This morning I was enjoying the portion in Philippians 2:9-11,
9. Therefore also God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
10. That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11. And every tongue should openly confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
and I was again brought into a fresh appreciation of the name of the Lord Jesus. On the one hand, God became a man – He humbled Himself, and He became a lowly and an un-known / un-respected / un-appreciated / rejected man. He humbled Himself even to the death, and that the death of a cross (Phil 2:6-8).
But God highly exalted Him – there was nothing sinful in Christ, all He did was just the Father’s will and He lived for the Father seeking the Father’s glory. Since Christ humbled Himself and obeyed God even as a man, God exalted Him to the highest place in the universe – gave Him the highest name of all!
Now the Lord Jesus is resurrected and ascended into glory, as a Man – He is the Man in the Glory – in whose name all human beings have to believe (John 1:12)!
The Lord of the whole universe, the One who governs everything, and the One who will eventually become the highest name (though today the enemy does his best to curse this name, put this name down, diminish its importance, and speak bad things about this name) – is the Lord Jesus! The Lord Jesus is the God-Man on the throne (see Rev. 22:1 with note)!
In His name we are saved! “And there is salvation in no other, for neither is there another name under heaven given among men in which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). The name Jesus itself means “Jehovah our salvation” or “Jehovah the Savior” (the Hebrew equivalent is Joshua).
God came in the Lord Jesus Christ so that He might save us. Whenever we call on the name of the Lord Jesus – this High Name, the name which is above every name, and the name most hated by Satan – we are saved. Satan hates when he sees us calling on the name of the Lord Jesus.
Actually, in Acts we see that Paul, when he was “Saul” – before his conversion – was putting in prison all those who called on the name of the Lord Jesus. This is our distinct characteristic as believers in the Lord – we call on the name of the Lord Jesus!
As we call, He saves us within by connecting us organically / spiritually with Himself! And as we call on His precious High Strong Powerful Amazing name, we are continually being saved in His life (Rom. 5:10)!
Another precious verse + footnote about the name of the Lord Jesus in which we are saved is Acts 2:21 “and it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” – see the note.
