"Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:9-10 NIV).
How awe-inspiring our opening verse is! It tells us so much about who Jesus is. It says that God has placed Jesus in the highest place and has given Him a name that is above every name, and that He has commanded all of creation to bow down and submit to the authority of Jesus. How wonderful. If you didn't understand why we think so highly of Jesus, this should begin to help you to understand why. Although Jesus was a man, it's important to know that He was and is much more than a man. As you search deeper and pay attention to God's Word, you will find that Jesus Himself is God. The Bible says, "And great and important and weighty, we confess, is the hidden truth (the mystic secret) of godliness. He [God] was made visible in human flesh, justified and vindicated in the [Holy] Spirit, was seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, [and] taken up in glory." (1 Timothy 3:16 AMPC). Whenever I read this scripture, it's difficult for me to be unexcited. It's a very powerful and awe-inspiring truth about Jesus. It says that God was made visible in human flesh, was justified and vindicated in the Holy Spirit, was seen by the angels, was preached about among the nations, believed on in the world, and was taken up into glory. The Apostle Paul is talking about Jesus here, and he refers to Him as God! It's very amazing. Jesus Himself, when He was in the world, told His disciples, "If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." (John 14:7 ESV). Did you see that? He told them that knowing Him was knowing God (His Father), then He told them that because they knew Him (Jesus) they now knew and had seen God (the Father)!
God is a very abstract idea in the world, people find it very difficult to relate with God because they can't see Him, touch Him, feel Him, hear Him etc., with their senses; they find it very difficult to relate with Him as a Person because He is a very distant and 'strange' idea to them. This abstract idealism ends, however, when you get to know Jesus. God became a man called Jesus; He put on human nature (Philippians 2:7). By becoming a man, Jesus personalised God to human beings. He revealed God as a Person who has a mind and emotions. The Bible tells us that Jesus cried (John 11:35); that He got angry (Mark 3:5); that He was full of compassion (Matthew 9:36); that He danced with great joy (Luke 10:21); it also shows that He sang hymns with His disciples (Mark 14:26). It shows Jesus showing great love and kindness to His many disciples whilst He was in this world, and He's still the same today. Thank God for Jesus! Hebrews 1:3 tells us that He is the express image of the Person of God. This means that Jesus is like God (the Father) in every way: He thinks like God, speaks like God, loves like God, looks like God and understands like God; the reason is because He is God!
Jesus needed to become a man in order to save us from our sins and from the consequences of our sins; it was a legal spiritual requirement. He was and is fully God and fully human at the same time. Now, imagine a man sitting on the Throne of God as King and owner of the universe. That's exactly who Jesus is. The Bible tells us that God, in all His fullness, is in Jesus in Heaven on the Throne of God (Colossians 2:9); and the opening verse tells us that God has put Jesus in the highest position of authority and has commanded all of creation to be subject to Him (to His Lordship).
The day you became a Christian by praying The Prayer of Salvation, you declared the Lordship of Jesus over your life. This means that you accepted Jesus' authority over your life, willingly, and that has brought you into peace with God (there are those who refuse to accept it now, but will be made to submit to it later on under grievous circumstances). Now, as a Christian, Jesus is your Boss; He's your Master. You are to do what He tells you to do, think how He tells you to think and live how He tells you to live. This is God's commandment. He wants and expects you to submit yourself to the Lordship of Jesus, which, in reality, is submitting yourself to God. How do you do that? You do it by submitting yourself to God's Word. The Word of God must have first place in your life. You should never find yourself arguing with the Word of God because to do so is to argue with God, which is very futile because to argue with God is to argue against the truth, meaning, that you are holding on to a lie. God is always right and He is the highest ranked Person in the universe. You should never find yourself arguing with Him; it's useless and unwise. Remember, God doesn't exist for you, you exist for Him. He created you for Himself. So, the best thing you can do is to submit yourself to Him and live for Him. The best thing about this is that you're not submitting yourself to a hateful, selfish and malicious dictator when you submit yourself to God, you're submitting yourself to a loving, kind-hearted, benevolent, and good Father who always has your interests, well-being, growth and success in mind.
Share this Divine Update with someone else today and help them to live in the liberty and beauty of God's love, blessings and provisions.
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