In Philippians 2:3-11, Paul goes into more detail about who Jesus is, and how we should imitate him and why. The “Golden Rule” of treat others as you want to be treated is good, but Paul takes it a giant step further- treat others as better than yourself, and by doing this you follow Jesus’ example. This is the unconditional love that God gave us through Jesus, and that we are unable to love anyone or consider others better than ourselves without feeling and accepting the unconditional love of God.
Jesus was around at the beginning- the human likeness of God, and everything was made through him and for his glory. Paul says, however, that he gave up his high position and in humility became like one of us. He was born like us, he died a horrible and painful death even though he didn’t have to, and because of this Jesus has been given a name that is above all other names.
And at the name of Jesus, EVERY person will bow down both in heaven, on earth and under the earth. That means everyone, even those who are doomed to eternal punishment. This does not mean that those under eternal punishment will then get a pardon, but at the judgment, they will acknowledge Jesus as Lord. Those that have rejected Jesus on this earth while alive will realize too late that they should have bowed during their life. So every person who has ever lived will bow to Jesus one day and openly confess that Jesus is Lord.
Those that have not confessed Jesus is Lord have one chance to get right with God, and it is while they are here on earth and they still have a voice to confess with. In a conversation with Wut (pronounced Woot) one of my Buddhist Thai friends, who has been asking many questions about Jesus and God, I explained about the Judgment and why we need Jesus. I tried to explain that while we are here on earth, we must accept the punishment that Jesus took for us, and confess that Jesus is Lord to be connected with God and live in eternity in heaven. He asked if it was okay to ask forgiveness and accept Jesus at the Judgment. Tough question to answer, but I told him no- we are to confess Jesus is Lord before we face judgment in order to be eternally forgiven. He asked if he could just ask forgiveness on his death bed. That question was answered with a question of “Do you know when you are going to die?” We could be taken any time, and if we have not confessed before we sit before God in judgment, we will remain eternally separated from God.
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