Every Knee Shall Bow, Every Tongue… Is Not Universalism- Who Is The “ALL” in Context?

EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW, EVERY TONGUE… IS NOT UNIVERSALISM- WHO IS THE “ALL” in Context?

Today, most Christians see the infamous “Every Knee Shall Bow, Every Tongue Shall Confess” as a day at the End of History where every Christian and non-Christian will bow and confess Christ as Lord. Christians will happily bow and confess, but the non-Christian will be forced by God (or by other Christians) to control their knees and mouths. I can understand how others can see this interpretation resulting in a Christian Universalism. However, this interpretation is not  correct. As usual, passages like these are torn out of its original context. In this blog, I will demonstrate several lines of support where the “all” refers to Spiritual/New Covenant Israel in 66-70AD.



1 Kings 19:18

English Standard Version

18 Yet I will leave SEVEN THOUSAND in Israel, ALL THE KNEES THAT HAVE NOT BOWED to Baal, and EVERY MOUTH that has not kissed him.”


Parallel verses: Kissing the King theme: Psalm 2:12, 1 Samuel 10:1


NOTE: In context, these “knees” belong to the Israel elect during the time of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. Not the entire modern world.



Romans 11:26 English Standard Version 26 And in this way ALL ISRAEL will be saved, as it is written,  “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;



Romans 11:4

English Standard Version

4 But what is God's reply to him? “I have kept for myself SEVEN THOUSAND MEN who have not bowed the knee to Baal


NOTE: Paul applies the Elijah situation with the remnant of 1 Kings 19 to the events of 66-70AD (Romans 11:4, 26).


Revelation 11:13

English Standard Version

13 And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. SEVEN THOUSAND PEOPLE were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven


NOTE: Revelation 11:13 inverts the imagery of 1 Kings 19. The 7,000 are now the Baal worshippers who die in the earthquake and the remnant are the elect who survive. The 10th of the population is figurative imagery from Isaiah 6:13 and Amos 5:3.



Isaiah 45:23 English Standard Version 23 By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness  a word that shall not return: ‘To me EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW, EVERY TONGUE shall swear allegiance


NOTE: The audience is the survivors mentioned in Isaiah 45:20 ( Zechariah 14:16-21, Obadiah 1:17-18, 21). Not the entire modern world.


Romans 14:11 English Standard Version 11 for it is written,  “As I live, says the Lord, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME,     and every tongue shall confess to God


NOTE: The audience is in Romans 1:7-the Christians in Rome. Romans 14:10 focuses on passing judgment on their Jewish brethren’s convictions on the holy days and purity observances. 

Again, every knee belongs to the Spiritual Israel/New Covenant Israel-who will consist of all believers in 70AD. Physical Israel/Old Covenant Israel had a mixture of believers and non-believers.


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Now, that we established that the “ALL” is referring to Spiritual/New Covenant Israel, not the entire modern world.



Romans 5:18 English Standard Version 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for ALL MEN, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for ALL MEN.


1 Corinthians 15:22 English Standard Version 22 For as in ADAM ALL DIE, so also in CHRIST SHALL ALL BE MADE ALIVE. 

1 Timothy 2:3-4 English Standard Version 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires ALL PEOPLE TO BE SAVED and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

2 Peter 3:9 English Standard Version 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that ANY should perish, but that ALL should reach repentance.

NOTE: By isolating this passage, one can come to the conclusion that this is about universalism. From my experiences, pastors

tend to pivot around this idea because they claim we are directly from Adam, which is not true (see my post, “ Adam the 6th Day or the 8th Day Man?”). In order to save face, pastors will say it means all kinds of people can be savable or that some people can be the elect, which doesn’t make sense. It is a glaring inconsistency. Their claim is that ALL MEN died spiritually without exception in the garden. 


My claim is that Genesis 1 is about a pre-adamic population (proto-Gentiles- Day 6) while Genesis 2 is about Adam and Eve (proto-Jews-Day 8). Therefore, Adam and Eve died spiritually under the law of the covenant while the pre-adamic population died spiritually under the law of nature as stated in Romans 2:12-16. As mentioned earlier in this post, everyone who is in Spiritual/New Covenant Israel is saved- from every nation, tribe, and tongue who confess Christ as Lord and savior. Because Heaven and Earth mirror each other, we see in Heaven, the dead Spiritual/New Covenant saints are bowing and worshipping Christ. Likewise, the living Spiritual/New Covenant saints are bowing and worshipping Christ on Earth.

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