King Jesus

Today's sermon was over Philippians 2:9-11 which is "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." My pastor pointed out that at some point we all, every created being including angels, dead and alive people, fallen angels, will confess that Jesus is Lord - the question is not if, but rather when and under what circumstances. Some will confess him as Lord and Savior, coming when he calls, and being given eternal life, will worship him forever. Others will not come but will someday be forced to call him Lord. He will not be Savior to those people, but rather a terrifying king of the world who demands their bowed acknowledgement and sends them to eternal death in righteous judgement. Revelation 19 speaks of Jesus as the warrior king - and how terrifying he will be then.

In light of all that, how amazing and kind and full of love is his patience with us. We are given days, months, years, lifetimes to believe he is our savior when we don't even deserve a moment. In light of the way that he hates sin and does not tolerate it, how patient he is in our feeble attempts at right living. How wonderful it is for those of us who call him Savior that he is the author and perfector of our salvation - rather than us. He is the beautiful king who calls us to his rest, so that he might do the work of saving us... Wow.

Like Moses tells the Israelites (Deuteronomy 30:19 - 20) "...I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life..." and like the old hymn says, "Come thou weary, heavy laden, lost and ruined by the fall, if you tarry till you're better, you will never come at all...I will arise and go to Jesus, he will embrace me in his arms, in the arms of my dear savior, oh there are 10,000 charms."