Because Jesus has carried out his mission of “obedience to the point of death,”
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. (Philippians 2:8–11)
Indeed, “he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet,” and then he will hand over the kingdom, which by that time will be all the universe, to God the Father (1 Corinthians 15:24–25).
Another look at that completion of God’s kingdom comes in Psalm 66:
So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.
All the earth worships you
and sings praises to you;
they sing praises to your name. (Verses 3 & 4)
The vision is so clear that it is expressed in the present tense, as if God’s enemies can already be seen “cringing.” But its fulfillment is yet to come, which is confirmed for us every time we see evidence of God’s enemies still active as such, still living and speaking as if God either doesn’t exist or doesn’t matter.
It is possible for us to taunt God’s enemies because of the comeuppance coming their way: “Won’t they be surprised!” But Jesus’s clearest mention of such surprise at how things work out involves not flagrant enemies of God but people who believe in God and his Son, not just pew-sitters but active church members and, indeed, miracle workers: those who have surprises coming their way when God’s rule over all is completed include people like us. “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:22–23). Judgment will “begin at the household of God” (1 Peter 4:17).
In the midst of these big visions involving all humanity and, indeed, all creation, there come reminders of how the focus of God’s working can be narrowed to one small detail. For instance,
- The death on the cross of the one man Jesus (Philippians 2:8),
- the passing through the sea on their way out of Egypt of the one people Israel, which “all the earth” (Psalm 66:1) is called to recognize as God’s work:
He turned the sea into dry land;
they passed through the river on foot (verse 6), and
- the one believer’s testimony of “what he [God] has done for my soul” (verse 16).
- Bible quotations here are from the English Standard Version (2011).
- These posts on the Psalms are in aid of the reading of the Psalms—one a day through the first five months of 2022—by members, attenders, friends, et al. of Together Church, Wyoming, MI.
The One Story 