Angelic Conflict part 269: Defeater of death – 1Co 15:20-28; Rom 5:12-21; Heb 1:8.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 269: Defeater of death - 1CO 15:20-28; ROM 5:12-21; HEB 1:8. 

 

 

Death is treated as the last enemy to be destroyed.

 

1CO 15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.

 

Seven Jewish feasts:

Passover - salvation

Unleavened bread - walk after salvation

First fruits - resurrection

Pentecost - union of Jew and Gentile in the Church

Trumpets - Rapture/Second Coming

Atonement - Judgment at Second Coming

Tabernacles - Millennial rest

 

1CO 15:21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.

 

First Fruits - a sheaf of stalks of grain was carried to the priest and waved before the Lord for acceptance. It was a sign that the entire harvest belonged to Him.

 

Christ is the first fruits of resurrection and all believers belong to Him and in like manner will be resurrected.

 

1CO 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.

 

Paul saw in Adam a type of Jesus Christ by the way of contrast (ROM 5:12-21). The first Adam was made from the earth, but the Last Adam (1CO 15:45-47) came from heaven. The first Adam disobeyed God and brought sin and death into the world, but the Last Adam obeyed the Father and brought righteousness and life.

 

First Adam was made from earth, disobeyed God and brought sin and death into the world. The Last Adam came from heaven, obeyed the Father, and brought righteousness and life.
 

1CO 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming [the Church],

 

1CO 15:24 then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power [except His own - obviously].

 

There is no kingdom without Christ. There is no atonement without Christ. God cannot be a combatant. God cannot die a spiritual death. If God in His omnipotence had taken back what man lost then all would be destroyed, including mankind, because God can only judge sin. As true and sinless and impeccable humanity Christ was able to redeem mankind and so conquer God's foes while redeeming, retaining, and protecting us through the greatest sacrifice of all history.

 

 

1CO 15:24 then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power [except His own - obviously].

 

1CO 15:25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.

 

1CO 15:26 The last enemy that will be abolished [rendered powerless] is death.

 

1CO 15:27 For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, "All things are put in subjection," it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him.

 

1CO 15:28 And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all.

 

Though subjected to the Father, Christ will rule the kingdom forever:

 

HEB 1:8

But of the Son He says,

"Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever,

And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom."

 

2SA 7:16 [to David]

And your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.

 

ISA 9:7

There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,

On the throne of David and over his kingdom,

To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness

From then on and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

 

DAN 2:44

And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.

 

DAN 7:14

His dominion is an everlasting dominion

Which will not pass away;

And His kingdom is one

Which will not be destroyed.

 

COL 1:20

and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself [deliverance or judgment], having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

 

1CO 15:24 then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power [except His own - obviously].

 

1CO 15:25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.

 

1CO 15:26 The last enemy that will be abolished [rendered powerless] is death.

 

1CO 15:27 For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, "All things are put in subjection," it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him.

 

1CO 15:28 And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all.

 

 

The interpretation which affirms that the Son shall then be subject to the Father in the sense of laying down his delegated authority, and ceasing to exercise his mediatorial reign, has been the common interpretation of all times. This remark is of value only, because, in the interpretation of plum words, it is not probable that people of all classes and ranks in different ages would err. [Barnes' Notes]

 

At the end of human history Christ will deliver up the kingdom that He has mediated to the Father when all opposition is forever abolished.

 

The last opposition to be abolished or rendered powerless is death. All believers are delivered up to the Father because Christ has conquered death.

 

The humanity of Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords will completely submit His rightful kingdom to the Father. It seems like an offering to the Father through love and devotion. However, though the kingdom is submitted to the Father and His role as Mediator is no longer needed, the redeemer, the humanity of Christ will rule it forever and forever be adored by the redeemed.

 

There are several parallels to the Son of Man, humanity of Christ in relation to the Father and to the redeemed of the Church in relation to the Son of Man, humanity of Christ. In like manner the overcomers from the Church will cast their given crowns at the Savior's feet (a type of first fruit wave offering) and He will give them authority to rule what He rightfully conquered (as the Father gives to Christ).

 

JOH 17:22-23

"And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me.

 

The glory of God is the end of Christ's mediatorial office.

 

PHI 2:10-11

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

 

Every knee doesn't bow nor does every tongue confess at the same time, but by the end of time all will have, whether willingly or forcibly.

 

At the end of human history, there is no longer a need to mediate, for all are delivered into the kingdom and given to the Father forever. Christ will continue in humanity as the Shekinah Glory, illuminating the New Jerusalem. He is its temple.

 

REV 21:23

And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

 

[back to]

1CO 15:25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.

 

1CO 15:26 The last enemy that will be abolished [rendered powerless] is death.

 

REV 1:18

and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

 

Even for the unbeliever death in abolished in the second resurrection unto judgment in the lake of fire.

 

REV 20:14

And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

 

1CO 15:27 For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, "All things are put in subjection," it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him.

 

1CO 15:28 And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all.

 

This implies that the time has not yet arrived, and that his dominion is now exercised, and that he is carrying forward his plans for the subjugation of all things to God. People still die physically, but believers go straight to the Lord in heaven. Soon, there will no longer be any death whatsoever.

 

The humanity of Christ, the Son of Man, shall willingly submit, along with the submitted kingdom, to the Father forever.

 

His attitude is no different than it was during the incarnation. When human history is over and the kingdom completed and the victory is fully realized, the humanity of Christ will willingly submit the kingdom to the Father as He Himself will. This is the mystery of the hypostatic union. It would seem that the Son of Man submits to the Son of God, the Father, and Holy Spirit forever, though Christ is God and man in one person forever.

Angelic Conflict part 269: Defeater of death - 1CO 15:20-28; ROM 5:12-21; HEB 1:8.