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This is the End

 The Rev. Thomas W. Simmons IV

Every day we pray in the Lord's Prayer: "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  Our lesson from Paul's letter to the church in Corinth offers a simple, clear vision of how that prayer is being and will be answered in the eschaton (Greek for "the end", pronounced 'eskaton').

Paul is talking about the resurrection, a theme he addressed in our lesson two weeks ago in his letter to the Christians in Thessalonica.  Paul tells the Corinthians that there is a sequence to the resurrection. 

First there is Christ's resurrection.  When Jesus rose from the dead he overcame death.  He confronted death on its own turf and he returned victorious.  Paul likens this victory to first fruits, the first part of a coming harvest in which all of humanity will be raised. Jesus' resurrection thus insures ours, as Paul says, "All will be made alive in Christ."  We'll rise too.  

When?  That's the next step in the sequence.  It's also the great question of eschatology (the study of 'the end').  We have to wait for the coming of Jesus.  Paul says, "then at his coming those who belong to Christ" will also be raised from the dead.  Theologians call this the general resurrection.  It is when Christ destroys the great enemy death and liberates humanity and all of creation from death's grip into eternal life. 

We are all resurrected to face Christ in judgment, to receive what we have earned with our faith, obedience and stewardship.  That's what our Gospel lesson portrays. This simple eschatological sequence is familiar to us because we confess it in the Apostles Creed: "On the third day he rose again.  He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  He will come again to judge the living and the dead."

 "And then comes the end," Paul says, "when Christ hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power."  Jesus' saving and restoring work will be finished, the goal of restoring all things to proper oneness with the Creator will be fulfilled, "so that God may be all in all."   

So history has a simple eschatological sequence: 1) Christ's resurrection; 2) Our resurrection when he comes; 3) The judgment and subjection of every enemy; 4) God dwelling all in all.  Right now we are living in a world in which "Christ is risen" and is at the right hand of the Father.  He is working to restore all things to unity with God.  Paul says, "for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

That's what we pray for in our collect, "Almighty and Everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords: mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule. Amen"