In order to understand this somewhat difficult passage, let’s look at verses 24-28.

Verses 24-26: “Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death” (NKJV). The “end” that is spoken of is, as these verses suggest, “the end of Christ’s Millennium kingdom.” One of the main purposes of Christ’s reign is to put an end to every form of rebellion against God. This will be accomplished throughout His 1,000 year kingdom, but the final destruction of God’s enemies will be at the close of the kingdom when He consigns the devil to the lake of fire (see Revelation 20:10), and then “death” itself will be destroyed. We read about this in Revelation 20:13-14, “The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” These verses are describing the final judgment of all those who had died without believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. Their bodies will be raised from the sea (where they drowned) and the grave, and Hades will deliver up their spirits. They will then stand before the Lord Jesus and all, without exception, shall be cast into hell. We see in verse 15, “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” Verse 14 is especially interesting, for it speaks of “Death and Hades being cast into the lake of fire.” What does this mean? It means that “physical death,” which is “the separation of the spirit from the body” (see James 2:26), will give way to the “second death,” which is the “the separation of the whole person from God” in the lake of fire. This means that men will never again experience physical death, so it that sense it has been destroyed. Yet the “second death” will never end.

Verses 27-28: “For “He has put all things under His feet.’ But when He says ‘all things are put under Him,’ it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.” Here we learn that it was God the Father Who “put all things under His (Christ’s) feet.” At this moment Christ is sitting at the right Hand of His Father, but the day is coming when the Father will send His Son to this earth and then He will sit on His own throne and then all men will “be subject to Him.” We read of this in Philippians 2:10-11, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

But once everything is completely under His subjection (as we saw in verses 24-26), the Lord Jesus will turn the kingdom over to the Father and He Himself will be in subjection to the Father. How are we to understand this? We must remember that when the Son of God became a Man, He took the place of a Servant (see Philippians 2:5-8). Our passage is revealing to us that He will continue to be in a place of subjection FOR ALL ETERNITY! Though He is still God, and thus equal to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, He will remain a Man throughout the endless ages of eternity and will serve the Father in the “everlasting kingdom.” We should be humbled by this truth, dear fellow-believers. But our verse ends on this note: “that God may be all in all.” In the eternal state the holy Trinity will be acknowledged and worshipped by all. They will create a New Heaven and a New Earth and maintain it in perfect righteousness. They will dwell with men and all traces of sin will be removed. (See Revelation 21:1-4). (253.9) (DO)