Every Knee Will Bow

Pray to Begin

Ask: ask the Holy Spirit to show you, clearly, who Jesus really is: fully God, and fully humble.

Give thanks: Jesus did not have to come down to us. He chose to.

Bring: any pride in you that wants to climb up. Bring it to the God who went low first.

Today’s Passage: Philippians 2:5–11

All week we have listened to Jesus, and watched God’s people worship Him as God. Today Paul quotes an old song, one the very first Christians already sang. It tells the whole story in a few short lines. Jesus was fully God. He gave up His glory. He obeyed, all the way to a cross. Now God has lifted Him up, and every knee will bow to Him forever.

As you read, hold this: Because Jesus emptied Himself all the way down, every knee will one day bow to Him.

Philippians 2:5–6 (BSB)

⁵ Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: ⁶ Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

Paul is not only describing Jesus here. He is telling us to think the way Jesus thinks. Verse 6 says something huge: Jesus already existed “in the form of God.” He did not become God later. He did not earn it.

Grasped means held onto tightly, like something stolen or feared to lose. Equality with God was never a stolen prize for Jesus. It was simply true, and always had been. He did not need to grab what was already His.

Philippians 2:7–8 (BSB)

⁷ but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.

Watch how far down He goes. God the Son takes the form of a servant: someone who serves, not someone served. He is “made in human likeness”: God becomes one of us, fully. And He does not stop at being born. He obeys, all the way to death.

Rome used the cross to kill slaves and rebels. It was built on purpose to shame the person dying on it. Humiliating means deeply shaming, in front of everyone. The God of the universe went that low, on purpose, for us.

Philippians 2:9–11 (BSB)

⁹ Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

That one word, Therefore, turns the whole song around. Because He went all the way down, God lifted Him all the way up. Not partway. To “the highest place.”

Every knee. Every tongue. In heaven, on earth, and under the earth: that is everyone, everywhere, for all time. Nobody sits this one out.

And notice the word Lord. Greek-speaking Jews used that word for God’s own name. Paul is not calling Jesus a great teacher, or even a king. He is saying, plainly, Jesus is God.

Personal Application

1. Where in your life do you hold onto status, comfort, or being right, instead of choosing humility the way Jesus did?

2. Jesus already has your worship, whether you give it now or wait until later. Will you bow to Him today, freely?

Pray to Close

The central truth: Jesus is fully God, and He humbled Himself all the way down. Now every knee will bow to Him: in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.

Praise: praise Jesus, true God, who did not have to come down to us but chose to anyway.

Confess: any pride in you that wants to be lifted up now, instead of trusting God to lift you up in His time.

Yield: yield your knee to Him today, before the day when every knee must.

Decision of the day

Today’s decision: I will bow, on my knees or in my heart, and say out loud, “Jesus Christ is Lord.”