20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 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. 28 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 15:20-28
May 6th is an important day. Does anyone know why? That’s right, King Charles III’s coronation ceremony is planned for that day. Charles became king when his mother, Queen Elizabeth the second passed this fall. But he will officially be crowned in a major public ceremony on May 6th. It’s going to be a big to-do. They’ve been planning this event for years under a special code name. Does anyone know what it is? Operation Golden Orb. He will be anointed with oil, take a pledge, and wear a historic crown that weighs more than 4 pounds. There are different robes he has to wear and while sources say he was ready to wear the like knee trousers and stockings that the last kings wore when they were coronated, he will probably just wear his military uniform instead. Probably a good choice. Charles has said that this ceremony will be shorter and more modern than his mother’s and that the guest list is limited to only 2,000 people. So we’re in this very interesting season in the monarchy of the UK. Because Charles is the King of England right now. But there is something special that is going to happen on May 6th. He will be officially unveiled as the reigning monarch to the world.
This already-not-yet nature of King Charles’ reign is something of a parallel to a really important theological idea that we see in our text this morning. Jesus is King. Jesus has lived, died, risen again, and ascended to the right hand of the Father. Jesus has been king and His Kingdom in some ways is here, now, and we are part of it. But there’s still something we’re waiting for. There’s still this additional level to His Kingdom. And that is part of the gospel.
As Americans, I think any time we start talking about Kings and Princes and crowns it sounds like we’re telling a fairy tale. There was a King and a Queen and they lived in a castle in a far away land… But the Bible talks about Jesus as King, and that is certainly not a fairy tale. Because fairy tales are imagined and the Bible is true. BUT, there is a similarity in that a fairy tale is a story and the gospel is too. And just like King Charles is king now but not yet, Jesus is King now and not yet. Because the story of the gospel isn’t over yet. We have more good news that is yet to come.
Last week Brandon started us on this series, what is the gospel? And he began with the first part of this chapter where Paul pretty clearly lays it out. The gospel is the story, the good news, that Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again. That the God of Israel has remained faithful to His promises in the Old Testament, and that the Messiah has come to His people, God incarnate, Jesus of Nazareth. And I think he made a great point when he talked about how Jesus came as part of this bigger picture, which included the people and kingdom of Israel.
Paul references that when he says in 1 Corinthians 15:4-5 “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” The scriptures tell the story largely of how God has been at work in the world through His people, which for a long time was the people of Israel, reaching all the way back to Genesis 12 where God calls Abram to trust Him and promises him land, and people, and a relationship of blessing. And I think it’s helpful to remember that YES, Jesus died for our sins. Jesus died for YOUR sins. And as Brandon reminded us, the gospel is certainly not less than that, but it’s much more. And in our text today Paul widens the view even further. Because he looks back even further than Genesis 12 and the beginning of the Hebrew people to the beginning of the world.
He goes back to Adam, Genesis 1, and all of humanity. And on the other end, Paul looks ahead, in this prophetic sense, telling us what’s going to happen even beyond the scope of the book of Revelation. These few verses that we’re considering today encompass not only all of human history, but all of Creation and time itself. The Gospel is that Jesus died to atone for your sins, it’s definitely not less than that. But it’s so much more.
So let’s look at our text. As we know already, Paul is writing this letter to the church in Corinth and specifically in this chapter he’s addressing the fact that the resurrection is real. The verse right before ours this morning is almost a startling one, because Paul says listen, if Christ didn’t really rise again if he’s still in that tomb, then you shouldn’t be a Christian. It’s pointless. If Jesus is still dead then we are to be the most pitied. There is no Christianity apart from the resurrection of Christ. That’s it. That’s the whole thing. So Paul makes a very clear statement that he is not just preaching some feel-good message meant to make us feel better. No. He’s banking everything on this. He’s given up his whole life for this. And if it’s not true, then it’s all been a waste. The gospel is a story that is true whether you believe it or not. And if it turns out it’s NOT true, then whether you believe it or not isn’t going to help you. It’s only worth following Jesus if Jesus is alive. Not as some mythical guru that gives good morality lessons. No. The fact of Jesus’ actual physical historical resurrection is central to the gospel. But, fortunately, Paul pivots away from his hypothetical and comes back to what he knows to be true. Jesus DID rise from the dead.
So, if he did, then what does that mean? Paul says it means that He is the firstfruit. Now, we don’t use that term very often, but it’s pretty easy to understand. It means just what it says. First-fruit. I love gardening and plants and fruit. And I love finding plants in the wild, like along a path, that happen to be something edible. That’s just my favorite thing. And there’s a great app, well, I bet there are a bunch of them, that let you take a picture of a plant and it will tell you what it is and tell you if you can eat it. Now, it gets tricky, because some plants when they are just leaves look really similar. For example, blackberries and raspberries. Early in the spring when they are just leaves, they are tough to tell apart. If you have the app you can use the app. But what if you didn’t? How would you know if it’s a raspberry plant or a blackberry plant? You would wait for the first fruit. Because once a berry grows, you’re going to know what else is going to grow. That first fruit is going to tell you what all those other little buds are going to turn into. If the first fruit is a blackberry, you know what the rest are going to be. They’re going to be blackberries. So, Christ is our first fruit. He’s the blackberry. We can see what happened to him and it tells us something about the rest of the plant. All of us who are connected to him, who are branches on his vine. What is true of Christ is going to be true of us. The gospel means that Jesus physically, and bodily, came back to life from the dead. And we are going to too. He’s a blackberry. We’re blackberries. Because He’s the first fruit.
And after Paul makes this point, he goes back and shows us why this makes sense. Jesus fulfilled the Scripture. All of the Scripture. Back to the first chapters of Genesis. The Bible tells us that when God created all things He created humans in his image, Adam and Eve. And they disobeyed and listened to the temptation of the serpent. And as a result, they died. But not only they died, but all of humanity would also face death because of their disobedience. As Paul tells us in Romans 5, death reigned after Adam. I want you to pay attention to that language, that’s intentional language that is connected to our text. After the fall, death reigned. But, something changed with Jesus. During his life and ministry, He called himself the resurrection and the life. He brought people like Lazarus back to life. And ultimately He himself came back to life from death. And because of that, He brought life whereas Adam brought death. Death in Adam, life in Christ.
In 2018 there was an interview with then Prince Charles as part of a documentary celebrating his 70th birthday. When he was asked about his future time as king and how he would handle it he sidestepped the issue. He said, “There’s only room for one sovereign at the time, not two,” And he was absolutely right. Death reigned from Adam to Christ. But not anymore. Jesus took the throne from death.
And so, Paul, having gone back to the very first chapters of human history, plays a little hopscotch. He jumps ahead to the resurrection of Christ, and then jumps ahead to the end of time. Look at the verse, “22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come,”
First of all, Jesus is coming back. That’s an important part of the gospel. It’s not just the story of where we were and what Christ did, it’s the story of where we are and what Christ is going to do. And the Bible clearly teaches that Christ is coming back. The Bible is also clear that when Christ comes back, that is when the rest of the blackberries are going to show up. That’s when our resurrection will take place. Those who have died by the time Jesus returns will rise first, and anyone who is still alive when this takes place will be transfigured, and we will all become new spiritual-physical beings in the pattern after Jesus in his own resurrected body. It’s going to be a giant berry harvest. And Paul spends the rest of the chapter really fleshing that out. Pun intended.
So we know that Jesus is coming back, and we know that we will be resurrected at that time. And then it says the “end will come when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.” Jesus will hand over the kingdom to God the Father, but before that, He will destroy all dominion, authority, and power. What is that referring to? When Paul lists these words, “dominion, authority, power” he’s talked about these things before. But probably the most helpful text that parallels ours is in Ephesians 1:20-21 when Paul says that God has power that “20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.”
These powers, authorities, and dominions, represent all of the alternative powers of this world. When we think of people in “power” and “power structures” to some extent this includes them. Which, let’s stop for just a second there, is incredibly encouraging. Throughout human history, there have been people in positions of authority and power who have abused that, and even at this moment in parts of the world there are power systems that are furthering human pain and persecution, but because of the power that they have it seems impossible for the people who are being oppressed by them to have justice. Think of the Uyghurs in China, the people of North Korea, the reinstated regime of the Taliban. We hear about these things on the news and it seems hopeless. But Ephesians says that Jesus is already seated above them, and our text this morning tells us that one day those oppressors and oppressive systems will be abolished entirely. We might not have the power to take down dictatorial regimes and free people from genocide, but God does. And he will.
But these phrases go even beyond that. In Ephesians 6:12 Paul also says this, “12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
This passage points out, this goes beyond flesh and blood. There are powers at work in this world that are spiritual and invisible. And they are truly powerful.
Story of Flatirons Kids helping at Dream Center.
And beyond that, the Bible says that God in his wisdom has allowed Satan to rule for a time, and we experience the effects of that every day. And if we can’t even bring justice to human oppressors, what hope do we have of bringing spiritual beings to justice? I’ll tell you what hope. The gospel. The gospel means that Jesus will abolish, he will nullify, he will completely conquer all of those powers and authorities, and dominions. In his time.
And in some ways, that time has already begun. Did you pick up on the other reference to Genesis in this text? Where will Christ put all of these things? Under his feet. This is Paul quoting from Psalm 110, one of the most quoted passages of the Old Testament, which says, “The Lord says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” Jesus quoted this same psalm to show the people of his day that He was the Lord to whom David was referring. And that verse is so beautiful because it points us back to an Old Testament text that is never directly referenced in the New Testament but seems to be in mind here.
After death came through Adam, and all of humanity was cursed, God promised something. The protoeuangelion. The “first gospel”. Where God told the snake that there would be enmity between the woman and the serpent, and between his offspring and hers, that he would crush his head, and the snake would crush his heel. We know that this is referring to a future-coming human, who would have the power to destroy Satan through an act of self-sacrifice. He would strike his heel. But the crushing blow would be to the snake. And we know when that was initially accomplished, on the cross. At the moment of His death, Christ was that promised savior, receiving the strike on the heel, but crushing the serpent’s head.
And so, as Jesus taught himself, we know that the Kingdom of God is already here. And yet, not yet. We are still waiting for this end part.
Right now Christ is King, but He is a certain kind of king. Right now, on the throne, Jesus is a warrior king. He is fighting and conquering the enemy. But he is not a tribal warlord. He is not a crusading knight. Jesus is a warrior against evil and suffering but he assured his victory by taking that evil and suffering on himself. He did that on the cross. And is a warrior king, fighting the powers and dominions every day, but not with battle weapons. No, He is a warrior engaging in battle when his followers choose to follow His way of life rather than the serpent’s. When we don’t take revenge but we turn the other cheek. When we forgive not seven, but seventy-seven times. When Christians follow Christ, we are part of advancing that warrior Kingdom of God. And while it might sometimes feel frustrating that Christ doesn’t just wield a flaming sword or rain down burning sulfur, I think we should actually be really thankful He doesn’t. Because Jesus, as king, isn’t just fighting an enemy outside the city walls. He’s fighting an enemy that has taken root in each of his subjects’ hearts.
We are citizens who are so often in rebellion against our King. We hope and pray that each day the Holy Spirit is conforming us more and more into the image of Christ. But we all know the harsh truth of our own conflicting desires. We are justified and yet we are sinners. We experience the effects of our fallen nature all the time.
In this already-not yet part of the Kingdom, we can see clearly that anger and impatience are tools of the enemy, but we get mad at our spouses and frustrated with our kids all the time. We know that lust of the eyes is as if we are committing adultery in our hearts, but we let our gaze and our imaginations wander all the time. We know that lying comes from the Devil and he is the father of lies, but we bend the truth and omit the parts of the story that make us look bad all the time. We are citizens of the Kingdom and yet we act in allegiance to our enemy all the time. But, praise God, Jesus is our mediator all the time.
The Bible assures us that He sits next to the Father and intercedes for us. Jesus is a warrior King and He is also a mediator for us. Hebrews 7:24-25 tells us that because Jesus is alive, “24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” We fail all the time, Jesus intercedes for us all the time, but this text suggests that He won’t do it in the same way for all time. A time will come at the end of time when Christ will not need to mediate for us in the same way he does now in our earthly life. Because there will be no more sin. Christ won’t need to intercede for us in the same way he does now in our earthly life, because we will have no more need. Because He will have his final victory. And when that final victory comes, when that end is at hand, our relationship with God is going to change. And beyond us, something is going to change within the relationship of the triune God.
Because Jesus will not be a warrior mediator king in the same way anymore. Paul says He himself will be subjected, to God the Father, so that God may be all in all.
I’m going to tell you, I don’t know exactly what that means. And the theological world is pretty divided on when and how and why exactly that is going to come to pass. But there is something that is clear from the text – Somehow, the relationship between the Trinity is located within the time of human history. This isn’t the only instance of this being true. We know that when Jesus was born, the incarnation, the second person of the trinity became the God-man Jesus the Messiah. A change in relationship within time. At the cross, God the Father poured out the wrath we deserve, rejecting and forsaking the Son, in that moment, the relationship was different within time. And as Jesus ascended, He ascended to the right hand of God, receiving honors because of his obedience to the point of death. Again. Relationship change within time. And here again, now at the end of time, something is going to change. The God of the universe. Eternal and outside of time, willingly entered time and will do it again for us. My brain can’t comprehend all of the significance of that. But maybe that’s because it’s not something we’re supposed to be able to logically categorize and place in a little box on our shelf. Maybe we’re meant to savor the mystery.
The last time the UK had a coronation was for Queen Elizabeth in 1953, so there is a lot of excitement and speculation surrounding this big event for Charles. But while this event is momentous and gossipped about daily in the British press, there are still a number of questions that won’t be answered until the big day arrives. Operation Golden Orb has been planned for years, but there are many specifics that are being kept secret. There is a mystery surrounding this ceremony even though it is an incredibly public thing. We just won’t know all the details until it happens.
The final act of victory of our King Jesus is a way bigger deal than the king of England. And it’s better than any fairy tale. And it is shrouded in mystery too. And we just won’t know all the details until the big day arrives. But we do know that somehow, our King who saved us through his own self-sacrifice will achieve his greatest moment of glory alongside an act of humility. A great cosmic mystery will be unveiled as our King Jesus brings the final end to all of the powers, authorities, and even death itself. We can’t suss out all of the details. We can’t put our God in a box. But we can trust His promises. And one day He will return in glory. And we will be raised along with Him. And it’s going to be the most triumphant happily ever after.
Monica Romig preached this message at Christ Community Church
in Denver, Colorado on March 26th, 2023. Message link.
