by Timothy W. Burnett
�But every man in his own order. Christ the first fruits. Afterward they that are Christ�s at his coming. Then comes the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom of God , even the Father. When he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power� (verses 23-24).
The resurrection of the dead will occur at different times in a specific order. First Jesus Christ had to be raised from the dead and ascended into heaven. This has already come to pass.
Next, Jesus Christ will return for the born-again believers. This event is commonly known as the rapture. 1Thessalonians 4:14-18 reveals a certain order of events during the rapture. First the dead in Christ will rise, then the people who are alive at the time will be caught up together with them in the sky to be forever in heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ. During this momentous event, Jesus Christ will not touch the earth. Instead, he will draw the born-again people up to him in the clouds. 1Corinthians 15:51-54 covers this in more detail, which we will address soon.
After Christ returns for the rapture, then will come the end. This refers to the period of time spoken of in Revelations. It will include a massive resurrection of all people. They will include the 144,000 of Israel who will abide in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 7:3-8), the un-numbered other saints who will also abide in paradise (Revelation 7:9-14), and the unbelieving masses who will rally under the kings of the earth to battle with the Lord Jesus and his army of born-again believers (Revelation 16:14; 17:14; 19:11, 14 & 19-21).
The resurrected saints will live on the �new earth� spoken of in Revelation 21:1. The �New Jerusalem� will be reserved for the 144,000 of Israel, who will be the �bride� of �her husband� the Lord Jesus (Revelation 21:2).
Continuing with 1Corinthians 15:25, �For he must reign until He has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.� Don�t let the pronouns �He� confuse you. The writers of the King James Bible believed that Jesus Christ was in essence God Himself. This would explain why they used all capital cases for the pronoun �He.� But when we rightly divide the scripture, we can see that it is God in heaven who will put all enemies under the feet of His son Jesus Christ. The pronouns for Jesus Christ would rightly be in lower case.
�For He [God] has put all things under his [Lord Jesus] feet. But when He says, �All things are put under him�, it is manifest that He is excepted, which did put all things under him� (verse 27).
To clear up any confusion about the matter, �And when all things shall be subdued unto him [Jesus], then shall the son also himself be subject unto Him [God] that put all things under him [Jesus] that God may be all in all� (verse 28). Jesus Christ currently reigns with all authority from his Father in heaven. But one day, he will be subject under God, so that after the end comes, God will be over all things in all places.
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