and let's, as is our want, look at this day in history. There was a pretty good list today, but nothing real major. There's a couple things, and I'll talk about those. These are the three that I selected. You know, there were a lot of other things on the list. For instance, in 1893, the first Ferris wheel premiered. That's not on the list. Let me turn this off so you guys can read it. But does anybody know where the first fair, where, at what event the first Ferris wheel? I'm sorry? World's Fair in Chicago. Yay! The first medical diploma in America was awarded in 1768 to a guy named Dr. John Archer. I'm pretty sure he's retired now. And it was from the College of Philadelphia. Also, the U.S. Constitution came into effect when the ninth state ratified it. Does anybody know which state that was? Yeah, no takers. New Hampshire. New Hampshire was the ninth state to ratify on this date, which put the U.S. Constitution, our current Constitution, into full effect. The last thing I have there is in 68 A.D., the Roman general Vepassian, conquered Jericho and this was one of many events that occurred in this series of wars or series of battles that's referred to as the Great Jewish Revolt. As we all know and we've talked about frequently in this class, two years later that revolt was, you know, stamped out completely by the destruction of what city? Jerusalem in 70 AD. So this was one of the earlier skirmishes or battles in that war, the great Jewish revolt in 68 AD. So what is today's National Day? Ooh, that didn't work. Let me get in the right spot. Today's National Day, this is the National Day of the Gong. So every one of you that has an affinity for the gong, this is your day. It is also National Daylight Appreciation Day. This being the longest day of the year, the most sunlight, not necessarily the earliest sunrise or the latest sunset, that might be skewed a little bit depending on where you live. But on this day, today in our area, the sun rose at 5.56 AM and it will set tonight at 9.14 AM. I'm sorry p.m. yeah sorry I have it in my notes is a.m. so gonna be a short day that's that's wintertime but that's 15 hours in 18 minutes of sunlight or if you really want to know 918 minutes of sunlight so there we go there's the there's the engineer in me and it's also Note the shirt. It's National Peaches and Cream Day. So there you go. And of course it is Father's Day. And happy Father's Day to all of you who are fathers and new fathers again. old fathers, and that includes me. So let's go ahead and get started now with a word of prayer, and then we'll get into our study. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for gathering us together. We thank you for the time that we spend here encouraging one another, fellowshipping with one another, gathering as you have commanded us to do. We just thank you for this place that you have provided This work is yours and we ask that you open your word to each one of us that we would fulfill the roles that you have set before us to do, that we would be your servants, your ambassadors here in this world as we look forward to that coming day. In Christ's name I pray, amen. Alright, so we are studying using Dr. Woods' book, The Coming Kingdom. I'm going to go through these first several slides real fast and we are in the third section of the study looking at some of the problem passages and I say problem passages and I'll use air quotes around that, because I think a proper interpretation and a proper understanding of what some of these verses say really makes them not be a problem. But so many people interpret these verses differently than what we do, and we need to be careful when we come across these kinds of passages that are interpreted by so many differently than what our premillennial view arrives at that we need to make sure that we're interpreting it correctly. You know and one of the things that we've done frequently in this study is gone through an analysis of verses very in a very detailed and very very detailed so that we can get a feel and maybe an understanding better of how we should, as individuals, study the Bible. Do we put it in the right context? Are we looking at the right phraseology that is written in the verse that we're studying, in this verse that is causing us problems? Have we looked at it with the totality of Scripture? And where we're at now in our study, we're looking at some of the passages from Paul that some people interpret as indicating a kingdom now theology. And I've been trying to go through the analysis of why why I do not believe that these passages teach Kingdom Now Theology. I think Kingdom Now Theology is a misinterpretation of key points of scripture. And we've gone through many of those. We looked at passages from Christ's ministry. We've looked at passages from the Book of Acts. And now we're looking at passages from the Apostle Paul in his letters. And we've looked at a couple of these already. And last week, and if you'll turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15, we'll pick up where we left off last week. In fact, I'll go back a little bit and restate a couple things because what we're trying to do is making sure or study this to see what these verses say to us, what is a good interpretation based on proper literal, hermeneutic, the way that we practice it, looking at things in context, putting them in the context of the time they were written and what these words would have meant to the people that it was written to, and all of these tools that we use to properly interpret scripture. So let's go ahead and continue. I'll read through this passage again, starting at verse 23. But each in his own order. Christ the first fruits after those, after those, sorry, after that, those who are Christ's at his coming. Then comes the end when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father when he has abolished all rule and authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For he has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he says all things are put in subjection, it is evident that he is accepted who put all things in subjected to him. When all things are subjected to him, then the son himself also will be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all. So, What are we talking about here? What are the primary elements of this passage? And we talked about this passage of scripture in light of the prophecies concerning the eschatology, the end times, what's happening at the end of the age. We are currently in the church age. And this age will come to an end, as all the previous ages, the age of the law, the age of grace. I'm not using the right terms. Kurt's gonna have to fix things again, but this age, this church age will end. And according to our interpretation of scripture, the church age comes to an end at a very significant event that's talked about in scripture. And we refer to that as the rapture, the rapture of the church. The church will be removed from this earth. And we will meet Jesus in the sky and he will take us to a place prepared for us. That's what he told us in scripture. Then following that comes the beginning of the tribulation. It should be a great comfort to us all that the church is not going to go through this. This is not referred to in prophecy as the church's tribulation or the time of the church's trouble, but rather the time of Jacob's trouble. The tribulation is intended to bring Israel to a point of repentance that they need to come to as a nation, as a people, in order for the all of the things that are prophesied to come to pass for the beginning of that millennial kingdom that we've been talking about here. So, going back to our passage, verse 25 is one of the verses that people And I'll get to a quote from one of the teachers, the followers of this philosophy, that say this verse indicates that we're there now. And it's verse 25, for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. They say that this is saying that Jesus is reigning now. They look at the passages that talk about Jesus being at the right hand of the Father, and they put David's throne there and say that Jesus is currently reigning from the David's throne at the right hand of God the Father. That's the position that they take. So we're in this intermediate, that's a word they use, this intermediate form of the kingdom and the Dallas Theological Seminary leadership kind of takes a point of view right now that it's already not yet. So we're already in this this form, this intermediate form of the kingdom. Yes, there's a physical form yet to come, but we're not there yet. Already in this intermediate phase, not yet in the physical phase. That is to come. So, here in verse 25, and there's a lot of tools that are in our Bibles, the way they're written, and I'm reading from, I study from the New American Standard, like a lot of us do. And in my Bible, when it's in the New Testament here, when we're looking at the writings and when a New Testament writer quotes an Old Testament passage, they put it in all caps. When it's paraphrasing an Old Testament passage, they don't put that line in all caps. And if you look at your Bibles at verse 25, this passage that I have underlined here is not in all caps so it's a paraphrase of a verse and we know that the verse that is being paraphrased here points to Psalm 110, verses 1 and 2. So it's not a direct quote, but a paraphrasation. If you look down at verse 27, which essentially says the same thing, you notice that that verse is in all caps, which means it's a quotation. They're taking a direct quote. So keep this in mind, too. So if we look at Psalm 110, where this comes from, It says this, the Lord says to my Lord, and this is David writing, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. So it's verse one that he's paraphrasing here, and we talked a little bit last week that how much difference or how much clarity verse two provides to this, because you cannot read verses one and two. Verse two says the Lord will stretch forth your strong scepter from The right hand of God, the Father in heaven. No, I'm sorry. No, it doesn't say that. It says from Zion. And when the Bible talks about Zion, it's talking about Jerusalem. Zion and Jerusalem, those are synonymous. Zion is the physical place where God is going to, where Jesus is going to rule. And this is clear through the Old Testament prophecies. So the Lord will stretch forth your strong scepter from Zion. That's ruling from Jerusalem saying, rule in the midst of your enemies. I don't think that Jesus sitting at the right hand of God the Father in heaven is, if he's ruling from there, if that's your interpretation, how does this verse fit? So in order to make this verse fit with that kind of philosophy, you have to change the entire meaning of these verses. You have to change this Old Testament writing. I don't even want to be able to quote it as ever having had said, change your Old Testament writings. Yes. Do they? I'm sorry. Yes, they do. How do they reckon? Well, they like to quote. Now, a long time ago, we were in a different church and it was a church that we had planted with some people. And the pastor gave a very stirring message on the role of women in the church. And he taught from scripture and taught very clearly that women are to be teachers of the younger people. And all the way through that message, Sue was, well, it was in a period of time that was a little tense for us anyhow, His idea, the pastor's idea that was teaching, preaching this message was that women should be teachers, you know, take in the younger women under their wings and teach them and teach them. But the next verse in the passage that he was teaching from made it very clear what they were to be teaching. The pastor was teaching a message that You know, they needed to go out into the world to teach these women to go out into the world and do things, that we should be sending our children out into the world to be salt and light and all that stuff. But the next verse in the passage that he was teaching from said that these women ought to be teaching the younger women, and it wasn't even a period at the end of that, it was a pause, to be keepers at home. And that was very much opposed to the things that he was teaching. So he did not include that in the message that he was teaching. And I think people here do that too. They stop at very comfortable places for them. It's a different thought. So I don't know how they can read this. I don't know how they can do this. It's a misinterpretation and mischaracterization of what that, what that verse in Psalm 110 says. I don't know. I wish I could understand it. Let me get back to where I was now. But yeah, I think, you know, and when we are reading scripture, when we are studying scripture, that's important for us to do too. And we're going to open up a little bit more of the book of 1 Corinthians today in what I'm going to teach because This passage in 1 Corinthians 15 needs to fit in with the rest of the book. It certainly needs to fit in with the rest of the passage. And when we talked about that phrase that then and then again, that phrase, how it applied earlier in the chapter, and we need to transfer that, we need to understand this use of that in the same way that it was used before. So if we're not being consistent in looking at the passages around or the verses around what we're studying, we're doing a disservice to the scripture and to ourselves and our understanding. So, you know, Paul here is quoting, not directly, but alluding to Psalm 110, 1 and 2, you know, He's saying that the thousand-year kingdom, when the thousand-year kingdom takes place, there's a lot of Old Testament passages that are gonna come to pass, and we need to look at all of those in the context. And what are these teaching? We've studied those Old Testament passages to see what the coming kingdom will be like. It will be a time when the effect of the curse is diminished but not eliminated. There will be lost people there because there will be mortal people living in that kingdom having children who need to be saved, who need to come to a belief in Jesus. And so, you know, the impact of the curse will still be there to a more limited effect than it is now, but it will still be there. And the Old Testament teaches also that in that thousand year kingdom, Jesus will be ruling from Jerusalem, from David's physical, from a physical throne in the physical city of Jerusalem, changed but still essentially the same as what it is now. The mountains will split and Zion will become more prominent as a mountain and as a place of political and religious power. It'll be the center of the world at that point. So all of these things are gonna come about, but there will still be things that need to be, you know, what is the rule of Christ during this period of time is described in this way, that he will be ruling with a rod of iron. There will be no, you know, looking around and saying, oh, he does all these bad things, but he's still blessed. That isn't gonna happen in that period of time. When people do things contrary to the, you know, to God's laws, they'll be punished immediately. Punishment will be immediately and swift and severe. So we need to understand that it's going to be a different time. Sin abounds in this world and those who sin seem to profit by it. And that's not going to be the way it is in the millennial kingdom. We will all be beneficiaries of increased productivity, of increased blessing of the land, and all of that will give us all great advantages, but those who would gain advantage from sinful methods will pay the price and pay the price quickly. In Hebrews, there are other places where this psalm is quoted, and one of those is in Hebrews 10, verses 12 and 13. Hebrews talks about Christ's present office, where Christ is, and it uses this verse frequently to describe that session, not as king, but as high priest, if you read those passages in Hebrews. Hebrews 10, verses 12 and 13 says this, but he, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet." Is Jesus in that position forever? Is that his place of rule? Is that where he's gonna be ruling from forever? If you look at this verse, no. He's only there until that time when he's going to rule and his enemies will be made footstool under his feet. So this is anticipating a future earthly domestic rule of Jesus here on Earth. So back in 1 Corinthians, the second place that we're quoting is in verse 27. The last enemy that will be abolished is death, for he has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he says all things are put in, I'm not gonna go there, let's just stop there. He has put all things in subjection under his feet. That's a quotation from Psalm 8, verses four through six, which says this. What is man that you take thought of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than God and you crown him with glory and majesty. You make him rule over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet. Who are we talking about here? Who's the him? Do you notice anything in this verse when it talks about him? It's not capitalized. So we're talking about men. We're talking about, you know, who is man that you are mindful of him? Who is man that you thought of him anyway? And in order to fully understand this verse, and Christ has a place in this verse, and I'll get to that here in a little bit, but this verse is really talking about men, you and I, us. Who are we that God even cares who we are? What importance do we have, what is intrinsic in us that God has thought about us, that God's made this plan for our lives? Well, in order to understand this verse properly, again, we have to put everything in context of all scripture, but we get a feel for this. You know, man, when he was placed in the garden, what was he placed there for? He was to rule over all of God's creation. Isn't that what it says? Man was made to be an authority over God's creation. And we can go all the way back to Genesis 1 to see this. Genesis 1 says, then God said, let us make man in our own image according to our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle of all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. male and female he created them. God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And here it is again, and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea. over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Now we talked in the past about man's role and what God set up in the Garden of Eden. And we called it a theocratic administration. And that's this picture. God created man and woman, not man with woman over here, man and woman were created to rule over creation under subjected to God the creator. God created everything. He could have put the angels in charge of it. He could have put this. And here's an interesting point out of all of this. You know, we talk about Satan as the ruler of this world, and he is at this point in time. It won't always be that way. I've read the end of the book. but he right now is ruler over everything. Who did Satan usurp that authority from? Adam. He didn't take that from God, he took it from Adam. Exactly. Okay, so from man this authority was taken away, and by man, This authority needs to be restored. And that's the story of Christ in that thousand-year kingdom. Satan's locked away during the thousand-year kingdom. We know that from Revelation 20. But his influence is still here, and that needs to be defeated. All of creation groans under the curse of sin. And that needs to be restored. So that thousand-year period when Christ is ruling from Jerusalem is a reestablishment of the authority of man, represented by Christ, who became fully man. and is qualified to do that, to restore the kingdom, to be completely under his authority again. And once that happens, then comes the end, when Christ takes this kingdom that is now completely under his authority and gives it back to God. By man, the authority was lost. By a man, the authority is gonna be restored. This is a key. So this theocratic administration is going to be reasserted. Now there are some differences. You know, when God put us in the garden, that was kind of a probationary period. We failed. So the garden's lost, now God's not gonna put us back in a garden, he's gonna restore, when that kingdom is restored, it's not restored to the garden, it's restored to the city of God. And that's a difference, but it's still the authority of a man over the creation of God. So all things will be subjected to Christ in his position as the man to restore everything. and then Christ will turn that all over to God. so that everything will be subjected to God. And that's the beginning of the end time. And I've gotten a little bit ahead of myself here, but keep that in mind as we go through this. So, you know, God had that original purpose. That's why Jesus had to become a man in order to do that restoration. He was the only one that could because he was the only one that lived a sinless life. So when Christ took on humanity, he didn't, you know, it wasn't like when that happened, when Christ came to earth, he didn't take off his God coat and put on his man coat. Christ lost nothing of his deity when he came to earth as a man. He became, you know, There's no subtraction in when Christ became a man, he didn't lose anything. He only gained humanity to be able to fill that role and restore God's original purposes for man. So, you know, this is what, let me go back to the Psalm four, eight, four through six. That's what this verse is talking about is that by a man, All things will be restored to make man the ruler over the works, over all of God's creation and putting everything under his feet, everything in subjection under his feet. So moving on, let's see where I want to go now. All right, so let's look again here. You know, when all things are subjected to him, then the son of himself will also be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him. So God gave man the power, and man in the person of Jesus Christ is going to reestablish that authority, eliminate all of the enemies of God and everything then will be under subject to Christ who then will take that and present it back to God again so that all things will be subjected to God. And when is that going to happen? That's at the end of the coming kingdom. Once the kingdom is fulfilled, the thousand-year period, at the end of that, everything will be subjected to God. All evil will be defeated, and death, finally, is the last enemy to be defeated, and that's done at the return of Christ that's done at the end of the thousand year period. From that point on, there's no more death. In the eternal state, we won't experience death. It's gone, it's history. So that's the final enemy to be defeated. And that takes place, I'm sorry, I'm not on the right screen. I'm looking at something you guys aren't. So that takes place here at the end of that thousand year kingdom. where I'm showing the great white throne judgment. That's when that occurs. And then we enter into the eternal state with nothing left of the, there's no effect of the earth, of the effect of the, that sin on the earth. Michael Vlach, who we've quoted a little bit before, has this to say. about this. It is during the Son's reign that Jesus, the ultimate man and king, fulfills all the prophecies, covenants, and promises concerning God's mediatorial kingdom program. When this occurs, then the eternal kingdom of the Father commences. This truth, again, indicates the need for an era that is distinct both from the present age and the eternal kingdom. One should not simply assume that the unfulfilled promises awaiting fulfillment will be fulfilled in the eternal state. In doing so, this would put fulfillment outside the reign of Jesus, the Messiah, to whom was given the task of fulfilling these things. Okay, so continue going back to our passage. What's the bottom line? The bottom line is giving this, after that, then impact, its proper meaning. Putting it, you know, we're not talking about the rapture. When it says His coming, in verse 23, That's not talking about the rapture. That's talking about the second advent at the end of the tribulation. So that's the after that event. And then comes the end. So we've got this after that event, which is Christ's second coming and the end, which is the beginning, the end of the millennium and the beginning of the eternal state. So we've got to put these in its proper order and understand them, uh, you know, how it fits in here. And I've got a lot to go through and not a lot of time, so let me continue on. So we're going to use a quote here from Craig Blasing, who is a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary and very much a proponent of an already not yet type of kingdom now belief. So what he says is this. An intermediate kingdom may be implied from Paul's delineation of the historical stages of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, verses 20 through 28. In verses 23 to 24, Paul marks off three stages of resurrection. Christ, the first fruits, okay. After that, those who are Christ's at his coming, which is the resurrection of the tribulation saints and the Old Testament saints at the time of the second coming, at the end of the tribulation. And then three, then comes the end. The reign of Christ which precedes the final and everlasting revelation of the eschatological kingdom covers whatever time elapses between the second and third stages of resurrection. The second stage is at the end of the tribulation period. The third stage is at the end of the 1,000 year. That reign may, in fact, and here's where he misses the point, that phase may extend back to the first stage, that of Christ's resurrection. Since we have seen that Paul repeatedly speaks of Christ's present reign using the language of Psalm 110.1, which is also the language used here in 1 Corinthians 5.25. So here's where he's saying that citation of Psalm 110 allows you to reach all the way back to the first fruits, the rising of Jesus Christ, his resurrection. So that's what he says. But I don't think that's what the passage says. And I've got three problems with that. And we'll go through those. The first problem I have with his interpretation is this, that the parameter of Christ's reign should be defined by the immediate context. What are we talking about in chapter 15? You know, we're not just free to come to verses 25 and 27 and then talk about it differently. So that, you know, we can't use our theology to define what the verses mean. we need to use the verses in order to define our theology. And I think he's making the text fit his theology instead of making his theology fit the text. And I know those are kind of catchy phrase words, but it's the truth. So what he's doing here is taking these texts and try to make it fit. So his interpretation of these verses, he's not really paying attention to the parameters that we've already established in verses 23 and 24, that this is talking about something that the sequence is, he's not using the sequence properly, and he's extending it back to where someplace it doesn't need to be. So in 1 Corinthians 15, 38, the phrase for he must reign until he has put his enemies under his feet is not talking about a current position, a current station of Christ, but it's a future station when he is in that thousand year kingdom ruling from Jerusalem. We can't take him from Jerusalem and put him in heaven. That's a misinterpretation of scripture. And in verse 27, he has put all things, and the last enemy to be abolished is death, for he has put all things in subjection. Once that subjection is complete, then death will be defeated, and that's the end, but that's at the end of the thousand years, not at the end of another event. I'll be done soon. The second point is that Psalm 110 and Psalm 8, as cited in these verses, as we've gone into those, we see that this is speaking of Christ's direct earthly rain, not a rain from heaven. but where he's ruling from heaven. And progressive dispensationalism believes that Jesus is in heaven right now, fulfilling this role as king, ruling and reigning from David's throne in heaven, which we've talked about before. David's throne's not in heaven, don't know where it is, but it will not be established anywhere other than in Jerusalem, according to the prophecies of scripture. So as we continue on then, we've looked at the verses and know, you know, it says that Jesus is gonna rule from the midst of his enemies, not in heaven, but from Zion. We can't change the meanings of these Psalms like Blasing is trying to do. Oh boy, I'm really out of time. I wanna get through this. In Psalm 8, we've talked about this, and I'm not gonna go back and revisit it again, but understand that Psalm 8 is talking about reestablishing the authority of man over the creation, where he was intended to be from the beginning of creation, from the moment God set Abraham in the garden, he said, rule over all this stuff. And we gave it up. We gave it up by listening to, did I, By listening to snakes and creation, we gave it up. And through man, through the perfect man, Jesus Christ, it's going to be reestablished again. I won't go back into there again. So this office of theocratic administrator is going to be reestablished. This is kind of a long quote from Michael Locke, and I'll read through this and we'll close at that. And I'm sorry that we're going over a little bit, but here it is. With verse 1525, Paul says he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The must means it's necessary that Jesus reigns. Paul's wording in verse 25 is a reference to Psalm 110, 1 and 2, which states, the Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand. until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The Lord will stretch forth your strong scepter from Zion saying, rule in the midst of your enemies. The allusion to Psalm 110 is evidence that the reign of Jesus is a future earthly reign. The context of Psalm 110 is David's Lord, the Messiah, sitting at the right hand of God for a session in heaven until he begins his earthly reign over his enemies from Zion in Jerusalem. In reference to Psalm 110, the author of Hebrews says that Jesus is waiting at the right hand of the Father. You can refer to Hebrews 10, 12, and 13 for this, which we've looked at. When the heavenly session from the Father's throne is over, God installs His Messiah on earth to reign over it from Jerusalem. From our current historical perspective, Jesus is currently at the right hand of God the Father, but this will be followed by a rain upon the earth. Thus, Jesus must rain from earth because Psalm 110 says this must happen. Jesus, the Son and Messiah, must have a sustained rain in the realm where the first Adam failed. Again, here on earth. With verse 1527, Paul quotes Psalm 8, verse 6, for he has put all things in subjection under his feet. The use of Psalm 8 is further evidence that Paul is thinking of a future earthly reign of Jesus. Psalm 8 explains and expands upon Genesis 1, 26 through 28. And its truth is that God created man to rule successfully over the earth. The last Adam, Jesus, must succeed from and over the realm where the first Adam failed, that is here on earth. The last Adam's destiny is not to rule from heaven in a spiritual kingdom. He is to rule from and over the earth, just like the first Adam was supposed to do. But unlike Adam, Jesus will succeed. Those who place Jesus' kingdom reign in this age from heaven over a spiritual kingdom are not giving justice to an important part of God's kingdom program, which is for man to reign over the earth as God originally tasked him to do. Jesus is the ultimate man and representative of mankind will fulfill this task. A spiritual reign from heaven does not complete what God requires in Genesis and Psalm 8. God expects a successful reign over the earth and Jesus the Son will accomplish this task. Then he will hand over the kingdom to God the Father. So we've I'll do the next one next time, but let's end there. Let's pray.