1 Corinthians 15:20-28 Order of the Resurrection

Well, today we start the next section. Can I get someone to read the section 20-28? You can read it from the overhead or from your Bible. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who were asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, after that those who are Christ's at his coming.

Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when he has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. 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 accepted who put all things in subjection to him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself also will be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all.

So this section is a pretty amazing section. It's going to tell us kind of the big picture about how Christ will set things right. Things will ultimately be set back in the order they were before sin entered God's creation and the fall happened and so on. So this is the making right of all things. Pretty amazing. in these nine verses.

He's going to tell us that pattern. Before we get there, let's go back here and look at, depending upon McCauley here for his outline, I kind of like his. First of all, we talked about the gospel. He kind of labels the gospel the resurrection. I have no problem with that. In the proofs of the resurrection, we saw all the manifestations that Christ had. He appeared to more than 500 at one time.

And then last week we saw Randy went through the objectors to the resurrection. And we're going to make a real brief summary of that before we start. And then today we're going to talk about the affirmation of the resurrection in kind of two parts, the foundation of God's resurrection plan, and then the execution of his resurrection plan. And just some amazing things here. The statement, the simple statement that Randy read at the beginning, Christ was resurrected, and that's a fact, and that fact we can depend upon, and that fact guarantees the rest of God's plan to be carried out.

So before we start that, let's just kind of go back and look a little bit here. So what the objectors were saying in verse 12, they were saying that there's no resurrection of the dead. It doesn't seem like that they were Many were eyewitnesses. They had no issue that Christ was raised from the dead, but they thought that was a one-time deal. They didn't see the implications that had on all those who put their faith and trust in Christ. Quite get that. So Paul goes through this long expose, which is kind of a big downer. He goes through and he flips it around. And unfortunately, I get to listen to you, Randy. I apologize. I read your notes, but I didn't have to listen. So anyway, so.

So I'd like to go in there and look at the you know, all the statements in here are what's called they're assumed to be true for the sake of argument. So Paul's done this big. argument to prove that if Christ isn't raised from the dead, we might as well fold our Bibles up and go home. We're wasting our time. So he goes through this expose here. So he starts off.

He says, assuming it's true that there's no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ was raised, which you guys saw. So he says, if you say there's no resurrection of the dead, then that has impact upon what we just saw before us here. In verse 14 he says, we assume true that Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith is in vain. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God. If there is really no resurrection, then we are testifying falsely. Because we testify that God has raised Christ.

Which He was not raised, if we assume the dead are not raised. If we assume that the dead are not raised, not even Christ was raised. Some of it is a little bit repetitive stuff here. If we assume it's true that Christ hasn't been raised, your faith is worthless, you're still in your sins, then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

And if we assume it to be true, we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. So that's a real negative, because it assumes something that's not true. So Paul goes through these verses here that Randy covered last week to show that the total importance that there is that Christ was raised from the dead. So now today we are going to take the flip side and he is going to go through and show to us that the resurrection of Christ started the chain of events for Christ to make God all in all.

So we start off with this first statement. And the but here is but now, but now, in strong contrast to those verses before, but now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. So this has been raised is this word in the original that is the idea to literally to stand up, to stand up or to make to stand up, It's in this tense in the Greek. I've done this before.

It's this thing called the perfect tense. Notice it's in the passive. Christ didn't raise himself. Even though he's God, he didn't really raise himself. He was acted upon because he's a God-man. He was acted upon, but it's in this perfect tense. You could say Christ has been raised in the past. and continues in that risen state up into the present and on into the future. That's a statement of permanence. I like the song, We Serve a Risen Savior, He's in the World Today, and so on. So Christ is a risen Savior. He continues to be raised as we speak. And that's what makes it so marvelous. It's not just a, well that's an event, a spectacular event in the future. It has impact into the present and on into the future for all eternity.

So here's a verse that kind of speaks about that. to the agony of death, since it was impossible for him to be held in his power." And some have said, God can't die. If God is God, how can God die? That kind of negates the whole concept of a God. God is one who creates things and makes things. Well, if God dies, then he's not God. So in the sense of what it says here in Acts 24, it was impossible for him to be held in his power.

So let's see here. So actually what I also wanted to do here was to look up, let's look at one more verse here, and then we'll go to the asleep part here. So could someone read, someone turn to 1st Peter chapter 1 and read verses 1, 2, 1, 2, and 3. 1st Peter chapter 1, 1, 2, and 3.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the stranger scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, and Bithynia elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you, and multiply.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again into lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Okay, so the motivating force of all that the believer has is Jesus Christ being resurrected from the dead. That's a motivation for our faith, that's a motivation for the entire Christian life. Without that everything falls apart. And that's what he was trying to show you in the previous verses. The whole concept of a Savior all falls apart without Christ being truly resurrected from the dead.

So, other thoughts, other comments on this? I'm going to go on to the asleep part. How he said first fruit, which is kind of a cool... first fruits, plural. I always want to cut off the S on that. I don't know if it works. Anyway, okay, so it says but now Christ has been raised from the dead the first fruits of Those who are asleep So the idea of first fruits is kind of captured and it shows up a lot more than you might think. That terminology is used quite a bit but it really comes from the idea of a harvest and the first produce or the first things that occur in the harvest. So let's look at Leviticus chapter I'm going to read a little more than what I have on the chart. Leviticus 23, 9-12.

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest. And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you. On the morrow, after the Sabbath, the priests shall wave it. And you shall offer that day when you shall wave the sheaf, and he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.

OK. So we see here, you know, back in, In this time period, basically, when they had a harvest, they were able to bring the first part of the harvest before the Lord and sacrifice it. I like what Macaulay has done here. He got four things out of the picture. I think it's just more than this verse. The first fruits represent the whole crop, right? Because you're thanking the Lord for the whole crop based on one part of it, one sheaf. I'm not quite sure. I didn't look up what a sheaf is. Is that a big bundle or a small bundle? It's some amount of the harvest.

The first fruits consecrate the whole crop. We kind of saw that when they brought it to the Lord and sacrificed it. the first fruits anticipates the whole crop. It's saying, well, we got this first part, thank you Lord for the entire part. So it's not like, well, we might miss the rest of it, we're going to get the rest of it. And lastly, the first fruit guarantees the whole crop. I found that a little bit hard to see in the passage, but certainly in terms of the representation we see in our Savior, his resurrection guarantees our resurrection, because he is God and because he has promised that. So it's easier to see, I think, actually, in the sacrifice in the Old Testament. For me, it's a little bit harder to see, but I'm sure it's still there.

So, the first fruits are those who are asleep, literally the ones having fallen asleep. And this word, sleep, is spoken of as a sleep, a person when he dies is asleep. I think that's kind of apropos, but it's literally, he dies, he's dead. For an unbeliever, they probably scratch their heads and think, that seems kind of strange, that person is dead. But for a believer, we kind of get the picture, we kind of see that because we see there is a resurrection for us, we understand that concept. And you begin to see how important understanding the resurrection and counting upon it and believing it. So basically, we see that actually that phraseology is used in a couple of verses, which I want to go over.

So let's go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Let's just go back a little bit earlier. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 6 and it says, It says, and after he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, most of whom remain with us until now, but some have fallen asleep. So there's one instance, and there's another instance in verse 18, which actually Randy covered.

But it was covered in the negative sense. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ had perished. So without the resurrection again, the whole concept of asleep doesn't have any meaning anymore. So once again we see the importance of understanding the resurrection.

And then lastly, could someone read the passage in Acts for me? Acts chapter 7, 59 and 60. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

So you'll always see, not always, but in many, many cases, you'll see in terms of believers, when they die, they fall asleep. And they fall asleep, and it's fall asleep in the Lord sometimes, fall asleep in Him. So that's an important thing. So the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. Christ was the first one to be raised from the dead, and we've fallen asleep, and we're going to see later on here how we will be resurrected. And we will no longer be asleep, so to speak. Questions or thoughts? All right. Good. All right. Roger, I had a question. Sure.

In the Old Testament, don't they use that phrase, too? It is used in other places. There are some references to that. I thought it was used in the Old Testament. I don't have a particular reference. Sometimes it means literally asleep. In many cases in the New Testament it refers to a believer who has died. I thought in the Old Testament it referred to that.

I didn't have a verse for that. I was looking, but I just couldn't find one. I'll check, and I'll tell you next week what I find. Or you can look. I just thought that was a fairly common, but it has new meaning. It does. In the New Testament, for sure. And I think Paul continues to talk about that. Even though that phrase was used before. This is a whole other kind of, as he explains what this means. Well, that's a good point.

Remember when Lazarus was raised and he was talking to Martha or Mary? One of his sisters. And she said, well Lord, I know. He says, basically, I'm going to raise him. He says, well yeah Lord, I know that you're going to raise us. So they understood the idea of resurrection even in the Old Testament. So you're right. There's some verses that talk about that. Jack?

What crops up in my mind is the fact that the word resurrection, that doesn't mean just the life that you had on earth or is there something else implied there? You're thinking about, you're saying that resurrections and you said plural or I wasn't sure what you were saying there. Well the word resurrection It means to stand, the word itself, it means to stand up, I mean, in the original it means to stand up, to stand erect. But that isn't necessarily our body being resurrected, is it or not?

Or is it a new body? Well, that passage, and that's the whole study unto itself. We're going to get a new body. But initially, it seems like that we wait for, I mean, anyway, people that died right now, their body's in the ground, right? So at the rapture, We'll all meet the Lord in the air. And if I believe so, isn't that when we get... I'm a little bit weak on this. Is that when we get... Get our new bodies. That's my understanding. Yeah, that's my thought too. Well, we're with the Lord at the rapture. Then there's some time period there where there's going to be other events that we see described in scripture. The marriage supper of the Lamb, then we return with him during the thousand year reign of the earth. So that timeline... You will have a new body then? You will have a new body, yes. But people right now that are asleep for the Lord, their body they have this earth is in the ground.

Right. I think Macaulay had a point where we think of the spirit and the soul, but there's also the body that's connected. We are a body, soul, and spirit. That's important. A person is a body, soul, and spirit. And the Lord certainly will have his wounded body, so to speak, marred body. We see that in Revelation. And we're going to have a body, a new body, so we're not going to be without a body, which is a good thing.

Okay, so verse 21 So these two verses here, it's going to present, this is God's resurrection program. He's going to talk about where we came from. We came from Adam, and now we're in Christ. So he's going to go through this and talk about this. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

So what I did here, I kind of took 21 and 22, and I kind of took the parts that applied to the man and Adam, and then the part that applied to the man and Christ, and I kind of grouped them together. So first of all, for a sense by a man came death. So in the first part here, he doesn't really, you probably can tell that, but he doesn't really identify who he's talking about. But in 21a he does, for in Adam all die. So the Adamic man, death came Death came with sin. When sin entered the picture, death came. We'll see at the end of this, when I finish today, death is gone. There's no more death. Death will finally be done with. Death is an anomaly.

That was an anomalous situation. We were driving down the road and the engine stopped. That shouldn't happen. The engine should keep running as long as we have gas. But it just stopped. That was an anomaly. Well, in God's creation from the beginning, sin was a situation that happened that didn't surprise God, but it happened. And that's not the order that he has planned.

His order is with Christ in subjection to him and we in subjection to Christ. And that's the order that God has planned and will ultimately get to when all things are put right. So the idea is here that we're in union with Adam and we see that we're his offspring. He's our federal head, you could say.

In this situation when it says all die, for as in Adam all die, who are the all here? I'm being a little bit picky here, there are two all's in this verse. Some people might want to argue that, so who are the all here? Just all of Adam. All of creation, right? Everyone came from Adam. So that's all who are in Adam, right? We're going to see the other all as a more select group.

So Romans 5.12, which is kind of a corollary verse to this.

Therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world, the death through sin and so death spread to all men because of all sin. Right. So that's speaking once again that all men created an atom and death spread to all of them. So this condition which was not part of God's original plan But he wasn't, you know, I better just stop there. Okay, so 21.

By a man also came resurrection of the dead. So that's his general statement. As I mentioned before, we see that Christ had the power to raise Lazarus from the dead. We don't have to look at that verse right now. So also in Christ, all will be made alive. So this is a All are made alive. So this is future and the future, and this is passive. God, Christ are the ones that are doing this. So the all here is a different all, right? It's not all of mankind. It's all those in Christ. So it's kind of good to see the difference between the two alls here. And so someone read back to Romans 5, could read 15 through 17.

But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift, by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to many. The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For on the one hand, the judgment arose from one transgression, resulting in condemnation. But on the other hand, the free gift arose from many transgressions, resulting in justification. 17 For if, by the transgression of the one, death reign through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and have the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.

So the last part of 17 speaks to that. They will reign in life, will be made alive through Jesus Christ. So this verse kind of gives the plan. In Adam all die, but in Christ all are made alive. All those who put their faith and trust in Christ. So this is God's plan for redeeming a fallen man. A man that has a sin problem.

So what we're going to see next is we're going to kind of see, this is his plan, we're going to kind of see the order of the plan. How's that going to be carried out? We kind of already know that, but he's going to make it explicit. So this is his plan to redeem fallen man, and important to realize that this gives us indication that we have a particular unique kind of man, the man Christ Jesus, because he calls him a man here. So one of the places that we can hang our hat that Christ is a man and we see that in his risen body bearing the marks of the crucifixion. Okay, so this is God's plan. So now we're going to see kind of the order of the plan.

And it kind of starts off with the word order. But in each his own order, Christ the firstfruits, after that those who are Christ's at his coming, then comes the end when he will hand over the kingdom to God and Father when he has abolished all rule and authority and power. There are three parts to these two verses, but each in its own order. Order is basically the idea, as you might guess, to have an order to be arranged in order. The first event was Christ's first fruits. Just like we saw in the harvest situation, he was the beginning of this crop of those who were going to be resurrected.

So in Acts here it says, let me see if I want to go back a little bit here. Actually I want to go back and just read a little bit more. This is a verse before that. I'll read this one. Acts 26 starting in verse 22. And this is Paul before Agrippa. He's making his defense before Agrippa in this passage. So we're reading the last part of that. And so Paul says, and so, he's explaining his conversion and so on.

And so, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and the great, stating nothing but what the prophets and Moses said was going to take place. that the Christ was to suffer and that by reason of his resurrection from the dead he should be the first to proclaim light to both the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.

So the key part, he's the first. Others would proclaim this light. The apostles would, and we would, ultimately. So Christ was, once again, this first fruits idea. He was the first of those to proclaim light to both the Jewish people and the Gentiles. So we'll see this order. And it's a military term. So Paul was showing that he was a first in rank.

As we saw in McCauley's dissertation, his resurrection guaranteed our resurrection. So that's important. If Christ wasn't God and didn't pay for our sin, his resurrection wouldn't have been significant, but it was. So it's a person and his actions. It's the person and the work of Christ that accomplishes this.

So the second part, and after that. So that was the first event. The first fruits, Christ being resurrected. And after that, those who are Christ at his coming. So this is the second one, afterwards. So it's literally the ones of Christ who are Christ at his coming.

And that word coming is a word, and you hear people talk about the parousia, something like that. The word coming there is that Greek word parousia. So you can, if you study the rapture event, you'll see that word parousia will come up in a whole bunch of different situations. And it's basically the Greek word for coming, So, I'm first going to look at some verses that talk about the fact that we are resurrected with Christ and then we're going to take a little detour for a little bit on looking at the word coming.

Not a big detour, just a little bit. Okay, so let's first look at, go back to chapter 6 in 1st Corinthians. And can someone read verse 16? 1st Corinthians 6.14.

Okay, now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through his power. So here is just a very simple statement. He not only raised God, the Father not only raised the Lord Jesus, but he will also raise up us through him. So once again we see the importance of the first fruits. It couldn't just be anybody. It had to be the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's important that he was the first and it was also who he was and what he did and what he accomplished.

Roger, I'd say one thing that Jack and I are both pondering. We're pondering about that standing up. When we're resurrected, we're standing up. Okay, when we go to meet the Lord, are we going to be standing up? Or we thought it was just our spirit that goes to meet the Lord. Well, I think as we talked, you know, The word literally means, if you look at the situations, remember when the Lord said, Lazarus, come forth? I read that this morning a little bit, and we can read it again. It says, he came forth bound. So I mean, I'm going to cut. He was moving. So the word literally means that.

Now, if we take that over to us, that we're resurrected with him. It doesn't talk much, it doesn't give us much detail about that. It just says that all those who are in the grave, we're going to join all those who are in the grave. So every believer, all our brothers and sisters we dearly love, we're all going to be together with the Lord. And we'll be there forever, forever.

And then the other details about the body and stuff, that's actually in some of the passages. And that's where it gets a little sticky. I remember Hal went through a long study, a long time, talking about the bodies and stuff. So it gets a little more hard to understand. But the fact of being raised up.

You think about a corpse. A corpse usually is lying down, right? So if you're raised up, that usually means you're awake. I mean, I guess you could be standing and you're dead, but typically if you're dead you're laying down. So the word in and of itself means to stand up.

Is it helping at all? I just wondered how we'll be when we go to meet the Lord in the air. Will we be standing up or will our spirits go? A spirit doesn't stand up, right? I think that's why it's important that we have a body. A body can stand up, a spirit can't.

It's interesting because I remember having a lot of conversations with him before he passed away. And we talked about, and he had decided to be cremated. I know that, I know that. And he decided that because after his study about the body, he decided that it wasn't the body per se that was going to stand up because he said, you know, if you think about people that have been dead a hundred years or whatever, they're dust to dust.

I mean, they're already dust. There's not a body there. They're already dust. And so he said, if all of those people are going to be raised, it has to be some other thing than the physical body, because there are going to be millions. A dust believer.

And so he felt so strongly about that at the end. I understand what you're saying. And to be honest with you, that's why a lot of people in churches would not be cremated because of this very issue. And after Hal convinced us, he showed us a lot of scriptures and stuff. We said, you know, we get it. We get it. We understand that. And that's okay. We're good with that.

I think it's interesting to observe that a lot of the Hebrew and Old Testament burials where we found graveyards, they are standing up. But their anticipation was that they want to be buried in a ready-to-go position. Ready to go. I'm waiting. The torpedoes in the chute, so to speak, and we're going. But our bodies, whether they're...

Those in 1 Thessalonians 5.17, he says, those who are alive will then be raised up after those who were passed away, who were asleep, he actually says. They will be raised up, but then in a twinkling of an eye, will be transformed. When we return, Colossians 3 verse 4, we'll be in our glorified bodies. So it's not going to be a long term, even if we are in these physically transition. And that's a good point. That's what occurred to me.

We shouldn't be too worried about getting a new body. If you're going to get a new car, how much do you baby your old junker, right? Unless you want to get extra money for it, right? You say, that junker is gone, I'm getting my new one. So we're getting a new body. This is just a rental. Right. I'm sorry. Actually, the person in the back. I'll see what Mark was saying.

A lot of people when they're dead. I mean, their body is not intact. I mean, if you have somebody who was in the war and blown up or some wild animals or, you know, things happen. It's not a whole body. And that, you know, can't imagine that to keep them from going up with the rapture. It's kind of along the same lines. It's not a complete body. Yes. Right.

Those in the Old Testament and during Bible times, I mean during the New Testament, they were not resurrected, they were resuscitated. Because they died again. If we are resurrected, we won't die again. That's true. Very good. Like Lazarus, that's really not a resurrection. I didn't point that out. I was more interested in the dynamics there. But that's right. Those are resuscitation. What we see when a person lives again on this earth, that's not the resurrection we're talking about. We're talking resurrection to eternal life. It's a different, different deal. You're right. That's good. Thank you. Well, I have to say it's how it's how research this.

I guess the bottom line is the Lord's going to take care of it. Whether you've taken meticulous care of that dust or you've taken no care of it, He's got to take care of it. Our earthly body will be The main thing is we're going to get a new body. A new glorified body. And that's the main thing. Able to glorify him. Able to live in his presence.

The implication of this body here is the resonance of the sin nature. We don't want that hanging around anymore. It's good that it's burned up and not available anymore. There's a few more verses that I have basically that kind of talk to this idea. Let's look at see how we do it here. So let's look at the one that talk about First Thessalonians 219. Could someone read that?

For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? Right, so there's the word coming, at his coming, at the rapture. So this speaks of that event, that's when we're resurrected, all believers are resurrected to be with him.

So that's the second event. And actually, I quoted this one in here too. This is what Randy read. The dead in Christ will rise first, and those who are alive and remain will be called to meet together, to meet the Lord in the air, clouds in the air. So we shall always be with the Lord. All right, so then the last part. So this is the third aspect, the third event.

Then comes the end, or actually I like what Leesbury and Kafer actually call this the consummating resurrection. What we're going to see is at the end, when things are cleaned up so to speak, God is going to raise, everyone is going to be raised, and they will be raised to judgment. And their destiny will be sealed at that point. So there will be a consummating resurrection, a resurrection at the end. So basically, the end is basically at the end of the present heavens and earth. This will come at the end of the thousand year reign.

Actually, Revelation 20.13 talks about this kind of, let's just turn to that, I'll just read part of that.

Revelation 20.13, this shows the resurrection of all the unbelievers in Revelation 20.13. That's kind of the consummation of this resurrection program.

So Revelation 20.13 says, And the sea gave up the dead which were in it. So that's coming like a general statement. Death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every one according to their deeds. And then 14, and death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. That is the second death, the lake of fire. So even death is abolished too. Death is no longer on the scene in this. And that's kind of where the death no longer is in picture here.

And then the last part, last two statements here basically In addition to taking care of the final resurrection of all mankind, of all created beings, Christ is also going to engage in, when he hands over, he gives over the kingdom to God the Father, and he abolishes or reduces inactivity all rule and authority and power. And you kind of see that rule of authority and power. Christ was given, the father gave his son all the rule of authority, but then the son kind of gives it back. When he's accomplished his program, his resurrection program, when that's been accomplished, his death on the cross, he returns it back to the father to put it in the right order.

And we're going to see the remaining verses are going to tell us about that order. I just kind of borrowed a picture from Verne, just about the timeline here. Verne's covered this pretty well. Here we are right here, and there's the rapture, the seven-year tribulation, and then the thousand-year millennial kingdom, and this is where death is abolished and all things are put in subjection to him, the new heavens, the new earth. So then 25 to 28 is going to give us the final kind of, here's how things will look, here's how things will be when that happens. He must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet. So in Revelation 20, when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations, which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war.

The number of them is like the sands of the seashore. They came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints in the beloved city. And fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beasts and the false prophets are also, and they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever."

So he'll put all enemies under his feet. Satan is the focus of those enemies that will all be taken care of. So that's 25. And then 26 says, the last enemy death will be abolished. So all his enemies are abolished, and then death will be abolished. Literally being abolished and reduced to inactivity again, it's passive. And then 2014, a lot of Revelation 20 here, death and Hades are thrown into the lake of fire, the second death, the lake of fire.

2 Timothy 1.10 The appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. and then 2.14 it says, and through death he might render powerless him who has the power of death, that is, the devil. So it's interesting, by doing away with death, he does away with the source of death, if you will, the one who has the power of death, the devil, and death no longer is on the radar scope, it's gone for all eternity. for the rest of eternity, I should say. And then in Revelation 21, it just basically says, there's no longer death. So there's multiple passages that talk about the abolishment of death, the abolishment of the one who had the power of death.

And then in Revelation 21.4, it talks about there will no longer be any death. So you can sum it up this way. Christ had victory over death. Believers, because of Christ, have victory over death. Then death itself is ended. It comes to an end.

For us here on this earth, death is such a part of our lives. Think about that. Death no longer will be on the In some ways, it sounds right. The fact that our dear brothers and sisters, our family members go to be with the Lord, it doesn't seem right that they should be gone. They should be here. And that's the way it's going to be for all eternity. Which is pretty exciting. OK, let's get the climax before we get to their humor. Thanks.

In terms of subjection, we put all things in subjection under his feet. So a lot of this is kind of speaking of the fact that the father gave. all authority to the Son for a time period. In God's plan and purposes, He said, My son, I want you to go forward and accomplish what we agreed in eternity past. You would lay down your life and I would raise you up again. So God had a plan and a purpose. And when that purpose is complete, then the Son will return everything back to the Father. And things will be put back in order.

And it says, so God will be all in all, which is a very comforting statement. So He will put all things to subjection under His feet. Subjection is to rank under. Hupotasso. For He, the Father, has put all things to subjection under Christ's feet. Actually, that's a quote there from Psalm 86. You make him to rule over the works of your hands. So that's talking about God the Father. You put all things under his feet. Paul saw that Christ, as a person, will fulfill this prophecy in Psalm 86.

All things. Actually, this last part here. is just making sure we understand that there is an order. There is an order with God the Father and God the Son. So this is kind of a clarification statement if you will. But when he says all things are put in subjection, So originally, like I mentioned, he handed all things over to me, Christ is speaking in there, by the Father. So he's going to say, well, that doesn't mean that I'm over the Father. He wants us to understand the order of this.

It is evident that he the father is accepted who puts all things in subjection to his son. So the father by his authority has given the son all authority but that is returned to him. It is evident that he himself is accepted who does the subjecting of all things. in this passage here.

And those other passages there that I quoted in Ephesians, they talk about, like the Matthew passage talks about the fact that all authority has been given to the Son in heaven and on earth and all things are subjected under his feet again. So they all just talk about this temporary condition that existed while Christ was doing his work here on earth. And then lastly, this last verse, when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also subject to the One who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all. A little bit hard to read, but read carefully. He's going to put things back under the Father. So step one, when all things are subjected to him, the Son, And this verse says, who will transform the body of our humble estate and conform it to his glorious body by the execution of the power that he has subjected all things to himself. So all things have been subjected to the Son.

In Step 2, the Son also will subject to the One, the Father, who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all. That's the purpose. so that God may be all in all, be everything to everyone, supreme, indwelling, and controlling the factor of life.

So in Romans 11.36 it says, For from him, and through him, and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Finally, believers are subject to Christ, and Christ is subject to the Father. Perfect order in the universe. death is no longer, sin is gone, this is the final picture. It's interesting it doesn't occur in Revelation, it occurs in this passage here that he talks about how things finally get put in order. So, kind of a lot to think about. Any last thoughts? I did two things since they came up as topics that were quick study.

There's five places in the Old Testament that talk about the believer. The Old Testament is saying falling asleep. So that does happen in Job and the Psalms twice and in Jeremiah and Daniel. But it's pretty explicit. It says asleep as in death or those kinds of things where the sleep is very explicitly tied to the idea.

It's not I think Paul assumes that context that the Old Testament scholars or students would know the believers that had come in to the church. The second thing is that Paul makes it really clear in what I'm assuming will be Lesson 6 from Chapter 15 about the physical body being transformed.

Okay, good. So actually, we're going to get there. We're talking about the physical body. Actually, that's a lot of good questions in that area. I think that's going to be December 4th, so I won't get to teach it. Actually, I'll be teaching that one. It'll be good. You guys have got me primed for that, so I'll think some more about it. Hopefully, I'll have some more details on that. You'll be in great shape.

When you have the Lord's word, it's pretty amazing. Our job is to try to understand it and make it known, make it understandable. Thank you, Father. Thank you so much for this day, Lord. Thank you for the marvelous purposes, Lord, how you are God of order, and things will be set in order again. Finally, at that time, things will be back in the order that will glorify you, and we will spend eternity glorifying you and praising you for what you have accomplished, Lord. Thank you for that. In Christ's name, amen.