In introducing this subject, set forth, explain, and illustrate the distinctions between the relations in which man stands to God as an individual, as bound together in the membership of a community or nationality, or as a specially constituted race. In all matters of government and order God is pleased to deal directly with the individual, but mediately and representatively with families, with citizens, and with races. In these cases some individual stands before God, to deal with him in behalf of those he represents, and the results of his dealing affect all those in whose name he goes forth. Illustrate by the sentiment that was cherished in tribes. The whole tribe was carried, as it were, by the sheikh, or chief, and affected, for good or evil, by his action. Or illustrate by the notion of a champion, as found in Roman history. He stands for the army, and by his conduct carries defeat or victory for them all. Similarly the ambassador, or plenipotentiary, pledges the nation to the peace or settlement which he makes in its name, and every individual really makes the peace in him whom the nation sends forth to stand for them. Upon this familiar fact and truth the idea of the two Adams is based. We must remember that men may be classified in various ways - physically, locally, intellectually, morally, or spiritually, and under each classification men can act both directly and by representation. As a spiritual race of beings, man has had, at different times, two race-heads, the first and the second Adam.

I. THE FIRST ADAM REGARDED AS A RACE HEAD, OR REPRESENTATIVE. Show how the race is bound up in him. Whether or not he be the actual race father, this is certain, "God has made of one blood all nations to dwell upon the earth," and the blood is Adam's, the type is Adam's, the whole bodily and mental functions are precisely Adam's, and God is pleased to deal with the race through this Adam, making him the race's test man, and laying the race under the burdens that were laid upon him. If we force the idea of our individuality into an undue strength, we shall resist the idea that any man can carry us with him so as to win for us blessing or woe; but if we duly estimate the solidarity of the human race, and what this involves for the good of the race, we shall be willing to accept the idea, and the consequences, of this mediation or representation. The standing of humanity before God is settled by the standing of Adam. The disabilities of humanity come as the disabilities of Adam, the consequences of his failure. It may even be that what we call death, as distinguished from simple change and passing, is due to Adam's fall. And our very character may be said to be deteriorated through Adam's triumphant wilfulness. We do not say that our relations with the first Adam are limited to these representative ones, but we do say that these are the prominent relations, and those which enable us to apprehend the similar relations of the Lord Jesus Christ.

II. THE SECOND ADAM REGARDED AS A RACE HEAD, OR REPRESENTATIVE. Observe that the first Adam was directly born of God, not of any previous human being; and so, we are taught, was the Lord Jesus, though his full kinship with our humanity is brought home to us by his having a human mother. He, then, is a fitting new Race Head, and God is pleased to deal with him in our name, and his dealings with him cover, carry, and include us, as those for whom he stands. Work out:

1. How Christ stood for us as penitent sinners, and won for us full pardon.

2. How Christ presented, in our name, perfect obedience, and won for us full acceptance.

3. How Christ asked for us life eternal, and gained the unspeakable gift. He is himself the type and the model of the new human race, the race that hates sin, and loves righteousness, and seeks God; and every one of us who makes Christ stand for him thereby pledges himself that he will give himself no rest until he is in everything just what Christ represents him to be. And so "in Christ shall all be made alive." - R.T.

I. WHEN AND HOW WILL THE DEAD BE RAISED?

1. Generally Paul's answer amounts to this. The resurrection is not a single act. All men are to be raised, "but every one in his own order," i.e., "in his own troop." The apostle sees an universal conflict between life and death. Christ the Lord of life has already achieved a personal victory; but all others are still in the thick of the conflict. What is to be the issue? Through the power of Christ's life, troop after troop they will achieve their conquest, and defile before their victorious Captain with joyful acclamation. Christ's resurrection, "the first-fruits," is the first triumph in a series of triumphs over death; the second that of those "who are Christ's at His coming." It is impossible that they, with His life in them, should be holden of death, though death may keep them in ward for a while.

2. Do the dead in Christ rise before the other dead?(1) Let us ask St. Paul to be his own interpreter. His fullest utterance is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17. The Thessalonians apprehended that only those who were alive when Christ came would reign with Him. Hence they mourned, as those without hope, over their brethren who departed this life, and thus lost their thrones. To comfort them, the apostle affirmed that those who are alive and remain will have no advantage over the Christian dead. The dead in Christ will rise first; and then those who are alive wilt be caught up to meet Him. Here, then, though he does not speak of a general resurrection, St. Paul does speak of one in which only those who sleep in Christ will take part.(2) As his meaning is still obscure, let us call in another interpreter. In Revelation 20 St. John describes at length the time and scene which were in St Paul's mind. "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." How much of this vision is symbol, we cannot tell. But it is impossible to read it without admitting that, at least in St. John's thought, there were to be in the future two successive triumphs of life over death; the first, at the resurrection of those who are in Christ; the second, at the general resurrection of all the dead.(3) This view of the future illustrates many other Scriptures, and is confirmed and expanded by them (Jude 1:14, 15; 1 Corinthians 6:2). But how should the saints come with the Lord to judge the world, unless they had had part in the first resurrection?(4) The great Scripture, however, is Matthew 25.(a) The discourse commences with the parable of the ten virgins. When the Bride-groom comes the lamps of five are "going out" — at the point to expire. And so, when the Lord comes, they are not ready for Him. Yet they may be saved. For all we are told is that they are too late for that time; not that when they went to buy oil, the shops were shut. They were buying oil when they should have been burning it, and therefore were too late for the marriage supper. It is not the final judgment which is here set before us. Those who miss the first may be in time for the second resurrection.(b) The same thought expressed in the parable of the talents. All who received talents from "the lord" are of his household. Two are faithful to their trust. One servant fails. The foolish virgins thought their task too easy: the slothful servant thinks his too hard. When his master comes, he has nothing but excesses to offer, and bases his excuses on a wilful misconception of the master's character. He is cast into the outer darkness. This is a parabolic delineation of the first resurrection, of the judgment of the Church rather than of the world. For there are many in the Church who misconceive the character of God. Among the awful possibilities of life there is also this: that "those who have once been enlightened," etc. (Hebrews 6:4-6), may fall away beyond the reach of penitence, and therefore beyond the reach of redemption.(c) But at this point we pass from the first to the second resurrection, from the judgment of the Church — which may extend through the millennium — to the judgment of the world. For now "all the nations" are gathered before the Son of Man. Those who stand on the right are the "sheep who were not of this fold," the men of every nation who, taught by His Spirit though not through His gospel, have wrought righteousness. To them the King will say, "Come ye blessed of My Father," etc. Mark their response. They cannot say, "Lord, Thou didst not entrust us with talents." They do not know Him, nor His gifts. Mark also the Lord's reply: "Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of these My brethren" — and here we must suppose Him pointing to the saints who have come with Him to the judgment — "ye did it unto Me." In short, all the details of this solemn scene indicate that "the saints" are distinct from "the righteous"; that they are already with Christ in glory, not before Him for judgment.

II. "THEN THE END," etc. (ver. 24). These words are expanded in the verses which follow. All this means that all the authority of man over man, all the power of death over the race, and even all the grace of Christ in the Church, are Divine expedients for delivering men from their bondage to the lusts which destroy them, and for quickening them into a new better life: that the authority of man and the power of death only reach their true and benignant ends as they are penetrated by the Spirit of Christ: that Christ, therefore, must reign till these various forms of rule are suffused by His Spirit; and that then, when all these have achieved their purpose, "the end" will come; the Divine expedients, having served their turn, will vanish away, and higher forms of life take their place; we shall know God, not only through the Son, but as He is in Himself, and the God whom as yet we know only through Christ, even the Father, will become all in all of us.

1. It is not difficult to see how all forms of human rule and authority are, at least, intended to check the evil dispositions of men, to save us from anarchy, from the tyranny of brute force and unbridled selfishness. Bad as the world is it would be far worse but for the restraints of domestic and political authority. Nor is it difficult to see that even the death we often fear is a wholesome check upon us. The mere fear of it holds back the tyrant from many crimes, the criminal from many offences.

2. Nevertheless human rule is apt to be austere and unlovely. Till it is penetrated by the Spirit of Christ, if it does some good, it also does much harm; and, in so far as it does harm to men, it is the enemy of Christ. Death, again, is a horror, till the light of life and immortality shine through it; and, in so far as it inspires the fear that hath torment, death is the enemy of Christ. Therefore God has ordained that Christ shall reign till He has put all enemies beneath His feet, till His Spirit has penetrated all forms of domestic and civil control, and suffused death itself with the splendours of life. But when He shall thus have drawn all things under Him, the reign of Christ will have achieved its purpose; the world will be full of living men who dwell together in charity, and to whom death means more life and fuller. Having achieved its purpose, the reign of Christ may well come to an end. It will be merged in the universal kingdom of the Father. The Mediator will be lost in the God to whom He has reconciled all men, from whom they can never more be alienated. God, even the Father, will be all in all. Unlike the princes of this world, the Divine King will reign, not when, but only until, He has put all enemies under His feet.

3. This, then, is the glorious prospect which lies before us. To our mortal weakness, indeed, we may find no beauty in it that we should desire it. For we do not care to rise above our need of Christ: the thought of losing Him is intolerable to us. Let us therefore remember that we do not lose a child when we find and love his father. We then really find the child, understand him better, love him more. And, in like manner, we shall not, in finding God, lose Christ. We shall then first truly find Him, know Him as we never knew Him before, love Him with a more perfect love.

4. Whatever else and more may be meant by Christ delivering the kingdom to His Father, and God becoming all in all, at least this must be meant: that the future is to be a grand progress, a golden ladder which we shall climb, round after round, till we stand amid the awful and transfiguring splendours of the eternal throne; a constant advance towards the central light, a constant increase in life, power, wisdom, charity: a beatific vision, which grows and spreads as we gaze upon it, and pours an enlarging volume of energy and peace into our souls.

(S. Cox, D.D.)

I. The figure suggests the idea of PRECEDENCE. As the presenting of the first-ripe fruits preceded the gathering in of the remainder of the harvest — so Christ's rising from the grave, and, on His ascension, appearing before God, was the prelude of the rising of all His people and their gathering in to everlasting life. The resurrection of the blessed surety was the first irrecoverable and permanent rescue from the power of the grave. He was the first released victim which death was never to get back.

II. The second idea suggested by the type is that of SECURITY. The first-fruits, when duly offered to the Lord, in obedience to His prescription, and as a becoming expression of dependence and thankfulness, formed a kind of Divine pledge to Israel of the remaining harvest. There are two ways in which the resurrection of Jesus may be considered as giving assurance of the resurrection of His people.

1. It involved in it an attestation, on the part of the Father that sent Him, to the divinity of His mission, and to the truth of all His testimony.

2. It was closely connected with His death, as the principal proof of its having answered its end. That end was atonement. It is not the fact that Christ died, even connected with the additional fact of His rising again, that constitutes the gospel. Both the facts may be believed, and yet the gospel rejected. The gospel lies in the purpose of His death — "He died for our sins"; and then His resurrection becomes the evidence of the purpose having been effectually answered — of the Father's having accepted the propitiation.

III. The last idea suggested by the figure in the text is RESEMBLANCE. The first ripe fruits were a specimen of the harvest. They were to be the best indeed in quality; and had it been otherwise, the type would ill have agreed with what the apostle represents it as having prefigured. For we must never fancy that, in the case before us, resemblance means the same as equality. The glory of His people can never be supposed equal in degree to that of Jesus Himself. But the glory shall be the same in kind; His the glory of the sun, ours of those stars that receive and reflect His light. See Philippians 3:20, 21; 1 John 3:2; Colossians 3:4. And oh, is not this enough? — enough to kindle all the ardour of desire, enough to fill the conceptions of the most capacious mind, enough to exhaust the efforts of the boldest and loftiest imagination? To be like Christ! Oh, what is there higher, holier, or happier, which it is possible for you to wish, either for yourselves or for the dearest objects of your love?

(R. Wardlaw, D.D.)

Then cometh the end, when He shall

have delivered up the kingdom to God.—

The coming of the end: — The end comes —

I. TO MAN'S GREATNESS. Alexander the Great conquered all that was known of the world, and sighed because there was only one world to conquer, and yet one small grave in Babylon was large enough to hold him and his greatness. Solomon's wisdom and greatness were such that there was none like unto him, and yet he "was buried in the city of David his father." If I visit the Pyramids of Egypt, I am reminded of the glory of the Pharaohs, yet if I were to touch one of these Pharaohs roughly he would crumble into dust. William the Conqueror was a mighty king, yet his horse stumbling over the hot ashes of a burning town brought all this greatness to an end. Napoleon's ambition knew no bounds, and yet a lonely tomb holds all that remains of that mighty conqueror.

II. TO OUR OPPORTUNITIES FOR GOOD. All have these opportunities, yet some of you are not using them. An end will come to them. God will not always strive with man, and then the recording angel will point sadly to the text, "Then cometh the end."

III. TO A LIFE OF OPEN SIN AND DISSIPATION. I see men and women staggering out of taverns, I see them gambling in reeking rooms. I see women hovering through the streets seeking whom they may devour, then I open my Bible sadly and read the text, "Then cometh the end." And it is nearer by forty, or fifty, or sixty years than when you were born. What sort of end is it going to be? Conclusion:

1. There are only two kinds of endings possible for you: if you are in Christ Jesus, then the end will be for you the end of waiting, of toil, of sorrow, and it will be the beginning of peace, of joy, of rest everlasting. But for those who die in their sins, the end must be the end of all hope, of all amendment, and the beginning of the blackness of darkness for ever.

2. Choose then this day, whom you will serve!

(H. J. W. Buxton, M.A.)

I. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO RULE THESE WORDS OUT OF LIFE.

1. You tell of any process; but always by and by the process is exhausted. "Then cometh the end." Your story has to round itself with that.(1) We see a child growing up from childhood into manhood; but at last "cometh the end."(2) You start upon a new business, build you a new house, begin some new study, whatever you do, "then cometh the end," is written, however far away, as the conclusion which all must reach.(3) Our text tells that even of the great work Christ is doing it is written, "Then cometh the end."

2. This constant recurrence of ends in life must certainly mean something. It may beget a mere frivolity. It may make it seem as if nothing were worth beginning or prosecuting very thoroughly. Or it may give a freshness and vitality to living. "Now or never."

II. WHAT SORT OF TEMPFR IT OUGHT TO PRODUCE.

1. Note the way in which men's desire and men's dread are both called out.(1) Look at man's desire of the end.(a) It is a part of his dread of monotony. There is something very pathetic in man's instinctive fear of being wearied with even the most delightful and satisfactory experiences. Is it not a sign of man's sense that his nature is made for larger worlds than this? "I would not live alway," has been a true cry of the human soul.(b) But there is something deeper. Very early there comes the sense of imperfection and failure, and the wish that it were possible to begin the game again. And as life goes on that conviction grows. Tell any man that he, out of all these mortals, was never to die, and by and by must come something like dismay; for every man has gathered something which he must get rid of, and so there is promise to him in, "Then cometh the end."(c) But so far as life has been a success, the same satisfaction comes. It is a poor thing for a traveller along a dreary and difficult road to be able to say, "Thank God, there is an end to this!" But for a man to say, "This road is glorious, but no doubt beyond is something yet more glorious still," that is a fine impatience. The noblest human natures are built thus. "Let the life be filled with the spirit of the springtime, and the end which comes shall be the luxuriance of summer! "And so in many tones, yet all of them tones of satisfaction, men desire the end. It is like a great company of travellers coming together in sight of the resting-place where they are to spend the night, and lifting up all together one great shout of joy. Their hearts have various feelings. Some are glad because their day's task is done, others because of the new task which they can see opening out beyond them for to-morrow.(2) Turn to the other side and think of the dread with which men think of the coming of ends in life. Can we give any account of this dread?(a) It is the sheer force of habit. That this which is should cease to be is shocking and surprising. Even in that dread there is something which is good. it is good for the tree to love the soil in which it grows and to consent with difficulty to transplanting. It is good that the burden of proof should be on the side of change.(b) Men shrink from the announcement of the coming end because they know how far they are from having exhausted their present condition. A boy has longed to be a man, but when he stands upon the brink of manhood and looks behind him over the yet-unreaped acres of his youth, he is almost ready to go back and postpone his manhood till he has taken richer possession of those harvest fields. And so of the great end. Who wants to die so long as this great rich world has only had the very borders of its riches touched?(c) But even more than this, perhaps, comes in the great uncertainty which envelops every experience which is untried. The passage from light into light must be always through a zone of darkness. How we are feeling this in these days! Old social conditions are ceasing to be possible any longer. In their place new ones are evidently coming, and who is not conscious of misgiving and of dread as he enters with his time into the cloud of disturbance that hovers between the old and the new? This is a large part of the reason why the most miserable cling to life, counting it better. "To bear the ills they have than flee to others which they know not of."

2. Blessed indeed it is for man, standing in such confused and mingled mood, that the end of things does not depend upon his choice, but comes by a will more large, more wise than his. The workman's voice has not to summon out of the east the shadows of the night in which no man can work. "It comes of itself," we say. We mean, "God sends it."(1) How many things there are of which we say, "I thank God I may do this, but I thank God also that the time will come when I shall stop doing it! "Our business associations, journeys, schools, homes, are of this sort. They are good and welcome because they are but for a while. Our mortal life, that too we are thankful for, but thankful also that it shall not last for ever. But all this satisfaction in the temporariness comes only from its being enfolded and embraced within the eternity of the eternal. There must be something which does not pass away, something to which comes no end. The soul and its character, God and His love and glory — it is because within these as the ends of life all other things are enfolded as the means of life, that we can be reconciled to, nay, even can rejoice in the knowledge that the means must cease when they shall have made their contribution to the end which must endure for ever. But to know no everlasting end or purpose, to have nothing but the means to rest on, to see them slipping out of our grasp and leaving nothing permanent behind — that is terrible! How is it with you? There comes an end to all these things which you are doing now! Not because God snatches them out of your hands, but because they exhaust themselves and expire, because they are by their nature temporary and perishing, they die. Have you anything to which there comes no end? Any passion for the character and love of God? Those are eternal. There is no end to the great ends of life.(2) A noble independence this gives to a man's soul. Poverty comes up and joins you, and you say, "Welcome. Poverty. We will walk together for a while, and when you have done for me all that you can, then I will dismiss you with my thanks." Riches comes rolling up to be your fellow-traveller, and you say, "Welcome, Riches. There will come an end to you; but while you last we will be friends, and you shall help me." The more your soul is set upon the ends of life, the more you use its means in independence. You use them as a workman uses his tools, taking them up in quick succession, casting down one after the other, never falling in love with the tool because the work possesses him.

(Bp. Phillips Brooks.)

Consider —

I. WHAT THAT KINGDOM IS WHICH CHRIST IS TO SURRENDER.

1. There is the kingdom of nature, presided over not by the God of grace, but by the God of providence. In it there is system, order, reason, laws, everything that makes up a kingdom. But this is not the kingdom spoken of here, because it is not peculiarly Christ's, and there is no necessity it should pass away. There are many reasons for believing that all its glory and richness only separated from man's sinfulness shall be preserved.

2. Now, there is over and above this the high, celestial, glorious kingdom in which the Lord reigns amongst His people and His angels in unveiled majesty. But this is not the kingdom whereof the apostle is speaking; for what reason is there that it should end? It is a kingdom in which God has gathered together the very choicest of all creatures. No; unless all Scripture be untrue, this kingdom of recompense and of glory is meant to be indestructible.

3. There is, however, a kingdom which is neither the kingdom of nature nor the kingdom of glory, but something between the two: but nevertheless, it belongs to earth in one respect, and to heaven in another. Its great object is to rescue sinners, and to build them up in holiness; and therefore the subjects of this kingdom are those that have been once rebellious, but, through the grace of God, have been brought into a state of loyalty and allegiance to the Lord. One of the grandest sketches we have of this kingdom is in Psalm 110, where we see the Lord's willing people being established, and His enemies crushed, and Christ reigning till He hath put all enemies under His feet. All men being originally God's enemies, are predestined to be subdued — subdued by grace, or subdued by power. It is simply a question for ourselves in what department we shall find our. selves placed — enemies who have been reduced into friends, or enemies who are destined to be "broken." Now this kingdom being provisional, is destined to pass away. Why should the scaffolding remain when the building is completed? When God's mighty work is finished, should there be ministers, ordinances, means of grace?

II. THE PARTICULAR TIME AT WHICH THIS IS TO BE DONE.

1. At the moment that Christianity was launched, calamities began to thicken upon the house of Israel. Jewish tribulation is running its course, but that will come to an "end." "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."

2. There is another dispensation that has set in concurrently with that of Gentile mercies. In "the times of the Gentiles" we are now living. But this dispensation must come to its "end."

3. Another dispensation seems to have started concurrently with the dispensation of Christianity; that of Antichrist. Paul tells us in Thessalonians and 1 Timothy that in the last days perilous times shall come; and that this antichrist shall go on until the Lord shall "consume him with the Spirit of His mouth, and destroy him with the brightness of His coming." So that will have an "end."

4. There is another grand expectation, viz., that of the returning Redeemer. And now take up these scattered threads and bring them, as they require, to a definite point connected with the second advent of our Master. Now is it not something to stand upon the mountain-top, and to look down upon all these railway trains making their way to one point? To one plunging on with the title of "Jewish doctrines," and another with the title "Gentile privileges," and another with the title "Antichrist" stamped upon them? Is it not something in the far distance to see the faintest glimmer of an unearthly light, and to see by the direction of all these various forces that they are hurrying one and all precisely to the same point, and eventually meeting at the world's great centre, the returning Saviour? When all these destinies come to receive their concurring fulfilment, then the prophecy before us stands accomplished. And when that end comes there shall come a crush of kingdoms, for everything that is earthy shall fall into destruction, and "The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ"; and the Master shall be all in all. There shall also be the crush of a kingdom. The kingdom of grace is wanted no longer; it has done its necessary, its devoted work, long enough; for it has educated the Lord's people for their privileges. And then the mighty President shall take it in His hands, and lay it down before the throne of His Eternal Father. Christ's official existence, not His natural and intrinsic glory, will terminate, and then, without distinctions of official character, "God shall be all in all."

(Dean Boyd.)

We never repeat these words in reference to that which is charming without a certain sense of pain. Yet it is true in regard to all that pertains to us or to our surroundings. The longest, brightest day must end. Each season, each journey, vacation, however pleasant or prosperous, every human relationship, must end. The earthly life of each, though lengthened to a century and full of gladness, must come to an end. The structures built by man outlive the builder, and seem to say, "We only are left behind, while the people once here are for ever gone!" "The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed." The globe grows old and the new heavens and earth hasten. Even the mediatorial system is but for a time. So with everything with but one notable exception. The soul's life is not to end. These facts suggest some practical lessons.

I. THESE THINGS WHICH ARE PASSING AWAY ARE NOT TO BECOME THE OBJECT OF THE SUPREME DESIRE OF THE SPIRIT WHICH IS NOT TO COME TO AN END. It is of course possible to go to extremes.

1. Some affect a disgust for pleasure and property, but by right enjoyment we are recreated. We are not to undervalue it. Again, property may be held without undue ambition or worldly pride. Christianity honours toil and reminds men that Jesus was a working man, and Paul as well. Economy is good. Omnipotence has recognised it. True religion is not hostile to the spirit of thrift and carefulness in acquisition.

2. But there is peril in the other extreme. We are apt to love pleasure and property inordinately. The soul's welfare is subordinate, and so the lesson of the text is timely, "Then cometh the end." The most opulent wealth will pass away.

II. THERE IS A DIVINE PURPOSE IN THESE FLEETING OBJECTS AND EXPERIENCES, TO WIT: TO SERVE THE CULTURE OF THE SOUL WHICH DOES NOT PASS AWAY.

1. The beauty and enjoyment He furnishes us so richly is intended to give tone and tincture to our taste; and by a contemplation of His handiwork our minds are affiliated with His.

2. So, too, by the proper gratification of the instinct of possession our will force is invigorated. The more means we possess, the more of culture we can give ourselves and households, the more useful we can be in the world. Moreover, character is unfolded in these activities. There is an Italian proverb that "The solitary man is either a beast or an angel."

3. The body, too, is a means of spiritual culture. Our appetites are to be curbed and our passions confined, and so physical forces may now aid in our spiritual enrichment.

4. This world, though it is to come to an end, is another educational power. Its wealth we are to garner, its mines explore, and its forces subdue. All things are to minister to man, and to be subordinate to the soul's life.

III. TO THE SOUL THAT HAS THUS WISELY USED THE TRANSITORY THINGS OF TIME, "THE END OF ALL THINGS" DOES NOT IN ANY SENSE MEAN DEFEAT, DISASTER. What is the end of a campaign? Victory. Of a revolution like that of 1776? A new nation. The end of some superb cathedral, like that of Cologne, six centuries in building, is a poem in stone. The end of a true life is not destruction, but consummation. The river finds its end in the distant sea, and the day its end in the glory of a star-lit sky, a glory only seen when the day has found its close. We should not be sad, therefore, as the summer is ended, the harvest past, the journey completed, and the friendly associations terminated which cheered us for a season. The traveller passes the river, the village, or city on his way home, and is not disappointed, for he journeys to an end, his home. We seek an end.

(R. S. Storrs, D.D.)

There are two different ideas attached to "kingdom." One regards it as the empire of Satan, and the other as the empire of Christ. If the former be adopted, then the passage teaches that when Christ has subdued all the principalities and powers of this kingdom, He will deliver the whole up to the Father. Then "the kingdoms of this world will have become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever." If the latter, then it means that when Christ, in the exercise of His mediatorial authority, has subjugated all the powers of moral evil, He will deliver up His commission to God, who will then be acknowledged as the absolute ruler of all. The latter is the most plausible. Learn then —

I. THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF OUR WORLD IS ADMINISTERED BY CHRIST. The New Testament is full of the doctrine that Christ reigns over our world, and this explains several things otherwise inexplicable.

1. The perpetuation of the human race. Death was threatened on Adam if he sinned. He sinned, and died not, but became the father of the human family. The Biblical doctrine of mediation is the only principle that explains this.

2. The coexistence of sin and happiness in the same individual. Under the government of absolute righteousness we should antecedently expect that wherever there was sin there would be misery proportioned to it. There is perfect happiness in heaven, because there is perfect holiness; there is unmitigated misery in hell, because there is unmixed depravity; but here there is sin and happiness. The mediative government is the only principle that explains this

3. The offer of pardon, and the application of remedial influences to the condemned and corrupt. Under a righteous government, how is this to be explained? This is explicable only on the ground that He is "exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance," etc.

II. THAT CHRIST ADMINISTERS THE GOVERNMENT OF OUR WORLD IN ORDER TO PUT DOWN ALL HUMAN EVILS. There are two classes of evil referred to.

1. Moral. "All rule, all authority, and power." Sinful principles are the moral potentates of this world — "the principalities and powers of darkness." Christ's government is to put them down from governments, churches, books, hearts, etc.

2. Physical. "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." Death is the issue — the totality of all physical evils. Christ will destroy this. He will one day open the graves of the globe.

III. THAT WHEN THESE EVILS ARE ENTIRELY PUT DOWN, CHRIST WILL RESIGN HIS ADMINISTRATION INTO THE HANDS OF THE EVERLASTING FATHER. Moral evil shall be exterminated, and death swallowed up in victory. Then comes the end. Christ having finished the work that was given Him to do, resigns His office. The end realised, the means are no longer needed. Patriarchalism had its day; and Abraham delivering up his ministration to Moses. Judaism had its day: and Moses delivered up his ministration to Christ. Mediation is having its day; and when it shall have realised its design, Christ will deliver up His administration to the primal fountain of all authority and power.

IV. THAT WHEN CHRIST SHALL HAVE RESIGNED HIS ADMINISTRATION, GOD "WILL BE ALL IN ALL."

1. This does not mean —(1) That there will be dissolution in the human and Divine in the constitution of Christ.(2) That Christ will lose any part of His influence in the Divine empire. Christ will ever rise in the esteem and devotion of all who know His history, and especially of all who have been saved by His grace.(3) That God will become something different to the universe in general than He has ever been. To the unfallen districts of His vast kingdom He has ever been "all in all."

2. The apostle is speaking of humanity, and what he means, I presume, is that God will become "all in all" to it — that He will become to man, after this, very different to what He had ever been. Two facts will illustrate this.(1) He will treat all men after this on the ground of their own moral merits. From the fall up to this period He had treated them, during their existence in this world, on the ground of Christ's mediation; but now, the mediation removed, each man shall "reap the fruit of his own doings."(2) All good men will, after this, subjectively realise the absolute one as they have never done before. The atmosphere of their nature purified, He shall appear within them as the central orb, revealing everything in its light — uncovering the Infinite above and the finite beneath — making the finite manifest and glorious in the conscious light of the Infinite.

(D. Thomas, D.D.)

The Scriptures constantly teach that Christ's kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and of His dominion there is no end. In what sense, then, can He be said to deliver up His kingdom? It must be remembered that the Scriptures speak of a threefold kingdom as belonging to Christ.

1. That which necessarily belongs to Him as a Divine person, extending over all creatures, and of which He can never divest Himself.

2. That which belongs to Him as the incarnate Son of God, extending over His own people. This also is everlasting. He will for ever remain the head and sovereign of the redeemed.

3. That dominion to which He was exalted after His resurrection, when all power in heaven and earth was committed to His hands. This kingdom, which He exercises as the Theanthropos, and which extends over all principalities and powers, He is to deliver up when the work of redemption is accomplished. He was invested with this dominion in His mediatorial character for the purpose of carrying on His work to its consummation. When that is done, i.e., when He has subdued all His enemies, then He will no longer reign over the universe as Mediator, but only as God: while His headship over His people is to continue for ever.

(C. Hedge, D.D.)

Adam, Cephas, Corinthians, James, Paul, PeterCorinth, EphesusAfterward, Afterwards, Belong, Christ, Christ's, First-fruit, Firstfruits, First-fruits, Fruits, Order, Presence, Proper, Rank, Return, Rise, Rising1. By Christ's resurrection,
12. he proves the necessity of our resurrection,
16. against all such as deny the resurrection of the body.
21. The fruit,
35. and the manner thereof;
51. and of the resurrection of those who shall be found alive at the last day.

1 Corinthians 15:23

     2203   Christ, titles of

1 Corinthians 15:12-28

     5110   Paul, teaching of

1 Corinthians 15:19-23

     9312   resurrection, significance of Christ's

1 Corinthians 15:20-23

     9110   after-life

1 Corinthians 15:20-28

     4442   firstfruits

1 Corinthians 15:21-23

     2069   Christ, pre-eminence
     5083   Adam, and Christ

1 Corinthians 15:22-23

     6660   freedom, through Christ

1 Corinthians 15:22-25

     5598   victory, over spiritual forces
     9155   millennium

1 Corinthians 15:22-26

     2565   Christ, second coming

The Image of the Earthly and the Heavenly
Eversley, Easter Day, 1871. 1 Cor. xv. 49. "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." This season of Easter is the most joyful of all the year. It is the most comfortable time, in the true old sense of that word; for it is the season which ought to comfort us most--that is, it gives us strength; strength to live like men, and strength to die like men, when our time comes. Strength to live like men. Strength to fight against the temptation which …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

Third Sunday after Easter Second Sermon.
Text: First Corinthians 15, 20-28. 20 But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that are asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; then they that are Christ's, at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have abolished all rule and …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Fourth Sunday after Easter
Text: First Corinthians 15, 35-50. 35 But some one will say, How are the dead raised? and with what manner of body do they come? 36 Thou foolish one, that which thou thyself sowest is not quickened except it die: 37 and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not the body that shall be, but a bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other kind; 38 but God giveth it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own. 39 All flesh is not the same flesh; but there is one flesh of men, …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Fifth Sunday after Easter
Text: First Corinthians 15, 51-58. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Eleventh Sunday after Trinity Paul's Witness to Christ's Resurrection.
Text: 1 Corinthians 15, 1-10. 1 Now I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye received, wherein also ye stand, 2 by which also ye are saved, if ye hold fast the word which I preached unto you, except ye believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 and that he was buried; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the scriptures; 5 and that …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

Small Duties and the Great Hope
'But as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you; for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. 10. And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more; 11. And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; 12. That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing. 13. But I would not have …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Christian and the Scientific Estimate of Sin
"Christ died for our sins."--I COR. XV. 3. Nothing is more characteristic of Christianity than its estimate of human sin. Historically, no doubt, this is due to the fact that the Lord and Master of Christians died "on account of sins." His death was due, as we have seen, both to the actual, definite sins of His contemporaries, and also to the irreconcilable opposition between His sinless life and the universal presence of sin in the world into which He came. But it is with the Christian estimate …
J. H. Beibitz—Gloria Crucis

Outward and Inward Morality
OUTWARD AND INWARD MORALITY I Cor. xv. 10.--"The Grace of God." Grace is from God, and works in the depth of the soul whose powers it employs. It is a light which issues forth to do service under the guidance of the Spirit. The Divine Light permeates the soul, and lifts it above the turmoil of temporal things to rest in God. The soul cannot progress except with the light which God has given it as a nuptial gift; love works the likeness of God into the soul. The peace, freedom and blessedness of all …
Johannes Eckhart—Meister Eckhart's Sermons

April the Sixth First-Hand Knowledge of Christ
"Last of all He was seen of me also." --1 CORINTHIANS xv. 1-11. And by that vision Saul of Tarsus was transformed. And so, by the ministry of a risen Lord we have received the gift of a transfigured Paul. The resurrection glory fell upon him, and he was glorified. In that superlative light he discovered his sin, his error, his need, but he also found the dynamic of the immortal hope. "Seen of me also!" Can I, too, calmly and confidently claim the experience? Or am I altogether depending upon another …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

April the Seventh if Christ were Dead!
1 CORINTHIANS xv. 12-26. "If Christ be not risen!" That is the most appalling "if" which can be flung into the human mind. If it obtains lodging and entertainment, all the fairest hopes of the soul wither away like tender buds which have been nipped by sharp frost! See how they fade! "Your faith is vain." It has no more strength and permanency than Jonah's gourd. Nay, it has really never been a living thing! It has been a pathetic delusion, beautiful, but empty as a bubble, and collapsing at …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Sudden Conversions.
"By the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain."--1 Cor. xv. 10. We can hardly conceive that grace, such as that given to the great Apostle who speaks in the text, would have been given in vain; that is, we should not expect that it would have been given, had it been foreseen and designed by the Almighty Giver that it would have been in vain. By which I do not mean, of course, to deny that God's gifts are oftentimes abused and wasted by man, which …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

Paul's Estimate of Himself
'By the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain.'--1 COR. xv. 10. The Apostle was, all his life, under the hateful necessity of vindicating his character and Apostleship. Thus here, though his main purpose in the context is simply to declare the Gospel which he preached, he is obliged to turn aside in order to assert, and to back up his assertion, that there was no sort of difference between him and the other recognised teachers of Christian truth. He …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Unity of Apostolic Teaching
Whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.'--1 COR. xv. 11. Party spirit and faction were the curses of Greek civic life, and they had crept into at least one of the Greek churches--that in the luxurious and powerful city of Corinth. We know that there was a very considerable body of antagonists to Paul, who ranked themselves under the banner of Apollos or of Cephas i.e. Peter. Therefore, Paul, keenly conscious that he was speaking to some unfriendly critics, hastens in the …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Certainty and Joy of the Resurrection
'But now is Christ risen from the dead ... the first fruits of them that slept.'--1 COR. xv. 20. The Apostle has been contemplating the long train of dismal consequences which he sees would arise if we only had a dead Christ. He thinks that he, the Apostle, would have nothing to preach, and we, nothing to believe. He thinks that all hope of deliverance from sin would fade away. He thinks that the one fact which gives assurance of immortality having vanished, the dead who had nurtured the assurance …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

Remaining and Falling Asleep
'After that He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.'--1 COR. xv. 6. There were, then, some five-and-twenty years after the Resurrection, several hundred disciples who were known amongst the churches as having been eyewitnesses of the risen Saviour. The greater part survived; some, evidently a very few, had died. The proportion of the living to the dead, after five-and-twenty years, is generally the opposite. …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Death of Death
'But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. 21. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.... 50. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, (for the trumpet shall sound;) and the dead shall …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Power of the Resurrection
'I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; 4. And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.'--1 COR. xv. 3, 4. Christmas day is probably not the true anniversary of the Nativity, but Easter is certainly that of the Resurrection. The season is appropriate. In the climate of Palestine the first fruits of the harvest were ready at the Passover for presentation in the Temple. …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

On the Atonement.
"How that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures."-1 Cor. xv. 3. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."-2 Cor. v. 21. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."-Rom. v. 8. "The Lord is well pleased for his Righteousness' sake: he will magnify the law and make it honorable."-Isa. xlii. 21. "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, …
Charles G. Finney—Sermons on Gospel Themes

Victory Over Death.
Preached May 16, 1852. VICTORY OVER DEATH. "The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."--1 Cor. xv. 56, 57. On Sunday last I endeavoured to bring before you the subject of that which Scripture calls the glorious liberty of the Sons of God. The two points on which we were trying to get clear notions were these: what is meant by being under the law, and what is meant by being free from the law? When …
Frederick W. Robertson—Sermons Preached at Brighton

Thoughts on the Last Battle
When I select such a text as this, I feel that I cannot preach from it. The thought o'ermasters me; my words do stagger; there are no utterances that are great enough to convey the mighty meaning of this wondrous text. If I had the eloquence of all men united in one, if I could speak as never man spake (with the exception of that one godlike man of Nazareth), I could not compass so vast a subject as this. I will not therefore pretend to do so, but offer you such thoughts as my mind is capable of …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

"Alas for Us, if Thou Wert All, and Nought Beyond, O Earth"
We will try and handle our text this morning in this way. First, we are not of all men most miserable; but secondly, without the hope of another life we should be--that we are prepared to confess--because thirdly, our chief joy lies in the hope of a life to come; and thus, fourthly, the future influences the present; and so, in the last place, we may to-day judge what our future is to be. I. First then, WE ARE NOT OF ALL MEN MOST MISERABLE. Who ventures to say we are? He who will have the hardihood …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 10: 1864

A Leap Year Sermon *
"One born out of due time."--1 Corinthians 15:8. PAUL THUS DESCRIBES himself. It was necessary that Paul, as an apostle, should have seen the Lord. He was not converted at the time of Christ's ascension; yet he was made an apostle, for the Lord Jesus appeared to him in the way, as he was going to Damascus, to persecute the saints of God. When he looked upon himself as thus put in, as it were, at the end of the apostles, he spoke of himself in the most depreciating terms, calling himself "one born …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 46: 1900

Resurgam
I propose this morning, as God shall enable, to listen to that voice of spring, proclaiming the doctrine of the resurrection, a meditation all the more appropriate from the fact, that the Sabbath before last we considered the subject of Death, and I hope that then very solemn impressions were made upon our minds. May the like impressions now return, accompanied with more joyous ones, when we shall look beyond the grave, through the valley of the shadow of death, to that bright light in the distance--the …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860

28TH DAY. A Joyful Resurrection.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "This corruptible must put on incorruption."--1 COR. xv. 53. A Joyful Resurrection. Marvel of marvels? The sleeping ashes of the sepulchre starting at the tones of the archangel's trumpet!--the dishonoured dust, rising a glorified body, like its risen Lord's? At death, the soul's bliss is perfect in kind; but this bliss is not complete in degree, until reunited to the tabernacle it has left behind to mingle with the sods of the valley. But tread lightly on that grave, …
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

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