The Battle of the Ages
1 Corinthians 15:24-25, 28 “Then cometh the end, 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.
For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet.
And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.”
The is the last act of the the Great War that rages about us…..”that God may be all in all”.
Of course, He is now…..but this is speaking of a manifestive sense.
Everyone will know……that God is in control, God is Almighty, God is all in all….all things are created for His pleasure…..and for His purpose.
The Battle of the Ages rages, and we all,…aware or unaware….are part of it.
For all of us, it rests with these verses:
Luke 17:20-21 “And when He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or Lo there! For, behold the kingdom of God is within you.”
Here is reality for each of us…..”the kingdom of God is within you.”
The kingdom of God does not come with observation…..you are not going to see it by looking to events as they happen….or read about it in the papers.
“For behold, the Kingdom of God is within you”.
If it is not there, it is not at all, where you are concerned.
We can not think of the kingdom as being only in heaven or the Millennial Reign…..but it must be now….in us,….for Christ came to save His people from their sin!
Mark 12:36 “For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, the Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on My right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.”
This is clearly speaking of the Godhead defeating those enemies of the Son of Man.
And here, we must place ourselves as such.
We were enemies when:
Ephesians 2:2-3 “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world,….
….we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh,….and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”
We were enemies when we refused to hear HIs words, because we did not like what they said…
John 6:60, 66 “Many therefore of His disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
From that time many of HIs disciples went back, and walked no more with Him.”
We were enemies when we refused to love Him…
Luke 19:12, 14 “He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for Himself a kingdom, and to return.
But HIs citizens hated Him, and sent a message after Him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.”
Until we have thrown down the weapons of our warfare against Him, we must consider ourselves as such…..at war with the Lord….HIs enemy that must be defeated…
….and that defeat comes by the Holy Spirit and His Word. We must be subjects of them.
Ephesians 2:4-5,7 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for HIs great love wherewith He loved us,
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ,….
That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of HIs grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”
Plainly, God wants to “show us off”….
…..to a Universe that is filled with wonders…..God wants to show the greatest wonder….
….that a rebel has become a devoted servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We must see that we serve Him and love Him most…..
…….in our everyday obediences. Doing the things that please Him, there.
For it is then that we show we are subjects of our King Jesus Christ.
Now where is it that He should reign? “Within you”
Matthew 6:10 “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven.”
His Will done in each of us…..until we become expressions of that Will; where ever we are, and whatever we are doing.
This is how His kingdom is seen to those around us……by seeing how much His servants….me and you…..love being His servants!
And as the Scriptures say……”He must reign” (1 Corinthians 15:25)
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 