Christ’s Exaltation (Thomas Watson, c. 1620-1686)

Philippians 2:9

“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:” 

Wherein consists Christ’s exaltation? In His rising from the dead, His ascending into heaven, and sitting at the right hand of God the Father,88 etc.

In what sense hath God exalted Christ? Not in respect of Christ’s Godhead, for that cannot be exalted higher than it is. As in Christ’s humiliation, the Godhead was not lower, so in His exaltation, the Godhead is not higher; but Christ is exalted as Mediator—His human nature is exalted.

How many ways is Christ exalted? Five ways: God hath exalted Christ I. In His titles; II. In His office; III. In His ascension; IV. In His session at God’s right hand; V. In constituting Him judge of the world.

I. God hath exalted Christ in His titles. First title: He is exalted to be Lord: “The name of the Lord Jesus was magnified” (Act 19:17). He is Lord in respect of His sovereignty; He is Lord over angels and men. “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Mat 28:18). Christ hath three keys in His hand: (1) the key of the grave, to open the graves of men at the resurrection; (2) the key of heaven, to open the kingdom of heaven to whom He will; (3) the key of hell (Rev 1:18), to lock up the damned in that fiery prison. To this Lord all knees must bow: “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” (Phi 2:10). Name is put here for person—to that “holy thing” Jesus (Luk 1:35), to the scepter of that divine person every knee shall bow. Bowing is put for submission—all must be subdued to Him as sons or captives and submit to Him as to the Lord or Judge: “Kiss the Son” (Psa 2:12) with a kiss of love and loyalty. We must not only cast ourselves into Christ’s arms to be saved by Him, but we must cast ourselves at His feet to serve Him.

Second title: Christ is exalted to be a prince: “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince” (Dan 12:1). Some think it was a created angel; but it was Angelus fœderis—“the angel of the covenant.”89 He is a great prince: “The prince of the kings of the earth” (Rev 1:5). They hold their crowns by immediate tenure90 from Him. His throne is above the stars, [and] He hath angels and archangels for His attendants. Thus, He is exalted in His titles of honor.

II. God hath exalted Christ in His office. He hath honored Him to be the Savior of the world: “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour” (Act 5:31). It was a great honor to Moses to be a temporal91 savior; but what is it to be the Savior of souls! Christ is called the “horn of salvation”92 (Luk 1:69). He saves from sin (Mat 1:21) and from wrath (1Th 1:10). To save is a flower that belongs only to His crown: “Neither is there salvation in any other” (Act 4:12). What an honor this is to Christ! How it makes heaven ring with saints’ praises! They sing hallelujahs to Christ their Savior. “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Rev 5:9).

III. God hath exalted Christ in His ascension. If He be ascended, then He is exalted…But the Scripture is plain: He ascended into heaven, “far above all heavens” (Eph 4:10; Luk 24:51)—therefore above the firmament.93 He is ascended into the highest part of the empyrean heaven,94 which Paul calls “the third heaven” (2Co 12:2). Concerning Christ’s ascension, two things:

1. The manner of Christ’s ascension: (1) Christ, beginning to ascend, blessed His disciples. “And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven” (Luk 24:50-51). Christ did not leave His disciples houses and lands, but He left them His blessing. (2) Christ ascended as a conqueror in a way of triumph. “Thou hast led captivity captive” (Psa 68:18; Eph 4:8). He triumphed over sin, hell, and death; and Christ’s triumph is a believer’s triumph: Christ hath conquered sin and hell for every believer.

2. The fruit of Christ’s ascension: Christ’s ascension to heaven causeth the descension of the Holy Spirit into our hearts: “When he ascended up on high, he…gave gifts unto men” (Eph 4:8). Christ having ascended in the clouds, as His triumphant chariot, gives the gift of His Spirit to us, as a king at his coronation bestows gifts liberally to his favorites.

IV. God hath exalted Christ in His session at God’s right hand. “After the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God” (Mar 16:19). “He raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come” (Eph 1:20-21).

What is meant by Christ’s sitting at God’s right hand? To speak properly, God hath no right hand or left; for being a Spirit, He is void of all bodily parts. But it is borrowed speech—a metaphor taken from the manner of kings who were [in the habit of advancing] their favorites next to their own persons, seating them at their right hand. Solomon caused a seat to be set for his mother the queen and placed her at his right hand (1Ki 2:19). So, for Christ to sit at the right hand of God is to be in the next place to God the Father in dignity and honor.

The human nature of Christ, being personally united to the divine, is now seated on a royal throne in heaven and adored even by angels. By virtue of the personal union of Christ’s human nature with the divine, there is a communication of all that glory from the deity of Christ that His human nature is capable of. Not that the manhood of Christ is advanced to an equality with the Godhead, but the divine nature being joined with the human, the human nature is wonderfully glorified, though not deified. Christ as Mediator is filled with all majesty and honor beyond the comprehension of the highest order of angels: Christ in His humiliation descended so low that it was not fit to go lower; and in His exaltation, He ascended so high that it is not possible to go higher. In His resurrection, He was exalted above the grave; in His ascension, He was exalted above the airy and starry heaven; in His sitting at God’s right hand, He is exalted above the highest heavens far, “far above all heavens” (Eph 4:10).

V. God hath exalted Christ in constituting Him judge of the whole world. “The Father…hath committed all judgment unto the Son” (Joh 5:22). At the Day of Judgment shall Christ be exalted supereminently.95 “He cometh in the glory of his Father” (Mar 8:38). He shall wear the same embroidered robes of majesty as the Father; and He shall come with all His holy angels (Mat 25:31). He Who was led to the bar96 with a band of soldiers shall be attended to the bench with a guard of angels. Christ shall judge His judges; He shall judge Pilate that condemned Him! Kings must leave their thrones and come to His bar. And this is the highest court of judicature,97 from whence is no appeal.

Use 1. Of information: Branch 1: See Christ’s different state on earth and now in heaven. Oh, how is the scene altered! When He was on earth, He lay in a manger—now He sits on a throne. Then He was hated and scorned of men—now He is adored of angels. Then His name was reproached—now God hath “given him a name which is above every name” (Phi 2:9). Then He came in the form of a servant. And as a servant, [He] stood with His basin and towel and washed His disciples’ feet (Joh 13:4-5)—now He is clad in His prince’s robes, and the kings of the earth cast their crowns before Him. On earth He was a man of sorrow—now He is anointed with the oil of gladness. On earth was His crucifixion—now His coronation. Then His Father frowned upon Him in desertion—now He hath set Him at His right hand. Before He seemed to have no form or beauty in Him (Isa 53:2)—now He is in the brightness of His Father’s glory (Heb 1:3). Oh, what a change is here! “God also hath highly exalted him” (Phi 2:9).

Branch 2: Was Christ first humble and then exalted? Hence learn, the way to true honor is humility: “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luk 14:11). The world looks upon humility as that which will make one contemptible, but it is the ready way to honor. The way to rise is to fall, the way to ascend is to descend. Humility exalts us in the esteem of men, and it exalts us to a higher throne in heaven. “Whosoever…shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Mat 18:4), viz.,98 he shall have a greater degree of glory in it.

Branch 3: Christ suffered and then was exalted. See hence that sufferings must go before glory. Many desire to be glorified with Christ, but they are not content to suffer forChrist. “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him” (2Ti 2:12). The wicked first reign and then suffer; the godly first suffer, and then reign. There is…no way to heaven, but through sufferings; no way to the crown, but by the way of the cross. Jerusalem above is a pleasant city—streets of gold, gates of pearl; but we must travel through a dirty road to this city—through many reproaches and sufferings (Act 14:22). We must enter glory as Christ did: first He suffered shame and death, and now [He] is exalted to sit at God’s right hand.

Use 2. Of comfort: Branch 1: Christ, being so highly exalted, hath ennobled our nature. He hath crowned it with glory and lifted it above angels and archangels. Though Christ, as He was man, “was made a little lower than the angels” (Heb 2:9), yet as the human nature is united to the divine and is at God’s right hand, so the human nature is above the angels. And if God hath so dignified our human nature, what a shame it is that we should debase99 it! God hath exalted the human nature above the angels, and the drunkard abaseth the human nature below the beasts.

Branch 2: Christ being exalted at God’s right hand, the key of government is laid upon His shoulders. He governs all the affairs of the world for His own glory. Do you think when Christ is so highly advanced and hath all power in heaven and earth in His hand, He will not take care of His elect and turn the most astonishing providences to the good of His church? In a clock, the wheels move cross one to another, but all make the clock strike. [Likewise,] Christ, being at His Father’s right hand, will make the most cross providences100 tend to the salvation of His church.

Branch 3: Christ being at God’s right hand, we may be assured He hath now finished the work of man’s redemption. “This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God” (Heb 10:12). If Christ had not fully expiated sin and satisfied God’s Law, He would not have sat down at God’s right hand but would still lie in the grave; but now He is exalted to glory—this is an evident token He hath done and suffered all that was required of Him for the working out of our redemption.

Branch 4: Though Jesus Christ is so highly exalted in glory, yet He is not forgetful of us on earth. Some, when they are raised to places of honor, forget their friends: when the chief butler was restored to his place at court, then he forgot poor Joseph in prison. But it is not so with Christ: though He be exalted to such glory in heaven, yet He is mindful of His saints on earth. Our high priest hath all the names and [needs] of His people written upon His breastplate. Art thou tempted? Though Christ be in glory, He knows how to pity and [strengthen] thee. “We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Heb 4:15). Dost thou mourn for sin? Christ, though in a glorified state, hears thy sighs and bottles thy tears (Psa 56:8).

Branch 5: Christ being exalted at God’s right hand is for the comfort of believers that they shall one day be exalted to that place of glory where He is. Christ’s exaltation is our exaltation. Christ hath prayed for this: “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am” (Joh 17:24). And He is said to go before to “prepare a place” for believers (Joh 14:2). Christ is called the Head; the church is called His body (Eph 1:22-23). The Head being exalted to honor, the body mystical shall be exalted too. As sure as Christ is exalted far above all heavens, so sure will He instate believers in all that glory that His human nature is adorned with (Joh 17:22). As here He puts His grace upon the saints, so shortly will He put His glory upon them. This is comfort to the poorest Christian. Perhaps thou hast scarce an house to put thy head in; yet thou mayest look up to heaven and say, “There is my house, there is my country, and I have already taken possession of heaven in my Head, Christ. He sits there, and it will not be long before I shall sit there with Him. He is upon the throne of glory, and I have His word for it: I shall sit upon the throne with Him” (see Rev 3:21).

Use 3. Of exhortation: Hath God highly exalted Christ? Let us labor to exalt Him. Let us exalt 1. His person, 2. His truths.

1. Let us exalt Christ in our hearts. Believe! Oh, adore and love Him! We cannot lift Christ up higher in heaven, but we may in our hearts. Let us exalt Him with our lips: let us praise Him! Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost, our tongues must be the organs in these temples. By praising and commending Christ, we exalt Him in the esteem of others. Let us exalt Him in our lives by living holy lives…Not all the doxologies and prayers in the world do so exalt Christ as a holy life; this makes Christ renowned and lifts Him up indeed, when His followers walk worthy of Christ.

2. Let us exalt Christ’s truths. Bucholcerus,101 in his Chronology, reports of the nobles of [Poland] that whenever the gospel is read, they lay their hands upon their swords, intimating that they are ready to maintain the gospel with the hazard of their lives. Let us exalt Christ’s truths [by maintaining] the truths of Christ against error, the doctrine of free grace against merit, [and] the deity of Christ against Socinianism.102

Truth is the most orient103 pearl of Christ’s crown! Contend for the truth as one would for a sum of money that it should not be wrested104 out of his hand. When we exalt His truths, wherein His glory is so much concerned, Christ takes this to be an exalting of Him.

From The Select Works of the Rev. Thomas Watson (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1855), 137–140, in the public domain.

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Thomas Watson (c. 1620-1686): English Nonconformist Puritan preacher and author; possibly born in Yorkshire, England, UK.

Let every believing eye look through the thick darkness and behold Jesus as He sits this day upon the throne of His Father. Let every heart rejoice while it sees the many crowns of dominion upon His head. First and foremost, there sparkles about His brow the everlasting diadem of the King of Heaven. His are the angels. The cherubim and seraphim continually sound forth His praise! At His behest the mightiest spirit delights to fly and carry His commands to the most distant world. He has but to speak, and it is done. Cheerfully is He obeyed, and majestically doth He reign! His high courts are thronged with holy spirits, who live upon His smile, who drink light from His eyes, who borrow glory from His majesty. There is no spirit in heaven so pure that it does not bow before Him, no angel so bright that it does not veil its face with its wings when it draweth near Him. Yea, moreover, the many spirits redeemed, delight to bow before Him. Day without night, they circle His throne, singing, “Worthy is He that was slain and hath redeemed us from our sins by His blood. Honor, and glory, and majesty, and power, and dominion, and might be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever!” To be King of heaven were surely enough! Christ is Lord of all its boundless plains. He laid the precious stones upon which was built the city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. He is the light of that city, He is the joy of its inhabitants, and it is their loving life evermore to pay Him honor.—Charles Spurgeon

That real view which we may have of Christ and His glory in this world by faith is inexpressibly to be preferred above all other wisdom, understanding, or knowledge whatever.—John Owen

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