78. When Will The' Reign Of Christ End?

The Reign of Christ as the Final Chapter of History

Hello everyone and welcome back to the podcast where we prod the sheep and beat the wolf. This is episode 78. When will the reign of Christ end? Introduction. When writing a book, an author commonly develops themes in the first chapter that repeat throughout the entire drama, but only find the resolution in the final chapter.

This is precisely what God has done in the epic tale that he has constructed called Man. When God began his story, he created the first man and called him Adam. God designed that man as the pinnacle of his creation, enlivened that man with his own breath, and placed him in a garden to rule and to have dominion over the creatures.

God installed this man as his visceroy, and along with his newly crafted queen, Adam was called to be fruitful in his labors, to multiply humans, to fill the earth, and to extend God's dominion to every square inch of the planet to the glory of God.

And while Adam failed in that original mission, this was the paradigmatic chapter that God used to launch his creation story. Knowing this, it should not come as a surprise to us that God brings all of these themes together in beautiful, victorious harmony in the final chapter that we are now living in.

For instance, he raised a true and better Adam, named Jesus, to succeed where Adam once had failed. Unlike Adam, who fell into the depths of sin, Christ would ascend as the pinnacle of a new creation, high and lifted up, with a name above all names, to sit as God's true and better visceroy at the right hand of God.

Like Adam, who was called to rule in a garden, Jesus ascended into paradise, sat at the right hand of the Father to be fruitful in his labors, to multiply disciples across the nations, and to bring the unruly world under the rule of Almighty God.

Unlike Adam, who fell at the feet of the serpent, Christ crushed the serpent under his feet, and has been plundering that dragon's kingdom ever since. This final chapter of human history that we are living in, the reign of Christ, where Jesus is going to redeem everything that was lost in the fallen Adam, is the last and final chapter in God's grand masterpiece.

This means that you and I are living in the end times. Let me explain. Over the last few weeks, we've been talking about how the book of Acts, especially in the events of the Pentecost, prepares us for the fact that the end times are events that have already begun.

Now, this has worked itself out in two very specific ways. First, the last days rightly referred to the final waning years of the old covenant era, where the temple and the priesthood and the Mosaic covenant law and Judaism as a whole all came to a cataclysmic end with the downfall of Jerusalem in AD 70.

Those were the last days of that old covenant, and when they were over, that chapter was closed forever and for good as a finished chapter in God's creation and redemption story. Yet on the other hand, the end times also refer to the beginning of a new era that was inaugurated in the first century.

That's the last chapter, this final end time epic that will conclude all of earth's history under the reign of Christ, who will bring everything under his lordship and under his feet. Thus, the end times describe a unique 40-year period, a window of time that occurred in the first century, where two distinct covenantal eras were overlapping in one nation, the nation of Judah.

At the same time that the apostle Paul was preaching the Christian gospel in Galatia, the high priests were offering sacrifices in Jerusalem. These two eras were overlapping. The penultimate chapter, that's the old testament, had yet to conclude before the final chapter, the new covenant in Christ had fully come.

And during those 40 years between the ascension of our lord in AD 30 and the downfall of Jerusalem in AD 70, both the new and the old covenant eras were existing together simultaneously. One was nose diving into its last and final hours, while the other was soaring to life, evidence that God's final chapter of history had begun.

Christ's Reign Begins at His Ascension

Today, I want us to build upon that foundation by seeing two very specific things. First, I want us to see clearly how Jesus came into his reign and that his reign is now. Second, without venturing into the bizarre and weird, I want us to show how we can know with precision when his reign will come to a close.

So with that, let us continue in Peter's great sermon that we were looking at over the last couple of weeks recorded in Acts chapter two. Today, we're going to be in verses 32 through 36. Luke tells us this, this Jesus that God raised up again, to which we were all witnesses.

Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the father, the promise of the Holy spirit, he has poured forth this, which you both see and hear, for it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

Therefore, let all of the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucify. Acts two 32 through 36. Number one, when does the reign of Christ begin?

As the passage tells us, the reign of Christ begins the very moment that he ascends to heaven and sits upon the throne. We are not waiting for a future millennial kingdom of Jesus. He is not currently in heaven, twiddling his thumbs until that kingdom begins.

He is reigning now over his empire this very moment. And the armies of hell are shuddering because of it. How do we know this? Well, for one Luke tells us that Christ was exalted up unto the right hand of God in the resurrection and ascension.

Jesus's exaltation should be seen by us as his elevation above all men and his coronation unto his rule. For instance, being at the king's right hand in the ancient world symbolized unparalleled authority.

Men who were elevated to such a position would be considered the vice regent, the second in command with power over all the men of the kingdom, save the king. Well, in that sense, this is the position in which God appointed Adam originally.

Yet Adam's obedience puttered out and he fell into rebellion before he ever reached the throne. But that's not the case with Jesus. Jesus is the one who entered into the form of man and was obedient to the point of death, even the cursed death of a cross.

And because of this, God has lifted him up to the highest position to reign over the entire race of man, a new race of man, not under the former Adam, but under the new Adam as both king, Lord, and Messiah.

Now we also know that this is true, that the ascension of Christ is where he comes into his reign because that's what Daniel chapter seven tells us. Daniel says this in verses 13 through 14, I kept looking in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven, one like the son of man was coming and he came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him and to him was given dominion glory and a kingdom and all the peoples and nations of men of every language might serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away in his kingdom is one in which will not be destroyed. Daniel seven, 13 to 14. Daniel envisions a moment in Jesus's life where he will ascend up with the clouds of heaven going up in exaltation to the ancient of days, which happened as he ascended into the clouds, leaving his disciples gawking at the sky on a street corner in Jerusalem.

Furthermore, Jesus himself told us that this was the correct interpretation of Daniel's prophecy. When he quoted it before Caiaphas, you'll remember he tore his clothing because of it. There, he reminded the wicked high priest that he Caiaphas would be alive to see Jesus, not only resurrected from the dead, but also ascended into heaven.

Matthew 26, 62 through 66. Daniel proves when the Lord ascends to the throne room of Yahweh, he will be given a kingdom there and that kingdom will never end. It will never pass away and it will never be destroyed.

That kingdom is the kingdom that Jesus is currently reigning over. That is the kingdom that God, the father has handed over to the son and that kingdom is called the church. It is Jesus's reign over his church to extend his dominion, to advance his boundaries, to promote his vision, his worldview until the entire world falls underneath the boundaries of the church and submits to her worldview.

That is the kingdom that we are in. Number two, when does the reign of Christ end? Now, this brings us to an important question. If we're in the last days right now, Jesus is reigning right now. He's reigning over his church and his church is going to the ends of the earth.

How long will these days continue? Are the last days soon to run out or do we have another 10 ,000 years to go? These are very important and very interesting questions. In our passage today though, Peter quotes Psalm 110 to show us that Jesus must reign, which signifies that Jesus will be in a state of ongoing rule until the end comes.

There will not be any lapses in Jesus's government, no coups, no overturned election or failed dominion voting systems. Our King will reign unabated and unencumbered until the very end, bringing us to the question, when will the end of the reign of Christ on earth come?

Well, there's several ways to answer that question. One, it would be correct to say that Christ will reign until every elect Christian has become regenerate and then the end will come. Right. This is absolutely true.

There's not a single person who was elected before the foundation of the world who will not come by regeneration of the spirit into his kingdom. If God has chosen them, then they are going to come and God has chosen men and women and children, and he has scattered them throughout every age of man so that when the final one of these elect believers is saved in space and time, then most assuredly the end will come.

But another way to look at this and another way to examine the question is to look at it in the way Peter addresses it in his sermon in Acts 2. He doesn't do it from the standpoint of the elect. He does it from the standpoint of God's enemies.

He says that Jesus's reign will continue from the very moment that it began at his ascension and heavenly enthronement until Jesus puts all of his enemies under his feet. Did you catch that? Peter teaches us that his reign must continue until every enemy is put down, which brings us to a question.

Who are his enemies? Well, since Satan has already been put under Jesus's feet in the resurrection, that's Mark 3 .22 -27, Colossians 2 .15, Hebrews 2, we can add more here. But since Satan has been put under Jesus's feet, and since Jesus proclaimed that all authority in heaven and earth now belong to him, Matthew 28 .18, it may be tempting, and many people go this direction, that Jesus doesn't have any more enemies to put down, that he already has supreme authority all over the earth.

But that's not true. We must remember that when Jesus announced his supreme lordship and authority over the cosmos in Matthew 28 .18, in the very next verse, he commands his disciples, in light of that authority, to take the gospel to the nations by baptizing them in the triune name, Matthew 28 .19.

Jesus would not have told us to go and to spread his dominion among the nations if he had already brought them under his lordship. He told us that he's been given all authority and power over them, yes and amen, and that they belong to him as his inheritance.

That is undeniable. But even while belonging to him, we can clearly see that the world is still in wicked rebellion against him. Imagine it like this. Suppose that you had the money, and I know this is a little crazy because we don't live in that kind of world, but imagine you did.

Imagine you had the money to buy the entire county of Los Angeles and everything inside of it. And so that's exactly what you did. All the buildings, the neighborhoods, the houses, the studios, the people, and everything within that county now came under your ownership.

At that moment, everything would belong to you. But you could not possibly imagine that everything within that county would align with your vision instantly. After you purchased it, your work would be to align every organization to you, every bank and business to you, every household and person to your vision.

To do this, you would likely need to begin with a small team of people who represented you and your vision, and who would go out into the community to convince more and more people to come under your lordship.

And then you would do that, and you would empower new converts to go and do the exact same thing until the entire county not only belonged to you, but it looked like you. That is exactly what Jesus has done.

By his resurrection, all of the cosmos came under his ownership. That's true. But Christ has also sent out his representatives, his disciples, into a world that is misaligned with his vision to be realigned with his vision.

When we understand this, we can begin to understand what it means for Jesus to put all of his enemies under his feet. His vision for the world is that it would look just like him. He prayed that God's kingdom would come on earth as it already has come in heaven.

And it is this specific vision that Jesus is enacting in the world that he purchased. Thus, an enemy of Christ is anything that does not purport with his opinion. An enemy of Christ is anything or anyone who stands opposed to his plans.

So in this, we can confidently say that he must reign until all the nations on earth surrender to him or they are destroyed. He must reign until all abortions have ceased and every abortion provider repents or is thrown headlong into hell.

He must reign until every aberrant form of sexuality in this rotten planet is conformed with his father's vision. He must reign until all brothels are closed and marriage is finally esteemed. He must reign until the and would be willing to end each of their broadcasts with either the Lord's prayer, the apostles' creed.

He must reign until there are no ghettos in Chicago and there is no swamp in Washington and there is no depravity left in Hollywood. He must reign until every child is catechized and every family on earth comes under his lordship and covenant blessings.

And while I cannot give you an exact timeline on when all of this is going to occur, I can look around and I can tell you that there is a tremendous amount of work that is still left to be done. Conclusion.

Throughout the last 2000 years, the church has been obediently taking the gospel to the world and to the nations, calling them to come under the lordship of Jesus Christ. And wherever the world parts from his vision, wherever the world parts ways with Christ, that is where we have been called to serve.

And when all the nations on earth finally bow their knee to Jesus Christ, when all rebellion is squashed, when all the families on earth are blessed in the seat of Abraham's covenant administration or sadly put underneath his feet, then the end will come.

When he has sufficiently put away all foreign and domestic enemies, all hate and all malice, chaos and confusion, sin and misery, and brought the world into his global reign of peace, then and only then will the end come and not a moment sooner.

Isaiah says it like this in chapter nine, verse seven, there will be no end to the increase of his government or of his peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness.

Then from then on and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. If you're a Christian today and you are discouraged by the state of the world, then that's okay. But I want you to have hope because God will zealously accomplish his plan.

It does not need to make sense to you right now in the moment. It does not matter if you find it very hard to believe it says the zeal of Yahweh will accomplish his plan, which is to spread his government and his shalom to every square inch of the world.

And I believe if the zeal of the Lord says that he will accomplish it, I believe that he will accomplish it. Until that time, the end has not yet come. And since the end has not yet come, it's time for you to grab your hammer and your nail and to get to work.

We've got a lot of Christendom left to build until next time, God richly bless you. And we'll see you again next time on the podcast.