Would you turn in your Bible
to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, please? So I've entitled today's
message what it says here in verse 25. Verse 22 of 1 Corinthians
15 says, for since by man came death, that would be Adam, by
Adam came death, by man came also the resurrection of the
dead, and that man would be not Adam, but the Lord Jesus Christ.
So this is God's design that since by Satan and by sin, death
as a tyrant overcame Adam and all of his children, so God would
overcome death, the last enemy, by the Lord Jesus Christ, who
also would be man. I find that extremely comforting,
don't you? That the Lord didn't let anything
go by. Sin, according to Romans 5, 21,
reigns like a tyrant unto death. But now, grace reigns through
righteousness to eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. So
it's by Jesus Christ our Lord. God did not allow that tyrant
death to overthrow his people, who, though they were born to
Adam, would be saved and raised again by the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that should just occupy all of our thoughts, and our minds
should swim in wonder and praise at the Lord Jesus Christ. But
it says in verse 22, for as in Adam all die, this is to confirm
our understanding of that verse, as in Adam all die, so even so
in Christ shall all be made alive. It doesn't mean every person
in the world over the entire world in time or geography. But it means as all in Adam died,
so all in Christ shall be made alive. So those in Christ are
made alive without any of them lost. None of them are going
to die because in Christ they're made alive. They're raised from
that death they suffered in Adam by sin in Adam. And they'd be
raised to life by the Lord Jesus Christ being in Christ. Now we could ask, how did they
get in Christ? How would such a great blessing
be given to them? Could they get into Christ of
their own will? No. He says in Romans 9, it is
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that shows mercy. And in John chapter 1, they were
born not of the will of man, but of God. And so We understand
that the reason God's people are made alive is because they
are in Christ by God's doing, by grace. And because of that
grace, that's in Christ, and His righteousness now, death,
no longer reigns, but His grace reigns, and it reigns by His
righteousness unto eternal life. And so that's why they are all
made alive. But in verse 23, he goes on,
but every man in his own order Christ, the first fruits, afterward
they that are Christ's at his coming. There it is confirmed
again to us, those that are Christ's will be made alive at his coming.
And it's not that they were not alive before his coming in their
souls, because they were. In Ephesians chapter 2, though
we were dead in sins, we have been made alive by God out of
his mercy and love in the Lord Jesus Christ. So what he says
here about being made alive or being given this life at his
coming, he's talking about the resurrection of our bodies. Christ
has redeemed us by his blood. He obtained that eternal redemption
for us when he offered himself to God. But having obtained it,
he gives that redemption to us first in our spirit and then
in our body. And so he goes on. Then cometh
the end. He's referring now to Christ
coming. And the fact that when he comes,
our bodies will be raised. The redemption of our body will
occur at the end. And every believer's body will
then be raised. There's not going to be a resurrection
before the end, nor after the end. There's one resurrection
of God's people. It's at the end. And when they're
raised, they're all raised together at the same time because they're
all part of that one body of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we
see, when we look at these things, that because we were in Adam,
we died in spirit and we died in body. The body didn't die
immediately, but it came to that point in death over the progress
of our life. We live a life, it's a very short
life, 70, 80, maybe at most 100 years. But eventually that body dies
because of our sin. That's our fault, that sin we
committed in Adam. But all would be lost were it
not for God's superseding purpose that preceded
our fall in Adam to give us eternal life by the Lord Jesus Christ
and that life would come at the cost of his own blood and on
the foundation of his own obedience unto death, his righteousness.
And so because God has designated and set him up for his people
as the head of all of his people and they the body, then all that
he did, they did in him, and all that he did is given from
God to them because of what he did. And that's what's being
spoken about here. But all of it doesn't happen
in a moment, and it doesn't happen to all of them at once until
the end. Then at the end, all of them
are all raised together. And as soon as all the bodies
of all the saints have been raised, then those saints who are left
alive at that time will immediately be transformed into this new
spiritual heavenly body. Now that's such an infinite display of power and
victory. And nothing really can be compared
to it except the first fruits, the Lord Jesus Christ, because
when He rose from the dead, and this is very significant, when
Christ rose from the dead, then God was raising up all of His
people with Him. In raising up Christ, there was
an exceeding great power, says in Ephesians 119, and this power
of the Father was to raise up His Son. And we don't only attribute
it to the father because it says in another place he was raised
up by the Spirit of God in Romans 1. And the Lord Jesus Christ
said he had power to take up his life again. So this is God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, who exerted
this power, this almighty power, in holiness and righteousness
raised Christ up, having paid for our sins and fulfilled all
righteousness for us. But in that resurrection of Christ,
the Lord, our head, our surety, our redeemer, God raised up all
of his people in that redeeming act, and that is given to us
in time when we hear the gospel and God opens our hearts and
gives us that life and faith in Christ, and then at the end
of time when he gives us this new body. So that's the teaching
here. And so he says in verse 24, then
come at 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 all power. For he must reign, and there's
the title of our message, he must reign. For he must reign
till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy
that shall be destroyed is death. First Satan raised up his enmity
against God and against Christ and against his people, and then
sin entered into the world by Satan, by his temptation, and
then death came following sin. But then at the cross, Christ
destroyed Satan and delivered his people from the kingdom of
Satan in his death on the cross. He nailed the accusations that
were against us to his cross, and he spoiled principalities
and powers and made a show of them openly. And so then he delivers
his people in time, so they're raised in their soul, and at
the end of time, he obliterates that last enemy, which is death.
And so we see how God methodically, in the process of His infinite
wisdom and holy actions, undoes everything that our sin brought
in. and that Satan brought in. And
the end of that will be when he raises his people from the
dead in their bodies. And what a power that will be.
What amazing power and grace that God would raise up the dead.
Corruption and dishonor and weakness and all of these things that
are, it's called our vile body in Philippians chapter three,
verse 21. He shall change our vile body. And the apostle says,
oh, wretched man that I am. He's talking about that part
of him still fallen in his natural body, that old man, which in
Romans 8, verse 10 says, the body is dead because of sin,
but the spirit is life because of righteousness, the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But here we see God's panoramic
purpose for all of history and all eternity. The Lord Jesus
Christ would be on the throne. And all of his people would be
redeemed from sin, from death, and from all of the influence
and power of Satan. Christ will have absolute victory
in all things. And this is God's purpose. And
so we want to look at this phrase, he must reign, must. Must means it's necessary. What
makes it necessary? What makes it necessary that
the Lord Jesus Christ reign? And how is this significant to
us? Well, let's think about how it's
significant. The Lord Jesus Christ, his name, as I said, is Savior. He's the Savior of his people.
Brad read to us in Isaiah chapter 45. He is a just God, righteous
and holy and true, and a Savior. How could God save a sinner and
still be righteous and holy and true? The answer comes in the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. How holy is God? It's Christ
that died. How great is God's mercy to sinners? It is Christ that died. How great
is His power? It is Christ that died. How great
is our salvation? It is Christ that died, you see. We need to get these things so
cemented in our conscience and in our heart that when we come
to God, we realize nothing could ever possibly be expected from
me. I can bring nothing except my
sin. I have nothing but need and mercy
in my need from God. And God has provided all in the
Lord Jesus Christ and in him alone. And therefore, he must
reign because it's all in him. So the fact that he must reign
means that all, all things that he intended to do, all that he
did in his life and in his death and in his resurrection, now
all that he does in his risen and ascended life shall be fulfilled. Nothing will go unanswered or
unfulfilled in all that he did. God's glory will be displayed
to the uttermost, nothing could exceed the way that God has done
this. And so we read this in Romans
chapter 5, in verse 9, he says, much more than being now justified
by his blood, that's how we're just, that's how God is a just
God and a Savior, by the blood of Jesus. much more than being
now justified by his blood. Listen, we shall be saved from
wrath through him. For if when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, When we
were enemies, God reconciled us to himself by the death of
his son. Those words are true. That is
the purpose of God, and that is the work of God. We had no
contribution in it whatsoever. The death of his son, God did
this. Christ did this. It was a death
of obedience, of submission. He says, much more than being
reconciled, we shall be saved by his life, his risen life,
his reigning life. So he must reign. So this title,
this statement of scripture, he must reign, is meant to do
two things, to silence all who oppose him and to comfort and
give the greatest peace and joy and assurance to those who need
him. who come to him and plead for
him to save them by his grace alone according to his righteousness,
his obedience, and his blood and not my own. Nothing in my
hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling. Naked come to him for
dress, helpless come look to him for grace. Amazing grace,
isn't it? He must reign. And so he says,
he must reign. Now, why must he reign? Well,
obviously, nothing must be, nothing is necessary but what God himself
has determined to be. Look at Ephesians, the book of
Ephesians chapter one. He says this in verse 11. He's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ, In verse 11 of Ephesians 1, he says, in whom, in Christ
also, we have obtained an inheritance. And that inheritance includes
everything God promised to give to his people because of the
obedience and blood of Christ. They were in Him, God gives them
life. They were in Him, God gives them
His Spirit. His Spirit of life and grace.
They were in Him, therefore He rewards them with everlasting
life. And not only life, but eternal glory. Nothing will be
withheld from those for whom God delivered up and did not
spare His Son. He'll give to them all things
that He has given to His Son. That's all part of this inheritance. So in whom, in Christ, we have
obtained and inheritance, notice, being predestinated. God determined
before, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who works
all things after the counsel of His own will. Now, words cannot
be clearer. God does nothing but what His
own will tells Him to do. And all of this means that he
predestinated his people to an inheritance in Christ. And this
was all according to the counsel of his will. And notice he says
that we should be, this is part of that will, that we should
be to the praise of his glory who first trusted or who first
hoped in Christ. So here we see that the Lord
determined this. God himself did this, the one
who does everything according to his own will. Nothing outside
of God influences him except his own will, and that's God
himself. What he determined from eternity, he predestinated a
people in Christ to receive eternal glory. Look at 2 Timothy. The same thing is said there.
2 Timothy, the T's are all in alphabetical order in the New
Testament. Timothy's, the 1st and 2nd Timothy are first. 2
Timothy 2 and verse 10, notice what he says here. This is the
apostle Paul saying, he says, therefore, I endure all things
for the elect's sake, God's chosen people, those he predestinated,
He gave them an eternal inheritance in Christ, as we just read in
Ephesians 1.11, they are the elect. Therefore, I endure all
things for the elect's sake, those who are in Christ, that
they may also, notice, obtain the salvation which is in Christ
with eternal glory. Paul did everything he did in
the life Christ gave him to live as his servant and as an apostle,
with all the wisdom that God gave to him, everything he showed
the apostle, and everything he suffered in order to accomplish
that will. He did it for the elect's sake, for the church,
for Christ's sheep, for his people, his brethren. His congregation,
those given to Him by the Father to save, those He was given by
the Father for this purpose, this end, this consummate end,
to raise them up at the last day. And that's what He's speaking
about here in 1 Corinthians 15. That's what the Lord has given
His Son. That's why He must reign. There's
no one else worthy but the Lord Jesus Christ to reign. And as
I've pointed this out before, nothing gives honor and glory
more to God the Father than that he would have such a son who
would be so faithful to him and to be so holy and so righteous
as to accomplish all of his will for his glory. And that brings
glory to the Father. Look at Philippians chapter two. Christ gives glory to the Father
because Christ is the one who alone is able, who alone is so
faithful and able and worthy to reign and thus to bring glory
to God, therefore He must reign. Notice in Ephesians chapter 2,
He says in verse five, let this mind be in you, which was also
in Christ Jesus. Now, if you look at this context
here, he's telling them that they need to have an attitude
towards one another as Christ had towards his father. And that's a significant thing
here. That's a truth that just should
cause us to stand still and the hair on the back of our neck
to tingle in the sobriety that that brings to us, the humility.
Take your place, your rightful place. I was thinking about that
this week. For us, we think, I need to take
my rightful place. I mean, I only, I can use myself
as an example. I don't have any musical talent,
so let's take my rightful place and admit it. Or I don't have
much intellect, so I should take my rightful place and let somebody
else explain the things that I don't understand and give them
the credit for it. Take my rightful place. But you
know, that in itself is not humility, just taking your rightful place.
Notice here, humility is taking something lower than what you
think, or lower than even your proper place. Notice this, and
this is an attitude we're to have towards one another, thinking
about how Christ did this towards his Father. He says, let this
mind be in you, verse five, which was also in Christ Jesus, who
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, it wasn't robbery because he is God. And yet, notice verse
seven, but made himself of no reputation, that's humility,
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men. Why did he do this? Here's the
most incredible thing, because this is who he is. He wanted
to do this. It wasn't like he had to force
himself to take on the place of a servant and lay aside his
reputation. This is the heart of the Lord
Jesus Christ, to step low and to undertake for people who were
nothing, who deserved to be alienated and separated from God forever,
and to take their cause in love and to stoop so low as to come
under them. and to bear their sins in answer
to God, in holy righteousness, in order to save them and to
glorify God. That's what he's talking about
here. This is who Christ is. He says in verse 8, Being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became, notice, obedient
unto death. There's no other phrase in all
of scripture that describes so much about what Christ did than
that. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. reproach among men, the offscouring
of the world, the scum of the earth, holding our Savior in
contempt, the Lord of glory and the Prince of life, and he took
that unwillingly in obedience to his Father, and he did it
voluntarily in love to his people." That's humility. And that's perfect
humility. Wherefore, notice verse 9, wherefore
God has highly exalted him. You see why it must be? and given
him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow and will bow of things in heaven and things
in earth and things under the earth. It doesn't matter where
they are, nothing will be left out, nothing will be excluded.
Everything and everybody will bow to Christ. God has determined
it, and he works all things according to the counsel of his own will.
Therefore it shall be. He says in verse 11, and this
is significant, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord. To what? To the glory of God
the Father. You see, such a magnificent,
majestic, holy, righteous, faithful, loving, gracious, humble Savior. And we see Him and we so adore
Him that He would save such a wretch from our sins when we have no
strength and nothing to offer and no potential. And yet the
God of glory and His grace stoops to lift the beggar from the dunghill
and to set him among princes, as it says in 1 Samuel 2. And
so God has highly exalted Him and we highly praise and worship
Him. We have nothing to do except
to honor and worship and adore Him. And God the Father receives
such glory because His Son is so great and His Son stooped
to serve His Father. That's the heart of our Savior.
He must reign. Now look at this also back in
1 Corinthians 15. He must reign till he has put
all enemies under his feet. God's not going to allow any
enemy to escape. The enemies of Christ are the
enemies of God. The enemies of Christ are the
enemies of his people. So the Lord Jesus Christ undertook
in this way, and God determined to do this, that he must reign
for his people to subdue their enemies, which were his enemies.
They were all one and the same enemy. Because he so identified
his people with himself, he took them in that eternal election
and chose them and predestinated them to be his own children.
Therefore, all of his enemies, all of their enemies became his
enemies. And not one of them is going
to escape. They're all going to be made to serve His purpose. Everything, all things are going
to be worked together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. And His purpose
was to conform us to the image of His Son. He foreknew us in
His eternal, determined will in love, and He determined in
that will to conform us to the image of His Son, and nothing
is going to get in the way. Nothing. Now, God's going to
do this in a way that brings us in our own thinking and our
heart in submission to the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is something
that's incredible, isn't it? We hear that we need to be obedient,
but we know that we're not. We hear that we ought to be without
sin, but we know that we're full of sin. And what do we do? Well,
we step under here, you see. We come under this declaration
of God's will and purpose in Christ, and we say, Lord, don't
pass me by. Don't leave me to myself. Don't
leave me to suffer for my sins as I deserve. But look to the
Lord Jesus Christ and receive Him. And in receiving Him for
sinners, receive me also. You see, that's what we're praying,
isn't it? In Psalm 106, I'm sorry, yeah, I think it's 106. Let me
read this verse to you, Psalm 106. He says this, I love this
prayer. He says verse four, 106 verse
four. Remember me, O Lord, with a favor
that thou bearest unto thy people. Oh, visit me with thy salvation,
that I may see the good of thy chosen of Christ. that I may
rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, his people, as they honor
and worship Christ for his saving grace, and that I may glory with
thine inheritance, his people. That's Psalm 106. He tells, this
is the posture, this is the attitude of the Lord's people. Every one
of them are made to submit to Christ as sinners, needing grace,
and coming to Him alone for it, and looking to Him only, and
not thinking that their faith, this act of faith that God has
given them, has any merit in itself, but looking only and
always to Christ alone. So we don't even think of our
humility. We think of our condition, our
need of Christ. And we say, Lord, save me. As
blind Bartimaeus, son of David, have mercy upon me. What do you
want me to do, Lord, that I might receive my sight, that I might
be made to see you and to be persuaded that all of God's grace
and his righteousness and his glory is in you, vested in you,
and you alone deserve it and have it, shall reign. Lord, save
me. Look upon me and consider your
son and consider your son and think of me and save me by your
grace to the glory and the praise of your holy name. And all of
God's people are made to submit this way in faith. We come to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, come unto me all
you who labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. Learn of
me. I'm meek and lowly of heart.
My burden is light. My yoke is easy. My burden is
light. You'll find rest for your souls when you come to Christ.
Another submission. And submission on our part is
not some kind of a payment. It's not some kind of a leverage
tool that we use to get something from God. But it is our privilege. It is our privilege to serve
the Almighty Lord of Glory, isn't it? If you were called to serve
in some high role in government, you might consider yourself to
be honored by that. We're talking about the Lord
of Glory, the One who stooped so low that no one was ever lower,
in order to save people by His great grace and love and compassion,
in holiness and in righteousness and in honor to God, and to be
called His servant, to be allowed to know Him and in heart submit
to Him. You see, this has an effect on
us, doesn't it? Christ so stooped, and he now
reigns, and we find it our highest privilege to be submissive to
him in everything. And that's what he's talking
about here. And this is the proof of the resurrection. You see,
this is another proof. All these other things were set
forth that we discussed these last three weeks, but in this
one he's saying, look at this. God has determined his son must
reign, therefore the resurrection is proved. God said, I will do
it, and I will bring it to pass, and no one can prevent it. No
one can stand in the way. And so he says here in 1 Corinthians
15, he must reign. till he has put all enemies under
his feet. Now this word till doesn't mean
that at some point Christ will stop reigning because his enemies
have been put under his feet. It doesn't mean that. It means
that even in the opposition of his enemies to his sovereign
rule, he shall nevertheless reign. There won't be anything that
the enemy brings in that will diminish from his absolute rule
because against all of their opposition, he shall reign. Nothing shall be unfulfilled
in His perfect glory and reign by all that the enemy does. That's
what it's talking about here. That there's going to be a perfect
fulfillment to this edict, this decree, this foreordained will
of God that He's going to bring to pass. He, the God the Father,
will subject everything to His Son. the Lord Jesus Christ in
our nature, as our mediator. God gave him a work to do, a
work to save a people, and he will accomplish that work, and
God the Father himself is going to make sure that work is done,
because he will put everything under the feet of his Son, the
one who sits on heaven's throne, not only as God, but as God-man. because only as man, notice back
in verse 21, only as man could that resurrection come. He's
the resurrection because he's both God and man and he stooped
to bear our sins and to endure our death and to take away our
sins and death and destroy the works of the devil. So this glorious
truth that he must reign till he has put all enemies under
his feet is saying that the reign will be perfect and there will
be no escaping his absolute a victory and dominance over every enemy
of the cross, of his rule. And all of his people, therefore,
will be saved, and not only saved, but saved not in a little way,
not in just a barely sort of way, but saved to the uttermost. He who, when we were enemies,
reconciled us to himself by the death of his son, How much more
shall he now that he has reconciled us save us by his life? That's
what he's saying. All right, so here he says, In
verse 25, just reading through this, he must reign till he hath
put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death. And that's the subject of this
chapter, the resurrection from the dead of the believer and
of Christ and them together at the resurrection of Christ and
them and their bodies at the last day, at the end of time. Then in verse 27 he 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 accepted,
which did put all things under him. It would be the enemy who
would suggest such a thing, that God the Father made himself subject
to his Son. Why would he do that? If God
the Father is putting all things under his feet, then God the
Father is ruling Isn't he? He doesn't cease to rule because
he has put his son in our nature, the God-man, our mediator, to
rule over all things. He also rules and he's putting
everything under his feet. So he sits on his father's throne
now at the right hand of God, both on the throne. It's not
like God the Father has given up his rule, even now, and he's
not going to give it up then. But here's something that surprises
us when we read this. He says, Speaking of God the
Father, he has put all things under his feet, but when he saith,
all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted.
He's left out, he's not put under him. But what he's saying here
is that since he's the only one not put under Christ, this also
gives us the assurance, the confidence that everything else is put under
Christ. Because if all except God the
Father is, then he himself is the only one accepted. And he
means not just God the Father, but God the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit, because they are one. There's one God
who is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So this is,
but this is amazing, though, that God the Father would reign
over all through his Son, and the Son would reign as our mediator
until some point when, he says in verse 28, and when all things
shall be subdued to him, to Christ, then shall the Son also himself
be subject unto him that put all things under him that God
may be all in all. Now this is something that I
don't, I have to say, I don't understand it. But I'm gonna
tell you as much as I do understand, because I believe that we won't
understand this, perhaps, until we are actually in this, in the
experience of it. Nevertheless, God's scripture
is like that. He says things that we don't
understand, and when they come to pass, he shows that he told
us before. But it was our own limited, ability
and our own unbelief that kept us from understanding it. Here
he says, when all things shall be subdued to him, to Christ,
then shall the Son also himself be subject to him, that put all
things under him, which is God, God the Father, and God the Holy
Spirit, that God may be all in all. All right. What are the
all things put under Christ? Everything. And why were they
put under him? For the elect's sake. We just
read in 2 Timothy 2, verse 10, it's for the elect's sake. I
do all things for the elect's sake. That's why Christ came,
that's why he died, that's why he rose again, it was for the
elect's sake. God determined, he predestinated,
we read in Ephesians 1.11, in whom we have an inheritance that
he's given to us according as he predestinated us unto that
inheritance in Christ. by the counsel of His own will.
And so this was the will of God, to give Christ a people, to join
them to Him as one with Christ. He would take their nature, they
would receive His Holy Spirit, they would even be glorified
in the same body, a glorious body like His body. And all that
He did, they would have been given in Him as though they did
it. They did, they did it in Him.
And all the reward God gave to His Son, He gives to them in
Him, so that there's no difference. And yet this mediatorial role
of Christ at this time in history, He's also using everything in
creation, a fallen creation. whether it be the birds or the
animals or plants or people, nations and governors and presidents
and mayors and school teachers and husbands. It doesn't matter
who it is. This authority is all going to
be leveled and done away with and absorbed and swallowed up
in the Lord Jesus Christ who now has everything put under
him. There's no more need for these intermediate things. In
this world now that we live in, in this body we live, Christ
lives in us by his spirit, we're alive. And yet in this body that's
dead because of sin, we have a whole creation we're interacting
with and we're under the trouble of it. And we're given things
in scripture to understand by physical analogies. of spiritual
things. All of that will be completely
done away because there's no more need for it. Christ is all
now. And that's what he's saying here.
The mediatorial reign of Christ in this present age will be folded
up and completed in consummate perfection. And Christ will be
all in all and he will deliver the entire kingdom up to his
Father. And all those that oppose him will be delivered up and
cast into the lake of fire. And the creation itself will
be destroyed and redone. All will be done to be consistent
now with this people who are joined to Christ in spirit and
in body. And they are a spiritual, immortal,
incorruptible, heavenly people in a heavenly body. Now what
does it mean? I don't know, except more than
we say with these words here. But when this happens, he says,
then the Son also will be subject to him who put all things under
him, that God may be all in all. And that's where our understanding
falls so far short. But what we see here is that
the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is the Word of
God, He is God, and He was with God from the beginning. Remember
John 1.1? The Word was God, the Word was
with God, and nothing was made that He didn't make. And He who
is God was with God, and He repeats it in there. So we understand
He's both one with God and yet distinct in His person as the
Son of God, the Word of God. And what do we see in this, where
God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit from
eternity are face to face in perfect delight, and yet the
Son in this unspeakable, incomprehensible grace, stoops to take the place
according to the mind and will of not only God the Father and
God the Spirit, but of His own heart, to save and to have a
people to Himself, and to glorify Himself in all that He did for
their salvation, to subdue and subject and destroy all that
opposes Him. and to bring them to himself
in glorious eternal life and glory. And he says, then at that
time the Son will be subject to him that put all things unto
him. And all I can say is, notice how the Lord Jesus Christ does
not change. He doesn't change. Who He is,
He has always been, and who He is, He will always be. This humility
of His heart is always there, and He counts nothing higher.
His own heart is absolutely beating in unison with the mind and heart
of His Father. There's no difference, not a
shadow of difference between them, and yet He counts at His
highest, what would you say? His highest delight. to do whatever
his father says to do. It's what he wants. And he wants
to glorify his father, and his father wants to glorify his son,
and God is all in all. And all of his people are around
the throne, and we're able now in this glorified body to give
all honor and praise to God and to the Lamb on the throne. You
see, God reigns in His Son, and the Son reigns to the glory of
the Father. And what can we say? That this
face-to-face, intimate communion from eternity is consummately
brought to an end, and there we are with the Lord Jesus Christ,
one with Him, and here we are worshiping God. Can you think
of anything more wonderful? Can we submit to this glorious
Savior who would so save us? And He would save us to the uttermost
by His risen life, having conquered all of our sin. Can we trust
Him? He must reign. Every enemy shall be subdued.
Is there anything that we should worry about? Since he said all
things are gonna be worked together for our good, and he's going
to bring us to himself, he's going to clothe us in his own
righteousness, and his own beauty, and he's gonna give us all things,
he's gonna consider us to be his reward, and we're gonna see
him as our reward, and there'll be perfect joy and communion,
and each one of us together, now who in ourselves are sinners,
who have come to trust and call and cry and look to and adore
and admire the Lord Jesus Christ. We speak to one another of these
things and we're amazed. And the Lord writes a book of
remembrance. He writes this book of remembrance of those who think
on him and speak to one another in his name. And I'll read this
to you in Malachi chapter three. Listen to these words. Oh, let's look at the wrong book.
Malachi, Malachi chapter three. He says in verse 16, then they
that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord
hearkened and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before
him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his
name. How could the Lord do that? Why
would He do that? He gave us. He arrested us. He spoke these words. He quickened
us. He gave us life and faith. Why
would He do this? It's His work. We are His workmanship. He deserves all the praise and
all the glory. May the Lord be so gracious as
to give us His highest of all privileges to look to the Lord
Jesus Christ and submit to Him from the heart, the heart He
must give us. Let's pray. Lord, we pray, so
give us this life in our souls, that you would live in us by
your Spirit, that we would be convinced of our own utter unworthiness,
and see you in all of your utter worthiness, so that we might
love and adore you, and trust you. And in all the troubles
of life, in the uncertainties of life, we would know that you
have perfect control over all things for your glory, and you
designed them, You intended for things to be this way so that
you could bring life and victory out of utter destruction and
death. What a great Savior to bring us from this dunghill of
our own sinfulness to the heights of glory, to see you in your
glory and love it, to have it that way. In Jesus' name we pray
for his sake, in his name, amen.