In Isaiah, chapter fifty-two, verse thirteen, “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.” Jesus the Messiah, the Servant of God, would do the will of God perfectly and be highly exalted as a result. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit by Jesus proves that He indeed is the exalted Messiah, now sitting at the right hand of God and interceding for the representatives on earth. From Jesus’ baptism onward, the Spirit was fully upon Him as the Christ.
Now at the right hand of God, He lives to pour out the same spirit upon those who believe in Him. In pouring out the Spirit, Jesus intends that the Spirit will imitate Jesus’ presence to believers and empower them to continue all that He did while on earth. In Philippians two, verse nine, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.” The example of our Lord Jesus Christ is set before us. We must resemble Him in His life if we would have the benefit of His death.
Christ’s two states, of humiliation and exaltation, are noticed. Christ not only took upon Him the likeness and fashion, or form of a man, but of one in a low state; not appearing in splendour. The Son of God’s whole life was a life of poverty and suffering. But the lowest step was His dying the death of the cross, the death of a malefactor and a slave, exposed to public hatred and scorn. The exaltation was of Christ’s human nature, in union with the Divine. At the name of Jesus, not the mere sound of the word, but the authority of Jesus, all should pay solemn homage. It is to the glory of God the Father, to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord; for it is his will that all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father.