II Timothy 2:15

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."


It doesn't say to just read your Bible, but rather study it, and that of course is what we try to get people to do. Buy a good cross-reference study Bible with some good footnotes. That always helps, and learn how to study. Now I Corinthians Chapter 15, and we've pretty much covered verse 23. Now that the resurrection of the Just has been completed, the Kingdom is now set up, and everything is ready to go for the thousand year rule and reign of Christ. Remember that's going to be on the earth. A lot of people don't have a concept of that, but remember the Kingdom is the Kingdom is the Kingdom, and the reason I say that is because it's the only valid Kingdom in Scripture. Now if it were speaking of some Gentile Kingdom, or the Kingdom of Babylon, then that's something totally different. But when the Bible speaks of the "Kingdom" then it's this final thousand year reign of Christ, this Kingdom on the earth when He will finally, as we're going to see in this lesson, be King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and that's not the end. Remember that the thousand year reign is just the introduction to the eternal state. All of this comes into focus then, as we look at the Scripture concerning this earthly Kingdom. Now for review let's look at verse 23 again.


I Corinthians 15:23

"But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming."


That is all the believers of all the ages from Adam and Eve on up through the end of the Tribulation, which we covered as the resurrection of the Church, the Rapture, the great resurrection day of the major harvest of God's reaping. Then the bringing together of the Old Testament saints, and the Tribulation saints as we saw in our last lesson in Daniel Chapter 12. Now verse 24:

I Corinthians 15:24,25

"Then cometh the end, (time as we know it, human history) when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. (now let's read verse 25, and then we'll come back to verse 24) For he (Christ) must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet."