Philippians 2:9-11

‘Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.'

And they were intended to recognise that the consequence for them would be that just as God highly exalted Jesus, and gave Him great honour, so God would exalt them in a similar way (Philippians 3:14; Ephesians 2:6). And they had the guarantee in that it had already happened to Him, and in a certain sense also to those who were ‘in Christ' (Ephesians 2:1). Thus Christ was now triumphant and they could know that they too would rise with Christ and be seated with Him on His throne (Philippians 3:14; Revelation 3:21; compare Revelation 2:26) as indeed they already had in the spiritual realm (Ephesians 2:6). The whole tenor of the passage is therefore that they are so to be caught up within the process of Christ's saving work that with set mind they will share with Him both in His humiliation and in His glory, with only one aim, the glory of the Father.

This idea of becoming a slave resulting in final exaltation is simply an extension of the teaching of Christ Himself to the Apostles, for in Luke 22:25, where He exhorts them not to be like Gentile rulers who lord it over their people, but rather to seek to be the least, following His example as the One Who was among them as a servant, He goes on to promise that they will as a result sit on thrones in His Kingdom. He promises that the result for them will then be that they will receive a kingdom, resulting in their eating and drinking with Him in His kingship, and sitting on thrones ruling (judging) the twelve tribes of Israel (i.e. the people of God). This promise also had a twofold significance in that they would first enjoy this position as Apostles in Jerusalem, where they were rulers on behalf of the son of David, remembering however the injunction not to use the privilege for the purpose of lording it over others, after which they would then enjoy it in the eternal kingdom.