What Happens After Christ's 1,000-Year Reign? 1 Corinthians 15:28

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, once again, let's just open our Bibles and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I imagine you're getting tired of almost hearing that, but we're going to be there yet for a little while. There's a lot of material here that we want to dig out. And for those of you joining us on television, just want to remember that this is an informal Bible study. I was explaining to some of our folks out in Ohio and Indiana how we do this. We come in from all various directions. I know most of you are from Tulsa, but some of you are from a distance. We just tape four programs in an afternoon, and in between tapings we stop and have a coffee break. So that's why you see coffee cups on the table, and it's just what it is. We are an informal Bible study, and we're not supported by any one particular group. We just totally depend on the support of God's people. I think I can honestly say we have never begged for a dime of money in our years on television. The Lord has always provided. All the programs, of course, are available on video, audio, and in the printed page. So if you're interested in any of that, you be sure and give us a call. I do this routinely because every day, every day people call. I just caught your program for the first time. I just had a call this morning from a couple in Jacksonville, Florida, and had just got the program for four days, and called concerning if we had videos or anything like that. So this is why we almost have to mention it on every program. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 once again, and we're going to continue on this line of thinking that Paul is giving here. That Christ is going to be all in all, He's King of Kings, and He will reign and rule until everything has finally been defeated, even death itself, which of course came when Adam sinned. Now we talked a little bit about His ruling and reigning during the thousand years of His Kingdom rule. But now let's come back once again to 1 Corinthians 15, verse 25, and as I said the other day or the other program, we're going to take this slowly. For he, Christ, must reign until he hath put all enemies under his feet, and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Verse 27, 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 accepted, which did put all things under him. Boy, now that sounds confusing, doesn't it? Well we have to remember that even though Christ rules and reigns, especially over this thousand year Kingdom reign, yet we have the rest of the Godhead still sort of sitting back there in the background, and we can't just forget that. We can't just cancel out God the Father, and God the Spirit, because remember when we're dealing with God, we're dealing with that triune Spirit Godhead, and I don't want to lose that. Now let's turn over a minute if you will to Ephesians, that's just a few pages to the Bible, and let's just drop in at Ephesians chapter 1, and this is more or less a prayer that Paul is praying on behalf of these Ephesian believers, and for those of you who have heard me teach longer, you must realize that Ephesians takes us into a deeper realm of our teaching concerning the Body of Christ. You'll find truths in Ephesians that you won't even find in Romans and 1 Corinthians and so forth. But nevertheless, in Ephesians 1, as he prays on behalf of these believers, verse 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Ephesians 1, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, now remember these are prayer requests, don't lose that. These are prayer requests that the Apostle is petitioning, and that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. Now right there I have stopped. We ran across this in one of our classes in Oklahoma several weeks ago, and I had never noticed it before. We always speak of Christ as our inheritance, don't we? That's the normal nomenclature, that we are co -heirs with Him. In other words, we're going to be inheriting what He has, and what He is. But this is the opposite. This is the opposite, and now this is hard to comprehend. Look at it, and that we may know the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. Now that's past human understanding. That God, because of our position in Christ, actually puts us on such an even keel with Christ, that as He is our inheritance, we are His inheritance. Now you remember, I've always again, well it's in this same chapter, I guess I'll be coming to it again in a year, where the Body of Christ, the members of the Body of Christ, are the complement, the fullness of Christ, which is the same word that was used concerning Eve when God presented her to Adam? That she might be the complement, the helpmeet of the man? Well this is beyond human understanding, but we take it by faith, that this is our glorious position as members of the Body of Christ. You know, I think the average believer just thinks he's saved to escape hellfire, and that's about as much as they put on it. Hey listen, it's so far beyond that, it's beyond comprehension. We aren't saved just to escape hellfire. We are saved to come into this tremendous relationship with Christ Himself. All right, let's read on. Verse 19, "...and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who have repented and been baptized, and joined the church, and walked the isle, and you name it?" No, that's not in there. That's not in there. No, there's nothing wrong with those things in their rightful place. I'm merely saying that that is not the way of salvation. The way of salvation is to believe, see? Put our faith and our trust into what God has said, all right? And so read it again. "...the greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power." Oh, don't sell the power of God short, see? Verse 20, "...and this power, this tremendous, all -consuming power which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead." Now do you see why I came back here? What's I Corinthians 15 all about? Resurrection, see? And resurrection is the epitome. It's the high point of everything that God has accomplished. And as we're going to see a little later in I Corinthians 15, I don't know if we'll make it in this program, or maybe the next, or maybe the next, somewhere along the line, we're going to get to those verses that if there is no resurrection, then everything else falls apart. It just falls apart, just like a cloud on a hot summer day, just poof, and it's gone. But there is resurrection power, all right? Now read on. Verse 20, "...which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead." And now look at His position, "...and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenlies." This is the way I prefer to read it. Now again, look at the pronoun usage here. "...which He wrought in Christ," who? God the Father, up there in verse 17. "...which He wrought in Christ, when He," God the Father, and God the Spirit, and again the triune God, "...raised Him from the dead, and set Him," see? That's being done by an outside personage. Jesus didn't come up and say, I'll set myself down. That's not the way the Scripture reads. But rather that God set Him at His own right hand in the heavenlies, and we just saw that in Hebrews chapter 1, in the last program. Now look at verse 21. Look at His position, "...far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named." Now you know what's in that list of names? All the gods of mythology, all the gods of the Far Eastern religions, all the gods of the New Agers, all the gods of whatever you can dream of. Oh, He's going to be so far above and beyond them, see? "...and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come." And then the verse I alluded to a moment ago, "...and He hath put all things under His feet." See? That's exactly the picture of total dominion. I know I've heard people refer to someone with power. And you know how they like to picture it? Hey, look out, He'll put His feet on your neck. Well, what does that mean? He's got you where He wants you, and He's got total control over you. All right, that's what Christ is going to do with His enemies. He's going to have them under His feet, so to speak, and God has given Him to be the head over all things. To whom? The Church. And who's the Church? You and I, see? Which is His body. The Church which is His body, and here's that word we were talking about, the fullness, the complement, the completion of Him that filleth all in all. I guess I'm supposed to go back to it. It keeps ringing through my mind all the while I'm reading these verses. Daniel 7 is just ringing like a bell in my head, so let's go back and look at it. I certainly didn't intend to do this either. But come back to Daniel, I think it's chapter 7. Daniel 7, and here we have this same idea of God the Father on the supreme area of the throne, and God the Son comes before Him. All right, Daniel 7, verse 9. You all with me? Daniel chapter 7, dropping in at verse 9. Daniel writes, "...I beheld until the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient," capitalized, "...and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, the hair of His head like the pure wool. His throne was like a fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued, and came forth from before Him thousands, or millions, of the angelic hosts. Millions ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him." And then of course it leaps all the way to the end of everything at the great white throne with just a colon, and the judgment was set, and the books were opened. All right, now come down to verse 13. "...And I saw in the night visions, and behold," what does Daniel see? "...one like the Son," capitalized, "...the Son of Man, and He came with the clouds of heaven, and He came to the Ancient of days." That same one that you read about in verse 9. "...And He came before the Ancient of days," see, "...whose garment was white as snow. And He came to the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him. And now then, from the authority," evidently, "...of the Ancient of days," which I have to look at as being the Godhead again, "...there was given Him," who? God the Son, the Lord Jesus. "...and there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a," what? "...a kingdom," there is another one, "...the kingdom is the kingdom is the kingdom," what is it? "...this earthly thousand-year reign of Christ. And there was given Him a kingdom, that all people, and nations, and languages," see that separation of the nations, even by language, even in the future? "...and His dominion is an everlasting dominion." Do you remember what I'm always saying? The thousand years doesn't just end time as we know it. The thousand years is just an introduction of eternity. It's just that elementary phase that gives us a view, oh a limited view to be sure, but it gives us a view of the eternal state of our ruling and reigning with Christ over the heavenlies, and remember there's going to be new heavens and a new earth. All right, "...His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." All right, now we've got to come all the way back again, if you will, to Ephesians. Now back to Ephesians. I'm still using as my base starting place 1 Corinthians 15, but now come with me to Ephesians and I think I want Ephesians 1, verse 10, Ephesians 1, now verse 10, "...that in the dispensation," or the administration, "...of the fullness of times," well, that's the kingdom, that's the thousand years, that's the final 7 ,000 years of human history, "...that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He," God again, see, "...might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are in the earth, even in Him." Everything is going to be brought together in Christ, but the whole Godhead is still involved. We can't leave the Godhead out of the picture, not at all. But who is the manifestation of the Godhead? Well, the Lord Jesus is. Again, come back with me to Isaiah. I know I'm kind of rambling, but these things are just coming to mind, and I think this is the only way we can see it. Come back to Isaiah chapter 9, verses 6 and 7, Isaiah chapter 9, verses 6 and 7. I hope this is making sense. I sometimes wonder if I confuse more than I help, but at least maybe this will get you to dig some more on your own, and that's the main reason I teach, is to get people to study on their own, and I think we're succeeding to a degree. All right, in Isaiah 9, beginning at verse 6, fabulous verses. Normally we just think I'm with Handel's Messiah, you know, at Christmas time, but oh, there's more than that to it. "...For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government," see, that ruling and reigning of the thousand years, "...and the government shall be upon his shoulder," but now here's the part I want you to see. "...and his name," now remember we're talking about the son who was born naturally in Bethlehem, "...and his name shall be called," now watch them, they're all capitalized, "...wonderful, consular, the," what? "...the mighty God," you see that? Now this is all wrapped up in God the Son, "...the mighty God, the everlasting Father," boy, it was just a few years ago when that hit me. Here He's called the Father, and we know He's talking about the Son. Well, that makes the Gospel of John a little more easy to understand, but nevertheless, look what it says. "...that His name shall be the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace," and we know it's talking about Christ. And in verse 7, here we come back to His rule over the Kingdom again, "...of the increase of His government," see, as He rules and reigns, "...there shall be no end upon the throne of David." Now, when you read something like that, the first thing you've got to throw up is a red flag, and now wait a minute. Here it says it'll be no end. Revelation says a thousand years. Is that a contradiction? No, no. The thousand years is just that little short introductory interval into eternity. See, now you and I cannot comprehend eternity. I think I may have mentioned it in one of the last programs. Iris and I were someplace, and the fellow sitting just in front of us had a little something or other sewed onto the back of his shirt, and all it said was, "...eternity." Have you thought about it? Boy, I thought, how apropos. How many people, right here again in the Bible Belt, how many people, as you meet day in and day out, ever stop even for five seconds to think about eternity? They'd better, because it's out there, and they're going to be there one way or another. But you see, they don't even want to think about it. Again, going back to the young man that I referred to in an earlier program, working in one of our large banks, and was seeing right in front of his eyes in his daily work how all of this technology is moving us to the end time scenario. And I said, well, how about the people that work with you? Now he said, they don't even want to listen to me. He said, they've got their head in the sand, and they don't want to pull them out. They just want to be left alone. Well, hey, that's typical. That's where most people are tonight. They don't want to hear it. They just want to keep going, and as long as the checking account is healthy, and they're driving a nice car, and they've got a nice home, who cares about eternity? Well, they better, because it's coming, and no bank account is ever going to be able to help you escape it. All right, reading on. "...and so he will rule upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, to establish it with judgment, and with justice from henceforth, not just for a thousand years." How long? Forever! It's going to go right on into eternity, under a new heaven and a new earth, of course. All right, now I think I've covered that enough. Now let's come back to 1 Corinthians 15. Now we come into a verse that is hard. I find it, maybe others don't, but I find it hard to put the whole thing together. I think I have, but I certainly don't claim. All right, what is it? And when, verse 28. Now this is mind-boggling, if you really analyze the verse, and every word of this book is the Word of God, so we can't just slough it off. "...and when all things shall be subdued unto him," as we've been seeing now, "...all principalities, and powers, and kingdoms, and even death are going to come under his supreme rule, after everything has been subdued unto him, then," there's another time word, "...there's coming a point in time," whether it's at the onset of eternity, which I think it is, but whatever, "...there's still coming a point in time when the then shall the Son, also Himself, be subject unto him who put all things under him, that," what's the next word? "...that God may be all in all." Now you can just about wake up in the middle of the night and consider that verse, can't you? That after he has put everything under Christ's feet, and he has become all in all, yet there's coming a day when even Christ is going to evidently give everything up to the Godhead. Now, I have to be careful because I know I've got highly educated theologians listening to me, and I don't want to get into hot water unnecessarily, but I'm not going to compromise. But I have to believe that somehow or other, when we go on into eternity, in the thousand years of Christ King of Kings and His absolute rule has been fulfilled, somehow or other again, He's going to give everything up to the Triune God, which will then be the consummation of the whole, what shall I call it? That whole everything from the beginning in eternity past when they first called creation into being until we now go into that new eternal state, a new heaven, new earth, new everything. Nothing has been touched by Satan or the things that defile, and under those circumstances, then I have to think according to a verse like this, that God will be consummate. He will finally come to the place where even the Lord Jesus will be under the power of that Godhead. All right, now verse 29 is a verse I wish I could just do, like I said one time, the commentators usually do with a verse that I want to know something about. They either go over it or around it or round over it and something, but I can't do that because people are going to hold my feet to the fire. And if I just skip this verse, they're going to call me and say, what'd you skip it for? Well, I'm not going to skip it. I'm going to walk in where angels fear to tread. And verse 29 is a tough one, but I think, I don't claim to have it, but I think I've got the answer. And it's a confusing statement, else what shall they do who are baptized for the dead if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead? All right, now again, I do not feel we're talking about water baptism, and I know there are groups that baptize by proxy, I suppose on the base of this verse, but what the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul is really telling us is, why would God do anything on behalf of the believer if there is no resurrection from the dead? Now we'll be covering that more in detail in our next half hour, but you want to remember that God does everything in the light of resurrection. If there is no resurrection, no, you see the baptism that I think He's referring to here is come back a page or two to chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13, a verse that we've used very often. All right, now He says, for by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. In other words, we know that we have as believers been placed into the body of Christ by an act of God. All right, now come back to verse 29. What would be the use? Why should God even bother to place us into the body of Christ if there is no resurrection? See, that's the point. That's the whole point. Why are they baptized for the dead? And verse 30, let's tie that in before we wind this program up. And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? And what's the whole connotation? If there is no resurrection from the dead, then what's the use? Everything becomes vanity. Everything becomes futile. And we of all people, the Scripture says, are the most miserable. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer -supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.