Romans 14:11
YLT 11 for it hath
been written, `I live! saith the Lord—to Me bow shall every knee,
and every tongue shall confess to God;'
- The
Greek word γλῶσσα is translated 'tongue' in the above
verse
-
Dodson:
the tongue, a language, a nation
(usually distinguished by their speech).
Romans 14 was written
to the church. As the different cultures and languages entered the
first century church they were being wrongly judged for not keeping
the Jewish dietary customs and religious holidays. All tongues
(nations) were coming into the Jewish assembly and it was causing
problems. Tongues identify the languages of the nations and are the
root of the nation's religion and culture; Spaniards speak Spanish
and Germans speak German.
At Pentecost the
believing Jews heard the gospel in the birth language of their new
diaspora nation. Unbelieving Jews said the believeing Jews were
merely drunk. Only the tongues and knees belonging to the Jews who
recieved the Holy Spirit were confessing and submitting to Christ
at Pentecost. True Jews heard the gospel in their new native
language. Learning Hebrew is no longer a requirement for a Holy
Spirit Jew to hear God's word. The gospel was miraculously
translated and taken to all the languages of the diaspora. God's
word was being spoken by the Holy Spirit in all the languages
listed in Acts 2. It was a substantial concession for 70 Jewish
scholars when they gave the world the Torah in Greek. The Holy
Spirit at Pentecost moved them forward with the
international breakdown of
gospel barriers.
By the time Romans was
written the Jews had taken the gospel back to the Gentiles. Some
Jews assumed that the believing nations had to become old covenant
Jews to be in their assembly. Confessing and submitting to Judaism
or to the Hebrew language is not part of the gospel. Every tongue
and knee must come to Christ to be in covenant with God; even angel
tongues and knees.
Hebrews 1:6
LITV 6 And again,
when He brought the First-born into the world, He said, "And let
all the angels of God worship Him." LXX-Deut. 32:43, MT-No
Equiv
When the fallen angels
of God were cast out, they had destruction in there future. Satan
will never worship God in spirit and truth. If he bowed his knee at
the last minute to save his life, it was outward submission only.
Worship in spirit and truth is what God desires. Satan ruled the
fourth kingdom and he tried to get the only begotten Son of God to
bend His knee to him.
Deuteronomy 32:43
Brenton LXX 43 Rejoice,
ye heavens, with him, and let all the angels of God worship him;
rejoice ye Gentiles, with his people, and let all the sons of God
strengthen themselves in him; for he will avenge the blood of his
sons, and he will render vengeance, and recompense justice to his
enemies, and will reward them that hate him; and the Lord shall
purge the land of his people.
Yashua used His
authority (symbolized in a rod of iron) to purge the old covenant
of His enemies. In the new covenant every knee bows or is learning
to bow to Christ. There are no fallen angels in heaven any more.
There are no unbelievers in God's new covenant. There are no sheep
and goats in Hades. The old covenant and the literal land was
completely purged of the unbelievers after the second exodus. The
presence of God is only for true believers in the new covenant land
now. We enter the new covenant by being born again of the Holy
Spirit. We have His presence within the temple of our bodies.
Biological birth into the right family did not gaurantee belief.
Spiritual birth does. Every person who gets born again from any
tongue, worships in the one and only body of Christ now. No one has
to learn Hebrew (or Greek) or go to Jeruslalem to truly worship
God.
John 4:24
LITV 24 God is a
spirit, and the ones worshiping Him must worship in spirit and
truth.
Forcing Satan to bend
both knees would not be true worship.
John 14:6
ECB 6 Yah Shua words
to him, I AM the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes to the
Father, except by me.
Isaiah 45:23
LITV 23 I have
sworn by Myself, the word has gone out of My mouth in
righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall
bow, every tongue shall swear.
Only New Covenant
people worship God today. There were unbelievers in the old
covenant land who feigned worship to the one true God and there
were fallen angels (gods) in heaven competing for that worship. No
more! Every knee in covenant with God now bows to the image of the
one true God through Christ. They may not do it perfectly at first
but His image is being created in them by the Holy Spirit and by
God's people in the church and by the messengers and by God's
discipline of His children. As we grow spiritually we become
self-ruled in the spirit by His true image. We don't take his name
in vain when we become like Him. When we take the family name we
represent the family.
Yahshua used His rod of
iron on Herod who served the unbelieving Jews while the old
covenant still existed. God destroyed that enemy. He did not force
him to bow. Literally bending the knee of Herod means nothing to
God.
Acts 12:23
LITV 23 And
instantly an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give
the glory to God. And having been eaten by worms, his soul went
out.
Yahwey teaches His
people to worship Him; He destroyed arrogant Herod yet He taught
arrogant Nebuchadnezzar.
Revelation 22:8-9
CLV 8 And I,
John, am the one hearing and observing these things. And when I
hear and observe, I fall to worship in front of the feet of the
messenger who is showing me these things." 9 And he is
saying to me, "See! No! a fellow slave of yours am I, and of your
brethren, the prophets and those keeping the sayings of this
scroll. Worship God!"
Daniel 3:28
LITV 28 {cf9 :
Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent His Angel and has delivered His
servants who trusted in Him, and have changed the king's words, and
have given their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any
god except their own God.}
Daniel 4:30-32, 34-37
30 The
king spoke and said, is this not great Babylon that I have built
for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the
honor of my majesty? 31 The
word was still in the king's voice when a voice fell from the
heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: The
kingdom has been taken from you! 32 And
you shall be driven from men, and your dwelling shall be with the
animals of the field. You shall be fed with the grass like oxen,
and seven times shall pass over you until you know that the Most
High is Ruler in the kingdom of men, and that He gives it to
whomever He desires.
The king of kings (in
the first of Daniel's five kingdoms) learns to worship the King of
Heaven
34 And at the end of the days, I,
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to the heaven, and my
understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High. And I
praised and honored Him who lives forever, whose kingdom is an
everlasting kingdom, and His rule from generation to
generation. 35 And
all the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing. And He
does according to His will among the army of Heaven, and among the
inhabitants of the earth. And no one is able to strike His hand or
say to Him, What are You doing? 36 At that time my reason returned to me, and
the glory of my kingdom, my majesty, and my brightness returned to
me. And my advisers and my nobles sought to me. And I was
reestablished in my kingdom, and excellent greatness was added to
me. 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt
and honor the King of Heaven, for all His works are truth, and His
ways are justice. And He is able to humble those
who walk in pride.
The following verse in
context: we should not consider ourselves better than others but
rather be concerned about the image of Christ being developed in
them. When we follow Yeshua we grow up to act like Him in
character. He laid down His old covenant life so that all nations
could worship Him in the new international covenant; the Jew
first.
Every knee who wants to
worship God must submit to Christ now regardless of ethnicity. The
kingdom of God has been given to Him. Satan kinda lied to Yeshua
when he said he could give Him the kingdom. It was only Satan's
kingdom for a short while. Yeshua rules the kingdom
forever.
Philippians 2:7-11
YLT 7 but did
empty himself, the form of a servant having taken, in the likeness
of men having been made, 8 and in
fashion having been found as a man, he humbled himself, having
become obedient unto death—death even of a cross, 9 wherefore,
also, God did highly exalt him, and gave to him a name
that is above every name, 10 that in
the name of Jesus every knee may bow—of heavenlies, and earthlies,
and what are under the earth— 11 and
every tongue may confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father.
γλῶσσα
- the tongue
Dodson:
- γλῶσσα
- the tongue, a language,
nation
- the tongue, a language, a
nation (usually distinguished by their speech).