The Glories of Christ As the Son of Man: End and Object of the Kingdom

It will contribute to our comprehension of this final part of our subject if we first point out the significant place which the above message occupies in the chapter. The Apostle’s theme is the resurrection of the body, which some in Corinth had denied. Before developing and indeed demonstrating its certainty, he recalls to the minds of the Christian believers the gospel which he had preached among them, the gospel by which they were saved if they kept in memory what he had preached unto them, unless they had believed in vain. This gospel which the Apostle had received, for he had only delivered what had been committed to him, consisted of three parts: first, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; second, that He was buried; and last, that He arose again the third day according to the Scriptures. If therefore this gospel was true, the resurrection was also true; or, as Paul goes on to affirm, to deny the resurrection was to deny that Christ had risen, to assert that the apostolic preaching was in vain, and that their own faith was vain. It was on this account that the Apostle gave so carefully the evidence on which the truth of the resurrection rested (1 Cor. 15:5-8).
But there is another thing. The Apostle being about to point out the consequences, the far-reaching results of the resurrection of Christ, in connection with the kingdom, will have us to apprehend that the world to come is to be established on the principle of resurrection, that everything in it will take character from Him who is risen out of death, as the Beginning, the Firstborn from the dead. It is thus that in verses 3 and 4, after the clause, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,” we are told that He was buried. Man was vicariously judged in the cross of Christ, for He died for all; and in the grave of Christ man was representatively buried, inasmuch as the end of all flesh had come before God judicially in the death of Christ; and, raised from the dead according to the Scriptures, Christ was now of another order, being in the condition of the second Man out of heaven (vs. 47). It is absolutely necessary to comprehend that the first order of man, Adam’s order, has been terminated forever for God in the cross, and that Christ is the Man of His counsels as risen from the dead, as well as that everything now proceeds on the basis of resurrection, if we would enter into God’s purposes and thoughts, whether in regard to the kingdom in display or to the saints of this period.
Coming now to our special scripture, it may be seen that it is a parenthesis. Having pointed out the sorrowful consequences of denying the resurrection, the Apostle asserts the fact that Christ is risen, and goes on to unfold the whole of its significance, embracing, as it does, eternity itself. It is with this that we are now concerned.
First and foremost then Christ risen is the first fruits of them that slept, “for since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die” (see Rom. 5:12), “even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Here then is the parting of the ways. Death is the portion of all whose descent is from the first man, Adam; and life is the portion of all whose lineage can be traced back to the second Man, the risen Christ. The resurrection of Christ, therefore — for the subject here is that of resurrection — secures the resurrection of His people, even as the first fruits are the pledge and guarantee of the harvest. Blessed truth! And how full of consolation to all who mourn over the loss of dear ones who have died in the Lord! Is Christ risen? Then they will also arise at the appointed time; and they will come forth from their tombs with the bodies of their humiliation transformed into the likeness of His glorified body. Well therefore might we cry out triumphantly, “O death, where is thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:55-57).
In the next place we have the order of the resurrection. “But every man in his own order [or rank]: Christ the first fruits: afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming. Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power” (1 Cor. 15:23-24). The remarkable structure of this scripture must not be unnoticed. Between the resurrection of Christ and that of His people lies the whole present interval until the Lord descends from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, as we read in 1 Thessalonians 4; and again, between those who are raised at the coming of Christ and “the end,” of which verse 24 speaks, we have to interpose the period between the return of Christ for His people and His appearing, and also the thousand years which will constitute the duration of His kingdom. There are thus three great events marked — the resurrection of Christ, the resurrection of those that are His, and the delivering up of the kingdom at the end.
In the last chapter we dealt with the character of the rule of Christ in His kingdom. With this agrees the statement here that He must reign till He has put all things under his feet. The word “must” in this connection is much to be observed. It is the same word as in the statement, “Ye must be born again”; and in both cases it means no less than a divine necessity. And wherefore this in regard to the rule of Christ? Surely the reason must be looked for in the fact of His rejection on earth. The very scene that witnessed the contumely, scorn, and hate which men poured on His head, saw Him with the mocking crown of thorns, “The crowned King of all patient sufferers,” and put to death as a malefactor, must be the theater of the display of His glory, and of His universal acceptance. Nothing less would satisfy the heart of God for His beloved Son in this world. Then it is added to give completeness to His triumph, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” Every foe had been subdued; death, here personified as an enemy, only remained; and now, all its victims being rescued from its grasp, it is forever set aside.
If we turn for a moment to the book of Revelation, we shall find this significant event recorded. In chapter 20, after the judgment of the great white throne before which all the dead, unconverted while in this world, both small and great, are summoned, and where all receive their sentence according to their works, we read that death and hades were cast into the lake of fire (vs. 14). Thereupon in the next chapter, wherein the new heaven and the new earth appear on the passing away of the first heaven and the first earth, and the holy city, new Jerusalem, comes down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride for her husband, a proclamation is made: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.” Now mark the infinite tenderness and pathos of what follows: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; AND THERE SHALL BE NO MORE DEATH.” The Lamb of God has now taken away the sin of the world, and hence its bitter fruit of death is gone forever. He who was made sin upon the cross has forever abolished death, so that its dark shadow will never more be seen in that world where God will be all in all. What a blessed prospect for those whose hearts are bursting with the sorrows of bereavement! And what an antidote to the fear of death it is to know that its power is already broken, and that it will soon be altogether abrogated! Through the resurrection of Christ the bonds of death have been loosened, life and incorruptibility have already been brought to light through the gospel, and soon we shall be in that scene where old things will have actually passed away, and where all things will have become new. For He that descended into the lower parts of the earth has ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things.
Such is the issue of the reign of Christ. When He comes again into the world, men everywhere, save the throng of the Gentiles who are brought through the great tribulation, and a remnant of His ancient people, will be in enmity against Him; but He will come forth out of heaven with irresistible grace and power, and, as we have already seen, “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee” (Psa. 22:27). Universal subjection to Christ will thus characterize the coming age; every knee on earth, as well as in heaven, will bow before Him, whether really or only professedly, and every tongue will confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. In the language of the psalmist, “His name shall endure forever: His name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in Him: all nations shall call Him blessed” (Psa. 72:17).
We may now consider the end and object of the kingdom. As regards Christ Himself, it is, as before pointed out, that He might be supremely exalted in the place of His rejection that where He was reviled, contemned, and crucified, He might be acclaimed by all as Lord and King. But our scripture brings before us another object, and it is to this we desire to call the reader’s attention. First then let it be noticed that an exception is carefully made. It says, “For He hath put all things under His feet. But when He saith, All things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted, which did put all things under Him.” It might seem strange that it should be necessary to make such a remarkable statement. The reason will soon appear, though it may now be stated that it is connected with the ineffable grace of Christ in becoming man, and in remaining man forever.
The Glories of Christ As the Son of Man: End and Object of the Kingdom
1 Corinthians 15:28
There are then three steps in the ultimate object of the kingdom. In the first place it is in order to deliver it up to God, even the Father, when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. We learn from Psalm 2 that He will receive the authority of the kingdom from God: “Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession”; and He Himself says, speaking of the same subject, “Even as I received of My Father.” His authority will therefore be wielded on God’s behalf; and thus, when His mission is completed, He delivers up the kingdom which had been committed to His hands. When returning to the Father from the earth, having come to do His will, He said in His blessed perfection, “I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do”; and we know that He will be able to use the same language at the close of the kingdom. Being what He is, all His works must be perfect like Himself. Nor must we lose sight of His own joy in having again glorified the Father on earth, and in finishing the work which had been given Him to perform, nor indeed forget the joy of the Father’s heart in receiving from the hands of His beloved Son what He had committed to Him. John 5 gives us a most blessed inlet into the complacent relationships existing between the Father and the Son (vss. 19-20); and it is therefore allowable to meditate upon the mutual delight of the Father and the Son in the delivering up of the kingdom.
The second step is seen in verse 28: “And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him.” This brings us at once face to face with the great mystery of redemption, and with the glory of the purpose of God for man as set forth in His beloved Son. What we mean by the mystery of redemption is the incarnation, that it should please God thus to approach man, to become God manifest in flesh. Two scriptures will unfold this to us: “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself”; “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same” (2 Cor. 5:19; Heb. 2:14). It was thus in a man — the Man Christ Jesus — that God drew near to man, and at the same time set forth all that God is. But this is not all.
Having as man glorified God in all that God is by enduring all that the glory of God required on account of what man was and is, He Himself has been glorified as Man at the right hand of God. Having become Man for the work of redemption, He remains Man forever; and thus when every enemy has been subjugated, when all things have been put under His feet, having delivered up the kingdom to God the Father, He remains forever identified with His redeemed, the Leader of a chosen race, pre-eminent among all for whom He died, yet taking the place of subjection to Him who put all things under Him. It was so while in this world. As He Himself said, “I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father which sent Me, He gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto Me, so I speak” (John 12:19,50).
So in eternity itself, He, a divine Person, having become Man — a Man of flesh and blood, but now the risen and glorified Man — will ever be Man, and as such, subject to Him whose will He came to do. What grace! we cannot but exclaim. For we are made companions of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end; and we shall thus remain His companions, as the result of His blessed grace, through all the countless ages of eternity. But it will be the delight of all to acknowledge His pre-eminence, to behold Him anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows; for it is then that He will reap the fruit of all His toil and be forever satisfied.
This brings us to the glory of God’s purpose for man. It is as Man that Christ, as we have seen, has been glorified; and Christ glorified as Man is the pattern and expression of what God’s purpose is for all the redeemed. One scripture precisely states this: “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29). As a well-known hymn has put it —
“And is it so? I shall be like Thy Son.
Is this the grace which He for me has won?
Father of glory, thought beyond all thought,
In glory to His own blest likeness brought.

“Nor I alone, Thy loved ones all, complete
In glory round Thee there with joy shall meet,
All like Thee, for Thy glory like Thee, Lord,
Object supreme of all, by all adored.”
This glorious goal is made sure by the immutable purpose of God who chose us in Christ for this before the foundation of the world. But are we to rest satisfied in that we shall be conformed to the image of God’s Son? No, though we shall surely be filled with divine joy at this marvelous consummation of the purpose and grace of God, we shall use diligence just in proportion as we enter into God’s thoughts, to grow daily in the likeness of Christ. It will be our delight to behold the unveiled face of our glorified Lord, and thereby to be changed into the same image, from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor. 3:18). We may see in the language of Paul what should be the present effect in our souls of the revelation to us of God’s purposes. He says (we give another translation): “I follow after, if that I may get possession of that for which also I have been taken possession of by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:12). That is, since Christ had taken possession of him that he might be conformed to His image, he himself, in full communion with this end, the end of the purpose of God, would diligently and steadfastly follow on to this goal. So should it be with every believer; we all alike should seek grace to keep our eye upon Christ, the glorified Man, because He is, in that condition, the expression of God’s purpose, the Model, so to speak, to whom we are to be conformed. And let it be remembered that the greater our diligence in the contemplation of the Model set before us, the larger our growth in moral conformity to Christ.
The third and last step remains to be considered. It is the ultimate object and end of the delivering up the kingdom, and the consequence of the Son Himself being subject to Him that put all things under Him; it is that GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL. We may not attempt to explain these wondrous words, though we may offer a few observations with a view of eliciting the adoration of our hearts in meditating upon this blissful prospect. The end of redemption then is that God may be all in all. If the expression in John 3, “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand,” is timeless, if, that is to say, it refers to the past eternity, setting forth the Father’s delight in the Son, and teaching that it was His purpose before the foundation of the world, to deliver all things into the hand of the Son, we have a wondrous unfolding of divine thoughts. From all eternity, in that case, it was in the heart of the Father that the Son should be supremely exalted in this scene; and Hebrews 1 teaches that the Son is appointed Heir of all things. For the affectuation of His purpose the incarnation, death, resurrection, and exaltation of Christ at the right hand of God were, as we have already seen, necessary; and now we learn that there was another object in it all, that God might be all in all. If the Father was bent upon glorifying the Son, the Son was equally bent upon glorifying the Father (compare John 13:31-32; 17:1, 2).
As to the expression itself, a similar one is found in Colossians 3, but used there of Christ. After speaking of the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him, the Apostle proceeds, “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but CHRIST IS ALL, AND IN ALL” (Col. 3:10-11). This, we apprehend, is not so difficult, as the expression is used in contrast with the distinctions which obtain among men. It will mean, therefore, that in this region or circle (that of the new man) all that is of the flesh has disappeared, and only Christ and what is of Christ remains, so that Christ is everything (for that is the force of the expression) as well as in all. It is Christ objectively and Christ subjectively, and there is nothing besides. How blessed!
So after the mediatorial kingdom has been delivered up to God the Father, the Son Himself becomes subject, for He takes His place as the glorified Man in the midst of the redeemed, the Firstborn among many brethren, and God is all in all. He is EVERYTHING and in all — as we read in Ephesians, though in a different sense, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. All that God is, His glory, will be in full display, and He is love; and this will form the element in which all the redeemed will live and move and have their being forever. God is love, and dwelling in love, they will dwell in God, and God will dwell in them. Thus God will be in all, as well as be everything. And the foundation of all this lies in that stupendous and finished work of Christ on Calvary. Hence it is that Peter says, “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Pet. 3:13).
It has yet to be remarked that when the name God is used, as in this case, absolutely, it includes necessarily all that He is in the unity of the Godhead, all that He is as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is and must be God in all that He is as revealed in and through the three divine Persons. This has to be borne in mind in weighing the words which have been before us. One other observation may be made. In the eternal scene unfolded in Revelaton 21:1-8, it will be noticed that there is no mention of Christ, only of God, whereas in the heavenly Jerusalem it is God and the Lamb. This is in harmony with what has been considered in Corinthians. Christ having become identified with the redeemed as the Firstborn among many brethren, God is ALL IN ALL; and He therefore, in the blessed and beatific display of what He is, pervades the whole scene.
On such a subject, how powerless are human words! But inasmuch as the revelation has been made to us, there is surely blessing to be found in meditating upon it in the presence of God. And may the blessed Spirit of God who alone can preserve us from error, guide us into the truth of the revelation made, and form us according to it, that God may be glorified in us, and we in Him!
“Thou are coming, mighty Savior!
King of kings, Thy written name!
Thou are coming, royal Savior!
Coming for Thy promised reign.

Oh, the joy when sin’s confusion
Ends beneath Thy righteous sway!
Oh, the peace when all delusion
At Thy presence dies away!

“Thou art coming, crowned Savior!
Not ‘the second time’ for sin;
Thou art coming, throned Savior!
Bringing all the glory in.

All Thy Father’s house, its glory,
Hangs by sure behest on Thee;
Oh, the sweetness of the story!
Savior, come, we wait for Thee!”