The Cradle Of Christian Truth: Apostles’ Creed (Part 13)—From there he will come to judge the living and the dead

by on April 29, 2025 | Comment

Casablanca is one of the most famous movies in cinematic history, leaving us with more than its fair share of artifacts ingrained in cultural memory even eighty years later. Humphrey Bogart alone left us with a stack of lines most of us have heard: “Of all the watering holes in all the world, you had to walk into mine;” “Here’s looking at you kid;” and perhaps most famously, “This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” It has a huge cultural footprint.

Interesting trivia about Casablanca is how the writers determined the ending. The big question was: Will Ingrid Bergman escape Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart or Victor Laszlo? To answer, writers considered that whichever character did not go with her would face the Nazi villain. So, who would audiences rather see shoot the bad guy? Clearly, Humphrey Bogart. With that ending set, writers worked out the preceding story. The story’s ending determined everything leading to it.

Something similar happens in 1 Corinthians 15:20–34. In Psalm 110:1, God the Father declared from eternity to God the Son, “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’” The Son must reign over all enemies. Since death is an enemy, God’s decree of the Son’s victory demands a resurrection from the dead for Christ and also for those in Christ. The end of the Son’s victorious kingdom has been determined, shaping everything that must lead up to it.

In our studies through the Apostles’ Creed, we come to the closing line in the section about our belief in Jesus Christ. Here, we think about how we confess that, Jesus, having ascended into heaven, will come from there to judge the living and the dead. The main point is that Christ’s return is when he will bring his kingdom to earth.

A Coming Kingdom

Sometimes I think the entire fantasy genre, like Lord of the Rings, rests on the premise of the need for—or a prophecy about—a king returning to rule the promised kingdom. The land is shrouded in darkness under the rule of evil forces, yet the prospect of a blessed reign under a good king who overthrows the present wicked regime preserves the hope of oppressed citizens longing for renewal and freedom.

That standard narrative appeals in such an enduring way for a reason. As Paul wrote in Galatians 1:4, Christ “gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age.” Indeed, we live in that kingdom, needing the redeemer king to arrive to free us. The evil power that reigns over us is death itself:

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. (1 Cor 15:20–24; emphasis added)

Our first representative, Adam, sinned, and so brought death upon all in his care. But just as Adam brought death upon all his people, Christ came representing the elect, earning life for them and guaranteeing the resurrection. We have thought at some length about the resurrection and Christ’s kingship. We need to see in these verses that the guarantee of our resurrection because of God is connected to the kingdom. Resurrection is a kingdom blessing.

Christ returning from heaven to judge the living and the dead is the culmination of his kingly work. His coming kingdom will be fully installed when he raises us from the dead.

A Certain Hope

The end of all things is joined to installing God’s full and final kingdom on earth. Yet, we know that, like those hope-generating prophecies of the expected king from fantasy stories, we have a sure expectation of our King returning. What gives us confidence, certainty, of our king’s coming? Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:25–28,

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

We have confidence that our king will return because he reigns until he comes. The full rolling-out of his kingdom depends upon the king’s prior victory. He is reigning and he will complete his kingdom once he has defeated every enemy in full. So, his reign must continue now with the goal of winning the last victory at his return.

Let us illustrate our present confidence that Jesus is reigning with a view to his return by thinking about the medical treatment of dialysis. In dialysis, a machine cleanses your blood of impurities, cycling it back into your body without toxins. You are hooked up to this purifier until the process is done, at which point the cleansing is complete. The point of the treatment is that this machine’s power needs to circulate through you until the last of the toxins is removed from your blood.

Christ must reign until all his enemies are purified from the kingdom. We must be hooked up to Christ’s kingdom until the toxins are pulled from us. Christ reigns until he conquers all his enemies, the last of which is death. Until death is defeated, Christ must reign and battle on so he can hand the kingdom over to the Father.

Sometimes this world’s troubles make us feel as if Christ’s kingdom is struggling. Do you ever wonder, if Christ is ruling, why does so much turmoil happen in the world at large and especially in Christians’ lives? People have told me before that Christ’s kingdom must be entirely in the future because nothing around us looks like heaven.

While truly the world around us is not heaven, saying that Christ is not reigning because not every enemy is defeated is like saying someone is not having a dialysis treatment because not all the toxins are removed yet. The whole treatment process is that removal. So too, the process of Christ’s reign is the removal of his enemies. The last enemy he will defeat is death, when he comes from heaven to judge the living and the dead.

As long as we have not seen death entirely overturned, which happens at the second coming, we know with certainty that Christ is on the throne. In our trials, we should take heart because we have a certain hope that Christ is reigning, and reigning to subject all things to his kingdom.

A Comforting Connection

So, Christ’s return is about his kingdom, which will be fully installed at the resurrection. That means that Christ’s reign is over a life-giving kingdom. The end is determined that Christ will have all things in subjection to him and finally defeat death, so everything happening now is just driving toward that finish. Like the crowd-pleasing end of Humphrey Bogart killing the Nazi, so too God’s people look forward to the end when all things are set right in the new creation. But the events still have to unfold to lead up to that big finish.

The big finish before us, that Christ comes from heaven to judge the living and the dead, helps us. First, in 1 Corinthians 15:20–21, Paul explains: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead” (emphasis added). Despite our best efforts to avoid it, death surrounds us in the world. Its long gangly fingers creep ever more out of the grave and grip hold of our lives. But Christ is reigning to defeat death. He is risen from the dead as the firstfruit of the resurrection, promising that his kingdom will come to entire fulfillment and will grant life to us. Like a locomotive arriving at the station entails that its cars arrive behind it, the firstfruit is the down payment of the harvest, guaranteeing that the full crop will soon follow. Christ is the locomotive of resurrection. His arrival into incorruptible life secures it for all attached to him by faith.

Is there a wider way that Christ’s return encourages us? Too many stories in Christian fiction play up the final battle between Christ and his enemies for dramatic effect to sell books and movies. After all, the most exciting stories tell of the hero snatching victory despite certain failure. Good story telling includes unexpected triumph.

In this specific respect, the Bible includes some poor story telling. In 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12, Paul outlines this major aspect of the end times where the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction is revealed. This unveiling seems like it should be a significantly threatening event that should frighten us. But after the long leadup discussing the appearing of the lawless one by the power of Satan, Paul tells us the story’s end in verse 8: “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.”

The leadup is tense, but the ending is plain and uncomplicated. When the lawless one appears, Jesus will outright kill him. It is a blunt reality that Jesus will instantly defeat the lawless one. This is a shut-out match, a knock-out with the first punch. The lawless one stands no chance. As Ligon Duncan put it, “This is Godzilla versus Bambi.”[1] Jesus is going to demolish his enemy. He will bring him to nothing.

Scripture has no tense, drawn out fight where Jesus comes back from apparent defeat. Satan is the underdog against the God of the universe. He remains the underdog. He gets stomped. Jesus’ victory is matter-of-fact, sure, certain, and dependable.

So, we see that when Christ comes from heaven to judge the living and the dead, he will trounce every enemy of his kingdom. That means we should all be excited for the future. We know the ending. God has written the climax of the story and determined who will kill the bad guy. Our experience of history unfolding is just our discovery of those events that lead to the ending which we already know.

That Jesus is reigning and will return to judge the living and the dead is a comforting connection because Christ’s return means the complete distribution of every good gift he has for us. We need not live anxiously as if the future is not set. We know the end. Christ comes back. Jesus wins.

Notes

  1. Ligon Duncan, “The Man of Lawlessness,” (sermon at First Presbyterian Church, Jackson Mississippi, September 20, 2012; accessed on March 25, 2019).

©Harrison Perkins. All Rights Reserved.

You can find the whole series here.

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