Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. – Isaiah 52:13

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. – Isaiah 53:12

In His lovingkindness toward us, before the foundation of the world, Christ purposed to redeem us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. In time, He descended to our level, put on this body of flesh, living and fulfilling all righteousness before the Father from our side, in our place, and suffering a sinner’s death, the very death we deserved for our wickedness against the rights of our Creator.

As the outcome for this perfect work, not only has He cleansed and sanctified a people for his own possession, but Christ Himself is gloriously and highly lifted up and exalted above all supposed gods, kings, leaders, rulers, and authorities, on Earth and in the heavenly realm, having put them all to open shame by showing, in no uncertain terms, that He is the LORD of lords and the King of kings.

Before He entered the world in His first advent, Christ was always highly exalted, from all eternity, with the Father and the Spirit. And now, having accomplished all that was necessary to bring us to Himself, so as to put an exclamation point on that glory, He is lifted up as the Suffering Servant who trail blazed the path of salvation before us, conquering sin, death and hell, in order that we may be brought to His happy green pasture, beside still waters, where we will glorify Him and enjoy not just the blessings that accompany our salvation, great as they are, but where we will enjoy Him forever, as the exalted, glorious King who loves us and gave Himself for us.

Philippians 2:5-11 sums it up this way,

… though he was in the form of God, [Christ] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped [or held on to], but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him 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, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Our present hope in this age, caught between the accomplishment of our salvation and its final consummation, is that this suffering King is highly exalted at the right hand of our Father, where He intercedes for us. He hears us, listens to us, ministers to our souls by His Spirit, He is attentive to our cries, sympathizes with our pain and suffering. And all of this is possible precisely because He entered into our suffering Himself, and endured the worst form of suffering conceivable: having the full, bright shining glory of His Father’s face turned away, leaving Him to suffer our torments on that cross. It is this King who is highly lifted up and exalted, the One who upholds the whole universe by the power of His word, the One who is indeed interceding for us, even now, and with us by His Spirit.

This is the King we worship, the One who gave up everything so that He could have us for eternity.