Every Knee Will Bow, Every Tongue Confess: Isaiah 45:23 and Philippians 2:9-11
my mouth has uttered in all integrity
a word that will not be revoked:
Before me every knee will bow;
by me every tongue will swear.
It is these words that Paul picks up and applies to Jesus in Philippians 2:9-11:
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
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.
The magnitude of what it will mean when every knee bows before Jesus and every tongue confesses he is Lord is conveyed further by the context of the root words in Isaiah 45:23. In 45:21 we read:
there is no God apart from me,
a righteous God and a Saviour;
there is none but me.
God continues:
Turn to me and be saved,
all you ends of the earth;
for I am God, and there is no other.
When that great day comes every person on the face of the earth will acknowledge that Jesus, being Lord, being YAHWEH, is the only true and living God, and the only one who can save people from the terrible predicament in which we find ourselves.
In Isaiah 45:24, looking forward to that time, God says,
They will say of me, In the Lord alone are righteousness and strength.
All who have raged against him
will come to him and be put to shame.
But in the LORD all the descendants of Israel will be found righteous and will exult.
On the Day of Judgment every person will recognise that Jesus is the sole source of righteousness and strength. For many this will be a humiliating admission, for they have spent their lives raging against him, however well concealed that anger may be in the deceptive and dark depths of the corrupted human heart. Many will bow the knee in terror and confess Jesus as Lord with trembling lips, realising it is all too late to put things right. Yet there will also be many, deemed true descendants of Israel by virtue of their Abrahamic faith (see Romans 4), who will be found righteous and exult.
Indeed, in Philippians 3:8-9 Paul develops even further the perspective of Isaiah 45:24:
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
May you come to know Jesus as the greatest person in the entire universe, the only true God, the only Saviour, the only source of righteousness and strength. Whether we will one day be put to shame or rejoice hinges upon how we respond to Jesus
Runtime: 03:46
Added: November 11, 2009
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Views: 171
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Category: Preaching
