ast June (2011), the NBAwrapped up it's fina1s in a stunning vic'=.-:.::7*y of the Dallas Mavericks over the i,j::,.

&tiami Heat. It was thrilling because ;-,.,fl) this was Dallas'first victory and "',(2) there was a me&a circus that had t 'swrounded Lebron James'move to

'I Miami in order to win a championship. Lebron James and the Heat withered awaywhile the Mavericks soared. Even for those who do not follow basketball, which includes me, it is the stuff of legends: the exalted giant for his super team falls while the humbled underdog soars. In fifty years, almost no one will talk about this exaltation of the humble and the humbling of the self-exalted. Even today Michael Jordan, who was the undisputed king of the court

the Father. This means that the Son shares fully in deity with the Father while they are two distinct persons (e.g. John 1:1). Yet the Son, Jesus Christ, at the point of incarnation took on a human nature, meaning He took on all the proprieties and essential attributes of what it means to be human-truly human. Hebrews 2:L4a describes it this way: "Since therefore the children [you and
share in flesh and blood, he Uesus] himself likewise partook of the same

human nature has two states. Jesus in His humanityhas two phases of markedly different experiences. First, Christ's humanity is a humbled or lowly state and second Christ's

humanity is an exalted state.

When Christ is exalted, it is the

humanity that is exalted. There is no change to Jesus' deity in His

exaltation. His two natures continue unmixed. This means Jesus'human nature is not somehow a new product that is deified. Another error comes when some Christians wrongly assume that in the exaltation and ascension ofJesus, Jesus just goes back into heaven and things "go back to the way they were" as if the incarnation is undone. Not true. The exaltation of Jesus, which includes His resurrection, His ascension into
heaven, His seating at God's right hand, and His return for judgment are all things that Christ carries out in His fully human glorified body. These works are exercised for His people but also as one of His people in humanity. This reigning in our humanity had never been done before until the exaltation. This means that while Christ was eternally King by virtue of His deity, that kingship is now exercised in His humanity.
This basic movement of humiliation

ll

things. (ESV)"

nowbarely kiintu by my kids and their friends.

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a boy, is

many t the exaltaalmost the same made only an 'main event" of we worship
praise His name, Laud His deity, as

When Christ became human He lost nothing of His deity. In fact, another early orthodox creed, the Chalcedonian Creed, summarizes the doctrine beautifully that Jesus is to be "acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person." The eternal deity of the Son is not weakened, corrupted, lessened or watered down by taking on humanity. Similarly, human nature is not somehow deified or changed. The two natures united in one person are still two different natures or collections of attributesone infinite, one finite.
Jesus is and always will be genu-

should ask: the exaltation things back to ut it is actually niWphase of

rue

inely God. From the incarnation on

into eternity Jesus will always be

genuinely human. This is called the doctrine of Christ's two natures. How these natures come together is called "the hypostatic union."

to exaltation is found in numerous biblical passages. Perhaps the most important is the Christological text

get some out. To usrng that has been

in Philippian s 2:6-11. Jesus existed in the form of God, but did not use His deity as a thing for His own advantage. Jesus, even though He was God and had every right to exaltation, did not use those attributes for

from the {halcedon

has two naall

But what then is the exaltation? How could Jesus become exalted? One cannot lift His deity any higher
because He has always been

truly

iafiniteness, God. As the in His deity

with

God. One who is truly God cannot become more in "god-ness." Following the Bible, the heirs of the Councils of Nicea and Chalcedon as well as the heirs of the Reformation have always believed that Christ's one

self-exaltation. He was completely unlike ancient kings like those of Babylon and ofTyre (Isa. 14; Ezek. 28) or even Adam in the garden, who used their position to grab for more power and to exalt themselves. Rather He humbled Himself, and(continued on page 1"7)

Fatt 2012 BFC.OneVoice 13

Exaltation of Christ

ftontinuedfrompage 13)

this cannot be emphasized enough-

outward for all to see."

it was despite the fact that He did not

have to humble Himself in the least. Jesus took on the form of a servant,

ment. These merits are"for us and for our salvation."

This true and perfect humility makes His exaltation more spectacular. The one who was absolutely unlike us in His deity took on our nature. He did this so that as one of us He could be exalted over all creation. He displays the glory of God within creation by virtue of being true God, but He displays this glory within creation by participating fully in our humanity at the same time. To see Jesus in His exaltation is to see the glory of God. While exaltation in our humanity awaits all Christians by virtue of their union with Christ, there is still something unique about Jesus. In His exaltation, we see a human, who because He is

humanity. Humanity was created by God to reign over creation but to serve under God. So the proper role of a human being has always been to humble themselves under God.
Jesus, though in the form of God,

What He had in terms of glory and authority by virtue of His deity is now settled upon Him in full humanity, all without any mixing of the unique attributes of two natures.
God in His creation design has always expected human beings to come before Him in humility serving

took on the form ofthe servant. He humbled Himself. This radical obedience to the Father led Him to the cross. Just as God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble, God the Father was well-pleased by how His Son humbled Himself and so He exalts the Son.
We are told in Philippians 2:9-10

under Him while ruling creation on

His behalf. This is called vice-regency. Humanity was to rule but not by

virtue of our own power but because

of God's gift and goodness to us. We should be humble by virtue of who we are and what we were created to be. However for the Christian, the weight of this conviction to humility is intensified when we look at Christ. In Jesus Christ we see the uncreated One, who had no necessity to be humble, volunteering to take on humanity. By virtue of the plan of the Trinity, the Son became humble.

truly God and because of

that Jesus is given "the name that is above every name, so that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth." Because this passage is a quote from Isaiah 45:23 that refers to God's divine name, Yahweh,
some have wrongiy interpreted this

His work on our behalf, is alone worthy

of worship (Rev. 5). When this exalted One is displayed all will bow before Him. Confronted with His glory, created beings will be so overwhelmed that all will unreservedlybow.

It

does not take a very deep exami-

to mean that this is when Jesus becomes God. Instead, we should understand this as Jesus' crowning. He had been a servant who died, now He is crowned as a king and given authority in His humanity to
reign. Although He had all authority in His deity, His humanity is exalted so that He exercises His reign as trulyhuman. As Herman Bavinck puts it, "But now, in the state of exaltation, His divine glory radiates

nation of our culture to find pride and narcissism abounding. You find it in sports, celebrity culture, the
workforce, your children's school Iife, and, yes, even in the church. From Adam onward our undoing has been our acts of self-exaltation. God opposes the proud. But with the Son, we see Jesus succeeding in true humanity, learning obedience, and demonstrating true humanity by virtue of perfect humility. His merits
are won by

Unlike last year's NBA finals we will marvel at Jesus'exaltation from now until eternity ends. May we have the wisdom and foresight to marvel now from down on bended knee. '.ii
1, Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: Sin and Satvation in Christ Votume 3, [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 20061 435.

Tim Bertolet, Pastor of Pocono Mt. BFC and committee member of the Study Committee on the Kingdom.

humility and self-efface-