Jesus Christ is LORD!

Do we truly believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He is God, the Son of God, who became human, died on the cross, was resurrected, and ascended to heaven from where He will come again to judge the living and the dead? From there He rules as Lord over all the universe and everything in it. Do we then take Him seriously as Lord of all our lives? [Think, talk, do, act in my politics, work, sports, marriage, all areas in obedience to my Lord’s commands & teachings.] Do we live as citizens of heaven, as his followers? Why should we believe and take Jesus seriously? Because Jesus Christ is LORD! This is the message of this magnificent poem. And because He is LORD, we have His mind and heart, and therefore, we follow his example and command to serve others first, above ourselves in love and humility. Because He is LORD, we live as citizens of his kingdom.

1. God Super Exalted Jesus as LORD

In response to Jesus’ self-humiliation God super exalted and confirmed Him as LORD because through his incarnation, obedience, and death on the cross He did what only God could do. God exalted Jesus through his resurrection, ascension, and glorification. “That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way” (Eph 1:19-23). God raised Jesus to life. He is risen. He lives. He ascended to heaven. God glorified Him. He gave Him all authority in heaven and on earth. He appointed Him as ruler over everything. Jesus is LORD of the universe and He is LORD of the church. 

God’s exaltation of Jesus is his vindication and approval of the Son’s self-humiliation. He confirmed and proved that Jesus is who He said He is. He is the promised Messiah. He is the Savior of the world. He approved what Jesus did. “It is finished,” Jesus said on the cross. He fulfilled God’s purpose to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ (Eph 1:10). In Christ and through the cross God reconciled the world and us to Himself. “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Col 1:19-20). He accepted Jesus’ sacrifice, forgave us our sins, and gave us new life. 

Through the exaltation of Jesus God shares his glory with Him and so confirms that Jesus is equal with God and is God from all eternity. Jesus’ self-humiliation, his incarnation, and death on the cross, are the perfect expression of the true God, the God of self-giving love. All of this, God’s super exaltation of Jesus, is to confirm who Jesus is. There is nothing and no being higher than God. Jesus is in the form of God. He is equal to God. There is nothing higher than Jesus. He is God, the unique, incomparable, and absolute God. Jesus is the one and only true LORD.

2. The Name Above Other Names — Jesus is LORD!

And that is why God super exalted Jesus by giving him the Name that is above all other names. What is the Name that is above all other names? In Isaiah 42:8 God says, “I am the LORD (Yahweh; Kurios in Greek); that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.” Yahweh is His Name and no one else’s. This is God’s Name and there is no name higher than this Name, no name above this Name. This is the Name God gave to Jesus and with this, He declared that Jesus is LORD. Jesus is Yahweh. 

Since Paul quotes Isaiah 45:23, Isaiah 45 is important for us to understand what Paul is saying here. Isaiah 45 is a clear and strong statement about God’s sovereign rule in history and his salvation. God declares his absolute sovereignty four times — Three times he says, “I am the LORD [Yahweh], and there is no other” (vv. 5, 6, 18). And then with the fourth declaration, He calls for complete allegiance, and says, “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear. They will say of me, ‘In the Lord alone are deliverance and strength.’” All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame. But all the descendants of Israel will find deliverance in the Lord and will make their boast in him.” Jesus is Yahweh, the LORD of Isaiah 45, and because Yahweh is the Name above every name, at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is LORD. 

3. Every Knee & Every Tongue Confess Jesus is LORD

Jesus, the One who humbled himself, is exalted and enthroned as the sovereign Lord of the universe. And at his Name, the name that belongs to Him, has been given to Him, in honor of that Name, the whole universe will acknowledge, and confess that He is LORD.

Every knee in heaven, on earth, and under the earth — that is, all rational beings, living and dead, heavenly and earthly in the whole cosmos will bend the knee. This is the physical expression of great reverence and extreme submission. Every tongue will acknowledge and confess — this is the verbal, spoken expression of reverence, submission, worship, and praise. Every knee, every tongue — the whole universe will fall down in worship and acknowledge the universal rule of Jesus the Lord. 

This final exaltation of Jesus will happen at the end when Jesus comes back, completes his kingdom, and brings in the new creation. On that final judgement day all of us will appear before God’s throne — believers and unbelievers, heavenly beings and human beings, good and evil, living and dead. All of us will see and experience the glory, majesty, power, and holiness of Jesus as Lord. And confronted with Jesus the Lord all will have no option but to fall down in worship. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord. 

Believers, the saved, will do so spontaneously, willingly with joy and thankfulness. Rejoicing, we will shout it at the top of our lungs. The unbelievers, the lost, will also bend the knee and confess. They cannot resist but they will do so reluctantly, with trembling fear and despair. Even Satan will do it. Every fallen spirit will do it. Caiaphas, the high priest, will confess that Jesus Messiah is Yahweh. Herod will do it. Pilate will do it. Nero will do it. Hitler will do it. Stalin will do it. Every soul from every age will confess that Jesus Christ is Yahweh, LORD.

We, the saved, with the angels will enter the eternal kingdom and worship Jesus as Lord for all eternity. But the unbelievers, the lost, will be put to shame (Is 45:24). To them Jesus will say, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers … Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt 7:23; 25:41); and there they will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev 20:10). 

Imagine this — all your life you did not take Jesus seriously; did not believe. You pursued your own interests, did everything out of selfish ambition and vain conceit, looked out for self. And then on that day, you are confronted with the glory of Jesus Christ the Lord. He is real. He is alive. And He is LORD! You denied Him your whole life, and now it’s too late. Imagine the shock, disappointment, sorrow, regret, fear, and pain that will torment you for eternity. That is hell. And if that is not enough, you are sent away from the living, glorious presence of Jesus into eternal spiritual death. Imagine all the megalomaniac, narcissistic, egoistic, autocratic leaders throughout history—on that day when they are confronted with all the authority and power of Jesus Christ they will realize that the power they thought they had, is nothing compared with His. They will bend the knee and acknowledge with their tongues that Jesus Christ is the Lord of the universe who rules over the kingdoms of men and He gives and takes away empires and rulers, nations, and leaders (Dan 4:25). Question — in which group will we be?

4. Jesus Christ is LORD to the Glory of God the Father

Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Jesus Christ is Lord — three words that summarize the whole gospel. Jesus—means the Lord saves. This is the name given to the Son of God at his incarnation. When Jesus was born the Lord’s salvation came into the world. Christ—means the Anointed, the Messiah. He is the Savior that fulfilled God’s promise of salvation. Lord— represents the divine name Yahweh and it declares Jesus’ sovereign rule over the whole universe from eternity to eternity. There is no other Lord. Jesus is LORD! The words of Daniel 7:13-15 are fulfilled, “… there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”

Jesus Christ as the sovereign Lord was the Father’s plan from the beginning. He super exalted his Son and gave him his own incomparable Name. Jesus is LORD and as Lord He reveals God’s glory as the eternal Father of Jesus Christ. Jesus as Lord reveals to us the Father who is the God of self-giving love and amazing grace; the God who loves us unconditionally while we were still sinners, his enemies. He shows his love for us in Christ Jesus who died for us and saved us. This is the glory of God the Father that Jesus as Lord reveals. 

Jesus’ self-humiliation began in heaven when he did not count equality with God as something to be grasped. His self-humiliation moved further downward when he emptied himself by becoming human and a slave. His self-humiliation reached the lowest point when he became obedient to death on the cross, a scandalous death. Then God the Father super exalted him to incomparable heights where He continues to rule, bearing the Father’s own name that is above every name — Yahweh, LORD! Jesus Christ will return and on that day every rational being in the universe will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Yahweh, is LORD to the glory of God the Father. 

That’s why we must take Jesus Christ seriously as Lord of all of our lives, all the time. He is no mythical figure or legendary hero. He is no comic book superhero. He is real. He is alive. And He is the LORD of the universe. The question of eternal importance is, do we believe this with all of our hearts? Regardless of your spiritual state, regardless of what you believe, regardless of your will, however strong and proud it may be, you will bow your knee to Jesus and confess that He is Lord. The only question is, when? If not now, when? It’s much better to it now because on that final day, it will be too late, and instead of doing it spontaneously and with joy, you will do it reluctantly and with fear. And you will be sent away from Jesus the Lord into eternal damnation and death, outside his kingdom, outside his glorious presence.

Jesus Christ is LORD! And He is our LORD! He commands us to obey, to put into practice the Great Commandment of Love — to love others, including our enemies, with unconditional, self-giving, self-sacrificing love. He commands us to follow his example, to put others first, to regard others as more important than ourselves, and to look out for their interests. We can do this because we have the example of Jesus Christ the Lord, who really did it. And we have his mind and his heart. He lives, and He, our Lord, lives in us.