...Every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Phil 2:10-11
In my youth and not too distant adulthood, I understood this verse to be referring to believers willingly bowing before Jesus and unbelievers, though heading to hell, unwillingly, yet being compelled, bowing as well. All will bow--whether they belong to Jesus or not.
It was with great interest that I looked on this passage a few years ago, when I began to see that God planned to save everyone. Every knee will bow willingly! Well, of course, this is my opinion based on my own understanding of scripture.
Now, I have often used this passage to debate those who do not believe in the deity of Christ. Why would everyone bow to a created being? Even more powerful is the Old Testament source. In Isaiah 45:20-25 God is clearly speaking of Himself:
Hear the command of the Lord "Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other." I think He's going to have things His way!
In my youth and not too distant adulthood, I understood this verse to be referring to believers willingly bowing before Jesus and unbelievers, though heading to hell, unwillingly, yet being compelled, bowing as well. All will bow--whether they belong to Jesus or not.
It was with great interest that I looked on this passage a few years ago, when I began to see that God planned to save everyone. Every knee will bow willingly! Well, of course, this is my opinion based on my own understanding of scripture.
Now, I have often used this passage to debate those who do not believe in the deity of Christ. Why would everyone bow to a created being? Even more powerful is the Old Testament source. In Isaiah 45:20-25 God is clearly speaking of Himself:
Gather yourselves and come; draw near together, you fugitives of the nations; they have no knowledge, who carry about their wooden idol and pray to a god who cannot save. Declare and set forth your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. They will say of Me, only in the Lord are righteousness and strength. Men will come to Him, and all who were angry at Him will be put to shame. In the Lord all the offspring of Israel will be justified and will glory.Clearly in this passage, God is speaking to, among others, idolaters, those angry at God and "all the ends of the earth." Note that they will swear allegiance...they will belong to Him. Note also that "all the offspring of Israel will be justified." This inclusion flies in the face of the traditional doctrine that only a few will be saved. Perhaps you will say to me, as some of my Jehovah's Witness friends did, that this passage is just poetic, not intending to establish the authority of Jesus as God--and certainly not intending to proclaim the salvation of all men. Is this then just a momentary swearing of allegiance then off to eternal torment you go? Is this justification of Israel only the remnant not literally "all the offspring"?
Hear the command of the Lord "Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other." I think He's going to have things His way!
5 comments:
"all who were angry at Him will be put to shame." THAT does not sound too willingly . . . does it?
And this precedes it: "16 They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols."
These idol makers are the ones who opposed Israel, now ashamed. Nothing willing here.
God loves you dearly Alfred, and I love you more and more. Please don’t take anything I say in any other tone.
Back to business, I don’t see why, after I went on and on about our Salvation being NOT by our will, or the will of man but of God’s will, that you would attempt to prove that these people are ashamed not by their will but unwillingly.
Being ashamed is one step closer to having no shame. Being ashamed is the antidote to pride. Being confounded is a booster shot to humility. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. By grace ye are saved and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God.
By the way, have you ever been angry at anyone? We are taught that whatever we do to the least of these, that we do to Jesus. If you were ever angry at one of the least of His, then you will be put to shame. There is not a qualifier or exception mentioned. ALL who were angry at Him will be put to shame.
We will all be ashamed when our works are exposed. NO human being will stand in His presence, nothing with a knee will stand. EVERY KNEE shall bow.
Psalms 66:3 "Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee."
Look up "submit" in any lexicon you like. Here is Strongs version:
03584 kachash {kaw-khash'}
a primitive root; TWOT - 975; v
AV - lie 5, submit 3, deny 3, fail 3, denied 2, belied 1, deceive 1,
dissembled 1, deal falsely 1, liars 1, submitted 1; 22
1) to deceive, lie, fail, grow lean, be disappointing, be untrue, be
(strong's number 3584)
Do you see it? YES they submit . . . they lie as they do so . . . they HAVE to, because of His awesome power . . . but NOT willingly. So it is with the sinful heart . . . God IS almighty . . . every knee bows, but NOT the heart.
Thine enemies submit themselves] Literally, lie unto thee. This was remarkably the case with Pharaoh and the Egyptians. They promised again and again to let the people go, when the hand of the Lord was upon them: and they as frequently falsified their word.
The Hebrew word kachash is found in 22 verses, and only translated submit in 3 I believe. Did any of the verses we quoted use or misuse this word? Why do you? Does the phrase every knee shall bow use this word?
Psalms 66:3 "Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee."
This verse says exactly what I said . . . people pretend to obey the Lord because of His Almighty power. Which proves that one can bow the knee without a change of heart. The meaning of kachash makes this completely clear. Just as Matt. 7:22 proves that one can call Him "Lord" without having received Him as Lord.
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