FAQ 266
Will Yah'shua (Jesus)
Always Reign Over Us?
NCW 61, April-May 1999
Q. “Then the end will come when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet” (1 Cor.15:24-25, NIV). Does this mean that Jesus will cease to reign over us?
That is what the text says. When Christ has destroyed the authority and power of the devil He will hand back the keys of the kingdom to the Father and once again be in a jurisdictionally subject position. This clearly shows that whilst Christ is equal with the Father jurisdictionally for the moment, it is not an eternal relationship. When the redemption of the world has been fully accomplished, the keys are returned to the rightful Head.
Such a passage does, of course, seriously affect some of the fine details of the classical Trinity doctrine which maintains a literal co-equality of Father and Son in all eternity.
The second verse implies that the reigning of Christ will take place during the Millennium but that at the end of it the keys will be handed back to the Father. Many wonder how this can be if the devil has no influence during this 1,000 year period. The answer would seem to be that the devil is only temporarily restrained until the end of the Millennium whence he will be released again to tempt the saints. Only when the devil has finally been overcome will Christ then hand the keys of authority back to God the Father. This means that Christ remains regent until the post-Millennial period. Why this arrangement exists is a matter of speculation for the present.
This page was created on 14 September 1998
Last updated on 14 September 1998
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