Angelic Conflict part 270: Defeater of death – 1Co 15:20-28; 2Ti 1:7-11; Rom 5:12-21.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 270: Defeater of death - 1CO 15:20-28; 2TI 1:7-11; ROM 5:12-21.  

 

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.

 

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

 

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

 

We may be inclined to blame Adam, but we should look rather kindly upon Adam.

 

If death passed to the entire human race through one man's disobedience, cannot life pass to the entire human race through one Man's righteousness?

 

Adam had the pressure of standing for many and he completely failed. Christ had the pressure of standing for many and He completely succeeded.

 

This is why what is restored to us is not the life of Adam, even the unfallen Adam, but the life of the one from heaven, which is a resurrection life.

 

Every man knows instinctively that he is "in Adam," whether he uses the term or not or whether he believes the Gen 1 account or not. All humans will state that they are human and therefore make errors, mistakes, and do things they are not proud of. Some do this so much that they lose sensitivity to their errors and so commit graver and graver errors than most. But the great question is not if you are in Adam, but can you honestly look at Cavalry through the thought content of your mind and conclude with certainty that you are forever in Christ and therefore forever alive? Can you look objectively at the poison that flows from Adam to you and find the cleansing that flows from the water and the blood and breathe life and power and not condemnation?

 

Death is abolished in Christ.

 

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].

 

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.

 

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.

 

MAT 4:10

Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.'"

 

JOH 10:30

"I and the Father are one."

 

JOH 14:28

If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I.

 

We must remember that the Son is unique. His humanity does not mix with His deity and nor is He half and half. He is true humanity and undiminished deity in one person forever. In this He is unique. He is worshipped and only God is worshipped and yet in His humanity He submits to the Father. He is worshipped and no other who is humanity is worshipped. Therefore He does not submit as the creature does, but in honor to the Father in true humility and servitude as only He could do. This does not diminish the honor bestowed upon Him.

 

JOH 5:22-23

"For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, in order that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.

 

HEB 1:6

 And when He again brings the first-born into the world, He says,

" And let all the angels of God worship Him."

 

Though this is likely the greatest mystery in Christianity and can only be met with faith from creatures as finite and limited as ourselves, one thing stands out by way of tremendous contrast.

 

satan attempted to rob the kingdom from God but Christ conquered the entire kingdom and then willfully submitted it to the Father.

 

What is common about satan and every person who has attempted to rob another of property or life? They are controlled by colossal arrogance. Christ in tremendous humility delivered us from the sting of 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 Scripture teaches that Christ is all and in all with reference to believers. For all eternity these will be subjected to the Father along with His entire kingdom.

 

COL 3:11

a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.

 

This was prophesied by Zechariah.

 

ZEC 14:9

And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one.

 

Then and not until then, "all things" shall be subject to the Son, and the Son subordinate to the Father (in His humanity) while co-equally sharing His glory.

 

Now, some believers on the earth desire Christ and the Father to be "all" in their lives and get disappointed when they realize He is not. No believer, no matter how long they reside in the plan of God ever arrives at such a state in time. It is only when all things have been subjected to Christ and we are forever in Him in heaven that He will be all and in all, and for all who believe, that is a guarantee and it should give tremendous comfort.

 

Death reigns as a foreign invader, given access to God's children by their fall in sin.

 

ROM 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned — 

 

Adam was constituted in such sense the head and representative of his race that his sin and fall were held as theirs, and visited penalty accordingly - death.

 

As the federal head of the human race, when Adam sinned we all sinned and his sin was passed on to all of us judicially and genetically. Therefore we are all born dead in our trespasses and sins, not because of our own personal sins, but before we committed one personal sin. We were born spiritually dead, depraved, condemned, and enemies of God.

 

The manifold sufferings, moral impotence, and death of all mankind, will be found in a moral connection between Adam and his race.

 

But before anyone can scream "unfair" or anyone can ask for their own chance under temptation in the Garden of Eden, the corresponding arrangement for the redemption of man through the Last Adam is given.

 

GAL 3:22

But the Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

 

All being shut up in sin means that all can only have deliverance through faith in Christ and can do nothing of themselves. Condemnation precedes salvation by mercy and grace.