“An evil person will bow down in the presence of good people.” The ideal situation would be that this subservience of evil people would happen in this life, but that is often not the case. Thus, the verse has an eschatological aspect and looks to the future Day of Judgment and the Messianic Kingdom on earth. There are many evil people who are unsaved and will bow the knee on the Day of Judgment, but because they are not saved they will then be thrown into the Lake of Fire and be burned up; annihilated.

However, there are many people who are believers but who do not wholeheartedly obey God, and so they mix their godly belief with evil behavior. Those people will have lesser positions in the future kingdom and will serve those who have positions of greater authority in the Kingdom (cp. Ezek. 44:10-16).

[For more on the future Kingdom of Christ on earth, see Appendix 3, “Christ’s Future Kingdom on earth.” For more on the annihilation of the wicked in the Lake of Fire, see Appendix 5, “Annihilation in the Lake of Fire.” For more on people getting rewarded in the future in proportion to what they have done in this life, see commentary on 2 Cor. 5:10, “good or evil.”]