WHEN JESUS RETURNS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when He comes, those who belong to Him. Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For He “has put everything under His feet. Now when it says that “everything” has been put under Him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When He has done this, then the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put everything under Him, so that God may be all in all.

1 Corinthians 15:23-28

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In yesterday’s message, we looked at the critical importance of the resurrection and how the hope of mankind hinged on the truth that it happened. Jesus didn’t just remain in the tomb dead and decomposing after being taken down from the cross. Rather, He was brought back to life and still remains alive this very day, and all who have placed their belief in Him will not perish either. They will receive God’s promise of eternal life when Jesus returns and He is returning. He said it would happen and everything Jesus has ever said has come to be. The only thing none of us know is when He is returning.

This truth, that the resurrected Jesus will once again return to earth, is at the heart of our scripture passage today as we continue to study from the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians. Look again at what Paul writes:

But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when He comes, those who belong to Him. Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For He “has put everything under His feet. Now when it says that “everything” has been put under Him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When He has done this, then the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put everything under Him, so that God may be all in all.  1 Corinthians 15:23-28

Here we see Paul sharing what is a consistent message regarding what happens to Christian believers when they die. In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul makes it clear that the dead in Christ will simply fall into a state of repose, asleep until the time when Jesus returns. They will then rise first to meet Him in the air, followed by those who are alive in Christ (1 Thessalonians 4). Here in the letter to the Corinthians, he shares that Jesus first is resurrected, the first fruit of God’s bringing people from death to life, followed by those to belong to Him when He returns. It’s going to be a great and glorious scene but that’s not all that going to happen. Paul gives us more in our passage which includes the following:

1. The end will come as Jesus hands over the kingdom to God.

We need to keep in mind that God delegated all authority in heaven and on earth to His Son. He didn’t relinquish what was rightfully His and so Jesus will be returning the kingdom to His Father. Everything was put under Jesus’ feet to rule over but God wasn’t included in the everything. He was, is, and will always be over all things so that He may be all in all.

2. Jesus will destroy all other dominion, authority, and power.

Jesus’ reign will last until the day when He puts all enemies under His feet. The Bible puts this a different way:

Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11

All things in heaven and on earth are under the authority of Jesus and He will reign until He has gained utter victory over everything to include death, identified as the “last enemy”.

Jesus is coming back to save those who are dead and alive in Him.

Jesus is coming back to gain the final victory over all His enemies to include death.

And Jesus is coming back to present the kingdom back to God, His Father and ours.

All this is possible because He died and resurrected from the dead by God’s power.

God’s salvation plan, summarized by the Gospel, is centered on Jesus, Thanks be to God for the gift of His Son.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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