ame
which is exalted above every name, brings out still more strongly the
thought already dwelt upon, that what is thus exalted is the manhood of
our Lord. The name which expressed His true humanity, which showed His
full identification with us, which was written over His Cross, which
perhaps shaped the taunt 'He _saved_ others, Himself He cannot
save,'--that name God has lifted high above all names of council and
valour, of wisdom and might, of authority and rule. It is shrined in the
hearts of millions who render to it perfect trust, unconditional
obedience, absolute loyalty. Its growing power, and the warmth of
personal love which it evokes, in centuries and lands so far removed
from the theatre of His life, is a unique thing in the world's history.
It reigns in heaven.

But Paul is not content with simply asserting the sovereign glory of the
name of Jesus. He goes on to set it forth as being what no other name
borne by man can be, the ground and object of worship, when he declares,
that 'in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.' The words are quoted
from the second Isaiah, and occur in one of the most solemn and majestic
utterances of the monotheism of the Old Testament. And Paul takes these
words, undeterred by the declaration which precede them, 'I Am am God
and there is none else,' applies them to Jesus, to the manhood of our
Lord. Bowing the knee is of course prayer, and in these great words the
issue of the work of Jesus is unmistakably set forth, as not only being
that He has declared God to men, who through Him are drawn to worship
the Father, but that their emotions of love, reverence, worship, are
turned to _Him_, though as the Apostle is careful immediately to note,
they are not thereby intercepted from, but directed to, the glory of God
the Father. In the eternities before His descent, there was equality
with God, and when He returns, it is to the Father, who in Him has
become the object of adoration, and round whose throne gather with
bended knees all those who in Jesus see the Father.

The Apostle still further dwells on the glory of the name as that of the
acknowledged Lord. And here we have with significant variation in strong
contrast to the previous name of Jesus, the full title 'Jesus Christ
Lord.' That is almost as unusual in its completeness as the other in its
simplicity, and it comes in here with tremendous energy, reminding us of
the great act to which we owe our redemption, and of all the