Romans 14.11-Paul Cites Isaiah 45.23 To Affirm The Certainty That Every Christian Must Present Himself To The Lord At His Judgment Seat
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday March 21, 2010
Romans: Romans 14:11-Paul Cites Isaiah 45:23 To Affirm The Certainty That Every Christian Must Present Himself To The Lord At His Judgment Seat
Lesson # 475
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 14:1.
This past week we studied Romans 14:10, in which Paul poses two rhetorical questions that are an implicit rebuke of the weak Christian for condemning the strong for his convictions as well as an implicit rebuke of the strong Christian for regarding and treating with contempt the weak believer for his convictions.
Also, in this passage, Paul presents the reason why the strong should never despise the weak and why the weak should never condemn the strong, namely, both groups will be evaluated by the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church, which takes places immediately after the rapture.
This morning we will study Romans 14:11 and in this passage the apostle cites Isaiah 45:23 to affirm the certainty that each and every Christian must present himself to the Lord Jesus Christ at His Bema Seat in order to have their works evaluated by the Lord to determine if they merit rewards or not.
Romans 14:1, “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.”
Romans 14:2, “One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.”
Romans 14:3, “The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.”
Romans 14:4, “Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”
Romans 14:5, “One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.”
Romans 14:6, “He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.”
Romans 14:7, “For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself.”
Romans 14:8, “for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.”
Romans 14:9, “For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”
Romans 14:10, “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.”
Romans 14:11, “For it is written, ‘AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD.’”
Romans 14:11 contains a quotation from Isaiah 45:23 that confirms, advances and intensifies the statement at the end of Romans 14:10 that every Christian will be required to present himself to the Lord Jesus Christ at His Bema Seat.
The phrase “AS I LIVE SAYS THE LORD” does not appear in Isaiah 45:23 but in Isaiah 49:18 and refers to the Lord Jesus Christ identifying Him as the Lord of the Old Testament.
2 Corinthians 5:10 makes clear that Jesus Christ will be conducting this Bema Seat evaluation of every believer’s service to determine if they merit a reward.
2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
“AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD” is used by the Lord through the prophet Isaiah in an oath to describe Himself and means “as I live forever” and is a reference to God’s attribute of eternal life (Jn. 5:26, 6:35 Phlp. 2:16; 1 Jo. 1:1).
“EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME” refers to each and every member of the body of Christ worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat.
Warren Wiersbe defines worship, “Worship is the believer’s response of all that they are –mind, emotions, will and body-to what God is and says and does. This response has its mystical side in subjective experience and its practical side in objective obedience to God’s revealed will. Worship is a loving response that’s balanced by the fear of the Lord, and it is a deepening response as the believer comes to know God better” (Real Worship, 26).
Worshipping the Lord is adoring contemplation of Him as He has been revealed by the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures and is also the loving ascription of praise to Him for what He is, both in Himself, His Work on the Cross and in His ways and is the bowing of the soul and spirit in deep humility and reverence before Him.
Psalm 95:6-7, “Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.”
Worship of the Lord involves “reverence” for Him, which is an attitude of deep respect and awe for Him.
Worship of the Lord also involves “respect” for Him, which is to esteem the excellence of His Person as manifested through His attributes such as love, faithfulness, mercy, compassion, justice, righteousness, truth, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, immutability, and sovereignty.
Worship of the Lord involves “awe” of Him, which means we are to possess an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration for Him.
Worship of the Lord also involves “wonder” towards Him, which refers to being filled with admiration, amazement and awe of Him and reaches right into our hearts and shakes us up and enriches our lives and overwhelms us with an emotion that is a mixture of gratitude, adoration, reverence, fear and love for Him.
“ME” is the dative first person singular form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ) (eg-owe), which refers to the Lord Jesus Christ since John 5:22-29 and Philippians 2:5-11 teach that the Father delegated to Him the authority to judge all men and 2 Corinthians 5:10 teaches He will conduct the Bema Judgment.
Romans 14:11, “For it is written, ‘AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD.’”
“EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD” refers to each and every church age believer praising the Lord Jesus Christ who is God since 2 Corinthians 5:10 teaches that the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church will be conducted by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Furthermore, John 5:22-29 and Philippians 2:5-11 make clear that He will conduct all the judgments in history, which would include the Bema Seat.
The noun theos expresses the Lord Jesus Christ’s equality with the Father and His eternality in that He is infinite and eternal God (John 1:1-2; John 8:58; 10:30a; Col. 2:9a; Rev. 1:8) and is therefore, equal with the Father (John 10:30, 37-38; 14:9; 17:5, 24-25).
To summarize, the apostle Paul in this passage cites Isaiah 45:23 to affirm the certainty that each and every Christian must present himself to the Lord Jesus Christ at His Bema Seat in order to have their works evaluated by the Lord to determine if they merit rewards or not.
The implication is obvious in that the strong Christian is never to regard and treat with contempt the weaker believer for his convictions and the weak are never to condemn the strong for theirs since the Lord Jesus Christ will determine at His Bema Seat if the believer’s service, whether weak or strong, merits rewards.