In the End

1 Corinthians 15:20–27

The passage of note reads as follows:

And now, Christ hath risen out of the dead -- the first-fruits of those sleeping he became, for since through man [is]
the death, also through man [is] a rising again of the dead, for even as in Adam all die, so also in the Christ all shall be
made alive, and each in his proper order, a first-fruit Christ, afterwards those who are the Christ's, in his presence,
then -- the end, when he may deliver up the reign to God, even the Father, when he may have made useless all rule,
and all authority and power -- for it behoveth him to reign till he may have put all the enemies under his feet -- the last
enemy is done away -- death; for all things He did put under his feet, ... (1 Corinthians 15:20–27a, YLT).

To compare, this passage is translated by Donald A. Nash, in his A Literal and Consistent New Testament Version, as:

But now Christ has been raised out of the dead, the first fruits of those having fallen asleep. For since through man
(came) death, also through man (came) resurrection of the dead; for even as in Adam all die, thus also in the Christ all
shall be made alive. But each in his own order; Christ the first fruits, afterward those in Christ at His coming; then the
end, whenever He delivers up the kingdom to God and Father, whenever He will destroy all rule and all authority
and power. For it is necessary for Him to reign until when He puts all the enemies under His feet. Death (is) the last
enemy He will destroy. For all things are subjected under His feet (1 Corinthians 15:20–27a, LCV).

Using the Literal and Consistent translation, we more easily discern the order Paul establishes: first, Christ is raised from the dead;
then, at His parousia (“second coming”), the dead in Christ are raised; and, finally, after Christ has reigned, the end comes, when
the kingdom is handed over to God.
When does the second coming of Christ occur?

And concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need of my writing to you, for yourselves have
known thoroughly that the day of the Lord as a thief in the night doth so come, ... (1 Thessalonians 5:1–2, YLT;
emphasis added).

‘... [F]or as they were, in the days before the flood, eating, and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, till the
day Noah entered into the ark, and they did not know till the flood came and took all away; so shall be also the
presence of the Son of Man. Then two men shall be in the field, the one is received, and the one is left; two women
shall be grinding in the mill, one is received, and one is left.
‘Watch ye therefore, because ye have not known in what hour your Lord doth come; and this know, that if the
master of the house had known in what watch the thief doth come, he had watched, and not suffered his house to be
broken through; because of this also ye, become ye ready, because in what hour ye do not think, the Son of Man doth
come’ (Matthew 24:38–44, YLT).

In the above two passages, the parousia of Christ is said to occur as a thief. This, we see again in Revelation:

... [T]hey are spirits of demons, doing signs -- which go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to
bring them together to the battle of that great day of God the Almighty; -- ‘lo, I do come as a thief; happy [is] he who
is watching, and keeping his garments, that he may not walk naked, and they may see his unseemliness,’ ...
(Revelation 16:14–15, YLT; emphasis added).

At this point in Revelation, we are witnessing the judgement and fall of the Roman Empire (the beast from the sea). This is when
the day of the Lord – His parousia (literally, presence), or second coming – occurs, establishing the Kingdom of God (His Church)
on earth to rule forever above all others. Note that, at this time, Satan is bound (Revelation 20:1–3), and, in fact, we see the
resurrection (“rising again”) of the dead in Christ, exactly as Paul stated:

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them, and the souls of those who have been
beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus, and because of the word of God, and who did not bow before the beast,
nor his image, and did not receive the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand, and they did live and reign
with Christ the thousand years; and the rest of the dead did not live again till the thousand years may be finished; this
[is] the first rising again. Happy and holy [is] he who is having part in the first rising again; over these the second
death hath not authority, but they shall be priests of God and of the Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
(Revelation 20:4–6, YLT).
Those who are resurrected at Christ’s parousia reign with Him for “a thousand years” (symbolic, representing some unknown, but
relatively long, period of time), along with the faithful who are alive at His coming and those who live thereafter. This reign is
what is commonly called the Church Age, and is our current condition.
At the end of the “thousand years,” Satan is released to once again freely deceive the nations. He does so, and causes all who will
follow him to rise up against the Church (Revelation 19:7–9a). At this point – at the climax of the “thousand-year” reign of Christ
and His faithful –, Paul states, of Christ, “He will destroy all rule and all authority and power. For it is necessary for Him to reign
until when He puts all the enemies under His feet. Death (is) the last enemy He will destroy.” Revelation confirms this:

[A]nd they did go up over the breadth of the land, and did surround the camp of the saints, and the beloved city,
and there came down fire from God out of the heaven, and devoured them; and the Devil, who is leading them astray,
was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where [are] the beast and the false prophet, and they shall be tormented
day and night -- to the ages of the ages. And I saw a great white throne, and Him who is sitting upon it, from whose
face the earth and the heaven did flee away, and place was not found for them; and I saw the dead, small and great,
standing before God, and scrolls were opened, and another scroll was opened, which is that of the life, and the dead
were judged out of the things written in the scrolls -- according to their works; and the sea did give up those dead in
it, and the death and the hades did give up the dead in them, and they were judged, each one according to their
works; and the death and the hades were cast to the lake of the fire -- this [is] the second death; and if any one was not
found written in the scroll of the life, he was cast to the lake of the fire. (Revelation 20:9–15, YLT).

It is at this point that all of Creation is returned to God, and the Kingdom that Christ has established with His faithful in His
Father’s name becomes solely His to rule over. This handing over of the Kingdom to the Father is what we have now to look
forward to, and occurs only when all sin on earth is removed. How, and especially when, this is accomplished is not revealed, but
these details are of no importance. Only one thing truly matters, and should be a source of great comfort: God will be victorious.

♦ ♦ ♦

The faithful who died between Christ’s crucifixion, in AD 32, and His parousia, in AD 476, were resurrected at the latter. The rest of
the dead (the pre-Christ faithful and all sinners throughout history) are resurrected at the end of the “thousand-year” Church Age.
What, then, is the fate of the faithful who live after the parousia? Paul answers this question when writing to the Thessalonians:

And I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, that ye may not sorrow, as
also the rest who have not hope, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also God those asleep through
Jesus he will bring with him, for this to you we say in the word of the Lord, that we who are living -- who do remain
over to the presence of the Lord -- may not precede those asleep, because the Lord himself, in a shout, in the voice of a
chief-messenger, and in the trump of God, shall come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then
we who are living, who are remaining over, together with them shall be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in air,
and so always with the Lord we shall be; (1 Thessalonians 4:13–17, YLT).

Here, we see the dead in Christ rise first, at His parousia. After this, Paul writes that those who are alive and remain are “caught
away” to be with Christ, who is in the air, where the dead have also been gathered. The resurrection of the faithful dead is not a
physical, visible resurrection; rather, the dead are spiritually resurrected to the “air” (note, John 14:1–4). These dead have slept in
the grave prior to their resurrection, but, as Paul reveals, not all sleep, but all are changed to put on incorruptibility and receive
eternal life. This means shedding the physical and putting on the spiritual. When we die, we do not sleep in the grave (that is,
hades, also referred to as laying in the earth, or in the dust); immediately, at our physical death, we are changed, and are “caught
away” (literally, seized) to be with the Lord in the “air.” This is the fate of the faithful who live and reign during the Church Age.