He Must Reign Because He Does Reign

“For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.” (1Co 15:25 AV)

Do you mean there is a possibility He doesn’t reign?  Paul’s statement here is in objection to something the Corinthian church didn’t understand.  The context is the resurrection.  There were some who mislead this church to believe there would be no final resurrection.  They believed that once the saved were dead, that was it.  They taught there was no resurrection unto eternal life.  The point Paul is making here is if Christ reigns in life, He does not successfully do so unless He can conquer death.  Otherwise, His rule has no eternal or divine profit.  Pragmatically, there is an even more profound application here.  Christ will reign by conquering death for every saved soul.  As He reigns by conquering death, He must also reign in the earthly life of the saint.  Therefore, Jesus must reign in the life of the believer whether he or she believes it to be so or not.

We have this misunderstanding of the Lordship of Christ.  We correctly state that one must accept Jesus as both Savior and LORD.  The misunderstanding is if we refuse the Lordship of Christ; He has no dominion over us.  We are then free to do as we please because Jesus is not our LORD.  This certainly is not the case.  Jesus is LORD, whether we want Him to be or not!  Paul aptly confirms this when he states, “And [that] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Php 2:11 AV) Not ‘will be’.  Not ‘was’.  Jesus is the King of kings.  He is the LORD of Lords.  He always has been.  He always will be.  By accepting Jesus Christ as our LORD, we agree with Him to the current and eternal situation.  We do not place Him on a throne.  He has always been there.  We do not elevate Him to a position of glory and authority.  He has never left.  When we accept Jesus as LORD, we are accepting a fact already in evidence.  By accepting Jesus as LORD, we are submitting to a truth that has always been the case.

Perhaps this is why Corinth has so many issues.  They had, as yet, fully surrendered to the Lordship of Christ.  He was not their authority.  He did not rule their hearts and lives.  When Paul says that Jesus must reign, He is not saying Jesus doesn’t reign.  Rather, he is referring to their lack of surrender to His reign.  He must reign.  He will reign.  Whether we live under or contrary to His reign is the question at hand.  Are we under His authority?  Do we do as we are told?  Do we study His word to learn what must change?  Do we speedily confess our sin and forsake it for His pleasure?  Those first four words are hard to swallow.  Our carnal nature does not want to submit to authority.  We fight against it.  We want to determine for Self what we will be, do, or go.  To live under the Lordship of Christ willingly is a struggle.  When His word continuously reveals where we have fallen short, we reject the rebuke and continue in our sin.  There isn’t a soul alive who doesn’t struggle with this.  The old man is a formidable enemy.  He is stronger than we can naturally handle.  Only by the power of the Holy Spirit can we gain any ground on the evil old man.  The new man grows stronger each day.  But that old man still lingers.  It is the Lordship of Christ, which is our motivation.  He must reign!  He must!  This is a statement of surrender.  He must be allowed to reign in our hearts and wills.  Oh, He will reign.  Whether we surrender or not, He will reign!  If we surrender, He reigns as a guide and master.  If we do not, He reigns as a judge and administrator.  The choice is ours.  He must reign.  How He does so is up to us.