honour in it, for I helped, in some degree, to gain it. So, the Christian, when he sees his Lord exalted, says, it is the captain that has exalted and in his exaltation all his soldiers share, have I not stood by his side?

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Little was the work I did, and poor the strength which I possessed to serve him, but still I aided in the labor. And the commonest soldier in the spiritual ranks feels that he himself is in some degree exalted when he reads this. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, a renown above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.

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Moreover, the Christian knows not only that there is this unity in design, but that there is a real union between Christ and all his people. It is a doctrine of revelation sold and discarded upon, but never too much thought of, the doctrine that Christ and his members are all one. No ye not beloved that every member of Christ Church is a member of Christ himself.

Self-Surrender as the Key to Joy in Christ's Exaltation

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We are of his flesh and of his bones, parts of his great mystical body, and when we read that our head is crowned O rejoice ye members of his, his feet or his hands, though the crown is not on you, yet being on your head you share the glory for you are one with him. See Christ's jonder sitting at his father's right hand.

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He is the pledge of thy glorification, he is the surety of thine acceptance, and, moreover, he is thy representative. The seat which Christ possesses in heaven, he has not only by his own right as a person of the deity, but he has it also as the representative of the whole church, for he is there forerunner, and he sits in glory as the representative of every one of them.

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O rejoice, believer, when thou seeest thy master exalted from the tomb, when thou beholdest him exalted up to heaven. Then, when thou seeest him climb the steps of light, and sit upon his lofty throne, where angels can can scarcely reach him. when thou hearest the acclimations of a thousand seraphs, when thou dost note the loud peeling choral symphony of millions of the redeemed, think when thou seest him crowned with light.

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Think that thou art exalted too in him, seeing that thou art a part of himself. Happy art thou if thou knows this, not only in doctrine but in sweet experience too. Knit to Christ wedded to him, grown into him, parts and portions of his very self, we throbbed with the heart of the body. When the head itself is glorified, we share in the praise.

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We felt that his glorification bestows an honour upon us. Ah, Beloved, have you ever felt that unity to Christ? Have you ever felt a unity of desire with Him? If so, you will find this rich with comfort, but if not, if you know not Christ. It will be a source of grief rather than a pleasure to you that he is exalted. For you will have to reflect that he is exalted to crush you, exalted to judge you and condemn you, exalted to sweep this earth of its sins, and cut the curse up by the roots, and you with it,

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Unless you repent and turn unto God with full purpose of heart. There is yet another feeling which I think is extremely necessary to any very great enjoyment of this truth that Christ is exalted. It is a feeling of entire surrender of one's whole being to the great work of seeking to honor him.

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Oh, I have striven for that, would to God I might attain unto it.

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I have now concentrated all my prayers into one, and that one prayer is this. that I may die to self, and live wholly to him. It seems to me to be the highest stage of man, to have no wish, no thought, no desire, but Christ,

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To feel that to die were bliss, if it were for Christ, that to live in penury and woe and scorn and contempt and misery were sweet for Christ, to feel that it did not matter what became of oneself so that one's master was but exalted. to feel that though, like a seer leaf, you are blown in the blast, you are quite careless whether you are going so long as you feel that the master's hand is guiding you according to his will.

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Or rather to feel that though like the diamond you must be cut, that you care not how sharply you may be cut, so that you may be made fit to be a brilliant in his crown, that you care little what may be done to you if you may but honor him. If any of you have attained to that sweet feeling of self annihilation, you will look up to Christ as if He were the Son, and you will say of yourself,

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O Lord, I see thy beams, I feel myself to be not of beam from thee. But darkness swallowed up in thy light. The most I ask is that thou wouldst live in me, but the life I live in the flesh may not be my life, but thy life in me that I may say with emphasis as Paul did, for me to live is Christ.

The Reason for Exaltation: Christ's Prior Humiliation

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A man that has attained to this, never need care what is the opinion of this world. He may say, Do you praise me? Do you flatter me? Do you flatter me? Take back your flatteries I ask them. Not at your hands I sought to praise my master. You have laid the praises at my door go, lay them at his and not at mine.

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"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

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Do you scorn me? Do you despise me? Thrice happy am I to bear it? If he will not scorn and despise him, and if he will yet know this that he is beyond your scorn and therefore smite the soldier for his captains sake, I strike, strike, but the king ye cannot touch, he is highly exalted, and now ye think ye have gotten the victory, ye may have routed one soldier of the army, but the main body is triumphant.

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One soul just seems to be smitten to the dust, but the captain is coming on with his victorious cohorts, and shall trample you, flushed with your false victory beneath his conquering feet. As long as there is a particle of selfishness remaining in us, it will mar our sweet rejoicing in Christ till we get rid of it, we shall never feel constant joy.

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I do think that the root of sorrow is self. If we once got rid of that sorrow would be sweet, sickness would be health, sadness would be joy, penury would be wealth, so far as our feelings would regard to them are concerned. They might not be changed, but our feelings under them would be vastly different. If you would seek happiness, seek it at the roots of your selfishness, cut up your selfishness, and you will be happy.

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I have found that whenever I have yielded to the least joy when I have been prepared to feel acutely the arrows of the enemy, but when I have said of the praises of men, yes, what are ye, worthless things? Then I could also say of their contempt. Come on, come on!

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I'll send you all where I sent the praises, you may go together, and fight your battles with one another, but as for me, let your arrows rattle on my mail. They must not, and they shall not reach my flesh.

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But if you give way to one, you will to another." You must seek and learn to live holy in Christ, to sorrow when you see Christ maligned and dishonored, to rejoice when you see him exalted, and then you will have constant cause for joy.

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Sit down now, O reviled one poor despised and tempted one. Sit down, lift up thine eyes, see him on his throne, and say within thyself, little though I be, I know I am united to him. He is my love, my life, my joy. I care not what happens so long as it is written. the Lord reigneth. 2. Now, briefly upon the second point,

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Here also is the very fountain and wellspring of joy in the reason of Christ's exaltation.

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Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, why? Because he, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and because obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

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Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, This of course relates to the manhood of our Lord Jesus Christ. As God, Christ needed no exaltation. He was higher than the highest. God overall, blessed forever. but the symbols of his glory having been for a while obscured, having wrapped his Godhead in mortal flesh, his flesh with his Godhead ascended up on high and the man.

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God, Christ Jesus, who had stooped to shame and sorrow and degradation, was highly exalted, far above all principalities and powers that he might reign Prince Regent over all worlds, yay, over heaven itself. Let us consider for a moment that depth of degradation to which Christ descended, and then, my beloved, it will give you joy to think that for that very reason his manhood was highly exalted.

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Do you see that man? The humble man before his foes, the weary man, and full of woes, do you mark him as he speaks?

The Believer's Path Mirrors Christ's: Through Suffering to Glory

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Note the marvellous eloquence which pours from his lips and see how the crowds attend him. But do you hear, in the distance, the growling of the thunders of Kalamnian scorn, listen to the words of his accusers?

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They say he is a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. He has a devil and is mad. All the whole vocabulary of abuse is exhausted by vituperation upon him. He is slandered, abused, persecuted.

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Stop! Do you think that he is by this cast down, by this degraded? No. For this very reason, God hath highly exalted him. Mark the shame and spitting that have come upon the cheek of yonder man of sorrows. See his hair plucked with cruel hands. Marky how they torture him and how they mock him. Do you think that this is all dishonorable to Christ?

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It is apparently so, but list to this he became obedient, and therefore God hath highly exalted him. There is a marvelous connection between that shame and spitting and the bending of the knee of seraphs. There is a strange yet mystic link which unites the calumny and the slander with the coral sympathies of adoring angels. The one was, as it were, the seed of the other.

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Strange that it should be but the black, the bitter seed brought forth a sweet and glorious flower which blooms forever. He suffered and he reigned. He stopped to conquer and he conquered for he stooped and was exalted for he conquered.

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Consider him further still. Do you mark him in your imagination, nailed to yonder cross? Oh, eyes, you're full of pity, with tears standing thick. Oh, how I mark the floods, gushing down his checks. Do you see his hands bleeding? And his feet too, gushing gore, behold him. The bulls of Bashan gird him round, and the dobs are hounding him to death, hear him.

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Eloi, Eloi, Lama, Sabakkhani, the earth startles with a fright. A god is groaning on a cross. What? Does not this dishonor Christ know it honors him? Each of the thorns becomes a brilliant in his diadem of glory. The nails are forged into his scepter, and his wounds do clothe him with the purple of empire. The treading of the winepress hath stained his garments, but not with stains of scorn and dishonour.

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The stains are embroideries upon his royal robes forever. The treading of that winepress hath made his garments purple with the empire of a world, and he is the master of a universe forever. O Christian, sit down and consider that thy master did not mount from earth's mountains into heaven but from her valleys.

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It was not from heights of bliss on earth that he strode to bliss eternal, but from depths of woe he mounted up to glory. Oh, what a stride was that, when, at one mighty step from the grave to the throne of the highest, the man Christ, the God, did gloriously ascend, and yet reflect, he in some way, mysterious yet true, was exalted because he suffered.

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Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. Believer, there is comfort for thee here, if thou wilt take it. If Christ was exalted through his degradation, so shall thou be.

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Count not thy steps to triumph by thy steps upward, but by those which are seemingly downward. The way to heaven is downhill. He who would be honored forever must sink in his own esteem, and often in that of his fellow men. Oh! Think not of Yon Ful who is mounting to heaven by his own light opinions of himself and by the flatteries of his fellows,

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That he shall safely reach paradise, nay that shall burst on which he rests, and he shall fall and be broken in pieces. But he who descends into the minds of suffering, shall find unbounded riches there. And he who dives into the depths of grief, shall find the pearl of everlasting life within, discavons. recollect Christian that Thou art exalted when Thou art disgraced, read the slanders of thine enemies as the plaudits of the just, count that the scoff and jeer of wicked men are equal to the praise and honor of

The Person Who Exalted Christ: God the Father, Not Man

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The godly, their blame is censure, and their censure praise. Reckon too, if thy body should ever be exposed to persecution, that it is no shame to thee but the reverse. And if thou shalt be privileged, and thou mayest to wear the blood-red crown of martyrdom, count it no disgrace to die. Remember, the most honourable in the church are the noble army of martyrs.

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Recon that the greater the sufferings they endured, so much the greater is their eternal weight of glory. And so do thou, if thou standest in the brunt and thick of the fight, remember that thou shalt stand in the midst of glory. If thou hast the hardest to bear, thou shalt have the sweetest to enjoy.

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On with thee, then, through floods, through fire, through death, through hell, if it should lie in thy path, fear not. He who glorified Christ because he stooped shall glorify thee, for after he has caused thee to endure a while, he will give thee a crown of life which fateeth now away."

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3. And now, in the last place, beloved, here is yet another comfort for you.

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The person who exalted Christ is to be noticed. God also hath highly exalted him. The Emperor of all the Russians crowns himself. He is an autocrat and puts the crown upon his own head, but Christ hath no such foolish pride. Christ did not crown himself.

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God also hath highly exalted him. The crown was put upon the head of Christ by God. And there is to me a very sweet reflection in this, that the hand that put the crown on Christ's head will one day put the crown on ours, that the same mighty one who crowned Christ King of Kings and Lord of Lords will crown us, when he shall make us kings and priests unto him forever.

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I know," said Paul, there is laid up for me a crown of glory which fateeth not away, which God the righteous judge shall give me in that day. Now, just pause over this thought that Christ did not crown himself, but that his father crowned him, that he did not elevate himself to the throne of Majesty, but that his wife reflect thus, man never highly exalted Christ.

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But this then in opposition to it, God also hath highly exalted him. Man hissed him, mocked him, hooted him. Words were not hard enough. They would use stones. They took up stones again to stone him. And stones failed. Nails must be used, and he must be crucified. And then there comes the taunt, the jeer, the mockery, whilst he hangs languishing on the death-cross.

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Man did not exalt him. Set the black picture there. Now put this, with this glorious, this bright scene, side by side with it, and one shall be a foil to the other. Man dishonored him. God also exalted him. Believer, if all men speak ill of thee, lift up thy head and say, Man exalted not my master, I thank him that he exalts not me.

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The servant should not be above his master, nor the servant above his Lord, nor he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If on my face for his dear name shame and reproach shall be, I'll hail reproach and welcome shame, for he'll remember me.

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God will remember me, and highly exalt me after all, though man casts me down. put it again in opposition to the fact that Christ did not exalt himself. Poor Christian, you feel that you cannot exalt yourself. Sometimes you cannot raise your poor depressed spirits. Some say to you, oh,

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You should not feel like this. They tell you, oh, you should not speak such words nor think such thoughts. The heart knoweth its own bitterness, a stranger into medallith not therewith. I, and I will improve upon it, nor a friend either. It is not easy to tell how another ought to feel, and how another ought to act.

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Our minds are differently made, each in its own mould, which mould is broken afterwards, and they shall never be another like it. We are all different, each one of us, but I am sure there is one thing in which we are all brought to unite in times of deep sorrow, namely in a sense of helplessness.

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We feel that we cannot exalt ourselves. Now remember, our master felt just like it. In the 22nd Psalm, which, if I read it rightly, is a beautiful soliloquy of Christ upon the cross, he says to himself,

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"But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people."

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I am a worm and no man. as if he felt himself so broken, so cast down, that instead of being more than a man, as he was, he felt for a while less than man.

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And yet, when he could not lift finger to crown himself, when he could scarce heaver thought of victory, when his eye could not flash with even a distant glimpse of triumph, then his God was crowning him. Are thou so broken in pieces, Christian?

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Think not that thou art cast away forever for God also have highly exalted him who did not exalt himself, and this is a picture and prophecy of what he will do for thee.

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And now, beloved, I can say little more upon this text, save that I bid you now for a few minutes meditate and think upon it. Let your eyes be lifted up, bid heavens blue veil divide, ask power of God.

A Vision of Christ Enthroned in Transcendent Glory

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I mean spiritual power from on high, to look within the veil. I bid you not look to the streets of gold, nor to the walls of Jasper, nor to the pearly gated city. I do not ask you to turn your eyes to the white-robed hosts, who forever sing loud hallelujahs, but yonder, my friends, turn your eyes. There, like a man, the Savior sits, the God, how brightly shines, and scatters infinite delight on all the happy minds.

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Do you see him? The head that once was crowned with thorns is crowned with glory now, a royal diadem adorns, that mighty Victor's brow, No more the bloody crown, the cross and nails no more, for hell itself shakes at his frown and all the heavens adore. Look at him. Can your imagination picture him? Behold his transcendent glory.

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The majesty of kings is swallowed up. The pomp of empires dissolves like the white mist of the morning before the sun. The brightness of assembled armies is eclipsed. He, in himself, is brighter than the sun, more terrible than armies with banners. See him, see him.

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Oh, hide your head, Gimonics, put away your gaudy pageantry, ye lords of this poor narrow earth. His kingdom knows no bounds without a limit. His vast empire stretches out itself. Above him all is his, beneath him many are stepper angels, and they are his, and they cast their crowns before his feet. With them stand his elect and ransomed, and their crowns too are his.

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And here, upon this lower earth stand his saints, and they are his, and they adore him. And under the earth, among the infernals, where devils growl their malice, even there is trembling and adoration, and where lost spirits with wailing and gnashing of teeth for ever lament their being. Even there, there is the acknowledgement of his Godhead, even though the confession helps to make the fire of their torments.

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In heaven, in earth, in hell, all knees bend before him, and every tongue confesses that he is God. If not now, yet in the time that is to come, the shall be carried out, that ever creature of God's making shall acknowledge his Son to be God overall blessed forever.

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Amen. Oh, my soul anticipates that blessed day, when this whole earth shall bend its knee before its God willingly, I do believe there is a happy era coming, when there shall not be one knee unbent before my lord and master. I look for that time, that latter-day glory, when king shall bring presence, when queen shall be the nursing mothers of the church, when the gold of Sheba and the ships of Tashish, and the dramataries of Arabia

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Shall alike be his, when nations and tribes of every tongue shall dwell on his name with sweetest song. and infant voices shall proclaim their early blessings on his name. Sometimes I hope to live to see that all auspicious era,

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That halcy and age of this world so much oppressed with grief and sorrow by the tyranny of its own habitants. I hope to see the time when it shall be said, shout, for the great shepherd reigns and his unsuffering kingdom now is come.

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When earth shall be one great orchestra of praise, and every man shall sing the glorious hallelujah, anthem of the King of Kings. But even now, while waiting for that era, my soul rejoices in the fact that every knee does virtually bow, though not willingly yet really. Does the scoffer, when he mouths high heaven, think that he insults God? He thinks so, but his insult dies long, and it reaches halfway to the stars.

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Does he conceive, when in his malice he forges a sword against Christ, that his weapon shall prosper? If he does, I can well conceive the derision of God. When he sees the wildest rebel, the most abandoned despiser, still working out his great decrees, still doing that which God hath eternally ordained, and in the midst of his wild rebellion, still running in the very track which in

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Some mysterious way before all eternity had been marked as the track in which that being should certainly move. the wild steeds of earth have broken their bridles, the rains are out of the hands of the charioteer, so some say, but they are not, or if they are, the steeds run the same round as they would have done, had the Almighty grasped the rain still.

God's Sovereign Rule Over All Rebellion

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The world has not gone to confusion, chance is not God, God is still master, and let men do what they will, and hate the truth we now prize, they shall after all do what God wills, and their direst rebellion shall prove but a species of obedience, though they know it not. But thou wilt say, why dost thou yet find fault? For who hath resisted such a will as that?

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Nay, but oh man, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing form say to him that formed it? Why has thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels

Romans 9:20-23 34:57

"Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?"

34:58

Of mercy which He had afford prepared unto glory? Who is He that shall blame Him? Woe unto Him that striveeth with His Maker. He is God. Know that ye inhabitants of the land, and all things, after all, shall serve His will. I like what Luther says in his bold hymn, where notwithstanding all that those who are haters of predestination choose to affirm he knew and boldly declared, he everywhere hath sway and all things serve his might.

35:30

Notwithstanding all they do, there is God's sway, after all. Go on, Reviler! God knoweth how to make all thy revilings into songs. Go on now, warrior, against God, if thou wilt, know this. Thy sword shall help to magnify God, and carve out glory for Christ, when thou thwartest the slaughter of his church. It shall come to pass that all thy dust shall be frustrated, for God makeeth the diviner's mad, and sayeth,

Final Appeal: Bow the Knee Willingly Now

35:58

Where is the wisdom of the scribe? Where is the wisdom of the wise? Surely, him hath God exalted, and given him a name which is above every name. And now, lastly, beloved, if it be true, as it is, that Christ is so exalted, that He is to have a name above every name, and every knee is to bow to Him. Will we not bow our knees this morning before His Majesty?

36:24

You must, whether you will or no, one day bow your knee. O iron-synued sinner, bow thy knee now. Thou wilt have to bow it, man, in that day when the lightning shall be loosed, and the thunder shall roll in wild fury, Thou wilt have to bow thy knee then.

36:44

O bow it now. Kiss the sun, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. O Lord of hosts, bend the knees of men, make us all the willing subjects of thy grace, lest afterward we should be the unwilling slaves of thy terror, dragged with chains of vengeance down to hell.

37:09

O, that now those that are on earth might willingly bend their knees, lest in hell it should be fulfilled, things under the earth should bow the knee before him. God bless you, my friends. I can say no more but that. God bless you for Jesus' sake, our men. View this, Resource Jquery Document, Trading Function, Trading Function, Flipbook, Flipbook, Wildbook, PDF, HTTP, SHTTP,

37:35

WT, Content or Quest U20. Exaltation of Christ. PDF, Lightbox, Flipbook Button, Toolbar, First, Back Next, Last, Zoom in, Zoom Out, Full Screen Thumbnails, Lightbox Color, Transparent, Lightbox Overlay. True Lightbox Overlay, Color, Urge, Burradi, 2005, Page Numbers, False Turn, Page, Duration, Function, Book, Return, Window, Window, Window. Resource. Library, Highlights, Latest Resources, Resource, Categories, Art,

Referenced Scriptures

0:00 / 38:04

Major Points

1

The believer's mystical union with Christ means that His exaltation is their exaltation — when the Head is crowned, every member of the body shares in the glory

Philippians 2:9
2

Christ's humiliation was the very cause of His exaltation, establishing the principle that the way up in God's kingdom is always down through suffering and self-emptying

Philippians 2:8-9
3

It was God, not man, who crowned Christ — and the same Father who exalted the Son will exalt every believer who endures faithfully

2 Timothy 4:8
4

Selfishness is the root of all spiritual sorrow; only total self-surrender to Christ's cause produces constant, unshakable joy regardless of earthly circumstances

Galatians 2:20

Discussion Questions

  1. 1

    Spurgeon says the Christian's heart always returns to one question amid calamity: 'Is Christ's kingdom safe?' What does your heart instinctively return to in times of crisis, and what does that reveal about your deepest allegiance?

  2. 2

    Spurgeon identifies three grounds of comfort in Christ's exaltation — the fact, the reason, and the person. Which of these three brings you the most consolation right now, and why?

  3. 3

    How does the doctrine of believers' union with Christ change the way you experience both His exaltation and your own suffering? Can you think of a recent trial where remembering your union with Christ would have altered your perspective?

  4. 4

    Spurgeon boldly claims that 'the root of sorrow is self' and that cutting up selfishness produces joy. Is this an overstatement, or does your experience confirm it? How does self-focus magnify grief?

  5. 5

    Spurgeon preached this sermon while personally shattered by the Surrey Music Hall disaster. How does knowing the context of his suffering intensify the power of his message about Christ's exaltation through humiliation?

Word Studies

ὑπερύψωσεν (hyperypsoosen) Greek

To raise to the highest possible position, to super-exalt; the prefix hyper- intensifies the already superlative verb, indicating an exaltation beyond all measure or comparison.

Philippians 2:9 “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him”

κενόω (kenoō) Greek

To empty or pour out completely; used of Christ voluntarily setting aside the outward display of divine glory and taking on the form of a servant, not by losing deity but by veiling its prerogatives.

ἐξομολογέω (exomologeō) Greek

To openly and publicly acknowledge or confess; carries the force of a willing, joyful declaration when used of the redeemed, but an unavoidable admission when applied to those in rebellion.

Philippians 2:11 “every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord”

This Week's Reading Plan

Go deeper this week with the passages from this sermon.

Monday Philippians 2:6-11

Read Philippians 2 for the full context

What stands out to you in this passage? How does it connect to the sermon?

Tuesday Psalms 22:6

Read Psalms 22 for the full context

Is there a promise, command, or truth here that applies to your life this week?

Wednesday Romans 9:20-23

Read Romans 9 for the full context

How does this passage shape the way you see God's character?

Thursday Galatians 2:20

Read Galatians 2 for the full context

What would change in your daily life if you took this passage seriously?

Friday 2 Timothy 4:8

Read 2 Timothy 4 for the full context

As you finish the week, what one truth from this series of readings will you carry forward?

Cross References

Isaiah 53:3-5

The Suffering Servant prophecy provides the Old Testament foundation for Spurgeon's central theme that Christ's shame and spitting were the pathway to His exaltation and glory

Hebrews 2:9-10

Directly states that Jesus was 'crowned with glory and honour' because of 'the suffering of death,' confirming the humiliation-to-exaltation pattern Spurgeon expounds

Romans 8:17

Establishes that believers are joint-heirs with Christ who must suffer with Him in order to be glorified with Him — the application Spurgeon draws for afflicted saints

Colossians 1:18

Christ's headship over the body of the church undergirds Spurgeon's argument that when the Head is crowned, every member shares the glory

1 Peter 5:6-7

Commands believers to humble themselves under God's mighty hand that He may exalt them in due time — the same pattern Spurgeon traces from Christ to His followers

Further Reading

The Cross of Christ

by John Stott

Humility: The Beauty of Holiness

by Andrew Murray

Knowing God

by J.I. Packer