“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 2:9-11).
I must
confess something embarrassing. For many years I had read the above passage and
thought to myself that Jesus was the name above all names. But when paired with
Acts 4:12 (“Nor is there salvation in any
other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must
be saved.”), I often wondered if it was blasphemous for anyone else to have
the name “Jesus”. What about all the Mexican men named “Jesus” (pronounced “Hey
Zeus!”)? Should they have the name Jesus? Can they possess the name that is
above all the others? What on earth were their parents thinking to name their child
with a name that is only reserved for Jesus (not “Hey Zeus!”)? However, if you
read the context of Philippians 2:9-11, it isn’t “Jesus” that is the name above
all others. It isn’t “Jesus” that no other name shall be given in which we
shall be saved by. No. Although it is true that His name is Jesus, it is His
name in verse 11 that is the name above all others that no one else shall
possess: “Lord”.
I would
seriously hope that no one claims to be “Lord”, even if his name is “Hey Zeus!”
However, for Jesus it is more than a name, it is who He is, and as we see above
in Philippians 2, that every knee shall bow. This includes those in Heaven (the
saints who have gone before us and angels), those on earth (the redeemed
believers), and those below (the demons and Satan. Yes. I said “the demons and
Satan”). Let’s take a moment to explore these three groups.
First is the
group that is in Heaven. In Revelation 6:9-10 it says “I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the
word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud
voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our
blood on those who dwell on the earth?’” These martyred believers stand
before Jesus, calling Him “Lord”. Also in Revelation it says “The four living creatures, each having six
wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night,
saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!’”
(4:8). Aside from these four creatures, we also see the angels proclaiming
the lordship of Jesus Christ: “Then the
seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The
kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ,
and He shall reign forever and ever!’ (Revelation 11:15). And I heard the angel
of the waters saying: ‘You are righteous, O Lord, The One who is and who was
and who is to be, Because You have judged these things.’” {16:5). These
angels not only proclaim that Jesus is Lord, but also backup those claims by
the evidence that Jesus is Lord and King of the earth, but also Judge.
Second is
the group that is below the earth. You may be wondering how I come to the
conclusion that the demons and Satan acknowledge Jesus as Lord. In Luke 4:41 it
reads “And demons also came out of many,
crying out and saying, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of God!’ And He, rebuking
them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.”.
Also “When [the man who was demon
possessed, Legion,] saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a
loud voice said, ‘What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
I beg You, do not torment me’ For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come
out of the man.” (Luke 8:28-29). James 2:19 says “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons
believe—and tremble!”. The demons recognize who Jesus is in that He is more
than man, but also Lord. He holds command over the demons. They wreak havoc
until Christ arrives and tells them to get lost. One should note that in the
scriptures men failed to always cast out demons (Mark 9:17-29), but the demons
had no choice but to obey Jesus every time. Also, regarding Satan, we read in
Job 1:6-12 a conversation where Satan had to get permission in order to smite
Job. He was allowed to bring about great destruction, but God would not allow
him to destroy Job. As you can see, the demons and Satan recognize the Lordship
of Jesus and know that they are under His authority.
Third is the
group that walks upon the earth. Mankind will all eventually bow before Jesus
and confess that He is Lord. For believers this happens now in their lifetime.
Romans 10:9-10 states “that if you
confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has
raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” The
Greek word used for “Lord” in this passage is kyrios, which means “he to whom a person or thing belongs, about
which he has power of deciding; master, lord”. Essentially what this passage is
saying is that you agree and believe that Jesus is master and that you choose
to make Him master of your life. It is a conscious choosing of faith and
obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. A life that has made this choice of
confession to the lordship of Jesus goes something like this: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to
this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove
what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2).
Of course there are many other passages that we could explore, but for the sake
of our attention spans we will avoid them. However, regarding the unbelievers,
they will bow before Christ as well. But unfortunately for them it will be too
late as they had chosen to reject Christ in this lifetime and will bow in the
afterlife. “Then I saw a great white
throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled
away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and
great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened,
which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works,
by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who
were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they
were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written
in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:11-15). All
of humanity will stand in Heaven before Christ, but is your name in the Book of
Life? Will you bow to Christ now and make Him Lord of your life, or will you
wait until you realize that He is indeed real and that He is indeed Lord as He
sits upon His throne judging you before casting you into the lake of fire?
Jesus left
His throne in Heaven as God the Son (or Son of God) and came to earth as the
Son of Man. In doing this He experienced what we experience in life, all the
way down to being formed within the womb of Mary. He experienced all that any
man can experience here on earth. In doing so He is able to intercede on our
behalf to the Father as the High Priest who offered up the perfect and final
sacrifice to atone for our sins-Himself. In Hebrews 1:2 it states “[God] has in these last days spoken to us
by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things…” an in Colossians
1:15 it says “He is the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” The word usually
translated “firstborn” does not mean that Jesus was the first created being,
but that He was given the rights of the firstborn heir. In Colossians 1:18 it
says “And He is the head of the body, the
church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things
He may have the preeminence.” He may have preeminence over all things. Why?
Because He
is Lord!
In Christ
Alone.
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