DOES JESUS HAVE TO DEFEAT HIS ENEMIES BEFORE HE CAN REIGN?

Common Objections Answered — Chapter 48

The Question

If Jesus is already King, why are His enemies still here?

Why do evil, suffering, rebellion, and death continue if Christ has already received all authority in heaven and on earth?

Some Christians believe Jesus will establish His earthly kingdom when He returns. They point to the continued presence of evil as evidence that His promised reign has not yet reached its intended fulfillment.

Others believe Jesus is already reigning from heaven and that His return will bring His present reign to its final victory.

Which understanding best fits Scripture?

The answer begins with an Old Testament promise that the New Testament quotes repeatedly.

1. Psalm 110 — The King Rules While His Enemies Remain

Psalm 110:1 says:

“The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies Your footstool.’”

David describes someone he calls “my Lord” receiving a place of honor and authority beside God.

Jesus applied this passage to the Messiah in Matthew 22:41–46.

But notice something important in Psalm 110:2:

“Rule in the midst of Your enemies!”

The Messiah is not told to wait until every enemy disappears before He begins ruling.

He is told to rule while His enemies are still present.

That distinction matters.

The existence of enemies does not prove that the King has not begun to reign.

In fact, Psalm 110 describes the King ruling in the very presence of those enemies.

What Does “Until” Mean?

Psalm 110:1 says the Messiah sits at God's right hand until His enemies are made His footstool.

Does that mean He is not reigning yet?

No. Psalm 110:2 explicitly describes Him ruling during this period.

Does until mean His reign must end when the enemies are defeated?

Not necessarily.

The word marks a point toward which the action is moving. It does not, by itself, tell us what happens afterward.

We must examine the surrounding passages to understand what continues and what changes.

Psalm 110 gives us the foundation:

The Messiah rules while His enemies remain, and their final defeat is certain.

2. Acts 2 — When Did Jesus Receive His Royal Authority?

Peter explains the significance of Jesus' resurrection and ascension in Acts 2:29–36.

God had promised David that one of his descendants would sit on his throne.

Peter connects that promise with the resurrection of Jesus.

Then he says:

“Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God...” (Acts 2:33)

Peter quotes Psalm 110:1 and concludes:

“God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:36)

Notice the order.

Jesus was raised from the dead.

He was exalted to God's right hand.

Peter then announced that God had made Him Lord and Christ.

Peter does not say that Jesus must wait until His second coming to receive royal authority.

The risen Jesus has already been exalted.

This does not mean Peter uses every expression later Christians would use when discussing Christ's kingdom. But the connection between David's promised descendant, Christ's resurrection, His exaltation, and Psalm 110 is unmistakable.

The Messiah promised to David has already been raised and exalted to God's right hand.

3. Jesus Said He Already Possessed All Authority

After His resurrection, Jesus told His disciples:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” (Matthew 28:18)

Notice the word all.

Jesus did not say He would receive authority only after His enemies were defeated.

He said that authority had already been given to Him.

Paul makes the same point in Ephesians 1:20–22.

God raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand:

“Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion...”

Paul adds that God placed all things under Christ's feet.

In Colossians 1:13, Paul tells believers that God:

“Has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.”

These Christians had already been brought into Christ's kingdom.

Revelation 1:5 also describes Jesus as:

“The ruler of kings on earth.”

These passages do not describe a Messiah waiting to receive authority.

They describe the risen Christ as already exalted, already possessing authority, and already having a kingdom.

But that raises another question.

If everything has been placed under Christ, why do His enemies still exist?

4. Hebrews — Crowned Already, but Not Everything Is Yet Subjected

Hebrews 2:8–9 directly addresses this difficulty.

The writer says:

“At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him.”

Then he adds:

“But we see Him... crowned with glory and honor.”

Notice both statements.

We do not yet see everything subjected to Christ.

But we do see Jesus crowned.

The writer does not conclude that Jesus cannot be King because His enemies still exist.

He holds both truths together.

Jesus is already crowned, although the complete defeat of His enemies has not yet taken place.

Hebrews 10:12–13 makes the same point.

After offering one sacrifice for sins forever, Jesus:

“Sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until His enemies should be made a footstool for His feet.”

Christ's sacrifice has been completed.

He has taken His place at God's right hand.

His enemies have not yet all been defeated.

That is exactly the situation Psalm 110 describes.

5. First Corinthians 15 — When Will the Last Enemy Be Defeated?

Now we come to the passage that brings the entire question into focus.

Read 1 Corinthians 15:20–28 carefully.

Paul is explaining the resurrection of the dead.

Some in Corinth were denying that there would be a resurrection of the dead (1 Corinthians 15:12).

Paul responds by explaining that Christ's resurrection guarantees the resurrection of those who belong to Him.

Verse 20 — Christ Is the Firstfruits

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

The firstfruits were the beginning of a harvest.

Christ's resurrection is not an isolated event.

It guarantees the resurrection of His people.

Verses 21–22 — Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ

Paul contrasts Adam and Christ.

Death came through Adam.

Resurrection comes through Christ.

The subject is not merely spiritual improvement or political peace.

Paul is discussing the defeat of death through bodily resurrection.

Verse 23 — When Are Christ's People Raised?

“But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ.”

Paul identifies two stages.

First, Christ has already been raised.

Then, at Christ's coming, those who belong to Him will be raised.

Paul does not place the resurrection of Christ's people a thousand years after His coming.

He connects it directly with that coming.

Verse 24 — Then Comes the End

“Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.”

This is a particularly important verse.

Paul does not say:

Then Christ returns to begin His kingdom.

Instead, he describes Christ delivering the kingdom to the Father when the opposing powers have been brought to nothing.

The kingdom is something Christ possesses and delivers.

The question is not whether Jesus has royal authority now.

The question is how and when His reign reaches its appointed goal.

Verse 25 — He Must Reign Until

“For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.”

Notice the word for.

Paul is explaining the statement he has just made.

Christ must reign until every enemy is subjected.

The reign comes before the final defeat of the enemies.

It is not postponed until after their defeat.

This agrees with Psalm 110.

Christ reigns while His enemies remain. Their continued existence does not mean His reign has not begun.

Verse 26 — The Last Enemy Is Death

“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

This is the key to Paul's argument.

Paul identifies the final enemy.

It is not Rome.

It is not a future political government.

It is not an earthly army.

The last enemy is death itself.

When does Paul describe death's defeat?

Later in the same chapter, he answers that question.

In 1 Corinthians 15:51–54, Paul describes the resurrection and transformation of believers.

The dead are raised imperishable, and the living are changed.

Then he says:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

Paul connects the defeat of death with the resurrection of God's people.

And earlier, in verse 23, he connected their resurrection with Christ's coming.

The sequence is important:

Christ has been raised.

Christ reigns.

Christ's people are raised at His coming.

Death, the last enemy, is defeated.

Then comes the end.

Verses 27–28 — The Son Delivers the Kingdom to the Father

Paul explains that all things will be subjected under Christ.

Then the Son Himself will be subject to the Father, so that:

“God may be all in all.”

This does not mean Jesus stops being divine or ceases to be Lord.

Paul is describing the completion of the Son's appointed work of bringing every opposing power into submission.

The reign directed toward defeating His enemies reaches its goal.

Scripture also says Christ's kingdom will never end (Luke 1:33; Daniel 7:14).

Therefore, we should not conclude that Christ simply stops being King.

Rather, Paul describes the completion of His victory and the final ordering of all things under God.

6. Does This Leave Room for a Future Thousand-Year Reign?

Here we should consider the strongest alternative interpretation fairly.

Some premillennial Christians agree that Jesus is already exalted and possesses authority in heaven.

They do not necessarily deny His present reign.

Instead, they distinguish His present heavenly rule from a future earthly reign following His return.

They point especially to Revelation 20:1–6, where Satan is bound and the saints reign with Christ for a thousand years.

Some also understand the order in 1 Corinthians 15:23–24 as allowing a long period between Christ's coming and the end.

That interpretation deserves examination rather than dismissal.

But several questions remain.

First: Where does 1 Corinthians 15 explicitly introduce a thousand-year earthly kingdom after Christ's coming?

It does not.

Second: Paul says Christ's people are raised at His coming. Later in the chapter, he describes their resurrection as the occasion when death is swallowed up in victory.

How does that fit a proposed period in which death continues after Christ's return?

Third: If death is the last enemy, what does Paul mean when he places the defeat of the enemies in connection with the end?

These are serious questions.

A future earthly millennium must be argued from other passages and then shown to fit Paul's teaching.

It cannot simply be assumed from the word until in 1 Corinthians 15:25.

We should also recognize a limitation in our argument.

The fact that Christ reigns now does not, by itself, settle every question about Revelation 20.

That chapter must be examined in its own context.

But neither should Revelation 20 be used to change the order Paul actually gives in 1 Corinthians 15 without a clear explanation.

7. What About Revelation 11:15?

Revelation 11:15 announces:

“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.”

Does this mean Christ was not reigning before that announcement?

Not necessarily.

Revelation 1:5 already calls Jesus the ruler of the kings of the earth.

Revelation 3:21 portrays Him seated with His Father on His throne.

Revelation 11:15–18 describes the triumph of God's rule, the judgment of the dead, and the rewarding of His servants.

The passage can be understood as the public completion of Christ's victory rather than the first moment He receives authority.

However, readers differ about how Revelation's visions relate to one another and to the final judgment.

We should not settle that entire question from Revelation 11:15 alone.

What we can say is that Revelation itself describes Christ as possessing royal authority before the final defeat of evil.

That agrees with the teaching of Acts, Ephesians, Hebrews, and 1 Corinthians.

8. Does the Continued Existence of Evil Mean Christ Is Not King?

Consider what the objection assumes.

If Christ is truly King, His enemies cannot still exist.

But where does Scripture establish that rule?

Psalm 110 says the Messiah rules in the midst of His enemies.

Hebrews says Jesus is crowned even though we do not yet see everything subjected to Him.

Paul says Christ must reign until every enemy is defeated.

Therefore, the continued existence of enemies cannot prove that Christ has not begun reigning.

It is precisely the situation these passages describe.

We must distinguish between two things:

Possessing authority and the completed exercise of that authority over every enemy.

Jesus already possesses all authority.

The final defeat of His enemies still awaits its appointed completion.

There is no contradiction between those two statements.

9. What Does Christ's Return Accomplish?

According to 1 Corinthians 15, Christ's coming is connected with the resurrection of those who belong to Him.

The chapter also connects that resurrection with the defeat of death.

Other passages describe the final judgment and the removal of death and suffering (John 5:28–29; Revelation 20:11–15; 21:1–4).

Christ's return is therefore not presented merely as the beginning of another period in which death continues to rule over humanity.

It is connected with the victory that brings death itself to an end.

Paul's argument is not that Christ must first eliminate every enemy before He can become King.

It is that Christ must reign until every enemy is defeated.

And the last enemy is death.

Conclusion — The King Is Already Reigning

We began with a question:

If Jesus is King now, why are His enemies still here?

Scripture gives us an answer.

Psalm 110 says the Messiah rules in the midst of His enemies.

Acts 2 declares that the risen Jesus has been exalted to God's right hand.

Matthew 28:18 says He already possesses all authority in heaven and on earth.

Hebrews says He is already crowned, even though everything is not yet visibly subjected to Him.

And 1 Corinthians 15 says He must reign until all His enemies are defeated.

The last enemy is death.

Paul connects death's defeat with the resurrection of Christ's people at His coming.

Jesus does not have to defeat every enemy before He can begin to reign.

He is already reigning.

His enemies have not yet all been defeated.

But Scripture promises that their defeat is certain.

The question is not whether Jesus has become King.

The question is whether we recognize the King whom God has already exalted.

Questions Worth Considering

1. If Psalm 110:2 commands the Messiah to rule in the midst of His enemies, can their continued existence prove He is not reigning?

2. What does Peter say happened to Jesus following His resurrection in Acts 2:29–36?

3. How can Hebrews 2 say that Jesus is crowned while everything is not yet subjected to Him?

4. According to 1 Corinthians 15:23, when are those who belong to Christ raised?

5. According to verse 26, what is the last enemy to be defeated?

6. Does Paul describe Christ receiving a kingdom at His return, or delivering the kingdom to the Father at the end?

7. If we believe a future earthly reign follows Christ's coming, how do we fit that interpretation into Paul's sequence?

The purpose of these questions is not to defend a tradition.

It is to understand what the biblical writers actually said.

Continue Exploring Scripture

If Jesus Is King Now, Why Is Evil Still Here?
https://text-b4-tradition.com/why-is-evil-still-here

Was God's Kingdom Offered to Israel—Then Postponed?
https://text-b4-tradition.com/kingdom-offered-postponed

Does Saying “A Thousand Years” Six Times Make It Literal?
https://text-b4-tradition.com/six-times-make-it-literal

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