He Must Reign!

My dear friends in Christ,

     What do the names Sauron, the Wicked Witch of the West, Darth Vader, and Clubber Lang all have in common? They are all the villains in different stories. Each one is powerful. Each one wants to dominate and destroy their opponents. Each one will do whatever it takes to win. They are the bad guys—everyone cheers against them and wants them to lose because of all the pain and suffering they cause. Every story also has the hero—the one who appears to snatch victory from the villains at the last moment. Can you name the heroes for each of the villains I mentioned? Frodo & Aragorn; Dorothy; Luke Skywalker, and Rocky Balboa.

     Every story has its villain or villains. The people Paul wrote to in Corinth faced some real bad guys. Paul mentioned the first villain in the phrase: “dominion, authority, and power” (1 Cor 15:24). The people of Corinth lived under the dominion of Rome, its emperor, and its gods. The people around them wondered why they would worship a god who didn’t demand sacrifices and acts of worship in exchange for his approval. Christianity did not have official status in the empire. That meant the people of Corinth could be persecuted because they followed Jesus. Under Nero, “hundreds of Christians were arrested, convicted for antisocial beliefs, covered in the skins of wild animals, and torn to death by dogs; others were crucified, coated with pitch, and set on fire, so when darkness fell, they burned like torches in the night” (Jeske, M. A. (2002). James, Peter, John, Jude. The People's Bible (119120). Milwaukee, Wis.: NPH). Just like one of those Rocky movies, Nero tried to knock the Christians out. He was a terrible villain! To add to their problems, they fought against villains in their own congregation. The congregation was divided because of lawsuits, abuses in worship, and broken relationships. The bad guys threatened to destroy their congregation and their faith.

     Those villains, as powerful and dangerous as they were, couldn’t match the power and might of the greatest villain the world has ever seen—Death! Paul reminds us that Death is our greatest enemy in the first few verses of this section. “Death came through a man… in Adam all die.” (1 Cor. 15:21–22). Ever since Adam let his wife eat the fruit and accepted it from her hand, Death has been flexing his muscles. Adam experienced Death’s first knockout as he buried son, Abel. From that time on, Death has been the reigning champion. In Genesis 5, after Moses listed each descendant of Adam he simply wrote, “and he died” (Genesis 5:5ff.) Moses repeated that phrase nine times in chapter 5. No one, not even the greatest believers, have been able to avoid Death’s knockout punch.

      The same villains lurk in our lives today. We struggle with the dominion, authority, and power in our lives. The government makes decisions that are ungodly, and that seem to hurt our country more than help it. We see the Occupy protests and the mess they are making in our cities. The jobless rate grows and along with it our concerns about our own job security. We have the scandal at Penn State and in our own synod office. We see Hollywood actors and actresses along with sports stars becoming the most influential individuals in our children’s lives. The sinful world around us is the evil villain that tries to knock us out of our faith. It tries to fracture congregations and fellow believers, and keep us from working together as God’s people.

     Death still reigns as the #1 villain in our lives. He has touched every one of us, whether it was the death of a family member or a close friend. We have all felt the power of his punches. Why? Why is he so powerful? Why do infants die before they have a chance to be born? Why are there so many little ones at Children’s Hospitals dying of cancer and other rare diseases? Why are parents killed in car accidents and leave their families behind? Why do they die of cancer later in life and miss out on the joy of watching their children graduate, get married, and have grandchildren? Is God working with this villain, since he allows all of this to happen?

     Death is such a powerful villain because he works with a potent ally—sin. Sin is the reason death exists. Sin gives death its power. It begins with the sin Adam passed down to us, so we have to confess with King David, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). That sin knocks us out cold. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). The sin that grips us, the sin that infects us gives death the power to inflict the TKO on us. And so it will be said about each one of us, “And he died…and she died.”

     It’s no wonder the Corinthians were struggling. They weren’t sure that there was any hope for them, any resurrection for the people Death had knocked out. When we listened to the gospel reading for today, it didn’t look like there was much hope against the world’s vicious attacks and death’s dastardly plans. The King of the Jews, beaten and bloodied, was on the ropes. His enemies led him outside the city to be nailed to a tree and executed. He didn’t look like a King.

     Jesus didn’t avoid the beating. He didn’t drop the gloves or throw in the towel. He took on the worst that the world could offer. Even as Death pounded him, it couldn’t take his life. Jesus gave it up! “‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ When he had said this, he breathed his last” (Luke 23:46). Jesus didn’t look much like a hero. It looked like the bad guys had won.

     In the movies and storybooks, the hero always comes back to win. On the third day, Jesus proved that he the ultimate hero. Jesus did more than come back from a terrible beating. He came back from death and dealt death a mortal blow. That’s why Paul said, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). Jesus is the firstfruits—the first one to come back from the dead and remain alive forever! He is alive. He is the Hero, and the villains he defeated have no more power over him!

     Two weeks ago, when we looked at the Last Judgment, our Hero promised that one day he would return. We hear the same promise in 1 Corinthians 15. “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.” (1 Corinthians 15:22–23). The Hero will return, and we will get to see him as the King of Glory because he will raise us to life. We will also participate in the victory that he wins. Paul described that victory in ancient terms. “He has put everything under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:27). When a king defeated his enemies, he had the other king brought in front of the entire army. The winning king would place his foot on the defeated king’s neck, as a reminder that the loser was under his control. In fact, often the loser would die to cement the winner’s hold over the opposing army.

     Our Hero, Jesus, has everything under his feet. He has defeated the dominions, authorities and powers. He took away the sting of death when he rose. On the last day, he crush death under his foot, and it will never raise its ugly head again! “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

The victory belongs to Jesus, and to all who follow him. Then, Jesus’ work will be done. Let’s look at these last two verses. “Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.” (1 Corinthians 15:24,28).

     Jesus will do two things after he has destroyed the villains forever. First, he will hand over the kingdom to his Father. The kingdom isn’t a place. It isn’t a city with a palace and a fortress. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20–21). The kingdom is right here, in our hearts. We are the kingdom. When Jesus defeats all those villains, he will hand us over to his Father. Then his work will be done. He will submit himself to his Father, and God will be all in all. We can’t understand this part of the mystery because it has to do with the Trinity. We can trust that our Hero will rule over heaven forever and ever!

     “He must reign” (1 Corinthians 15:25). Those words bring comfort to Christians who struggle with the villains in the world around us. Our hero, Jesus, reigns even when governments are in flux and economies are failing. Jesus reigns when jobs disappear and retirement accounts shrink. Jesus reigns even though scandals rock colleges and synods. He reigns. He will continue to reign, and everything is under his feet. He will make everything work out for the good of his kingdom—for us! We may not see it today. We may not see it until we close our eyes here on earth and open them again in heaven, but we will see it. Jesus reigns. Christ is the King. The villains around us will continue to attack, but they will never win because our hero fights for us! Today, we pause in our battle and shout with the psalmist, “Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne” (Psalm 47:6–8). Christ the King reigns, and he always will! Amen.