Christ as the First Fruits

Transcript

GR 1367
01-20-08
Christ as the First Fruits
I Corinthians 15:13-28
Gil Rugh

We are going to return to our study of I Corinthians 15 together today. And I was looking back in my notes and I believe it's been about seven weeks since we've been in chapter 15, and we've been doing matters that are related to the 15th chapter, particularly matters unfolding in the future and the order of the resurrections, the coming kingdom, the 70th week of Daniel leading up to that kingdom, the kingdom in its eternal phase as well as its historical significance, and then the millennial aspect of that kingdom. We'll be relating matters that fit into that in our consideration today. And if some of it seems jumbled, you might want to pick up some of those tapes from Sound Words and refresh your mind. If you have the chart that we gave out a little while back on the resurrections, you might want to have that available. It will help you follow the timeline that we're going to be talking about.

Chapter 15 is about the resurrection of the dead in its entirety. This discussion is occasioned by the fact that there were some in the church at Corinth who were denying that believers would experience a bodily resurrection from the dead. In verse 12 Paul said, now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you, among the Corinthian church say that there is no resurrection of the dead? Now in the first 11 verses Paul has reiterated the gospel that he preached. It was a gospel that said Christ died for our sins, He was buried, He was raised on the third day after He was buried. The resurrection is an essential and crucial part of the gospel, God's message of salvation. Paul told them that Christ had been seen by numerous witnesses after His resurrection from the dead. And this included those who were His apostles. And all of them are united in agreement and in preaching the same gospel. Remember the Corinthian church had some divisions around key personalities, different apostles. Paul said there is no room for difference here because all of us apostles are on the same page. We preach the same message. So in verse 11 he said, whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believe. We all preach the same gospel—the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And He is the only one who can pay the penalty for our sin.

Since the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is a fact, how can you deny that believers will be raised from the dead? You can say, well, I can see how people could do that. They'd say Jesus Christ is the Son of God, He was unique, He came to pay the penalty for our sin. So He died and was raised from the dead. There is no indication that these individuals in Corinth were denying that Christ had been raised from the dead. They just didn't see the essential connection between the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of believers in Jesus Christ.

So in verses 12-19 Paul showed the disastrous consequences that would come if there were no bodily resurrection for believers, if Jesus Christ had not been raised. He shows you cannot separate the two. Verse 13, if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. There is a series of seven hypothetical or conditional statements here. Seven times he uses the word if in verses 13-19. If there is no resurrection of the dead, if Christ has not been raised, if in fact the dead are not raised, if ......... Seven times. Hypothetical situations. What if this were so? This would be so. The end result is there is no substance to Christianity if there is no bodily resurrection. And believing in Jesus Christ is a futile, empty, worthless activity, because faith does not save a person. Faith only has value in light of the object in which it is placed. If Christ weren't raised from the dead, believing in Christ won't get you to heaven. If Christ weren't raised from the dead, believing in Christ won't bring you forgiveness of sins. Believing in a lie does not accomplish anything.

Now he is ready to turn his attention to reality, turn from hypothetical possibility to reality. So in verse 20 he says, but now, and that but draws a contrast to the hypothetical considerations he has just gone through. But now Christ has been raised from the dead. And in verses 20-28 Paul is going to give a summary overview of God's plan of redemption. And at the heart of that is the resurrection of the dead. And it's crucial for us to grasp this. Now I want you to note, and I'll draw attention to it again, but Paul is only concerned in chapter 15 with the resurrection of believers. The Bible does teach that unbelievers will also be resurrected. We looked at that in our study of resurrections in scripture. But that's not in view in chapter 15. Paul's concern in chapter 15 is to talk about the bodily resurrection of believers. And so keep that in mind as we examine these verses.

That first statement, but now Christ has been raised from the dead. That's what Paul preached in the gospel, verse 4 of this chapter, He was buried and He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. Not just what I preach, not just what the other apostles preach, this is what the Old Testament scriptures prophesied. That Christ would be raised from the dead. He made reference to that fact in verse 12, if Christ is preached by all the apostles that He has been raised from the dead, how can you say there is no bodily resurrection? So Christ has been raised from the dead, perfect tense in verse 20. Perfect tense indicates something that happened in the past and the results continue on in the present. He has been raised from the dead with the result being He is presently alive. Now this is important to keep in mind a distinction. There were other people raised from the dead in the scripture, in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, Lazarus being a prominent example in the New Testament. He was raised from the dead, but he was raised from the dead back to normal, physical life. And he would have to die again.

So where he's going now with the next statement in verse 20, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. Jesus Christ is the first person to be raised bodily from the dead with a resurrection body, a glorified body, never to die again. So keep in mind that distinction. Other people were raised from the dead in the Bible, but they were raised back to physical life and they would die again, they would experience physical death again. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead with a glorified body, a body that would never again be subject to dying or death. And He is the first fruits of those who are asleep. This concept of the first fruits goes back to Leviticus 23. Israel brought in the first ears of grain from a coming harvest and presented them to the Lord, indicating that the harvest was consecrated to the Lord, thanking the Lord for His blessing, for the harvest that would follow these initial ears of grain. So it becomes a picture of something which indicates there is something which is following, and it's used that way in different times in the New Testament. Paul refers to someone who was the first fruits of this place where he ministered. In other words, they were the first converts, and that was indicative of the Spirit using the gospel and others in that place were saved, Asia, or wherever.

So Christ is the first fruits of those who are asleep. That word asleep is only used of the death of believers in the New Testament. So he is talking about believers here. Their body is asleep, it's not being used. But they are not asleep, the Bible doesn't teach soul sleep. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord for believers. But Christ is the guarantee of a coming resurrection of the bodies of believers who have died. That's basically what he says here. So that's why he has made the point, if we say Christ has been raised from the dead, how can you say there is no resurrection of the dead? They are inseparably joined together, the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of believers.

He shows a comparison in verses 21-22 between Adam, created by God and placed in the Garden of Eden in the opening chapters of Genesis, and Christ. It's a comparison he will return to in verse 45. Note what he says in verse 21, 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. So the comparison is between two men—Adam and Christ. And the emphasis is on being a man. Note verse 21, for since by a man came death, by a man came the resurrection of the dead. So two men, Adam by his action brought death and Christ by His action brought life. Both men, the humanity of Christ is crucial, it's emphasized here. He is the Son of God who was born into the human race at Bethlehem. He is a man. Now Adam by his action brought death. Christ by His action brought life, the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. Its key here, your connection to each of these men. We are all connected to Adam, we are his descendants. So when Adam sinned, all of us who were in Adam became contaminated and corrupted by his sin and became fallen beings.

So verse 22 says, as in Adam, all die. Everyone who is in Adam is subject to death. That's a reality, death is a reality. I mean there is nobody living on earth today who is 212 years old. Doesn't happen. Nobody who was living back from the Dark Ages, death has overtaken them all. In Adam all die because in Adam all sinned. Paul develops this analogy more fully in Romans 5 beginning with verse 12. By one man sin came into the world and death by sin. So when Adam sinned against God death entered into the world, because the wages of sin is death. God had told Adam, in the day you eat of the tree, you will die. The focus here is on physical death, which is a reminder also of spiritual death and eternal death as consequences of sin. So as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. Now note the connection here, it's not universalism. All in Adam die, and all of us are in Adam because we are connected to him, we are his descendants. Well in Christ all will be made alive. But you have to be in Christ. That's the point. Not everyone is in Christ. So there are two heads here, if you will, two men. If you are associated with Adam, and we all are, we are his descendants, you die. If you are associated with Christ, and not everyone is. But those who are in Christ, then they will be made alive. So that's the connection. Those who have come to believe in Christ entered into salvation through faith in Him, enter into life.

Romans 5:12, therefore just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned. Verse 14, death reigned from Adam to Moses in the giving of the law. Then he goes on to talk about the free gift, verse 15, different than the transgression. So verse 18, so then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through the act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one the many will be made righteous. So you see that comparison with Adam and Christ. A lot more in detail there in Romans 5. So you can mark that and work through it a little more fully later.

Come back to I Corinthians 15. Also note as a sideline here, any time that Paul or the New Testament writers make reference to these Old Testament events, they take them literally, that they happened just as the scripture said they happened. A literal reality. God created Adam, placed him in the garden, told him not to do something. Adam did it, he sinned. That sin has impacted all of his descendants. That's all historical fact, and so we find the opening chapters of Genesis and the account of creation under attack. And that's not surprising, because if you can dismantle the early chapters of Genesis, what do you have left? If Adam were just part of an evolutionary process, what do you have? Things begins to unravel. But we're not doing that right now, we're just looking at what is in I Corinthians 15. Certain things are assumed, the reality and accuracy of the scriptures is taken for granted in what Paul says here.

So in Christ all who are in Christ will be made alive. But each in his own order. Crucial here now. This is where we're going to follow the timeline. Each in his own order. God is going to now unfold future events. That word translated order was a word used originally of military rank or order, and then came to be used generally of rank or order. So it's a process that God has set forth, and here is the process, the order. And you get an overview of future events. Christ the first fruits, 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, all authority and all power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. Basically, if you have the chart that we gave out a little while back, it unfolds this timeline as Paul has set it forth here. At the top of the chart I laid it out according to I Corinthians 15:23-24. Christ the first fruits. That occurred when He was raised from the dead, three days after His crucifixion and burial. He is the first fruits. After that those that are Christ's at His coming. Well if you take the Bible in any way literally, you have to say this hasn't yet occurred. We haven't had a bodily resurrection of all those who belong to Christ yet, that just hasn't happened. So when it says Christ the first fruits, after that, well the after that encompasses some 2000 years so far. So that was an indefinite period of time, after Christ's resurrection, without saying how long after. We're not sure how precisely long after yet. Those that are Christ's at His coming, referring to His Second Coming to earth. First coming at Bethlehem, Second Coming yet future. That will be in two phases. The first phase for the church in the air, and the second phase or second stage actually where He comes to earth. Now we haven't gone into the details of this because Paul will be into the details of the rapture of the church at the end of I Corinthians 15. One of two major sections of the New Testament on the rapture of the church. So we've delayed that until we get to the end.

But at the beginning of the 70th week of Daniel, that seven-year period before He returns to earth to establish His kingdom, He will come for His church and call them to meet Him in the air. That's the bodily resurrection of church saints. Seven years later He will come to earth, and at that time Old Testament saints will be bodily raised and tribulation saints, those who were martyred in the tribulation. Again, we worked through the details of the order of the resurrections and tapes of that are available in Sound Words. That will be followed by the thousand-year kingdom or the thousand years, the first phase of the eternal kingdom. That's the timeline we're on here.

So verse 23 is Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming (two stages in that coming), then comes the end when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule, all authority and all power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. Now on that chart the end that Paul is talking about here is the end of the first thousand years of the kingdom, because that's when all these things will have been accomplished. Verse 24, then comes the end when He hand over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule, all authority, all power. Those are terms that encompass all human authority and power and all demonic authority and power. Colossians 1, Ephesians 1 talk about demonic authorities and powers. Ephesians 6 says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies. All opposing power, and that's what is in view here. When He has abolished all rule, all authority and all power. All that would oppose Him in any way will have been rendered inoperative. Ketargeo is the verb. Doesn't mean to annihilate in the sense that they cease to exist, but they are rendered powerless, null and void. When you get to the end of the millennium, there will be no opposing powers in the human realm or the angelic realm against the authority of Christ and His Father. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. So you see we're talking about Him reigning until He accomplishes this. Then He turns that kingdom over to His Father. And the last enemy that will be abolished is death.

Come back to Revelation 19-20. Just remind you of the things we have looked at in recent studies and gone into more detail. Chapter 19 records the return of Christ to earth, the second stage of His Second Coming. He returned in the air about seven years earlier. Chapter 19 now is when He returns to the earth. Chapter 20 records the establishing of the kingdom and its thousand years. This is the only place in the Bible, Old or New Testament, we are told that there will be a thousand-year phase of the kingdom. And six times in these opening seven verses we are told that Christ will reign for a thousand years. During that thousand years, remember, Satan will be bound in the abyss. Verses 1-2 of chapter 20 tell us that, he is bound for a thousand years. And in this context we are told, the end of verse 4, that those who had been martyred for their faith in Christ came back to life and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years. They are in a kingdom. And at this point the first resurrection is complete. It included church age saints, Old Testament saints and tribulation saints. That comprises the first resurrection, verses 5-6. Blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection. The second death will have no power over them. Doesn't mean unbelievers aren't going to be resurrected, they'll be resurrected at the end of chapter 20. At the end of that thousand-year period Satan is released and there is a mass rebellion among the peoples of the earth who now have a choice between Christ as their king and Satan as their king. And a great host like the sand of the sea come up and attempt to dethrone Christ and are destroyed. And Satan, the devil, is thrown into the lake of fire, into hell, to join the beast and the false prophet. And there they'll be tormented day and night forever and ever, into the ages of the ages, endlessly.

Verse 11 then, you have the resurrection of unbelievers, and they are all cast into hell after appearing before the Great White Throne for judgment. In verse 14 we're told, death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. If anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Now we have a new heavens and a new earth, look at chapter 21 verse 4. And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will no longer be any death. Remember we read in I Corinthians 15, the last enemy that will be destroyed is death. When are all opposing authorities and powers ultimately abolished, rendered inoperative, cast into hell? At the end of the thousand-year kingdom. At this point when you begin chapter 21 all those who oppose God, human beings and angelic beings, all those powers opposed to God are in hell for eternity. Now we are ready for God to turn the kingdom as God intended it to be, over to the Father. So that's where we are in the plan of God.

Some people get confused on this because if you read commentaries on Corinthians they are common. Well the kingdom began when Christ was raised from the dead and we are in the kingdom now. And I can't get over it, some of those writers seem to think they answer the issue of the thousand years in Revelation by ridiculing it. But there are some people who believe that the thousand years in Revelation is literal and there will be people that have been glorified living then. And there will be people who are believers living then, and there will be unbelievers living then. What kind of kingdom would that ............... But it doesn't change the fact, that's what it says, a thousand years. But by the end of that phase of the kingdom you've abolished all rule, all authority and all power that is opposed to Christ. That is the issue here, that's what has to be rendered inoperative. All those powers and authorities that oppose Christ, whether demonic or human. All unbelievers are in hell. Death, then, is abolished. No longer will anyone ever, ever, ever die or be sorrowful or cry or have pain. Verse 4, all those things are done.

So come back to I Corinthians 15. He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. Now he's going to repeat what he has said, because he said in verse 24, then comes the end when He hands the kingdom over to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and all power. Then he says He must reign until He puts all the enemies under His feet and the last enemy. It's not just beings, it's the result of sin, death. So there will be no more sin, there will be no more death at this point.

Now his explanation, verse 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. A little clarification since the Corinthians are subject to confusion. When we say all things will be subjected to the Son, that does not mean God the Father because God the Father is the One who established the plan that would have His Son accomplish redemption, that would enable all redeemed creation to be brought into subjection to Him. So just a point of clarification. For He has put all things in subjection under His feet, verse 27. I take it in the context that's God the Father has put all things in subjection under the feet of God the Son.

Turn back to Psalm 8. Very beautiful psalm, very important psalm. Psalm 8 begins, oh Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have displayed your splendor above the heavens. Jump down to verse 3, when I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, the stars which you have ordained. What is man that you take thought of him or the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than God, you have crowned him with glory and majesty. You make him to rule over the works of your hands, you have put all things under his feet. Remember when God created Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:26, He told them to rule over all the creation. That was God's intention from the beginning, that He would create man in His own image, as a reflection of God he would rule over the creation of God. But you know what happened in Genesis 3? Man subjected himself to the authority and power and rule of Satan. And so now his rule is corrupted, contaminated. We still see the sovereignty of man over much of creation, but it has been marred and it is a sovereignty now under the sovereignty of another spirit being, the devil. Remember when Satan confronted Christ in Matthew 4 and tempted him in the wilderness? And he took Him to a high mountain and he showed him all the kingdoms of the earth and he said, I will give you all these if you will fall down and worship me. You see it worked with the first Adam, now he attempts to corrupt the second Adam, to place himself under the ultimate authority of the god of this world, the small “g” god of this world, Satan. But Christ would not. He said, you shall worship the Lord your God and Him alone.

But Adam did, the first Adam. So now in Christ we see God accomplishing what He intended for His creation in the beginning. And in Christ all things will be brought into subjection to Him. Adam gave that up, Christ restores it, if you will. We come to the climax, if you will, of that mediatorial, that atoning work of Christ. That's why in Revelation 5 He can come and take the scroll which is in effect the title deed to the creation because He is the One who has been the sacrificial Lamb. So it all ties together in the plan of God. So He intended man to rule over all, but man was corrupted by sin and placed himself under the rule and reign of Satan. But Christ has come, the second Adam, to bring liberty and freedom.

So we come back to the New Testament and stop at Romans 8:18. The Apostle Paul says, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the unveiling of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, and that was a result of sin. But the creation will be set free, verse 21, from slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. That will impact all creation and ultimately when the end comes at the climax of the millennium, we will now be in a new heavens and a new earth, untainted, unmarred by sin in any way. And with the freedom and glory that that will bring.

And here in Romans 8:23, not only this, but we ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit, you see there first fruits used also of what is to come. Here we have the Holy Spirit and that the first fruits, guarantee of more to come. The blessings we've already experienced in the Spirit, it's a guarantee, the promise of more to come. Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body, when we are set free from the bondage that this body, contaminated, corrupted and bound by the impact of sin. We will be set free.

So come back to I Corinthians 15. Ultimately all things will be brought into subjection to the Son. Go over to Hebrews 2. It amazes me how the Bible all ties together. Unbelieving eyes are blinded and just see a collection of disjointed writings, but marvelous over the time that this scripture was unfolded by the various writers there is a unity that permeates it all. Hebrews 2:6 ff, quoting from the verses we were just in, in Psalm 8. What is man that you remember him, concluding in verse 8, you have put all things in subjection under his feet? For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But note this, but now we do not see all things subjected to him. What's the problem? God's intention was, but it's not happening. But we do see Christ who was made for a while a little lower than the angels. What he is demonstrating in these opening sections of Hebrews, which is a book about the superiority of Christ, showing He is superior to angels. Who is made for a while a little lower than the angels. And because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. He goes on to His salvation work. And then he says in verse 14, therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless Him who had the power of death, that is the devil. So you see Jesus Christ had to become a man. That's where we were at the beginning of this section in I Corinthians 15, because the man Adam sinned and brought death. So Christ to redeem sin-cursed, condemned man had to become a man, flesh and blood so that through His death as a man He might render powerless. Same word we're using in I Corinthians 15, translated abolish there, katargeo. He was rendered inoperative, powerless, him who had the power of death, that is the devil. The devil will never be annihilated, but he will be rendered powerless, inoperative as he is confined to the sufferings of hell for all eternity, as we saw in Revelation 20. That He might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. He doesn't give help to angels. Verse 17, therefore He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation, satisfaction, for the sins of the people.

You see there is no salvation for angels, they sinned and they are forever doomed to an eternal hell, because Jesus Christ did not become an angel and die for angels. That's the argument here. But He became a man so that He might die as a man and pay the penalty for man's sin, so that by believing in Him we might experience forgiveness and life and the hope of resurrection. The ultimate realization of God's intention in creation as recorded in Psalm 8, reminding us that when He created man in Genesis 1 He told him to rule. But man has become subject to slavery, slavery to satan, slavery to sin and slavery to the fear of his impending death. But Christ has come to set us free. That's the plan, that's what the resurrection of Christ is about. You see what happens, we think well as long as I believe in the resurrection of Christ, can't we disagree over whether we're going to get a resurrected body as believers, or we're just going to be with Him in our spirit. No, we can't disagree on that. We're always looking for things we can exclude from the Word of God, but you see it all ties together. Paul is saying if you deny the bodily resurrection of believers, you have canceled out the resurrection of Christ and the whole plan of God would collapse on itself. It's all a worthless pile of lying garbage, and we are to be pitied for believing such a lie. This is a doctrine that must grip us, it's a doctrine we would die for because it is the truth of the Word of God, and the Word of God is so intertwined. The devil is always happy if he can get us to, well, I'd give up on these two things in the Bible because I don't think they are major. Pretty soon it begins to unravel, and it unravels more and more and more. That's why Paul is so involved in bringing this before the Corinthians and driving it home to them.

Come back to I Corinthians 1 5, verse 27 is where we are. For He has put all things under subjection under His feet, the feet of Christ. And when we said He has put all things under subjection it is evident He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. When all things are subjected to Him, and that will be at the end of the millennium, what was called, verse 24, then comes the end when He hands the kingdom over to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule, authority and power. Verse 28, when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all. A verse that occasions a lot of theological discussion, but I don't think it's that complicated. When all things are subjected to Him. You get to the end of the thousand-year reign as we read in the end of Revelation 20. We move into chapter 21, all things have been subjected to Him, all authority and power that has opposed Him has been rendered null. All those beings are in hell, death has been abolished.

Then the Son Himself will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all. You say, I thought Christ is God also. He is. The Holy Spirit is God also. Now we have to be careful we understand here, because there are heresies associated with some of this and I want you to know what I'm saying and where I am. I believe that there are three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who together make up the one true and living God. But they are distinct persons, and the scripture indicates that there is an order within the Godhead, and the Son is subject to the Father and the Spirit is subject to the Father and the Son. You notice, the Spirit is God, but He hasn't even been mentioned in these events here. And He doesn't get near the attention that God the Father and God the Son do in scripture. But there are passages that indicate that He is fully God. But there is an order that in no way takes away from the equality of the members of the Godhead. This is where we have to be careful. There have been heresies that taught that the Son is subjected to the Father and therefore inferior to the Father. That's not what I'm saying, He is in no way inferior to the Father, but there is an order within the Godhead. And that relates not just to the time of Christ's incarnation, because through the Old Testament there is the same indication. In fact how does Christ appear often in the Old Testament? As the messenger of Jehovah. Those passages indicate clearly it's the pre-incarnate Christ, His deity, He accepts worship. But He is the messenger, so His role is distinct in certain ways from God the Father. And yet in Isaiah 6 He is sitting on the throne of glory with the seraphim crying out, holy, holy, holy. So He is God, but within the Godhead there is order.

When we get to the book of Revelation God the Father sits on the throne and we see the Lamb come before the throne. And the Holy Spirit is there before the throne as well. And He is God, but He is not seen on the throne. Now you know everything I know about the trinity. And I don't claim to understand it. There is no analogy that exactly fits the trinity, it is totally unique. Sometimes we get into difficulty by our analogies of the trinity, and then we're stuck trying to defend the analogy we've made. There is no analogy that is complete. We can illustrate different portions, but the fact is, it's distinct. We can say we understand equality. Some of you work for a boss, someone who has authority in some ways over you, but you are his equal in every way. You may even be smarter, more intelligent, have more insight. But in the order of things you are under that person. You can have two people who are co-owners, if you will, of a business, or three, and they decide to break down their responsibilities in certain ways. But when it comes down to it they are all equal. But that doesn't mean they all have to do exactly the same thing in the same way. Some people have the idea in the trinity there are three persons here, they have to be in eternity exactly on the same level and no one could be arranged under the other. But that does not seem to be the indication of scripture before the incarnation of Christ or after, because we get to eternity and it's turned over to the Father. The Father's throne comes down and dwells on earth in the New Jerusalem, remember, in Revelation 21. And the Son reigns, but so does the Father. And the Spirit will be active. So God is all in all. That's the goal, that God may be all in all. And when you honor the Father, you honor the Son. Jesus said that during His earthly ministry, He who honors Me honors My Father. He who does not honor Me does not honor the Father who sent Me. So in that sense you can't distinguish between them. In their being they are equal, they are fully deity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But in the economy of the trinity or the order of the trinity, the Father is over the Son, and the Son subjects Himself to the Father, and the Spirit subjects Himself. And all comes to the climax.

Now the kingdom goes on, and we looked at the kingdom in its eternal dimensions in Revelation 21-22. This is what it's all about. We are preaching a gospel with this kind of impact. This is the message was have, this is who we are as God's people, brought into a relationship with the living God for time and eternity. The doctrine of the resurrection is essential to the plan and program of God, and the fact that you are going to be bodily raised is an absolute essential to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the resurrection of Christ is the guarantee of that. And as a further guarantee of that you have the Holy Spirit within you as the first fruits, assuring you that His work will bring to completion what God has started in the glorification of the body, which will be talked about further as we move along in I Corinthians. In fact he's going to talk about something of the characteristics of the body that is heavenly, versus the body that is earthly. And so we'll look into more of that. The crucial issue is, have we come to be in Christ, because it's only in Him that there is life, that there is hope, and there is the promise of glory.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your truth. Thank you for your Word. Lord, in these brief verses we are in awe and almost overwhelmed at the amount of material there is, the wonder of your plan so concisely summarized, yet so full. And Lord, that you have called us to glory in your Son, that His resurrection not only means He has accomplished salvation and forgiveness of sin, but He has provided for us the glory of resurrection and the hope of eternity in the kingdom that He will establish and in which you ultimately will rule. Thank you for the gospel entrusted to us in these days. Lord, give us a passion to share this wonderful message with family and friends in the days of this week before us. We pray in Christ's name, amen.