Every Knee Shall Bow
Philippians 2:5–11
Every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:11

Here we read that the confession that will be made—that Jesus Christ is Lord— will result in glory to God the Father.

This is not true of any honor given to humans. If you glorify human beings, you dishonor God. You do so if you exalt yourself or your merits as a means of salvation, or exalt human beings as mediators between yourself and God, as saints who win God’s favor for you, or exalt human wisdom as that which is ultimately able to solve the world’s problems, or place your hopes for the future in psychiatry, science, systems of world government, or whatever it may be. If you exalt the ability of mankind in any of these ways, you dishonor God, who declares that all of our works are tainted by sin and that we will never solve our own problems or the problems of others except by turning to Christ and depending upon his power to do it. The only way to honor God is to give honor to Jesus Christ.

Think of the terms by which we are privileged to give glory to Jesus. Think of his names. Jesus Christ is the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He is the Messiah, the Lord, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and Omega, the Ancient of Days, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, God with us, God our Savior, the only wise God our Savior, the Lord who is, who was, who is to come, the Almighty. He is the Door of the sheep, the Chief Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, a Lamb without spot or blemish, a Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. He is the Logos, the Light of the World, the Light of Life, the Tree of Life, the Word of Life, the Bread that came down from heaven, the Resurrection, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is Immanuel, God with us, he is the Rock, the Bridegroom, the Wisdom of God, our Redeemer. He is the Beloved. He is the head over all things, which is the church. He is the one who is altogether lovely, the one in whom the Father is well pleased.

Is Jesus Christ these things to you? He can be. He deserves to be. If he is these things to you, then in your own heart you praise him and in giving him glory you give glory to God our heavenly Father.

Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865

Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.