Will you please turn to 1 Corinthians, the first letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 15? We will read from verses 20 through 28.
This section is a parenthesis in the chapter on resurrection, but it is a very important parenthesis.
But now Christ is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of them that are asleep.
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; then they that are Christ’s, at His coming.
Then cometh the end, when He shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power.
For He must reign, till He hath put all His enemies under His feet.
The last enemy that shall be abolished is death.
For, He put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He saith, All things are put in subjection, it is evident that He is excepted Who did subject all things unto Him.
And when all things have been subjected unto Him, then the Son also Himself shall be subjected to Him that did subject all things unto Him, that God may be all in all.
Let us pray.
Dear heavenly Father, we do thank Thee for giving us this opportunity of gathering together in the name of Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank Thee for the privilege of remembering Him at the table.
We thank Thee for Thy great love for us. We thank Thee for the grace that Thou hast so bountifully bestowed upon us.
And, our Father, as we gather here for Thy Word, we just pray that Thou wilt open Thy Word to us, that through Thy Word we will be given a further revelation of Thy beloved Son, Who is worthy. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
We have been considering together for some time the life of Christ. We firmly believe that it is the Father’s will that we should behold His Son.
He is the gospel that we believe in, and it ought to be our passion to know Him, and to know Him more fully. That is the reason why we spend such a long time considering together the life of Christ.
We began with His incarnation: the Word became flesh. He came into this world, walked on this earth for thirty-three-and-some years, and He died on the cross for us.
He was buried, risen, and ascended. The last time that we considered this life of Christ was His second coming, His return.
At first, I thought His return should be the end of the life of Christ. But one day, as I considered 1 Corinthians 15, I realized that the life of Christ would be incomplete if we did not also consider His reigning—the reigning of Christ.
Because it is very clearly said here in 1 Corinthians 15:24, “Then the end.” When does the end of the story of Christ come?
It is when He gives up the kingdom to Him Who is God and Father. In other words, everything shall be put under His feet. He shall reign.
And when all His enemies are put under His feet, and the last enemy to be destroyed is death, then you will find that Christ will Himself place Himself in subjection to God the Father, that God may be all in all. That will be the end of the story of Christ.
Last time we mentioned Acts 3:21: heaven shall receive Him until the times of the restoring of all things.
Now we know that the work of Christ is to restore all things. You remember, in Colossians 1 we are told that He shall reconcile all things to itself by the blood of His cross. He will reconcile all things to itself, whether things in the heavens or things on the earth.
The word itself—in some translations you can find “to Himself”—but actually, in the original, it is “to itself.” He shall reconcile all things to itself. The word itself simply refers to the fullness of God.
In other words, the work of our Lord Jesus is to reconcile all things to the fullness of God, that all things will be in such subjection to God that the glory of God may be manifested in all.
On Calvary’s cross, through the shedding of His blood, He has laid the foundation for such reconciliation.
After the foundation was laid, we find in Ephesians 1 that God raised Him and set Him at His right hand on the throne, above every principality, authority, power, and dominion. He has put all things under His feet and made Him Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him Who filleth all in all.
In other words, after that foundation of reconciling all things to the fullness of God was accomplished on Calvary’s cross, our Lord Jesus, in His ascended position, is carrying through—by Himself and also through His church—the bringing of all things into subjection to God.
So far as Christ is concerned, for all things to be in subjection to Him is His right. So far as the church is concerned, it is by grace that all things shall also be brought into subjection to Christ. The Bible says God has made Him Head over all things to the church.
To put it another way: to reconcile all things to the fullness of God, to restore all things to the original purpose of God, must first be realized in the church.
After this is realized in the church, then through the church the whole world, the whole universe—all things—will eventually be brought into subjection to Christ.
So, brothers and sisters, we are in the days when this work is going on, until finally this is fully realized.
We mentioned before that in the first coming of our Lord Jesus, He came as the Lamb of God. He came to accomplish the work of redemption.
In John 12, He said that He did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. So, in the first coming of Christ, He came to save the world. He came to accomplish the work of redemption. That was the purpose of His first coming.
But in His second coming, He shall come as the Lion of Judah. Or, to put it another way, in His second coming He is coming to judge the world.
The work of God is not completed until judgment also comes upon this earth. So you find, at His return, probably we will ask this question: What happens when Christ shall return? What will He do in His second coming, and what will happen upon this earth?
These are the things that we would like to consider together this morning at the end of the story of Christ.
In 1 Peter 4:17, it says that judgment shall begin with the house of God.
You know, after the work of redemption is accomplished, what follows is the work of judgment. To put it another way, redemption is offered to the world; and if redemption is rejected or neglected, then judgment will come upon the world to finish the whole thing.
Now, thank God, we have believed in the Lord Jesus. Because we belong to Christ, judgment must begin with the house of God, with the church.
Christ has offered Himself fully to us. Whether the church is to become the fullness of Christ is something that needs to be considered.
God’s will is that the church, the body, may be the fullness of Him Who filleth all in all. In other words, Christ has given Himself fully to the church. He wants the church to be His fullness, the expression of His fullness, and this is the will of God.
This is bringing all things into subjection to Christ. Everything in the church is to be brought into subjection to Christ. Everything in the church is to express Christ, and nothing else. It is Christ all and in all. This is the eternal will of God concerning His church.
But whether His church comes into that fullness, you will find this is the thing that will be judged by the Head, the Christ.
As a matter of fact, judgment has already begun in the house of God. If we read Revelation 2 and 3, we find that our Lord, as Priest-King, is walking in the midst of the seven churches, and there He is judging each one of them.
He judges not for the sake of punishment. He judges for the sake of restoration and recovery. He is trying to find Himself in His church. He is trying to find His fullness in His church.
But instead, He finds that in His church there are many things that are not Him. There are many things that are His which are not there. That is why the Lord is judging His own house.
He judges in order that He will bring His church to repentance. He judges that there may be recovery and restoration.
So, brothers and sisters, the judgment of the house of God has already begun. In a very real sense, through the twentieth century, we find that the church has been continuously under His judgment.
Individually and corporately, we are under His discipline. The Holy Spirit is bringing the light of God to us—personally and corporately.
If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.
When the light of God comes upon us, it judges all darkness. If we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we have fellowship; and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all our sins.
That is the reason why, brothers and sisters, today we need to walk daily in the light of the judgment seat of Christ.
Thank God, the judgment of eternal life and eternal death has passed, because we who believe in the Lord Jesus have passed out of death into life. That judgment of eternal life and death is past.
But one day we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. As the house of God, as the family of God, as the household of God, one day we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
You know, at the Lord’s coming, we will all be gathered before Him as His household. There we will be judged according to all our works. That is to say, after we believe in the Lord Jesus, how do we live? What do we do?
Do we glorify Him, or do we bring shame to Him? Do we allow the Holy Spirit to discipline us, and are we obedient to the discipline of the Holy Spirit, that Christ may be formed in us? Or do we still live according to the flesh?
Are we building with gold, silver, and precious stones? Or are we building with wood, hay, and stubble? Now, what have we been doing?
One day, as God’s children, as the family of God and household of God, we shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. There we will be judged, and we will receive reward or suffer loss—not eternal death, but we may suffer loss.
Brothers and sisters, because of this judgment in view, how we need to live daily with the light of that judgment seat in view.
If today we live under that light and allow the blood of the Lord Jesus to cleanse us from all our sins and shortcomings today, then on that day, when He shall return and judge His household, we will not be put to shame.
You remember this is what Paul often mentions in his epistles: that he is looking forward to the day of Christ, when he shall be counted worthy and not be put to shame.
So, brothers and sisters, we need to encourage one another that today we shall walk in the light of God. We shall always have the judgment seat of Christ in view and walk in the light as He is in the light. Then we will be cleansed, and when we shall see Him, we shall not be put to shame.
So, when the Lord shall come, He will judge the church.
Judgment does not end with the church, because we find in the world there are three classes of people: the church, the Jews, and the nations.
At His coming, you will find that the Jews—Israel—will also be judged. As a matter of fact, the judgment is already in progress.
You remember, our Lord Jesus, when He first came into this world, came to the house of Israel. He even told His early disciples, “Do not go to the Gentiles, but go to the house of Israel.”
In other words, He offered Himself as the Messiah, as the Redeemer, first to Israel. But unfortunately, Israel rejected Him as the Messiah. They put Him away, and they said, “Let His blood be upon us, and upon our children.”
So judgment began upon Israel. To those who fall, God is severe; the severity of God is upon those who fall. After they rejected Christ, the children of Israel were dispersed to all nations, to all the world.
If you read Ezekiel 20:33-44, you will find that God will judge them in the wilderness of the nations. Now, what is meant by the wilderness of the nations?
The background is the picture of how the children of Israel, after they were delivered out of Egypt and before they entered into the promised land, were in the wilderness for forty years.
In the wilderness God judged them. God revealed and exposed what was in their hearts, tested them, and showed them how disobedient and rebellious they were, so they might learn the lesson and eventually be brought into the promised land.
Now, that was the background. But here you find God is doing something even greater. He said that He is judging them in the wilderness of the nations.
In other words, throughout these centuries the children of Israel were scattered among all the nations, and to them it is like a wilderness. God was searching them. God was showing them their wicked hearts. God was trying to discipline them in order that one day, in His mercy, they may return.
It is true: in the mercy of God, in 1948 the nation of Israel was restored. But we must remember that restoration is only a political restoration. It is not a spiritual restoration.
What God has in mind for His people is a spiritual restoration: to recover them to the covenant promises of God. What God promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will all be fulfilled to them, because God is faithful.
In order to do that, you know, God is working in their midst through judgment. God is bringing them into that restoration.
So, the children of Israel today have returned to the promised land, but it is only a prelude. You will find that their greatest problem is security. They never feel secure as a nation.
They will try every way to have that security, instead of trusting the Lord, waiting upon God, and returning to Christ.
They try their own ways, and one day, for the sake of security, they will even make a pact with death—with Antichrist—because Antichrist will promise to give them security.
According to Daniel 9, you will find that they will make a pact with Antichrist for the sake of security. But in the midst of the seven years, Antichrist will break his peace pact and show his real colors.
Then there will come upon Israel, upon the Jews, Jacob’s trouble, as prophesied in Jeremiah 30. They will go through great tribulation and great trouble because, as the chosen people of God, they refuse to bow to the image of the beast.
Such sufferings are all part of the judgment of God. God uses judgment to bring them finally to their senses.
When they are at the lowest point, Christ will return. He will come and deliver them. He will judge them in order to purify them and bring them back to what God has ordained for them as His chosen people.
You remember our Lord Jesus one day told His twelve apostles that one day they will sit upon twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. All the wicked in Israel will be judged and purged.
Then Israel will repent, as you find in Zechariah 12 through 14. They will weep and repent, and then, according to Romans 11:26, all Israel shall be saved.
God begins with redemption, and it is completed with judgment. These two things work together, not against each other.
There will also be the judgment of the nations. Matthew 25:31-46 describes how, when Christ shall return to this earth, He will sit on the throne of His glory with His angels.
All the nations on the earth will be gathered before His throne. He will divide the nations into two classes: the sheep nations and the goat nations. The sheep nations will be on the right side and the goat nations on the left side.
He will say to the sheep nations, “You are blessed. You shall enter into the kingdom that My Father has prepared for you.”
For I was hungry, and ye gave Me to eat:
I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took Me in;
naked, and ye clothed Me:
I was sick, and ye visited Me:
I was in prison, and ye came unto Me.
The nations will say, “Lord, when did we do these things?” And the Lord will say, “Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it unto Me.”
Now, we do not know for sure whom the least of the Lord’s brethren refers to. It may be the Jews, or it may be the Christians. We do not know; it may be both.
The nations today that are kind to the least of the brethren of our Lord Jesus will one day receive blessing to move into the millennial kingdom as the nations on earth.
But those who are cruel to the least of the Lord’s brethren in this present age will be cast into eternal punishment. So the nations will also be judged.
Now we go back to consider something of the prophetic, historical, and chronological order, if possible, of the coming of the Lord and what will be done.
As we mentioned last time, His coming is like His going. In Acts 1, we are told by the two men in white, “Men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? This Jesus, Who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven.”
When our Lord Jesus returned to the Father, the first part was visible, because from the Mount of Olives He rose up and the disciples saw Him. Then a cloud received Him, and they could not see Him, but He was still going up.
So His going was in two stages: the visible and the invisible. From the Mount of Olives to the air was visible; from the air, through the cloud, to the throne was invisible.
When He shall return, He will return in the same manner. From the throne to the cloud, invisibly, He shall come as a thief. From the cloud to the Mount of Olives, visibly, He shall come as the lightning.
When lightning shines from the east to the west, everybody sees it.
So far as we can understand, chronologically, probably it will happen in this way.
First, you will find the rapture of the man child. In Revelation 12, the woman in travail represents the church in the last age, at the end time.
Out of the travail of the church comes forth a man child. That man child represents the overcomers at the end time—those who are still living and overcome.
They shall be taken alive, changed through the air, right to the throne where the Lord is.
Brothers and sisters, is it not exciting that we are on the verge of this time? We are not waiting for death; we are waiting to be raptured alive.
If the Lord should tarry, we may go through death. But if He should come today, or at any time, we can be raptured alive to the throne. What a blessing it must be.
This man child will be raptured to the throne to welcome, to bring, the King of kings and the Lord of lords to this earth.
When this happens, in Revelation 12 there will be war in the air. Michael and his angels will war with Satan and his fallen angels, and there will be no more place for Satan and his angels in the air.
You know, the air is the headquarters of the evil kingdom. So Satan, with his evil angels, will be thrown down to the earth. The air is cleared, and Christ and the man child will descend on the cloud. That is invisible.
When that happens, Satan is on this earth. According to Revelation, you find the trinity of evil all on the earth: Satan, the beast—the Antichrist—and the other beast, the false prophet.
When the trinity of evil is on earth, what can you expect but great tribulation? To the Jews, it is Jacob’s trouble.
To those Christians who, unfortunately, are not mature and are not prepared, it will be the great tribulation—a second opportunity to mature through suffering.
Toward the end of the three and a half years, you will see in Zechariah that the armies of the whole world will gather around Jerusalem.
Jerusalem will be attacked, and many will be killed. At that time Christ shall descend with His chosen army, the overcomers. They will descend, and our Lord’s feet will touch the Mount of Olives again.
The Mount of Olives will be split in two by an earthquake. People already find the line there; if there is an earthquake, the Mount of Olives will be broken in two.
Those who remain in Jerusalem, the Jews, will flee, and Christ will come to deliver them.
There will be the last battle, the battle of Armageddon.
At the last battle, the armies that oppose our Lord will be destroyed. The beast and the false prophet will be thrown into the lake of fire, and Satan will be bound and put into the bottomless pit for a thousand years.
Then the millennial kingdom shall begin. In other words, this age passes away, and the age to come has finally arrived. Christ shall reign for a thousand years.
So, brothers and sisters, what will our Lord do when He shall return? You will find that with judgment He clears up everything, and then His kingdom shall come upon this earth.
This is the public manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens. This is the time when heaven shall rule upon this earth.
So far as the millennial kingdom is concerned, as we understand it, the time is one thousand years. That is why you call it the millennium.
But this millennial kingdom is actually in two parts. You have the heavenly part, which is called the kingdom of the heavens.
This is where Christ shall reign with His overcomers. His overcomers shall reign with Him for a thousand years. This is the time when the overcomers of the church shall be rewarded.
As our Lord Jesus sometimes says, one will rule five cities and another will rule ten cities. Of course, these cities are on the earth. Heaven rules over the earth.
But then there is another part. That part is on earth. It is called the millennial kingdom, or the Messianic kingdom.
It is the time when Israel shall become a nation of priests, as God has ordained for them to be. Brothers and sisters, what God has ordained must come to pass.
Israel forfeited what God ordained for them for all these thousands of years, but God has not forgotten His promise. There will come the time when the nation of Israel shall be a nation of priests.
If you read Zechariah 14, you will find that every vessel in Jerusalem is a holy vessel. They will go out and teach the nations—a nation of priests.
All the nations upon this earth—the sheep nations that have become the nations on earth—will all come to worship the Lord, even at the Feast of Tabernacles.
If any nation refuses to come, judgment will be quick. Today this is the age of grace; therefore, judgment seems to come very slowly.
But during the kingdom age, the Lord shall sit upon the throne of David, and He will maintain His kingdom with righteousness and judgment. Isaiah 9:7 says that He will maintain His kingdom with righteousness and with judgment.
The kingdom age is the age of righteousness. Righteousness will rule over this earth.
You know, during the first coming of our Lord Jesus, did our Lord solve social problems, political problems, economic problems—the problems of this world? No.
Yes, He did heal the sick. He did feed the hungry. He did preach the gospel to the poor. But our Lord did not come at His first coming to solve the problems of this world.
He came for the salvation of souls. He came for our souls, for our spiritual well-being.
But that does not mean that our Lord is not concerned with the problems of this world. In His second coming, He comes to solve all the world’s problems.
Whatever is not of God will be done away. You will find that during the millennial kingdom on earth, it is almost like a return to the days of Adam before the fall.
Creation shall be liberated from corruption and vanity.
The lion will eat grass with the ox. Nothing on earth will hurt or harm. The knowledge of the Lord shall fill this earth as the waters fill the sea.
There will be peace, with righteousness ruling over this earth. The Bible says that our Lord Jesus, during that time, will rule this earth with a rod of iron.
Revelation 19 says that He shall rule this earth with a rod of iron. What does it mean? It means that He will rule this earth with righteousness. Punishment will be quick.
A man who dies at a hundred years old will be considered cursed. Today, if you reach a hundred years old, you are blessed.
How glorious it is to find the Lord on the throne, ruling over the world. It is a glorious time, the millennium time.
Brothers and sisters, even with such a perfect environment, many people’s hearts will still be hard.
Now, you must remember that, so far as the heavenly part of the millennium is concerned, those who reign with Christ are already in spiritual bodies—not in mortal bodies, but in spiritual bodies.
They rule from heaven upon earth. They do not need airplanes, because if they want to come to earth, they are there.
It is just like after the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. After the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, it was just a matter of appearing and disappearing. There was none of that coming or going.
This will be the same with us. So you can rule five cities or ten cities on earth very easily—no problem.
But anyway, the people on earth are still in mortal bodies, physical bodies.
You will find that even with the perfect environment, many people still will rebel. Even under the righteous rule of Christ, everything is so peaceful and so wonderful, yet many people will still be unconverted.
People today say it is the environment that is the problem. Change the environment, and you will be fine; you will be perfect. Well, a perfect environment does not produce a perfect person.
That is the reason why, after the millennium, in Revelation 20, there will be the last rebellion.
Satan will be released from the bottomless pit. Why? Well, he will be used by God. He will tempt the people during the millennium age, and still you will find a great multitude will follow him in the last rebellion.
They will come up to surround Jerusalem and the camp of the saints. Jerusalem represents the center of the Lord’s kingdom on earth. The camp of the saints represents the center of the heavenly aspect of the kingdom.
It is interesting. Why does Satan surround Jerusalem? Because that is where the throne of David is. But why does he come and surround the camp of the saints? What is the camp of the saints?
I can only give you a picture. I think the picture is like in the old days, in the feudal age. There would be an emperor, and there would be lords, counts, viscounts, dukes, and princes.
They would all have their own domain, their own estates, their own rule, but they were all under the emperor.
In the old days, these princes used to stay with the emperor in his palace city. But then the emperor would visit the estates of his subordinates.
When he visited, there would be a camp. The emperor would come and visit the estates of this prince or that prince, and there would be festivals and things like that. You read this in history, of course.
So that is the picture. The Lord reigns in the air over the earth with His princes, but they will come down and visit. That is the camp of the saints.
In the last rebellion, you will find Satan tries to attack Jerusalem and the camp of the saints, but they will be destroyed.
Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire—eternal death. That is the place God has prepared for him.
Then the Bible says that Hades and death will be cast into the lake of fire. Brothers and sisters, that is the time when death shall be destroyed.
If you go back to 1 Corinthians 15, you will find that the Lord will annul all powers, principalities, authorities, and rules that oppose God. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
At that time, you will find that the work of Christ is fully accomplished. Everything now is in subjection to Christ. There is no more opposition.
His redemption work is complete, accepted, and realized.
At that moment, the Son of God, the Christ of God, will Himself be put in subjection to God the Father, that God may be all in all.
Brothers and sisters, that is the glorious end of the story of Christ.
What is the principal lesson that we need to learn through all this life of Christ?
Brothers and sisters, I think we need to see that He, the Son of God, Who is equal with God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.
Yet, in obedience to the Father, He emptied Himself. He laid aside the glory of His Godhead.
He took upon Himself the form of a bondservant. That is, He subjected Himself as a bondservant to His Father, a slave of love to His Father.
He came in the likeness of man: the second Man, the last Adam.
In His life, He was obedient to God in all things, always denying Himself, always subjecting all things under the feet of God His Father.
To the very end of His life, He was obedient even unto death, and that death of the cross.
What a work of redemption He has accomplished.
Even after that, having been exalted to the right hand of God, He is still executing His Father’s will.
He will bring everything into subjection to God. Everything will reflect the glory of God.
And, brothers and sisters, what a price He has paid, and how faithful He has been. What a Christ He is to us.
So, brothers and sisters, to me, I feel the greatest lesson to be learned is to see what a Christ we have, that we may really worship Him with all our hearts and love Him with all our heart, mind, intellect, and strength.
He is worthy. May the Lord help us.
Dear heavenly Father, we worship Thee because Thou hast given Thy beloved Son to us.
Lord, we thank Thee that Thy Christ, the Anointed One of God, has accomplished everything to the Father’s satisfaction.
Lord, we thank Thee that by Thy grace Thou hast drawn us into Thy purpose, that we may not only share Thy life, but, Lord, we may share Thy suffering and share Thy glory.
Lord, what can we say to such a Christ as we have? We can only say, we say, we love Thee.
In Thy precious name. Amen.