That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow
Bowing at the name of Jesus
I. To what period does the assertion refer.
1. Not the present, which would not be the fact, and besides the text is a prophecy. Many objects are now worshipped: riches, pleasure, etc.
2. At the judgment, when every usurper will be dethroned, and every rebel crushed.
II. The persons alluded to.
1. His willing and devoted servants.
2. Others will bow unwillingly.
III. The consequences of this event. Jesus will reign with undisputed sway.
1. Sin will be banished from His dominions.
2. There will be no more contention.
3. There will be no more weakness or sorrow.
4. There will be no more fear of death. (W. H. Davison.)
The supremacy of Christ
I. Is universal.
1. In heaven and on earth.
2. In the control of providence and grace.
3. In the administration of mercy and judgment.
II. Must be universally acknowledged.
1. By His enemies as by His friends.
2. To this end He is exalted at the right hand of God.
III. Secures the glory of God.
1. In the accomplishment of His purpose.
2. The revelation of His character.
3. The completion of His kingdom. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Christ’s claims
I. The claims of Christ upon our faith; submission; obedience; love.
II. His power to enforce them. He is exalted; as Lord of all.
III. The certainty of their final acknowledgment. Every knee shall bow, etc.; to the glory of God the Father. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
The triumphs of Christ
Before many a Popish shrine on the continent one sees exhibited a great variety of crutches, together with wax models of arms, legs, and other limbs. These are supposed to represent the cures wrought by devotion at that altar; the memorials of the healing power of the saint. Poor miserable superstition all of it, and yet what a reminder to the believer in Jesus as to his duty and his privilege! Having pleaded at the feet of Jesus, we have found salvation; have we remembered to record this wonder of His hand? If we hung up memorials of all His matchless grace, what crutches, and bandages, and trophies of every sort should we pile together! (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Supreme King
At a missionary meeting on the Island of Raratonga, in the Pacific Ocean, an old man, who wished to join the Church, rose and said, “I have lived during the reign of four kings. In the first we were continually at war, and a fearful season it was watching and hiding with fear. During the reign of the second we were overtaken with a severe famine, and all expected to perish; then we ate rats and grass and this wood and that wood. During the third we were conquered, and became the peck and prey of the two other settlements of the island; then if a man went to fish he rarely ever returned, or if a woman went far away to fetch food she was rarely ever seen again. But during the reign of this third king we were visited by another King, a great King, a good King, a peaceful King, a King of love, Jesus, the Lord from heaven. He has gained the victory. He has conquered our hearts; therefore we now have peace and plenty in this world, and hope soon to dwell with Him in heaven.” (R. Brewin.)
Christ must be confessed
Victorinus, a teacher of rhetoric at Rome, was in his old age converted to Christianity, and came to Simplicianus, one eminent at that time for his piety, whispering in his ear softly these words, “I am a Christian;” but this holy man answered, “I will not believe it, nor count thee so, till I see thee among the Christians in the church,” at which he laughed, saying, “Do then those walls make a Christian? cannot I be such except I openly profess it, and let the world know the same?” This he said for fear, being yet but a young convert, though an old man; but some time after, when he was more confirmed in the faith, and had seriously considered that if he should continue thus ashamed of Christ, He would be ashamed of him at last, he changed his purpose, and came to Simplicianus, saying, “Let us go to the church, I will now in earnest be a Christian.” And there he made an open confession, observing that “as he had openly professed rhetoric, which was not essential to salvation, he ought not to be afraid to own the Word of God in the congregation of the faithful.” (W. H. Baxendale.)
We must speak for Christ
Of one of the statues in the Campanile, Florence, it is said that Donatello, when giving it the last stroke of his chisel, exclaimed, in enthusiastic admiration, “Speak!” So Christ, when He calls men from their sins and recreates them in His own image, says, “Tell what things God hath done for you.” (W. H. Baxendale.)