“Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.” I Corinthians 15:24-25
In I Corinthians 15 Paul is teaching about the importance of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. There were false teachers in Corinth who were teaching that the dead do not rise, that there is no such thing as bodily resurrection. Paul shows emphatically that the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is the heart of the Gospel. If the dead do not rise there is no Christianity.
But the dead do rise. Jesus Christ has indeed risen from the dead. He has ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father ruling heaven and earth. On earth He is in the process of subduing all His enemies putting them under His feet. This warfare began to be carried out in the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and will continue until all His enemies are finally defeated. Then He will “deliver” the kingdom to the Father.
The word “deliver” means to hand over. The implication is that there is actually something to hand over. The kingdom has been prepared, it is complete, it is ready to be handed over to the Father, and then the final mopping up of the last enemies and the beginning of eternity. Jesus began a campaign of conquest at Pentecost, defeating the kingdom of darkness and extending His kingdom over the earth that will continue until there are no enemies left to defeat.
This is the same thing that Jesus told His disciples. He said that He will build His church and the kingdom of darkness will not be able to stop it. (Matthew 16:18) Jesus is the rock, the chief cornerstone of this glorious building. Peter is a little stone, part of the foundation of the building which is made of the apostles and the prophets. All other Christians are living stones being built into a holy temple, a dwelling place for the Spirit. (I Peter 2:4-6) This is the meaning of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream which Daniel interprets in Daniel 2: at the time of the Roman empire, God will set up a kingdom that will grow and fill the entire earth completely destroying the idol of man. The Scripture envisions over and over the progressive growth and establishment of the kingdom of heaven on earth. In other words, the church wins!
Without Jesus’ bodily resurrection none of this is true. However, since Jesus has risen from the dead, His warfare, His building project, and His labors are not in vain. As Christians in Christ, we too look forward to our bodily resurrection, which means we are an important part of King Jesus’ warfare. We are His soldiers. We are His building project. And our labor here as the church is not vain, which is how Paul ends I Corinthians 15. In light of the bodily resurrection of Jesus; “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
Fight the good fight!
His mercy endures forever!
Pastor Flynn