Philippians 2:9-11, “Wherefore the Father has highly exalted Jesus, and given Him the name above every other name: that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue shall confess Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father,”
This portion of Scripture has become my clarion call. For me, it defines the new covenant. I have quoted it in almost every study I have posted in the last five years. Yet, this morning, just now in fact, I have received new revelation. We know Jesus died on the cross as the Christ and to believe on the Christ is to believe Jesus died on the cross for others, as a sacrificial act. The church universal preaches the Christ.
Yet, the Father God exalted Jesus for the express purpose of the whole of humanity confessing Jesus as Lord. The title, Lord, adds another layer to the title, Christ. A confession of Jesus as Lord rings hollow if obedience of Jesus’ commandments is not practiced. It is not enough to confess Jesus as Lord, if obedience is not practiced.
The title, Lord, means: to have power or authority over another. If a lord issues a commandment, obedience is the expected response. To fail to obey is evidence of insubordination and cause for punishment. The new covenant is an aleatory covenant, meaning, during the time of the covenant, mankind had the choice to make Jesus Lord. In other words, believers in the Christ could voluntarily make Jesus Lord. However, making Jesus Lord involves giving Jesus authority to command. If the individual then decides not to obey the commandments the Lord issued, that decision to make Jesus Lord; that decision to confess Jesus as Lord, is negated.
What the Father did, as expressed by Philippians 2, is to mandate obedience. To confess Jesus as Lord as a real act, a certifiable act, is to obey and through obedience, the gift of tongues pours out of the mouth. The gift of tongues is a confession of Jesus’ Lordship. What the Father mandated in Philippians 2; is that every soul would speak in tongues. There is a huge difference, however, between voluntarily confessing Jesus as Lord, and being forced to.
This is evidence of the new covenant era having two parts, and perhaps more. There is the time when Jesus established the new covenant and issued the commandments that would govern it. The church began to dismiss these commandments immediately and for nearly two thousand years, the knowledge of the commandments Jesus issued His Church passed out of all consciousness, and today, the church does not recognize a commandment at all. At the very end of this period of time, Jesus begins to exert the influence, the power, and the authority the Father bestowed on Him.
This is called the tribulation period because Jesus begins to trouble the ones who rejected the authority to command the Father placed on Jesus. Now, the tribulation period and the disobedience period is all the same period of time; it is the age of the new covenant, but the tribulation period is divided into two halves. Jesus begins by exercising Lordship over those who expressed faith in the Christ. To express faith in the Christ is to accept Jesus’ death on the cross as payment of old covenant law. Of course, an expression of faith on Jesus as Lord is revealed through a keeping of the commandments Jesus issued as Lord.
Remember, to be Lord is to have authority and dominion over. Disobedience proves by actions Lordship is not established. The power and authority of Lord the Father placed on Jesus demands retribution for disobedience. Remember, Jesus earned the right to be Lord by first offering His body to the torturers to pay the penalty of disobedience mankind had accrued. Then, Jesus died a cruel death on the cross to redeem mankind from the curse of the law, which was death. Then, Jesus presented Himself before the Father to become the perfect offering for sin, and the Father, because it behooved Him, took the life of His Son, His only begotten Son.
Jesus was raised above the Father in power and Glory; He was raised above the Father in authority and might; He was raised above the Father in supremacy. In Hebrews 12:18, we read, “For you are not come to the mount that should not be touched,” speaking of the mount of God at the handing down of the Ten Commandments, “but you are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the Living God,” a reference to Jesus, who was dead but now alive forevermore. The clear warning is: as great and terrible as the appearance of the Father was on the mountain, a sight so terrible even Moses said, “I exceedingly fear and quake,” the sight of Jesus, for those who have disobeyed, is a thousand times more terrible. The Father’s voice shook the earth, but the voice of Jesus will shake not just one mountain in the plains of Paran, His voice will shake both heaven and earth.
This is the Jesus the church has disrespected. It has said, “Yes you are my Lord, but I will not obey your commandments.” The church has practiced ignorance of the Lord’s commandments. We ought to ask ourselves the question: If the Father is Lord, keep the Ten Commandments, the Ten Commandments are obviously the Father’s commandments. If Jesus is Lord, it behooves us to find out what Jesus requires and perform that. When Jesus said, “A new commandment I give you; that you love one another as I have loved you,” it behooves us to ask ourselves how has Jesus loved us.
Has Jesus given you money or food or shelter? No, He has given you abilities to get those items for yourself, but He has not given those items to you. Therefore, that is not how Jesus has called us to love one another. Jesus said, “I have kept my Father’s commandments.” He did that for us and in our stead. If we love one another the way Jesus has loved us, it will be by keeping commandments. If Jesus has already kept His Father’s commandments for us, that only leaves Jesus’ commandments for us to keep!
Now, going back to Philippians 2:9-11, “Wherefore the Father has highly exalted Jesus, and given Him the name above every other name: that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue shall confess Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” it appears all humanity will be compelled to confess Jesus as Lord, whether one entered the new covenant or not.
Let’s back up. In my previous studies I said the closed, sealed, scroll in Revelation 6 is the new covenant and the open, unsealed, scroll of Revelation 10 is the covenant of Noah. I further pointed out the first half of the tribulation period contained Jesus’ judgment on the church for disobedience of the new covenant but the second half contains Jesus’ judgment on the world for failure to honor the covenant of Noah. Hebrews 11:6: “Those who come to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them who diligently seek Him,” is a basic rendering of the covenant of Noah.
In actuality, there is very little difference between the covenant of Noah and the covenant of Jesus. Both require a recognition of God and both promise rewards to those who seek Him. The covenant of Noah requires a recognition of God and His goodness. It follows then that a good God rewards those who seek Him. The covenant of Noah promises the earth as a perpetual habitation and it is purified by fire, which one might assume, would return earth to its prefall condition.
The new covenant also requires a recognition of God, only it is Jesus that must be recognized as supreme. As long as the Father is acknowledged as Lord, the Son will not be honored as Lord, will not be obeyed, and the reward of the Son will not be realized. The reward of Jesus is citizenship in heaven.
So, in the beginning of the tribulation period, Jesus calls believers in the Christ back from the dead and explains to them they must believe in the Lord. Of course, if Jesus is Lord, obedience is required. The new covenant will be viewed as heresy by the established church and as the movement grows, the church will make alliance with governments to put Christians who have converted to death. About half way into the tribulation period, the dead in Christ and the remaining converted Christians will be raptured out.
This will make the established church madder still and it, along with its new partner, the world, will launch attacks against anything it views as having anything to do with this movement. The two witnesses will appear at about this time and for three and one half years, will torment the church, which will not be able to do anything with them or to them.
Now, it is important to realize the church has made the Father Lord and Jesus subservient to His Father. Philippians 2:9-11 paints a very different picture. Because of this, the church will not recognize the returning Lord and will see Jesus as a threat to its existence. It will see the dead in Christ as demons because it cannot kill them. This will cause it to kill those who subscribe to the teachings of the dead in Christ.
This is not the first time this has happened. For years the Catholic Church put to death anyone who held a view of God different from its own. The Catholic Church would have killed Martin Luther if the Germans had not rallied to his defense. The Lutherans however, tried to kill the Anabaptists because they held a belief thought to be heresy.
When Jesus reveals the truth of the new covenant, it will be such an affront to church doctrine, the church will see it as a threat to its very existence; it will see it as a threat to the true gospel of the Christ, and will attempt to keep the message of the cross pure.
The old saying is: Politics makes strange bed fellows, and the church will join forces with Satan against Jesus. The church is looking for the return of the Savior but Jesus will not return as Savior. Of course, this is the reason the book of Revelation is written as it is. Those who seek Jesus will be rewarded for their efforts. The Father put all power, all authority, in the hands of Jesus. Those who seek the Father are woefully disappointed but will not realize why in this life.
At the very end, all mankind will be compelled to bow the knee to Jesus. Mankind’s confession of Jesus as Lord will be done in tongues, as Jesus will compel obedience. Only, this obedience will not give entrance to the heavenly home because it is forced obedience. Consider this however; Christians who refused to keep Jesus’ commandments, Christians who despised the gift of tongues, will be forced to speak the gift. The blessing however, will be a curse.
The book of Revelation was written to reveal a hidden secret, but reveal it in such a way that the secret would remain hidden after having been revealed. Let’s go back to my first study on the book of Revelation. In Revelation 10:7, we read, “In the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He has declared to His servants the prophets.” There is a mystery of God, a mystery He revealed to the prophets, a mystery the prophets published and the book of Revelation tells; still, it remains secret.
There are lots of Bible Scholars out there who believe they know the secret, yet, they do not know the book of Revelation. This verse tells us the published secret of God will remain secret until the seventh angel sounds his trumpet, which means, the secret is not that Jesus came to redeem mankind from its sin. The redemption of mankind is not the secret told by the book of Revelation.
In Revelation 2-3, we see Jesus dictating letters to seven churches. He is overall displeased with all seven churches but not because they have committed sin. He is displeased with them over doctrinal differences. In the short 70 years between Jesus’ commission of the Church and the dictation of letters to seven of them, church looks much different from what Jesus intended. Still, even the church Jesus threatens to vomit from His mouth is represented by a golden lamp stand in His hand. This is the secret.
Yet the meaning of these two chapters is hidden, even though the meaning is clearly revealed. Seven letters to seven churches barely 70 years past the founding of the Church; the original apostles are all dead except John, one generation of man has passed, and Jesus’ instructions to His Church are no longer being followed. An imposter has come in and sown seeds of doctrine contrary to Jesus’ instruction and the church now follows that doctrine.
We are now 1900 years past the writing of the book of Revelation and the church continues to follow and preach a false gospel. Is Jesus unhappy with today’s church? I have to believe so, but does Jesus have a plan to remedy the situation, emphatically yes. This is the secret.
Look, Jesus is born in 6 BC, lives 33 years and dies on the cross in 26 AD. The old covenant, with its Ten Commandments, has been fulfilled, the old covenant law is no more, and Jesus stands on a hill outside Jerusalem to commission His Church. He issues three commandments and ascends into heaven with the disciples, now commissioned as apostles, looking on. Ten days later there are 120 people gathered to obey the commandments and three thousand are added to that number.
As we move forward from that time, Paul warns the Galatians against believing another gospel, struggles to keep Timothy “in the faith,” and John warns believers to disobey commandments is sin. Clearly the church was moving away from the commandments Jesus commissioned the church with and today, no one recognizes the commandments the Lord of Lords and King of Kings commissioned the church with.
In Acts 1:4, Jesus commands the Church to wait for a baptism with the Holy Spirit. The word, baptize, means to saturate. In John 15:10, Jesus said, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.” The word, keep, means to maintain a prescribed condition. If the church were to maintain a prescribed condition of saturation with the Holy Spirit, it would have to speak with tongues daily. This is the gospel the Church was commissioned to carry forward. It is not the gospel preached today. Nor does it enter into the heart of Christians to do so.