All Submit

Likely you have seen movies or games or even television series where goodness and evil fight it out and it is unsure the outcome. Not so with the Word of God. Paul sets the stage for the Ultimate Submission and it isn’t even close. First, Jesus gives us His example—comes on the created stage as a man, takes the form of a servant, lives with the constraints of a human body and even submits to what is necessary to win,

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ¹

So the preliminary round has been set, all the heavy lifting done. Jesus lives and dies as a sinless man, proving it can be done in the LORD, and yet is willing to sacrifice Himself so that we may do likewise in Him. We need no longer be servants to sin and evil if we submit to Him. But wait—there’s more. Jesus doesn’t stay dead for the LORD accepts, honors and validates His sacrifice by doing the ultimate demonstration of acceptance of sufficiency:

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. ²

Submission to the Supreme Creator LORD is not optional. The LORD created all else and is ultimately sovereign and supreme over all. Yes, the satanic elements have rebelled and have lived in the deception that they can create their own reality but deception is not the same as Truth. There comes a time when the LORD calls a halt to the deception of the rebels and puts an end to the rebellion. No, ‘every knee bowing and every tongue confessing’ the Truth that Jesus is LORD does not equal universal salvation but rather that Light overcomes darkness, Truth prevails over deception, that the LORD has His due no matter what the rebels want. God is glorified and justified in His ultimate dominion over ALL. There is no last chance for those who refuse to submit to the Truth, Righteousness and Holiness of the LORD.

The end of the beginning will be decisive and it will be final. Jesus is LORD of ALL.