I HAVE sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." Thus Isaiah represents God as saying; and the entire Bible emphasizes this statement.
There is perhaps no fact more plainly set forth from Genesis to Revelation than the inevitable nature of the demand that all must finally bow to God; that all must finally acknowledge Him as infinite, All. Indeed, again and again we find God insisting therein on His own completeness; as, for instance,—this time also in Isaiah,—"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."
Theology has taught through all the ages that God must be admitted to be the one supreme, infinite power, and that all men must sometime learn to yield to Him that perfect subservience which is due to Him as the Almighty One. While prophets and apostles, saints and even sinners, have recognized this demand, there has been as great diversity in opinion as to the manner of complying with it as there have been individuals interested in doing so. All have insisted on various means and methods, and most common, perhaps, among them has been the practice of bending the knee.
