"Who Shall Fall on Bended Knee" Tee

“Then who shall fall on bended knee?”

Have you ever paused at this question in the hymn, “All Creatures of Our God and King?” This line simultaneously stirs up awestruck praise and near sickening concern.

At first consideration, what a beautiful truth that all will submit to Christ! (And it certainly is). He is King and that will one day be universally and unanimously acknowledged by all—this is just and so we rejoice at this justice finally realized. There will remain no sin, no death—none of the things in this life that make us long for Heaven. Everything about this sparks “yes!” and “amen!” in the heart of the believer.

But there’s a one-two punch here: what of those who do not bow willingly? Instead of a Sovereign Savior, they bow before a Sovereign Judge only. What a tragic thought that any should not be in resounding praise with us before this moment on their own accord and instead to their judgment. Of course, we know this is truth and will be reality because Scripture promises us it will happen and that it is just. While it is just and we rejoice the same in one sense, there is a tension within these same pages that we do not leave the lost without concern. After all, only the Lord knows those He calls—we are called to scatter the seed of the Gospel liberally; only the Lord knows the soil.

“If God would have painted a yellow stripe on the backs of the elect I would go around lifting shirts. But since He didn’t I must preach ‘whosoever will’ and when ‘whosoever’ believes I know that he is one of the elect.” (Spurgeon)

Spurgeon so poignantly describes the heart we are to have for the lost:

“If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.”

“Every true Christian should be exceedingly earnest in prayer concerning the souls of the ungodly, and when they are so, how abundantly God blesses them, and how much the church prospers. But beloved, souls may be damned, yet how few of you care about them! Sinners may sink into perdition, yet how few tears are shed over them! The whole world may be swept away by a torrent down the precipice of woe, yet how few really cry to God on its behalf. How few men say, ‘oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I may weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!’ We not lament before God the loss of men’s souls, as it well becomes Christians to do.”

Romans 10 reveals us as God’s people to be the means He uses in calling the elect to Himself:

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”…So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (14-15;17).

Today’s design was purposely made very simple because 1) it truly such a solemn question that the gravity demands simplicity 2) I wanted it to be striking enough that it’s almost gently confrontational to the reader and 3) it is cryptic enough to solicit conversation but gets straight to the point, “to whom do you bow?”

• 100% combed and ring-spun cotton (Heather colors contain polyester)
• Fabric weight: 4.2 oz./yd.² (142 g/m²)
• Pre-shrunk fabric
• Side-seamed construction
• Shoulder-to-shoulder taping
• Blank product sourced from Nicaragua, Mexico, Honduras, or the US

Size guide