Knees

Aug. 28

Read: Is 45:22-25, Phil 2:1-11

Knees

“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth!…To me every knee shall bow,

every tongue shall swear allegiance.” v.22

“…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.” v. 10,11

I think sometimes we forget that God is reigning over a KINGDOM. Jesus Christ has been made KING, and as my friend Jim Thompson likes to say we are ruling “with him, like him, and for him.” This image of a conquering king has been deluded and lost, and as a result our being co-heirs with Christ and enlisted into his service has been also. Think about this declaration: “every knee shall bow”.

For those who are loyal to the king this is not offensive in the least, but for those who oppose the Lord… imagine that moment. Imagine being forced to bow to the one who you have fought against and sought the destruction of. Make no mistake about it… “every knee will bow”. The evil spirits around us and the enemies of the Lord have this as their ultimate destiny… so do the children of God. Sometimes we have reduced the “good news” of Jesus to something that is all about US. We sing as if WE (humans) are the only things God loves or is concerned with. We think that the reason God sent the Son, Jesus, to become incarnate and die is so that “humans can go to heaven some day”. Try re-reading Philippians 2 again. What is the final phrase of the paragraph? :

“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.”

It is true that we have been redeemed by Christ’s life, suffering, death, burial, and resurrection. Jesus has indeed “saved us” and “called us to himself”, but that is part of something larger: the development of the Kingdom of God. This is what we have been brought into. God will make sure that sooner or later EVERYBODY KNOWS. This is not a threat, it is a promise. When we come face to face with evil in this world and the schemes of the devil, this is what God is using his people to do: remind these evil spirits that they will bow and confess. This is what we model with our own lives… we “bow and confess”.

Jesus embraced the mission that God the Father had given him. He “emptied himself” in obedience to the Father to in-turn be lifted up and glorified. God is calling out to all the ends of the earth, “ turn to me and be saved”. We - as his people - are eager to turn to him. We are eager to bend our knee… to bow down. We are eager to declare that Jesus Christ is Lord. Nothing can or should stop this. This is “conquest” of the Kingdom of God through those who are faithful to the one, true, God most high! Bow and proclaim my friends! Love you guys. - JDP