Every knee shall bow.
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:8-11).
I remember hearing the story of the death of one of our kings. His family were all present. When the king died, it was announced, “The king is dead, long live the king.” His son, who stood by the bedside of his father, was now the king. His mother approached him, took his hand and began to kneel. Her son was embarrassed and tried to prevent his mother kneeling. But she said to him, “I want to be the first person in the kingdom to kneel before my king.”
Before Paul speaks of the whole of creation bowing down to own Jesus as Lord, he speaks of Jesus comingdown. He came down from heaven to make Himself of no reputation: “Is not this the carpenter’s son?” (Matthew 13:55). He came down to take the form of a bondservant, as in John 13:5 “to wash the disciples’ feet”. He came down to become a man, as in John 4:6 “being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well”. He came down to Calvary: ‘He said, “It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit” (John 19:30). And He came down to glorify the Father: “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit’” (Luke 23:46).
The soldiers knelt before the Lord in mockery (Matthew 27:29). No one bowed down at Calvary. The world does not bow to Christ and, even within Christendom, the Lord is not universally given the first place; thereby His person and work are diminished. People choose to bow to politics, power, materialism, religion, sport and entertainment. These are the things which rule in their lives.
We come into the Lord’s presence to bow before the Saviour, the Servant, the Shepherd, the Suffering Lamb, and the Son of God. His love reigns in our hearts and lifts our eyes by faith to see Him enthroned in heaven. We are in fellowship with heaven, which already enthrones the Lord Jesus Christ.
We bow in worship to the suffering Saviour who died for us, and we bow in worship to the glorified Saviour who lives for us. And in doing so we anticipate His return: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). God has already highly exalted His Son. Our Lord and Saviour already has the name which is above every name: “Jesus”.
The future is not about choice; it is about the creation-wide revelation and recognition of who Jesus is. Today we are given the unique opportunity to bow the knee now and to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
