I Corinthians 15:22

First Corinthians 15:22

First Corinthians 15:22 says, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." The first man was Adam. Every human on the earth can trace their lineage to Adam. That is one of the reasons that you should not be prejudiced against people of other races. A black person or a white person or an oriental or anyone else all have the same connection to Adam. And the things that make us human we have all inherited from Adam. Perhaps the worse thing that we all have received from Adam is death. Adam sinned and therefore he died. A human being is born into the world, lives for a time, and then dies. These facts of life we have all inherited from Adam. It is our physical connection to Adam that makes this so.

Adam failed and Adam sinned, and as with all sins, there were negative results that still persist. When you go past a graveyard and you see the crosses and tombstones row on row, you can remember that it is all there because of Adam. Death waits there for us all, as the last event in each of our lives. Whether rich or poor, none shall escape. But God has done something to annihilate the consequences of Adam’s failures. Another man came, but this man did not fail. This man won the battle over sin and temptation, so instead of death being the consequences of His actions, this new man has brought eternal life: a life that will not end in death. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."

In First Corinthians 15:23-25 the Bible says, "But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes 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. For he must reign, till he has put all enemies under his feet."

Evidently when people die in the Lord, their spirit goes to be immediately with God. Jesus said to the thief on the cross who believed in Him, "Today you will be with me in paradise." To be absent from the body, means to be present with the Lord. But the Bible teaches that there will also be a future event when these spirits of humans will be resurrected in a resurrected body. At the moment of death their spirit left their human body and went to be with God, if they had Jesus as their Savior. Their human body was corrupted by the elements and returned to the dust of the earth from which it came. But the spirits of humans who have gone on to eternal life will one day be reunited with a resurrected body, a glorious body that will be much different and much better than the body they had in this life.

When will this future resurrection take place? We are given the answer in verse 23 where it says, "they that are Christ’s at His coming." It is at the Second Coming of Christ that the resurrection of the just shall take place, when the saved ones will be given resurrected bodies similar to the one that Jesus had when He rose from the dead. When Jesus returns, He will return with His saints. The songwriter was correct. The saints shall come marching in. They will come with Jesus, and they will come with a resurrected body. First Thessalonians 4:16 also tells us that this resurrection of the just will take place at the time of the return of Jesus Christ. It says, "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first."

We know that during the return of Christ or at the moment of the return of Christ, the resurrection of the just shall take place. But what is going to happen after the return of Christ? First Corinthians 15:24-26 tells us a couple of details concerning the circumstances that will exist after the return of Christ. It says, "Then comes the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom of God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, until he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."

The Bible says, "Then comes the end." The end of what? The end of life as we know it. One thing that is very clear about the teachings of the Bible is that life, as we know it on this earth is only a temporary arrangement. The day is coming when things are going to change, and they are going to change drastically. The subject that Paul is talking about in First Corinthians chapter 15 is death, and now the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth is one of Paul’s points to explain the truthfulness of the resurrection from the dead.The dead will be raised because Jesus will return as the great Messiah, the greatest ruler and leader that the earth will have ever known.

When the book of Isaiah prophesies about the Messiah, it says in Isaiah 9:6, "...the government shall be upon His shoulder." Isaiah 9:7 says, "Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."

The greatest ruler and the greatest King that the world has ever known or ever will know, shall be found when Jesus returns to the earth to take the throne of David as the Kings of kings and Lord of Lords. There have been many kings and dictators who have attempted to expand their rule and dominion in this earth, but they have always done it with human selfishness and with the Spirit of this world, and often their reigns have been reigns of terror. Humans have failed at their opportunities to rule this world, and their greatest failures have usually been in regards to their own selfishness and ruthlessness. They have found ways to acquire power, but for the most part they used their power wrongly. But Jesus will be the benevolent monarch. Jesus will take the power that is rightfully His, but He will use His power for the benefit of the human race.

Jesus will do many things for us as the King of Kings. He will come for our benefit, and one of the things that He will do according to First Corinthians 15:25 is that He will "put all enemies under His feet." The human race has had several formidable enemies. I hope that you understand who your real enemies are. Your enemies are not other humans. That is one of the reasons that Jesus taught us to love our enemies, because He loves every member of the human race. Your real enemies are spiritual in nature. Ephesians 6:12 says, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." The greatest battles of life are the spiritual battles, and the forces that are against you will be too great for you unless you have Jesus as your captain.

The normal course of life for a human being in this world will result in them being attacked and overcome by the forces of evil. But in the Lord Jesus Christ you will find a safe refuge. Jesus will save your soul from the snares into which evil has guided you, and once that happens He will only allow the forces of evil to do things that will ultimately result in good and in the direction of God for you. That is why Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that all things work together for good to those that love God and to those that are the called according to His purpose."

The things that most people think are important are not so important after all. Jesus said, "What should it profit a man should he gain the whole world but lose his own soul?" No matter what someone accomplishes in this life, they still must face death. The grave beckons to them and waits for them, and their turn will come to enter the fangs of death. Of all the possible sorrows of life, there may be none greater than to stand over the grave of a loved one. Some parents have had to bury a son or a daughter in the flower of youth. They certainly do not have to be told how much death is the enemy of man. The greatest crime that can be committed is to murder another human. When man uses a weapon against his fellowman, the worst weapon that he can use is death.

Even if someone managed to experience what few have experienced in this life, even if they had the most ideal life, what would it matter if they still faced death where they would lose it all? To live is to love, to have children, and to see them grow and prosper, to work, and to plan, and to accomplish, and to see the fruits of your labors; but then to lose it all at death. If you look at life without the promises of the gospel of Christ, it would be easy to be fatalistic and to view life as empty and purposeless, because of the grave that waits there to take it all away after just a few short years.

But God is on our side. He knows what death has done to the human race through war and disease and the ravages of time. Many of the humans have put out of their minds the fact of death, because of how difficult it can be to face. It is the ever-present enemy that is only a heartbeat away from any of us or any of our loved ones. First Corinthians 15:26 says, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." God will destroy death, and death will one day only be distant memory. Because of Jesus Christ and because of the resurrection from the dead, there is a wonderful day planned by God for the future when death shall be no more. As John Donne wrote in his great poem on death, "Death, thou shalt die."

The reason that God shall be able to conquer death is the same reason that He shall be able to conquer all the other enemies of man. God is all-powerful and He can do anything. He has given to man for a season the opportunity to rule this world, but that season will be taken away when Jesus returns to the earth. Those who have power now, will bow down to His power. They may not know it, but they only have power and authority because God has permitted it. The day will come when everyone will answer to God for what they have done with whatever power or authority or opportunity that He has given to them. And then God will manifest Himself and reveal Himself as the head of all things in a way that He has never done before.

First Corinthians 15:27-28 says, "For he has put all things under His feet. But when he says all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 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, that God may be all in all." In the day and age in which we live, human beings are given a choice to submit to the leadership of God and His Christ, or to reject or resist His leadership. One of the biggest problems in this world is the vast number of people who are going their own way instead of God’s way. If they would surrender to God, they would find the peace that passes understanding and eternal life. We live in a time of choice. If you are one of the few who can bow your head and truthfully say to God, "Not my will, but thine be done," then you have spiritual wisdom and the gift of God.

But those who have chosen to resist God stand in grave danger, because the day is coming when Jesus will return to the earth and the choice will be taken away. Those that are unbelieving will be unbelieving still, and those that are filthy will be filthy still, and those that resist the will of God will perish. The grace and mercy of God is a great gift that is offered the human race, but it will not be offered forever. It will happen just like it says in First Corinthians 15:28, "...all things shall be subdued unto him." Every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

The result of the return of Christ, and the subduing of all powers, and the destruction of all enemies, and the resurrection of the dead is given to us in a very memorable phrase at the end of First Corinthians 15:28. It says, "...that God may be all in all." The absence of God from the mind of man is not a good thing. It is God who has given us life, and it is the knowledge of God and the will of God and the Word of God that will give us life more the way it ought to be. It is only when the activities of this life distort our priorities that we drift away from Christ and from thinking about Him. But that will not happen after the return of Christ, because God will be all in all. One of the many prophesies from the Old Testament about the Messianic Kingdom to come is found in Habakkuk 2:14 that says, "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."

It is the reality of the Kingdom of Christ to come that is one of the things that establishes the truth of the resurrection of the dead. Paul wrote in First Corinthians 15:29, "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?" The phrase "baptized for the dead" means baptized in place of the dead. Why not just let Christianity die out? What is the purpose of seeking converts to the gospel, and then as believers die? What is the good of replacing them with new converts? If the dead do not rise, there is no purpose in doing such things.

And why should anyone sacrifice or suffer or lose in this world for the sake of the gospel? That is what Paul asked in verse 30. He said, "And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?" The apostles lived for Christ in circumstances in which they were often at risk for their very lives because of the name of Jesus. One of the reasons that they were willing to be in such circumstances was the promise of the resurrection of the dead and the promise of the rewards that would be given to them in the Kingdom of Christ. They would not have been willing to suffer such thing if life ended at the grave. Do you live as if there is more to come after the grave, or do you live for life in this world only?

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