Philippians 2:10

The purpose of the Father’s having given the Son great exaltation and a name suitable to such a position is that every person will bow in submission to His authority (cf. Isaiah 45:23 where all bow before Yahweh).

"Residents of first-century Philippi felt strongly compelled to proclaim their social location publicly in the pecking order of this highly stratified Roman colony." [Note: Idem, "The Humiliation of Christ in the Social World of Roman Philippi, Part 1," Bibliotheca Sacra 160:639 (July-September 2003):336.]

Thus Paul’s contrast between the humiliation and exaltation of Christ to the Philippians would have had unusual impact on these readers.

The beings in heaven that Paul referred to evidently are believers who have died and whose spirits have gone into the Lord’s presence. Those on earth are people still alive on the earth. Those under the earth are unbelievers awaiting resurrection. Hades (the same as Sheol, the Old Testament term) is the place where the spirits of the unbelieving dead go until God resurrects them and judges them. The ancients thought of Sheol or Hades as being under the surface of the earth, probably because that is where their bodies went in burial. All angelic beings will acknowledge Jesus’ lordship too (1 Corinthians 15:27).

Various groups will acknowledge that Jesus is Lord at different times. Christians do so at conversion, and we will do so when we see the Lord following the Rapture (cf. Revelation 4-5). Those living on the earth and Old Testament saints resurrected at the Second Coming will do so then (Revelation 19:11-21). Most of those living on the earth during the millennial reign of Christ will submit to Him then (Psalms 2). At the end of the Millennium everyone on the earth and all resurrected unbelievers will bow the knee to Jesus Christ (Revelation 20:7-15).