Sunday School | Will Jesus' Reign as King End?

We're in a series on comprehensively Christian doctrine, looking at what we call Christology—the study of the second person of the Trinity, the doctrine of Christ. We're seeing his whole being and work through ten different lenses, and we're on maybe six or seven. After arising from the dead, Christ ascends as king.

We've asked the question: "Is the reign of Christ as king best described as a line or a ray?" A line is infinite in both directions—it's always been, it always will be. Many people imagine the reign of Christ as a line segment, thinking he's always been king. But that's an error. He has always been God, but he became king. That means at death and resurrection, there was a moment in time where his reign began. So we rule out a line. What that leaves us with is either a line segment—meaning it begins and ends—or a ray, which begins but continues on without end.

One thing I want to put a bow on, which we'll revisit probably in a year, is this: when Jesus became king, from whom was he wrestling the kingdom? Who ruled before he did? The answer is Satan. Now, at a certain level, God the Father over-reigns all, but the kingdom of this earth was stolen. Satan even says in Luke 4, in the temptation in the wilderness, to Jesus:

If you will bow down to me, I will give you all the kingdoms of the earth, for it has been given to me. — Luke 4

Of course he's lying, because he's a liar—the father of lies. When he lies, he speaks his native language. But there's something, there's some truth embedded in that. He wasn't given the kingdom, but he usurped it. It's why Colossians says things like:

Jesus has—well, actually God the Father has—delivered us from the domain of darkness, that's the world that Satan rules, and has transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. — Colossians 1:13

There's a new kingdom, and essentially you can understand conversion or new life in Christ in terms of kingdom transfer. We were being taken out of this domain of darkness and brought into the kingdom of light. It's also why it says:

Jesus disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them by the cross. — Colossians 2

This is not Rome we're talking about—this is the supernatural forces, Satan and his minions. So when Jesus becomes king, he's actually stealing the kingdom back from the one who stole it in the first place.

Robin asks: If Jesus took their power from them when he was resurrected, then why does it seem that there is still that power at work in the world?

That's a fair question. If Jesus defeated Satan on the cross, then why does it seem like there's still so much evil in the world?

The way I would answer that is with an American history parallel. When was the Declaration of Independence written and signed? July 4th, 1776. At that moment, we declared to England: "No more. We're no longer under your thumb. We are an independent nation. We're done with you." But was that the beginning or the end of the Revolutionary War? It was the beginning. It took a while until Cornwallis finally laid down his sword before George Washington at Yorktown.

You and I, we're living through the Revolutionary War right now. The declaration has been made. Jesus says:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. — Matthew 28:18

Present tense. But we live in occupied territory. You could see the Great Commission—when Jesus says, "Therefore, go to all the earth, teaching people to obey me, that I'm with them at all times"—that is occupied territory language. And you see Paul and the apostles go out essentially declaring that Christ is king, that there is a new kingdom. And you may come out of the domain of darkness and into the kingdom of light.

And so what we look forward to is ultimately when Jesus comes back and his kingdom is inaugurated, although that's going to get complicated even this morning. That's when the thing that you're waiting for is what we're all waiting for. Satan has been defeated, but he's not yet been destroyed. And so we live in this already not yet between his two comings.

We're going to be at this for months. We're going to get to ultimately what we call angelology, which is the doctrine of angels and demons and Satan himself. And we'll unpack that a little more fully when we get there.

Jesus' Kingdom Began at a Specific Moment

It's my contention that Jesus's kingdom began at a moment in time. I think there's very strong biblical evidence for this. If you weren't here last week, you could listen to that online, but Psalm 2 or Philippians 2 are very strong comments on this. Even Romans 1—he became the son of God. It means he became the heir of the throne. His kingdom began at a moment in time.

The question before us today is: will it ever end, or which is to say, is it a line segment or is it a ray or is it more complicated than that?

Now, before we jump into that, the most obvious answer is that he will reign forever and ever and we sing songs about that. But before we just take that simple answer, we're going to do a little deeper dive into the scriptures.

A Lesson from George Washington

Before we get there, I want to tell you about American history—and my assumption is that most of you learned your American history from the play Hamilton.

Do you remember there's this moment in Hamilton when George Washington surrenders the presidency? He's been president for two terms and he's going to run again and he's going to defeat Jefferson, but then Washington has this conversation with Alexander Hamilton saying, "I'm going to step down. I'm going to yield the White House." When that happened in real life, everywhere in the world is freaked out because absolutely Washington could have won a third term. Probably could have won a fourth term. But he didn't seek that third term and it shocked everybody.

But here's the question: what had Washington already done that should have made you expect that he would resign the presidency? What happens when you are the general of the army that defeats the world's superpower? The next step is you declare yourself king, right? But do you know what he did? He resigned his commission.

John Trumbull said this: "Washington's resignation is an event which excites the astonishment and admiration of this part of the world. 'Tis a conduct so novel, so inconceivable to people who, far from giving up the powers they possess, are willing to convulse the empire to acquire more."

And then across the pond, when King George III heard about this, he told Benjamin West, "If Washington does that, he will be the greatest man in the world." And then he did it.

So the question is: would Jesus ever do anything so ridiculous as to relinquish his kingdom?

Psalm 110: The New Testament's Favorite Verse

I want you to go to the New Testament's favorite Old Testament verse. Do you guys remember what this is? One passage in the Old Testament that gets quoted more than any other passage by a wide margin. What is it?

Psalm 110. Psalm 110 is the passage of the Old Testament that the New Testament writers quoted more often than any other. Over and over and over again, we returned to this.

The Lord said to my Lord. — Psalm 110:1

This is David writing and he says, "Yahweh said to my king."

God said to my king, quote, sit in my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion and you will rule in the midst of your enemies. Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth.

Verse 4. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand. You will crush the kings in his wrath. He will judge the nations heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. He will drink from the brook beside the way. Therefore, he will lift up his head. — Psalm 110

Now, you might read them and be like, why in the world do they quote that a thousand times in the New Testament, right? There are two offices that are being very clearly described here. The first three verses is about one office and the last half is about a second office. So you tell me what role, what office, what position is being described in the first three verses.

The Lord says to my Lord, sit in my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The Lord will extend your mighty scepter. That's a clue from Zion. You will rule. That's another one. In the midst of your enemies, your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty from the womb of the dawn you'll receive the dew of your youth. What office is that?

King. Okay. Psalm 110 is about this person who will be, very, very clearly unambiguously, he will be king, right? Good enough.

The second half is a different office.

Verse 4, "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek." What office?

Okay. Why is this strange that the same person is being granted kingship and priesthood? Totally separate. And how do we—how separate? What's the division on these in the Old Testament? Levi. It comes entirely different tribes. The priests will come from Levi and the kings will come from Judah and nobody gets to be both. It's basically the Old Testament version of separation of powers, right? You don't get to be king and priest at the same time.

Except there was one at the very beginning named Adam who was both king and priest. Eden was a temple and he reigned. Everything went all sideways and so they split it up. Adam couldn't be king and priest so they couldn't do either one well. So they split it up. But the promise was, and this is repeatedly—we won't entirely unpack this, but the day was coming that one man, the Messiah, would reunite the kingdom and the priesthood, that this would happen. Now, we get, again, if I had more time we'd develop that but we're not going to do that right now. The king and the priest. Psalm 110 is one of the primary places where that is seen. Zechariah loves this. He goes after that. But king and priest together.

Now notice something about this priesthood in chapter four and verse four.

It says, "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You're a priest." What? Forever. There's an eternal priesthood.

Now, the book of Hebrews loves this stuff. In fact, Hebrews is probably the number one quarter of Psalm 110. He talks about this. He loves the whole Melchizedek story. If you're not familiar with it, I don't have time for it today, but it's interesting stuff. He will be priest until—he's a priest forever. Jesus is our high priest. He doesn't just go in with the blood of bulls and goats, but he offers himself. He goes into a better sanctuary. He is the priest to which all the priests point. He will never not be priest. He's a priest forever. So far so good?

Now, and just stay with me. I'm not a heretic. Just stay with me. If you go back to the kingship passage, you don't find kingship forever language. You get something else.

Then the Lord, verse one, the Lord says to my Lord, "Sit in my right hand." What's the next word? Until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

The language to sit in my right hand—this is the kingship language. You're going to see over and over in the New Testament. It's going to talk about Christ being seated at the right hand of the Father. That is always an allusion to Psalm 110. It is always a picture of his reign as king. And what it says is that he will reign until something happens. It would be very understandable if you read Psalm 110 and you're like, yeah, you just blitz right over that. It doesn't strike you. But the Apostle Paul is going to camp out on the word "until" in 1 Corinthians 15. And I want you to see he's going to quote Psalm 110. He's going to pick this up and he's going to double click on this and circle it and highlight it in yellow.

So go with me to Psalm—I'm sorry, to 1 Corinthians 15. And we're trying to figure out would Christ ever relinquish his reign? He is a priest forever, but he is a king until. And here's what Paul does with that. Go to 1 Corinthians 15.

This whole passage is about when Christ comes—there's these three Rs, right? His return to restore all things and raise the dead. And this is what's happening.

When Paul depicts it, listen to what he says, this is startling. I've been a Christian for like 20 years before I read this passage and noticed what it said. And I was so arrested by it because it was just altogether unlike anything I'd ever imagined.

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. — 1 Corinthians 15:20

Now, we talked about this. What does that mean? The idea that he's the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep? They were all going to rise. He's the sample. He's the spoonful of blue cow ice cream that anticipates the scoop of blue cow ice cream. Whatever was true of him will be true of us. He was the first to go, but we will go with him.

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will also be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the first fruits, the sample, the early goer, and then when he comes, those who belong to him. — 1 Corinthians 15:21-23

When he comes back, he's going to raise the dead. He's also going to restore all things. It's going to be amazing. So far so good, but now check this out.

Then the end will come when Jesus does what? Hands over the kingdom. Then the end will come when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power. — 1 Corinthians 15:24

That's when the war has been won. He's already right now been declared king. All authority has been given to him. But these centuries that follow is him exerting, extending his reign, his rule, defeating all of his enemies by one of two means. Either his enemies will be permanently and forever destroyed, or they will become his friends. You in this room are those who once were his enemies, right?

Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. — Ephesians 2

But his mercy intervened and we who were his enemies have become his friends. And after he has destroyed all dominion and authority and power, he hands over the kingdom to the Father.

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. — Psalm 110

That's a direct quote from Psalm 110.

And the last enemy to be destroyed is death. — 1 Corinthians 15:26

For he has put everything under his feet. — 1 Corinthians 15:27

Now, when it says that everything has been put under him, it's clear this does not include God himself who put everything under Christ.

When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him so that God may be all in all. — 1 Corinthians 15:28

This is explosive. Do you understand the implications of this?

Okay, I want you to think. This might land better for the dudes, but imagine when you were 18, your father gave you a 1967 Fastback Mustang, but it was rusted and the seats were torn and the tires were a joke because it had been sitting in somebody's barn for the last 35 years, right? Now, some of you would like that very, very much. Some of you, they're going to be amazing. Others, you wouldn't appreciate that, but God bless you because you should appreciate that because that would be amazing, okay?

But if you then took the next five years and you painstakingly rebuilt that car, right? And you figured out the exact original color of the paint and did it back to spec. And you did all of the work to take this rusted, broken thing and then once it's perfect, it's flawless. It may as well be 1967 for the state of this Mustang. And when it's entirely perfect and entirely yours, you then go to your father and say, "Dad, I've fixed this for you," and you give it back to him, okay? That is what 1 Corinthians 15 is telling us is going to happen.

When we look at the cross and we see Jesus, sometimes we'll look at the cross and we'll see it chiefly through the lens of how does he love us? And that's fair, that's not untrue, for he does love us, right?

It's for the joy set before him, i.e. a relationship with you, that he endured the cross. — Hebrews 12:2

But you would have an incomplete picture if you didn't understand that he went to the cross because he loved his father.

He knew that his father was determined to restore himself to a relationship with you, but he also knew that if he did that, he would cease to be just. He saw that his reputation was on the line because if God will allow all these unworthy to live with him forever, then justice would be abrogated and that would be bad. And so the son goes to the cross so that the father can get what he wants, which was you. He loved the father more than he loved himself and he took his life and he said to the father, here, this is for you.

And you can look at it as the most extraordinary thing that ever happened, but I'm telling you, it was not an aberration in his nature, it is just who he is. He loves the father and he loves him supremely, so much so that not only did he give his very life to him that the father could have what he wants, but many years later when he has restored the universe from a state of rebellion and brokenness and corruption and sin into a place where there is no more sin—where everything is perfect and everything is his—at that moment again, he will turn to the father and say, here, I did this for you and he will again give the kingdom to the father so that in the language that Paul uses, God may be all in all.

so that God may be all in all — 1 Corinthians 15:28

And I would suggest to you that if he does that, he would be the greatest man in the world. It is a conduct so novel, so inconceivable to people who, far from giving up the powers they possess, are willing to convulse the empire to acquire more. This is simply who he is and how he relates to his father.

And so let me ask you, just think about this: what paltry powers do you possess? Small, insignificant. You could include your chickens and your paltry powers. What little kingdom do you guard and protect rather than surrender so that God might be in your life and for all the world to see—all in all?

You guys, it's what was, it is, and it will yet be—Jesus's delight in the father above all else. He's going to say, here it's yours. It's inconsequential. It's going to be a minute. It's inconsequential to me relative to you having all dominion over all things.

And then we just imagine: you build your company and you get it to work, you build your law practice, you build your family, whatever it is that you're making. Everyone in this room probably has some little kingdom, a thing that you've got, right? What would it take for you to have it finally exactly the way you always want? It's perfect. It's flawless. It's like you always dreamed it would be. And then you give it away. What would you need to love with such supremacy that that would be better than owning the thing that you have labored to create? Never mind that you're not probably redeeming it with your own blood, but nevertheless it might feel that way on certain days.

It was Jesus's delight in the father above all else that enabled him to go to the cross. And it will be his delight in the father above all else that allows him to relinquish the entire cosmos in preference for something greater. Does it make sense? I mean, it doesn't make sense. But at least in theory, do you understand what this is saying?

Okay, Catherine. Well, this is a moment in life for me. On Jesus teaches by doing for me. And you show. He came to serve. He didn't come to conquer. He came to serve.

Yes. What you're saying is like the ultimate "well done, good and faithful servant," which we all hope to hear. And I guess it shines a whole new light on me, letting go.

Right. Yeah. That's what I'm supposed to do. Because see, when Jesus says things like, "Whoever wants to save his life must lose his life," do you understand? He says so with enormous credibility.

Whoever wants to save his life must lose his life — Matthew 16:25

When he tells you, you know, many of us struggle to tithe like 10%. It's 10%. It's inconsequential. But that 10% is the answer. When he exhorts you to give generously, to sow generously that you might reap generously, like he does so with enormous credibility. Because this is who he is. This is how he lives. This is his very nature—to give everything he has, not only on the cross. We've seen it once, but you might be like, yeah, but I mean, that was the cross. That was going on there. It was necessary. It was an extreme action. I'm telling you, this is just what he's like. This is just who he is. It's who he was then. It's who he will be. It is his very nature. And it is the model that he gives to us—that we would not be so protective and greedy to possess that which we claim as ours.

What do you have that you were not given? Nothing.

It's done in love. That's what's jumping out here. It's because we love it.

That's right. That's right. Jesus does this not because he's got to, but because he adores the Father. And that shapes the whole thing.

Okay. So here's my question. Be careful because it's a trap.

Is the reign of Christ as king best described as a line—infinite in both directions—a line segment that has a beginning and an end, or a ray that has a beginning but no end? We've already ruled out the line. It was not that he became king, which leaves us with line segment and ray.

So at this moment, let's vote. Who's on team line segment? Okay. Who's on team ray? Okay.

Now, here's what's going to happen. I want you to take your little bit of it and go back in time. We're going to try to predict the future by looking back. What happened when Jesus surrendered his life to the Father? Did he get it back? He did get it back. He gives all that he has to the Father, suffers the agony of death on a cross, and three days later, the Father raised him from the dead. What do you think will happen when the Son surrenders the kingdom to the Father? He's going to get it back. He's absolutely going to get it back.

So the answer is—just to kind of cut for your own mental categories—the answer is it is a ray, but it's more like a dotted ray, right? It is a line segment followed by a ray. He became king at a moment in time, and he will be king forever. But right here in 1 Corinthians 15, he's going to surrender the kingdom to the Father. And the reason that we know that he's going to be king forever is what Harry says something profoundly insightful.

Yeah, I'm going to argue with you about whether it's a line or not, because I'm going to say it is a line. Because God was in the beginning. Christ came down. He was God, and he goes back, and he gets it back to God. So you have to continue him all the way through that. That is a line. And if you refer to John—"In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God"—that indicates a line. And anything that was made was only made through God. So you're answering the question though: was he always God? Yes. And the answer to that is yes, absolutely. Jesus is divine. He's always been divine. His origins, Micah 5, his origins are from old, from ancient days. John 1—"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word is with God." All that is true. But that is not the same as the question: did Jesus become king? He's always been God. He became king unambiguously. When he says—for all the reasons we talked through last week—Matthew 28, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." That's referencing a change of state. Psalm 2, "Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance." That's a change of state.

I understand that. I get that. But the fact is—and this is going to probably get us way off base—was God's primary number one angel, if you will, who fell from the race. And it was a strike between good and evil from the beginning until this time when Christ came and gave up his life as a man to conquer the world. Okay, but I don't think that refutes what I'm saying.

I don't think it refutes what I'm saying. I just don't follow your logic on that. And I think that honestly, Harry, at this moment, we're trying to make it—you're a week too late. Like, this is what we talked about last week, and we could do that. But right now, you're just kind of taking us off where the point that I'm presently trying to make is, which is maybe going to confuse people on a more complex thing.

At the end of the day, you're welcome to disagree with me on this. I don't recommend that, but you may. Philippians 2, Psalm 2, Matthew 28, Romans 14, Romans 1—Jesus became king. Daniel 7, he becomes king. And the fact that Satan had usurped his rulership in Genesis, and then has it taken away from him, doesn't alter the fact that over and over and over again, the scriptures assert the beginning of the kingdom of Christ. That's established. So you want to go privately on that? We can do that more. But all that stuff is—everything I'm telling you is, I think, inarguably the case.

Nevertheless, Jesus surrenders the kingdom in 1 Corinthians 15. And then, if you look as far into the future as we can, right—if you want to stare into the edge of the future as far as we can see to the horizon of time—you'd probably want to go to the very end of the book. Look at Revelation 22, the very last chapter of the Bible. This is Revelation 22 after the 1 Corinthians 15 events happen. And look what it says:

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. — Revelation 22:1-4

There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the Son, for the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever. — Revelation 22

That's how the story ends. That's the last glimpse that we have. And of course, the Father shares the rulership of the world with the Son. The Son gives up his life and the Father gives it back. The Son gives up his kingdom and the Father gives it back, which is why the Bible doesn't simply assert that we ought to lay down our lives, but it promises that when we do, we get it all back.

Over and over the Scriptures advocate this radical, selfless life at the same time that they advocate that this is literally the most self-interested thing that you can do. It's going to endlessly appeal to the fact that as we are more generous, the more rich we become. The more that we give away, the more that we receive. And this is what the Son is living out at the most extreme level—to not only give up his life, but to give up his kingdom and get it back, and thereby leave for us the patterns of how we should live and lead and steward all that's been entrusted to us.

The Perichoresis of God

The language that the early church would use to describe what we're trying to get our head around is the perichoresis of God. Peri means a circle or perimeter. Choresis means the dance. The dancing about of God. What you see consistently in the way that the members of the Godhead interact with each other is that they're constantly going to the other: "No, no, no, after you. No, no, no, after you." As each one puts the others at the center of their life, the Spirit just lives to exalt the Son: "Behold the Son." There's no jealousy among them. There's no "give me my piece of the pie." But each member of the Godhead is constantly honoring and deferring to and referencing the splendor and beauty of the other.

So yes, when the Son surrenders the kingdom to the Father per 1 Corinthians 15, the Father's response is not to say no, no, no, as if he thinks he's unworthy of it—clearly he is worthy of it all—but to share that with the Son.

And by the way, there's something we wouldn't see as obviously if we go back to the text. You've mentioned a couple of times the triune God. Do you hear the Holy Spirit present in Revelation 22?

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life as clear as crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life. — Revelation 22

Do you hear the Holy Spirit mentioned in that? He is the river. In John 7, he is the water. In the Psalms, he is the river of God. That is the triune God—the river, this water flowing from the throne of God the Father and God the Son. That is the Holy Spirit represented there. We're not binitarians; we're Trinitarians.

The Reign of Christ

Now, there is something unique about the rule of Christ between his two advents. There was a change of state at the cross and as he rose, and there will be a change of state when he comes to restore all things. So in some way, this window between his two advents is his reign as king in a particular way.

Like when he gives it—not only when the Father gives it to him at the cross, there's a giving up. And when the Son gives it to the Father at the resurrection, there's a giving up. There's a real change of state. This moment, the only moment that we've ever enjoyed together, is during a particular peculiar reign of Christ, where the Son has a unique authority that he earned, that he won, that he accomplished at the cross. God is still here, and so is the Holy Spirit.

And yet, in some regard, he has authority. In verse 27 of 1 Corinthians 15, it says:

For he has put everything under his feet — 1 Corinthians 15:27

In some regard, God—maybe we want to use the language of delegation. I'm not sure if that's perfect, but God the Father put everything under the feet of the Son, right? All of it to him.

And so there's—I don't want to explain it with such clarity that there's no mystery that remains, because any time we're dealing with the persons of the Godhead, we can take it as far as we can. We probably could take it further than we have, but at the end of the day, there's a sense of, yeah, he's beyond me. So that's certainly the case.

Does that mean God isn't the king? Jesus is the king? God's never been the king? He's the owner, or do we call him king?

God the Father is described in Daniel 7 as seated on a throne. And so I would say that God is the over-king. I don't even know what language we have for this. He's the king above all kings, but the world had become under the dominion of Satan. And so when Satan was the one ruling over this, it was a usurpation of the human kings that were supposed to rule, but not over God, who is the ultimate sovereign of all things. I think that might be a way that we can put it.

We've got to get out of here. Thanks for coming. That was lovely. We'll talk to you next week. Actually, no class next week—one service at 10 o'clock for Sloop's installation. Come for that. We'll do class the week after.