EVERYONE WILL BE AT THIS PARTY!

God, of course, is an amazing being with incredible attributes. Among His most well-known characteristics are the fact that He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere at once. He is likewise infinite, immutable (unchanging), self-sufficient, glorious, and holy (separate and apart from creation).  God is wise, faithful, good, merciful, gracious, and God is just. He is also one.

God is loving. He loves us from the very seat of all love. What I mean by that is, love is not a character trait of God – God is love (1 John 4:8). As such, God is moved, from the very core of His being, by His love for what He has made. He made it all from His incredible love for us, from a place of desire to shower us with love. His desire is to be with us – to be one with us in such a way as no one can possibly fathom yet.

This is to be achieved at a magnificent event which is on its way, beyond which we know nothing. A divine event, it seems to be set in the farthest reaches of the future.  It will be an extraordinary event and all of creation is moving toward it, even now. It is to be the consummation of all things, the perfecting of all things and God has planned it since before the ages began. It is the point in the history of all creation when Christ submits Himself to the Father and God is all-in-all.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. 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. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. [Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ.] 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.

1 Corinthians 15:22-28

This passage seems to have many teachers and commentators at a loss.

There has not been much, relatively speaking, written about this last verse and what has, seems to address the issues peripheral to the main point of the passage. For instance, many commentators have written their analysis of this passage toward preserving the co-equal and co-eternal nature of the Trinity. They assert that this passage does not suggest the inferiority of person or nature of Christ, but that His submission to the Father should be seen in the light of an administrative process^.1 That is peripheral to the main topic of the passage.

Others exhort us to be careful not to violate the supreme oneness of God in Christ. They explain this verse by saying that it is the Sonship that is made subject to the Father.² While I believe both of these to have merit, as far as they go, these writers seem to have avoided the main topic of the passage entirely.

While the commentators from each camp spend time protecting their view of the Godhead, the passage itself is rarely addressed. It seems to be a third-rail type of scripture because parts of it challenge the Eschatology of just about everyone. So, it is safer not to touch it, like the middle rail through which the power of the subway runs.

What does it mean “Christ submits Himself to the Father?”

Christ, all of humanity, and the entire universe of created things, it seems, will be “all in all”, one with God, who is victorious in reconciling all things to Himself. It takes place at a time referred to in the original Greek as, eis tous aionas ton aionon, “unto the age of the ages”, or at the end of the last age.

Then the end will come (v24) – where there is an end, there is no “everlasting”.

Christ must reign “until” (v25) – tells us His reign will end.

Christ hands over the kingdom to the Father – again, bringing His reign and priesthood to an end. This passage, in effect, nullifies the idea of scriptural “forever” and “everlasting”. The concepts of timelessness and eternity are rarely if ever mentioned in the original scriptures. Instead, where the English versions reference that which is everlasting, the original speaks in terms of lasting to the end of the ages, or age-lasting. The scriptures speak to those things that take place before the ages began, in ages past, in this present age or the age or ages which are to come. The Bible narrative does not address eternity, only that which ends at the point of God becoming all in all.

Commentators, by and large, don’t cover this and it doesn’t preach well over the pulpit because of the implications of the whole thing and those implications are massive. A picture of what is in view here can be seen by examining a few more New Testament passages that are affording us a glimpse of what will be taking place. There aren’t many that do so, explicitly. We will examine three here:

Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

Ephesians 1:9-10

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

Colossians 1:15-20

Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the [ages] began.

Acts 3:21

What is going to take place?

• God will subdue all things under Christ
• God will gather, in one, all things in Christ
• God will reconcile all things to Himself by the blood of the cross
• God will bring about the restitution of all things
• The Son is made subject to God
• God will become all-in-all

When is it going to take place?

• When the end comes
• In the dispensation of the fulness of times
• At the end of the age of the ages
• When Christ shall have put down all rule and all authority and power
• When God has put all enemies under Christ’s feet
• When the last enemy, death, is destroyed
• When all things shall be subdued unto Christ
• When Christ shall have delivered up the kingdom to God

What does “God will be all in all Mean”?

The reign of Christ and His priesthood comes to an end. When the Son is brought under subjection to God and God becomes all-in-all there will no longer be a need for the mediatorial role of Jesus Christ. This will be when all the purpose and plan of God for all the ages comes to fruition. Everything that God has been working for is suddenly realized right here. We don’t know what that looks like! As I pointed out, it is mentioned, specifically, only in a few places.

Again, this is when restitution for all things is made. God will reconcile all things to Himself. We have reached the end of all the ages, and in the Bible narrative, there is no eternity. The story of scripture speaks only in terms of the ages, not eternity. The languages of the original Old and New Testaments point to the beginning of the ages, this present age, and the ages to come to mark time, history and the future. Nowhere does the Bible speak of that which is beyond this event and, consequently, neither can we.

It is here, at the conclusion of the ages, that we become one with God. What does it mean that God will be all-in-all? I don’t know, but all things in heaven and in earth and under the earth – all things visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers – all things will be reconciled to Him, and God will be all-in-all. This is a substantial event that changes what we’ve been teaching in Eschatology.

Adam Clarke puts it this way, “…the Son, as being man and Messiah, shall cease to exercise any distinct dominion and God [will] be all in all.”³

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Isaiah 55:11

I have sworn [an oath] by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear [allegiance].

Isaiah 45:23 AMP

Does the Bible Teach Everyone Will Be Reconciled?

Let the phrase, “God will be all in all” sink in. In the four New Testament passages I quoted in this chapter, the phrase, “all things” is mentioned 11 times. We are told that God will subdue all things, gather all things together in one, make restitution of all things, and reconcile all things. He will do this whether these things are in heaven or in earth, visible or invisible, whether they are thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him. He possesses the power, the authority, and the will to accomplish all of this that He has set out to do. He is unstoppable in His plan to become all in all with everyone and everything without exception.

Nothing can stop Him. I can’t stop Him. Sin can’t stop Him. The adversary can’t stop Him. God is unstoppable in His pursuit to reconcile all things unto Himself. His desire to be one with us and us with Him, is accomplished and brought into existence at this very event and it doesn’t even matter, at this point, if we believe it or not! His will and purpose are unstoppable! His Word has gone forth out of His mouth and it will come to pass.

Can you see why so many steer clear of this subject? It flies in the face of what has been believed and taught for millennia. It is extraordinary, the things God’s Word has to reveal about His glorious victory in the restitution of all things. Hallelujah!

“One God, one law, one element, and one far-off divine event, to which the whole creation moves.” Alfred Lord Tennyson

This is Universal Reconciliation, and it is genuinely Apostolic.

¹Baker, Kenneth L., and Kohlenberger III, John R., The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Abridged Edition, New Testament, Grand Rapids: Zondervan ©1994, P. 652

²Cormier, Tim D.,   https://grainsofgraceblog.wordpress.com/2020/09/29/oneness-commentary-on-1-corinthians-1524-28/, (Accessed 3/19/2022

³Clarke, Adam. “Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:28”. “The Adam Clarke Commentary”. (These files are in the public domain) https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/1-corinthians-15.html. 1832