“All the nations You have made will come and bow down before You, Lord, and will honor Your name. For You are great and perform wonders; You alone are God.” (Ps. 86:9-10 CSB)
God intentionally made the nations; he created them like he created everything else. The nations rightfully belong to him. He is their rightful King—the King of Kings.
At the appointed time, all the nations of the earth will bow before the Lord and honor him name. The New Testament tells us that the specific name they will honor is the name of Jesus.
“So that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth—and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:10-11 CSB)
Taking these two passages together, we see that everyone will honor and bow to Jesus, both individually and collectively. Every individual person and every nation will give Jesus the honor due to his name. And we are clearly told why all this will come about; it is freely displayed to us. All will bow to him because him is the one true God, which is evidenced by his greatness and his wonders that are displayed to us.
Yet all over the earth today, there are people robbing Jesus of his rightful honor by worshipping false gods. All over the world, there are people honoring God with their lips, but their hearts are far from him (Isa. 29:13).
We must warn them of the coming judgment. We must teach them how to worship the one true God in spirit and in truth. We must pray for them, both individually and collectively, that their hearts would be transformed to become hearts that love to honor Jesus.
Application
Here are a few things we can do in light of these passages:
- Make sure that our own lives honor Jesus’ name.
- Teach our family and those around us to honor his name.
- Pray for people and nations around the world to repent and begin to honor his name.
Editor’s Note: This article is second in a series journeying through the psalms. Read the previous installment here.
