And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the church. Ephesians 1:22
Many of the splendours from the ancient reign of the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun (King Tut) are on display in a huge museum in Cairo. Among the many artifacts on display are the walking canes used by Tut. Each one is shaped like a shepherd’s cane, except that the hook of the cane is on the bottom. Engraved along the length of each hook are images of conquered peoples from foreign lands lying prostrate on their stomachs with their arms reaching upward in adoration of the Pharaoh. Every time the Pharaoh walked with his cane in hand, these figures literally rolled on the bottom of cane, symbolically bowing before him. The symbolism is obvious: all of Egypt’s enemies are defeated and are directly under the feet of this mighty Pharaoh. We have the same symbolism in today’s text in the putting of all things under the feet of Christ.
The word translated ‘under’ is the Greek word hupotasso. This word was originally a military term meaning to subjugate or to dominate. It described forcibly subduing a conquered people and putting them in their place, and it is the exact idea that the images on King Tut’s canes were designed to convey. King Tut is dead and gone for thousands of years. But the Lord Jesus Christ has conquered death by His own death and resurrection. Death is now hupotasso (under) His feet, along with all of His enemies. ‘Wherefore God hath highly exalted Him, and hath given Him a Name which is above every name; that at the Name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father’ – Philippians 2:9-11. We who have confessed Him as Lord also acknowledge Him as our Head. But unlike all of the forces of evil and all of the myriads of unsaved, we are not under His feet; we are at His feet.
We are not enemies of the Lord Jesus. Unlike His enemies, we do not grovel in dread under His feet. We have been raised up to a relationship that enables us to praise His great deliverance and worship His holy Person. -Jim MacIntosh