Will Christ Give Up His Reign? Part 3

This is the third and final piece I will write on the question. It is based almost solely on 1 Corinthians 15: 24 through 28.  

Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.

For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.

The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says, “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted.

Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.

 

Notice the underlined portion. That statement is fatal to the Hyper-preterist’s doctrine and that is why they deny it means what it says. And the reason they deny it means what it says is because their doctrine requires full carnalism in believing this creation will never end and Christ will always be king of this creation that has no end, regardless of 2 Peter 3.

So, what does it mean, the Son Himself will be subject to the Father? It goes all the way back to the beginning. Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. After the very first verse notice it references God over and over with “God said”, “God made”, “God saw” and so on. Then we come to verse 26 and it begins with “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;”. God went from being used in the singular to the plural in one word, “Us”. Most of us have been taught and learned what “Us” refers to and that there is a Godhead. The Apostle Paul himself used the term Godhead to refer to God. For example, Romans 1:20

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

And then again in Colossians 2:8 through 10

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

So far, I’m sure the Hyper-preterists wouldn’t disagree, but I’m not sure. I have gotten hints from Preston that he thinks the concept of the Trinity is not scriptural, but I could be wrong. The thing is with them is they are stuck in an infinite loop on their eschatology doctrine and have left the gospel of Christ behind. Anyway, we can how Paul has helped us see what the plural term of “Us” instead of God means in Genesis 1:26 and why it was used. There are more verses like John 17:24 where Jesus is praying to the Father and saying to Him,

 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world

Also, Ephesians 1:3 through 4

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,

Notice God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. The Godhead said “Let Us” in Genesis 1:26 knowing that in Christ the Son we would be chosen for this Kingdom that at that time was yet to come.  Now we are in that kingdom as Colossians 1:13 tells us,

 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

We see then from Genesis 1 until the time of Paul’s ministry Jesus was before the creation, is of the Godhead, and is over all creation and was made manifest in the flesh just as mankind is flesh.  John chapter 1 also confirms that. Keep in mind Jesus prayed to God the Father Himself and taught us how to pray. And in Matthew 28 18 Jesus says, “All authority has been given unto Me”. Compare that to 1 Corinthians 15: 27 where we are told all things were put under Him, but the one who put all things under Him is excepted. God the Father put all things under Him, and all His authority covers everything except the Father.

In my first article on this I posted Daniel 2 verse 44 where Daniel prophesied that during the 4th kingdom this kingdom of God would stand forever.  And in the second article I gave Luke 1:33 as a reference to His kingdom being forever. And I pointed out how Numbers 18 verse 8 tells the people how God gave Aaron and his descendants heave offerings under the Old Covenant as an ordinance forever. And how in verse 23 the Levites performing the work of the tabernacle would be a statue forever. I also showed where the covenant is a shadow and type and the ordinances and statues do last forever under the true. Hebrews 10 verse 1 says,

For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.

And the chapter goes on reminding them sacrifices of bulls and goats were done each year but how Christ sacrificed Himself Once for ALL, verse 10.

All the New Testament then is teaching us the new and better covenant. Acts chapter 1 we read of Jesus ascending to Heaven. In Chapter 2 we read of Him sitting on the throne of David, as promised, at the right hand of the Father. He is still to this day Reigning because All authority was given to Him. And that’s where we pick back up at 1 Corinthians 15: 24-28.  He must reign until He puts all enemies under His feet. The last enemy being death. Then comes the end and He will deliver His Kingdom to the Father and be subject to Him once again just as in the creation. Look at 1 John 2 15-17,

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

The Hyper-preterists view that verse in a whole new and different way than it has ever been viewed in the history of Christianity. They claim this doesn’t mean the physical creation will pass away. They claim this is all spiritual and this world, earth, and all creation will last forever. Even when Jesus says in Luke 21:33 “Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will by no means pass away”, they claim Jesus is not talking about heaven and earth but about old covenant Israel and the temple in Jerusalem. They claim this earth is here forever just as it is. It will be forever, and one reason is they claim because the Bible says the Kingdom’s increase has no end and it’s based on Isaiah 9:7,

Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.

They claim the increase means evangelism and adding souls to the Kingdom here on earth and the government talked about is what we see now since A.D.70.

His government and His Kingdom will not end, we’re assured of that by Jesus Himself. But we are also assured by Jesus this world has an end. And as we see Before the creation Jesus was with the Father and we know with study Holy Spirit was also with them, but that’s another lesson. 1 Corinthians 15: 24-28 tells us Jesus will deliver His reign to the Father and be subject to Him. When He comes and ALL, not some and not just the ones dead by A.D.70, ALL will hear His voice and come forth. The resurrection is what 1 Corinthians 15 is about in context in the first place! We are ALL promised a resurrection and a new immortal body. This creation and our bodies were not meant to be immortal. As we saw, this was the plan before the creation! We believe on the Son and obey Him and as Christians we are promised we will have eternal life. Knowing that the Hyper-preterists claim the judgment of all men Acts 17:3,

because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.

When Jesus comes He will judge the living and the dead going back to the beginning. He will deliver the Kingdom to the Father and then God will be all in all. There will be no more need for chastisement, ruling with a figurative “rod of iron”, All sin and the tempter, Satan, will be cast into the lake of fire that burns forever. And anyone not written in the book of life will be cast with them into the lake of fire. Revelation 20: 14-15.

Don K Preston has an article talking about what 1 Corinthians 15: 24-28 does NOT mean. But he does not say what it DOES mean. One of the questionnaires pointed that out to him and he responded that it is just a consummation and not a delivering the Kingdom to the Father. But we all know that’s not what is says and it actually means what it says.

Christ is coming one day, and He will command the graves to give up the dead. No, I don’t believe it’s these exact physical bodies because Paul tells us in the same chapter what is planted is not what is raised. We are raised with a spiritual body. John tells us it has not been revealed yet what we will be like. 1 John 3: 2,

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Those still alive at His coming will be changed. Those in the graves will be resurrected. It's not been revealed how this will happen and I'm good with that.

Whatever we are like then, we know Christ has delivered us all together with Him to the Father. That will take about the time of a blink of an eye. Don Preston likes to mock and ridicule the Church of Christ for teaching Jesus’s return. He says we teach a “5-foot 5 Jewish man will ride the clouds”. I’ve never myself heard that once and who knows how tall Jesus was anyway? And he likes to mock the resurrection and claim dead bodies will be walking around coming up out of the ground. As much as Don K likes to pretend to be scholarly, he makes idiotic claims like that.

Anyway, Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3: 10 that this earth and all that’s in it will be burned up and all the elements of the heavens will melt away with fervent heat. Again, the Hyper-preterists claim that’s the old covenant law and the temple Peter is talking about and not the heavens and the earth that God created in Genesis 1:1. Why do they say that? Because their whole false doctrine falls apart if this physical earth and physical creation has an end.

Below is a link to a small Don K Preston article on this topic. But notice how he never tells us what he believes 1 Corinthians 15: 24-28 means but just tells us what it doesn’t mean.

Then Comes The End- But What End – #7- When He Delivers Up The Kingdom – DonKPreston.com

That in a nutshell describes Hyper-Preterism in almost all other areas. What you learn from your own Bible study is wrong and they have the right way. All of them rely on commentaries that they like and attack the ones they don’t like. They put “scholars” on pedestals and use extra Biblical sources, and almost 100% guaranteed during any lesson of theirs you can bet they will mock and ridicule as a tool and claim anyone who doesn’t believe their doctrine are ignorant of Hebraic thought and cannot understand the truth unless you learn ancient Greek in the Robert Young tradition and style and also think like an ancient Hebrew. Their evangelism is Not for converting souls to Christ. Their goal is to drag Christians out of the Faith and into their Hyper-Preterist doctrine. I’m very serious about that. I have yet to see good motives out of their videos, articles and books. I’ve watched “Morning Musings” by Don K Preston for years and not ONCE have I heard out of his mouth what the gospel of Christ teaches a person about how to be eternally saved. But I have heard plenty of attacks on the Church for teaching the hope of and future return of Christ, the resurrection and judgment of all living and dead, Death, Hades, Satan, and all sinners being cast into the eternal lake of fire, and Christ will deliver us up to the Father and be once again subject to Him. If you believe or teach those things, then you’re following men’s tradition and not using “Hebraic thought” when you study the Bible.  To them the most important thing is to be one of them. Conversion to God and repentance and baptism for the remission of sins is not on their ticket. Here is a link to a clip proving my point. These two, Don and Daniel, once again discussing their journey to Preterism while not once mentioning the True gospel of Christ to win souls. They are giddy about leaving the truth for their convoluted and distorted doctrine.