We pray "your Kingdom come," but the firstfruits already have come!
Read / Listen
Read 1 Corinthians 15:20-28
Listen to passage & devotional:
Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 122
Q. What does the second request mean?
A. “Your kingdom come” means,
Rule us by your Word and Spirit
in such a way
that more and more we submit to you.
Keep your church strong, and add to it.
Destroy the devil’s work;
destroy every force which revolts against you
and every conspiracy against your Word.
Do this until your kingdom
is so complete and perfect
that in it you are
all in all.
Summary
Jesus has been raised from the dead and is the firstfruits of the resurrection. Paul is referring back to the harvest time offering made by the Israelites. At harvest, the Israelites were required to bring an offering from the firstfruits (the first part) of their crop. This offering symbolized how the entirety of the harvest belonged to God.
By comparison, Jesus is the firstfruits of the resurrection as he was the first to be raised from the dead. And just as the first part of the harvest was a token of the entire harvest belonging to God, Jesus’ resurrection serves as a token that we too belong to God and will be raised in a resurrection like his.
In addition to the promise of the resurrection for those who belong to Christ, Paul also expresses the fate of God’s enemies. Christ will destroy all his enemies; with the last of these enemies being death itself. With his enemies destroyed, the rule of God will be universally acknowledged, so that he may be all in all.
Dig Deeper
In verse 22 Paul addresses our dual solidarity by writing, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” We all die in Adam, the first human, in that we are united with him in sin and death.
With that first disobedience in the Garden by Adam and Eve, sin entered the world. We, as Adam’s descendants, inherit this original sin. However, despite being united with Adam in sin and death, God offers grace. For we are also united with Christ by grace through faith.
The resurrection is not an isolated event with a limited scope. The resurrection is the culmination of God’s plan of redemption. The resurrection of Jesus affects everything and will not be fully complete until Christ “has put everything under his feet.”
One of the comforts we have as God’s people is knowing that our eternity is secure in the hands of Jesus. This is one of the reasons why the funeral of a faithful saint is different from that of an unbeliever. There is hope present. Hope in what is to come, including the promise of the resurrection.
And while we look forward to the resurrection and being in the presence of Christ; Paul gives us something else to look forward to with anticipation. For we also wait for the day when the enemies of Jesus, including the devil and even death itself, will be no more.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father God, who is all in all;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God that since you have been included in Christ, you have been made alive in Him;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Revelation 2
