The Finished Work of Christ — How What Was Settled Before the Foundation of the World Is Worked Out Through Reign, Patience, and Consummation
The Finished Work of Christ: AUTHOR: Carl Timothy Wray
For forty years, the Church has fiercely defended the truth that “It is finished”—and rightly so—yet has often struggled to reconcile that declaration with Scripture’s equally clear testimony that “He must reign until.” This book was written to restore balance, not by compromising either truth, but by discerning the realms from which God speaks. What was finished in origin is now being revealed in time, until the Finished Work finishes everything.
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The Finished Work of Christ: INTRODUCTION:
The Finished Work of Christ is one of the most glorious revelations ever given to man—and one of the most misunderstood.
For many, the Finished Work has been confined to a single realm: settled in heaven, declared by faith, and possessed by the spirit. Others, observing the ongoing realities of death, resistance, and transformation, have wrestled with how such a finished work can still be unfolding in time. The result has been quiet tension among the brethren, often framed as a debate between “It is finished” and “He must reign until.”
This book contends that the tension is not found in God, nor in Scripture, but in our discernment.
Before the foundation of the world, the Lamb was slain. Before time began, the work was finished. Before Adam drew breath, life was settled in Christ. Yet Scripture also reveals a long, purposeful unfolding—creation subjected to vanity in hope, Christ revealed in time, the Spirit poured out at Pentecost, and a reign that continues until every enemy, including death itself, is placed under His feet. These are not competing truths; they are the same truth spoken from different realms.
God speaks from origin, from process, and from consummation. He speaks to spirit, to soul, and to body. When these dimensions are not discerned, Scripture appears to contradict itself. When they are discerned, the Word comes into perfect harmony.
This book is an invitation to see the Finished Work of Christ in its full counsel—from Alpha to Omega. From what was settled before time, through what is being worked out in patience and experience, to the final consummation when God becomes all in all. The work was finished in Christ before the world began—and it is still finishing everything it was sent to accomplish.
Chapter 1 — Before the Foundation of the World
The Lamb Slain, the Work Finished, and Life Settled in Origin
Before there was a heaven stretched out in silence, before the earth was formed or time was framed, the work of Christ was already complete.
Scripture does not introduce the Finished Work at Calvary—it reveals it before the foundation of the world. Long before sin appeared, long before Adam was formed, long before death entered experience, the Lamb stood slain in the counsel of God. This is not metaphor. This is origin.
“The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
(Revelation 13:8)
This statement does not describe a reaction to a fall; it unveils a finished intention. The Cross did not originate redemption—it revealed what was already settled in the eternal realm. What unfolded in time was the manifestation of a work completed outside of time.
Hebrews confirms this reality with unmistakable clarity:
“Although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.”
(Hebrews 4:3)
Here the Spirit anchors us beyond history, beyond process, beyond experience, into the realm of divine origin. In this realm, nothing is pending. Nothing is being negotiated. Nothing is awaiting outcome. All things exist as accomplished reality.
Before God framed the ages, He framed the work in Christ.
Paul speaks from this same realm when he writes:
“According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.”
(Ephesians 1:4)
This choosing did not occur in response to behavior, belief, or obedience. It occurred before creation itself. Before man existed in flesh, man existed in Christ. Before time began to count, life was already accounted for. This is not future hope—it is eternal fact.
In this realm, there is no Adam and no serpent. There is no death and no curse. There is no resistance, no decay, no opposition. There is no need for reconciliation because nothing has yet been broken. All is spirit. All is life. All is union.
Jesus Himself bears witness to this realm when He prays:
“Glorify Thou Me with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.”
(John 17:5)
Glory precedes creation. Union precedes incarnation. Completion precedes manifestation.
This is the first dimension of the Finished Work—the realm of faith, promise, and origin. Here, God speaks in the language of is and hath. Here, Scripture declares without qualification:
The work is finished
Life is given
Sons are chosen
Purpose is settled
Yet Scripture does not remain here.
The same God who reveals completion before time also reveals process within time. The same Christ who is slain before foundation is later revealed in flesh. The same Finished Work that exists in origin is lowered into experience, not because it is incomplete, but because it must be revealed.
Understanding this realm is essential. Without it, everything that follows appears contradictory. With it, everything that follows comes into harmony.
The Finished Work does not begin in time.
It enters time.
And that descent—from settled origin into experiential unfolding—is where the revelation must now move.
Chapter 2 — Morning Stars and Sons of God
Existence in Spirit Before Time, Death, or Resistance
Scripture does not leave the realm of origin undefined. It gives us a glimpse—brief, yet unmistakable—of life before time, before creation was lowered, before flesh, death, or resistance entered the story.
When God questions Job, He does not begin with Adam. He reaches behind Adam, behind earth, behind time itself:
“Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? … When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.”
(Job 38:4–7)
This is not poetic imagery. This is testimony.
Before the foundations of the earth were laid, there were morning stars. Before Adam existed, there were sons of God. Before creation was framed in the natural, there was already conscious life responding to God with joy, harmony, and praise.
This is the same realm Paul later describes when he writes:
“According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.”
(Ephesians 1:4)
Chosen in Him—not in flesh, not in time, not through works, and not after failure—but in Christ, before the world itself began.
In this realm, man does not exist as a fallen creature seeking redemption. Man exists as spirit, in union, in joy, in agreement with God. There is no internal conflict because there is no divided nature. There is no fear because death has not yet appeared. There is no warfare because no adversary has yet been revealed.
This is why Scripture never speaks of reconciliation in this realm. Nothing has yet been lost.
Here, the sons of God do not groan—they shout for joy. Creation does not resist—it responds. Life is not learned—it is known. Identity is not discovered—it is assumed.
This is also why Scripture can later say:
“He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.”
(1 Corinthians 6:17)
Union is not a new invention. It is a return to origin.
The born-again spirit does not become something foreign—it is restored to what it already was in Christ before time. Salvation does not create a new kind of being; it reveals an ancient one.
In this realm, God speaks without qualifiers:
You are chosen.
You are holy.
You are complete.
You are in Christ.
These are spirit-words, spoken from origin, untouched by process.
Yet Scripture also makes something else clear: this realm was not the end of the story.
The God who reveals sons shouting for joy before creation also reveals creation later subjected to vanity. The God who reveals union before time also reveals incarnation in time. The God who reveals completion before foundation also reveals patience, experience, and reign afterward.
This does not mean something went wrong.
It means something was purposed.
The descent from this realm was not a fall—it was a lowering. Not abandonment, but intention. Not loss of control, but expansion of mercy.
Understanding this realm protects us from misunderstanding everything that follows. Without it, the story begins in failure. With it, the story begins in glory.
And it is from this glory that creation will eventually return.
But to understand why creation was lowered from such a realm, we must now confront the question Scripture itself answers:
Why would a good and perfect God subject creation to vanity at all?
That question—and God’s own answer—leads us forward.
Chapter 3 — Why Creation Was Lowered into Vanity
“That He Might Have Mercy Upon All”
Once the realm of origin is seen clearly—life before time, sons before flesh, joy before resistance—the next question becomes unavoidable:
Why would a good, perfect, and loving God lower creation out of such glory?
Scripture does not leave this unanswered, nor does it hide the answer in mystery. The apostle Paul, after tracing God’s dealings with creation, humanity, and redemption, gives the most direct and concise explanation found anywhere in the Word:
“For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all.”
(Romans 11:32)
This is not a philosophical answer. It is not an emotional justification. It is not a defense of God. It is a declaration of purpose.
Creation was not lowered into vanity because God lost control.
Creation was not subjected because God was surprised by sin.
Creation was not cast into time because something went wrong.
Creation was subjected in hope, because mercy was already the end.
Paul says this explicitly elsewhere:
“For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope.”
(Romans 8:20)
Vanity was not imposed as punishment—it was imposed as process. The lowering of creation was not a curse—it was a pathway. God did not abandon His work; He entered it.
Mercy requires contrast.
Mercy requires need.
Mercy requires a realm where restoration can be revealed.
In the realm of origin, nothing needed mercy because nothing was broken. But God’s purpose was not merely to preserve perfection—it was to reveal Himself fully. And mercy cannot be revealed where there is no wound, no lack, no loss.
This is why Scripture never presents vanity as permanent. Vanity is always paired with hope. Subjection is always paired with promise. Death is always framed as temporary.
Creation was lowered not to destroy it, but to include it.
This is the heart of Paul’s declaration in Romans 11. God gathers all into unbelief—not to condemn all, but so that none are excluded from mercy. Mercy is not a reaction to failure; it is a foreordained revelation of God’s nature.
This is why the Lamb is slain before the foundation of the world. Mercy does not begin after sin—it precedes creation. Redemption does not follow the fall—it anticipates the journey.
Seen this way, the fall is not the center of the story. Mercy is.
The lowering into vanity introduces:
time
contrast
resistance
learning
patience
experience
But it does not undo what was settled in origin.
What was finished before the foundation of the world is not threatened by process. It is revealed through it.
The descent into vanity sets the stage for:
incarnation
obedience
death
resurrection
indwelling life
reign
consummation
Mercy is the thread that runs through all of it.
God did not lower creation because He lacked power.
He lowered it because His mercy would be known, not merely assumed.
And now that creation has been subjected, Scripture begins to introduce the first man—not as origin, but as entry into time.
With Adam, process begins.
With Adam, experience begins.
With Adam, the Finished Work enters the long unfolding of history.
That movement—from eternal settlement into temporal expression—is where the story must now go.
Chapter 4 — Adam, Time, and the Entrance of Process
From Settled Truth to Experiential Unfolding
With Adam, the story does not begin—it enters time.
Adam is not origin. Adam is process.
Scripture is clear that before Adam existed, life already existed in Christ. Before Adam breathed, the Lamb was slain. Before Adam was formed from the dust, sons had already shouted for joy. Adam is not the beginning of God’s work; he is the point where what was settled eternally begins to be worked out temporally.
“The first man Adam was made a living soul.”
(1 Corinthians 15:45)
Adam is introduced not as spirit-origin, but as soul-life. This distinction is critical. Adam is the first man of experience, not the first man of being. He is the doorway through which humanity enters time, learning, contrast, obedience, resistance, and death.
Paul later confirms this movement when he writes:
“Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.”
(1 Corinthians 15:46)
This is not a contradiction of origin—it is a description of order within manifestation. What is spiritual exists first in God. What is natural appears first in experience.
Adam is created innocent, not perfected. He is alive, but not yet complete. He is not fallen at creation, but neither is he mature. He is capable of growth, capable of obedience, and capable of learning. In Adam, humanity enters a realm where truth must be walked, not merely known.
With Adam comes:
time
sequence
instruction
choice
consequence
death as experience
Yet even here, the Finished Work is not threatened.
Death does not enter as an accident. Vanity does not appear as surprise. Scripture never presents God as scrambling to recover control. Instead, Adam’s world unfolds exactly as Romans foretold—subjected in hope.
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
(1 Corinthians 15:22)
Adam introduces death as an experience, but Christ introduces life as destiny. Adam brings humanity into the realm where patience is required, but Christ brings humanity into the realm where completion is guaranteed.
This is why Scripture never teaches that Adam canceled God’s purpose. Adam activated the pathway through which that purpose would be revealed.
The Finished Work remains finished in origin, even while humanity begins to experience contradiction, delay, resistance, and decay. What changes is not the truth—but the dimension in which truth must now operate.
In Adam, God begins to speak differently.
He no longer speaks only in absolutes. He begins to speak in commands, instructions, promises, warnings, and progressions. Not because truth has changed, but because man now lives in a realm where truth must be learned.
This is where patience enters the story.
Faith still speaks from origin.
Patience now governs experience.
Adam’s world becomes the training ground where what is already true in Christ must eventually be manifested through time, obedience, suffering, and growth. This does not diminish grace—it reveals its depth.
Adam is not the failure of God’s plan.
Adam is the necessary doorway into its unfolding.
And because Adam introduces death, Scripture must now introduce the One who enters death voluntarily—not as a victim of process, but as its fulfillment.
The story cannot remain with Adam.
It must move to Christ.
And when Christ appears in time, He does not begin a new work—He reveals the old one.
That revelation begins at the Cross.
Chapter 5 — The Cross: Revelation, Not Repair
What Was Finished in Heaven Manifested in Time
When Christ appears in history, He does not arrive to invent redemption. He arrives to reveal it.
The Cross is not the beginning of the Finished Work—it is the unveiling of it. What was settled before the foundation of the world is now brought into visibility within time. Calvary does not change God’s mind; it discloses God’s heart.
“The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
(Revelation 13:8)
This statement places the Cross outside of reaction. Christ does not die because Adam failed; Adam’s failure occurs within a plan where Christ has already been slain. The Cross is not God responding to sin—it is God walking into time to show what has always been true.
This is why Jesus does not speak from uncertainty when He faces death. He does not negotiate with the Father. He does not ask whether the work will succeed. From the Cross, He declares:
“It is finished.”
(John 19:30)
That declaration is not optimism. It is not faith trying to become reality. It is eternal truth speaking inside time.
What finishes at the Cross is not God’s patience, but man’s confusion. The Cross reveals that sin never altered God’s purpose, death never threatened God’s plan, and Adam never canceled what was settled in Christ.
Paul makes this clear when he writes:
“God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.”
(2 Corinthians 5:19)
Notice the direction. God does not reconcile Himself to the world; He reconciles the world to Himself. The Cross is not appeasement—it is alignment. It is not repair—it is revelation.
At Calvary, Christ does not become victorious; He displays victory. He does not become the Lamb; He is shown to be the Lamb. He does not complete the work; He announces its completion.
This is why Scripture can say:
“Having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly.”
(Colossians 2:15)
The victory was not achieved in secret; it was made visible. The powers were not defeated through struggle; they were exposed through truth.
The Cross reveals:
sin judged
death defeated
reconciliation accomplished
separation ended
mercy unveiled
Yet the Cross does not exhaust the Finished Work.
The Cross reveals what is finished in heaven, but it does not yet manifest that finish in the sons. The declaration “It is finished” speaks from origin and authority, but Scripture is careful to show that the outworking of that declaration has only begun.
If the Cross were the end of the story, resurrection would be unnecessary. If revelation were enough, indwelling life would not follow. But the Finished Work does not stop at being seen—it must be entered.
This is why Jesus does not ascend and leave humanity with a memory. He returns in a different form. He sends His Spirit. He moves the Finished Work from event to life.
The Cross reveals what is true.
Pentecost empowers what is true to be lived.
And without Pentecost, the Finished Work would remain external—declared, but not embodied.
The Cross is the doorway where eternal truth steps into time.
Pentecost is where that truth steps into man.
That movement—from revelation to indwelling—is where the Finished Work begins its next phase.
Chapter 6 — Pentecost and the Indwelling Christ
The Finished Work Moving from Heaven into Man
If the Cross reveals what was finished, Pentecost reveals where it will live.
The Finished Work of Christ does not remain external. God never intended redemption to be admired from a distance or remembered as an event. What was settled in heaven and revealed at Calvary must now be inhabited. That movement happens at Pentecost.
“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.”
(Acts 2:1)
Pentecost is not a new work. It is not an addition to the Cross. It is the internalization of the Finished Work. The same Jesus who walked out of the grave now returns—not in flesh beside man, but as life within man.
This is why Jesus said:
“It is expedient for you that I go away.”
(John 16:7)
As long as Christ remained external, the Finished Work could be declared but not embodied. By departing in the flesh and returning in the Spirit, Christ moves the work from history into humanity.
At Pentecost:
Christ no longer dwells among men
Christ dwells in men
Heaven is no longer above
Heaven takes up residence within
This is the moment when the Finished Work enters the realm of patience and experience.
Paul later explains this shift plainly:
“Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
(Colossians 1:27)
Notice the language. Christ in you is not the glory itself—it is the hope of glory. That hope is not uncertainty; it is destiny awaiting manifestation. What was finished in Christ must now be worked out through the sons.
Pentecost does not change what is true in the spirit. The born-again spirit is already complete, holy, and one with the Lord.
“He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.”
(1 Corinthians 6:17)
But Pentecost introduces a new arena: the soul and body must now be brought into agreement with what the spirit already is. This is where Scripture’s language shifts.
No longer only “it is finished,”
but also “walk,” “grow,” “be transformed,” and “work out.”
Paul captures this perfectly:
“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
(Philippians 2:12)
He does not say work for salvation. He calls it your salvation—already possessed. The command is not to create salvation, but to express it. What was settled in origin and revealed at the Cross is now being manifested through life lived.
Pentecost introduces patience.
Faith still speaks from heaven.
Patience now governs the earth.
The Spirit is not given to finish what Christ failed to complete. The Spirit is given to apply what Christ finished to every dimension of man—mind, will, emotion, body, and eventually creation itself.
This is why Scripture can say:
you are complete
and yet are being renewed
you are holy
and yet are being transformed
you have life
and yet await immortality
No contradiction exists—only order.
Pentecost marks the moment when the Finished Work begins to move outward again—from spirit to soul, from soul to body, from body to creation, from creation to consummation.
Christ no longer stands outside history declaring truth.
He now lives inside humanity working it out.
And because Christ lives in man, the Finished Work must now confront:
resistance
opposition
death
corruption
decay
Not as uncertainty—but as enemies already defeated, now being placed underfoot.
This is why Pentecost is followed by reign.
And reign is not optional.
It is written:
“For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet.”
(1 Corinthians 15:25)
That reign does not contradict the Finished Work.
It completes its manifestation.
And it is that reign—patient, deliberate, and victorious—that we must now understand.
Chapter 7 — Faith and Patience: Two Dimensions of One Work
“It Is Finished” and “Work Out Your Salvation”
The Finished Work of Christ does not operate in a single dimension. Scripture never presents faith and patience as competing ideas, but as two witnesses to the same truth—each speaking from a different realm.
Faith speaks from origin.
Patience governs manifestation.
Both are required, not because the work is incomplete, but because the work must be revealed fully.
Paul explains this relationship with precision:
“That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”
(Hebrews 6:12)
The promise is already given. The inheritance is already secured. Yet Scripture says it is inherited through faith and patience together. Faith holds what is true; patience walks it out until truth becomes visible.
This is why Scripture can declare:
“It is finished”
and also command:
“Work out your own salvation.”
These are not opposing instructions. They are addressed to different realms of the same man.
Faith speaks to the spirit, which exists beyond time.
Patience speaks to the soul and body, which must move through time.
Faith declares possession.
Patience governs process.
Paul describes this dynamic further in Romans:
“Tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope.”
(Romans 5:3–4)
Hope here is not uncertainty. Hope is future manifestation grounded in certainty. Experience does not replace faith—it confirms it. Patience does not question completion—it reveals it.
Without faith, patience becomes striving.
Without patience, faith becomes abstraction.
Together, they preserve the Finished Work without denying reality.
This is why Scripture never teaches instant manifestation as proof of faith. Even Jesus Himself learned obedience through the things He suffered—not because He lacked perfection, but because manifestation must pass through experience.
Faith speaks what is already true in Christ.
Patience allows truth to penetrate every resisting layer.
This is also why Scripture consistently uses different tenses without apology:
hath saved
are complete
shall be changed
must reign until
God is not confused. He is precise.
Faith belongs to the realm where all things are already settled. Patience belongs to the realm where truth must be embodied, resisted, proven, and revealed. Both serve the same finished purpose.
The Finished Work does not eliminate patience—it requires it. Not because God delays, but because manifestation unfolds in order.
This is where many stumble. Some cling to faith-language and deny process. Others cling to process and deny completion. Scripture refuses both extremes.
The Cross declares completion.
Pentecost empowers process.
Patience governs the reign that follows.
And that reign is not symbolic.
It is written plainly:
“For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet.”
That reign is not the creation of victory—it is the application of victory. What faith knows to be true, patience places underfoot one enemy at a time.
And the last enemy is not sin.
The last enemy is death.
Until death itself is abolished, patience remains active—not in doubt, but in expectation.
The Finished Work is not waiting to be finished.
It is finishing everything.
And that finishing unfolds through reign.
That reign—its scope, its necessity, and its goal—is where the revelation must now go next.
Chapter 8 — He Must Reign Until
Enemies Underfoot and the Progressive Defeat of Death
The Finished Work of Christ does not end at declaration—it moves into government.
Scripture does not say Christ might reign, nor does it present His reign as optional, symbolic, or merely positional. It states the necessity plainly and without apology:
“For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet.”
(1 Corinthians 15:25)
This statement does not contradict “It is finished.”
It reveals how the Finished Work finishes everything.
Reign is not Christ attempting to secure victory. Reign is Christ applying a victory already secured. The work was finished in origin. The Cross revealed it. Pentecost indwelt it. Now reign extends it.
The word until matters.
Christ reigns until something is accomplished—not until uncertainty is resolved, but until manifestation catches up with truth. The reign continues until every enemy has been brought into visible submission.
Scripture names those enemies without ambiguity:
sin
corruption
decay
resistance
death
These enemies are not co-equal forces battling Christ. They are defeated realities being placed underfoot. The reign does not make them enemies—it exposes them as such.
This is why Paul later adds:
“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”
(1 Corinthians 15:26)
If death must still be destroyed, then reign must still be active. And if reign is active, then the Finished Work must still be manifesting, even while remaining finished in origin.
This distinction resolves a long-standing confusion.
Christ is not reigning because the work is unfinished.
Christ is reigning because the work demands completion in every realm.
Reign is the movement of the Finished Work from:
spirit → soul
soul → body
body → creation
This is why Scripture ties reign directly to sons, not merely to Christ alone.
“If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.”
(2 Timothy 2:12)
Reign is participatory. Not because Christ needs help, but because Christ has chosen to reveal His victory through union, not isolation. What He finished as the Head must be expressed through the Body.
This reign is not political.
It is not violent.
It is not territorial in the carnal sense.
It is ontological—the rule of life over death, truth over lie, light over darkness, incorruption over decay.
Every time truth penetrates a deeper realm, an enemy loses ground.
This is why Scripture presents the reign as progressive:
enemies are underfoot in order
resistance collapses layer by layer
death is addressed last
Reign is patient because manifestation is ordered.
Faith declares victory immediately.
Patience governs how victory becomes visible.
This is also why Scripture connects reign to the sounding of trumpets. Each trumpet announces the same authority, but in a deeper realm. As the voice penetrates further, the effects intensify—not because God escalates, but because resistance thins.
The reign continues until no enemy remains.
When the last enemy—death—is abolished, reign reaches its purpose. At that point, something extraordinary happens:
“Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father.”
(1 Corinthians 15:24)
Christ does not lose authority. He completes its purpose. The mediatorial reign gives way to consummation. What began in Christ now fills all things.
Reign is not eternal struggle.
Reign is temporary authority with a definitive goal.
And that goal is not domination—it is completion.
The reign carries the Finished Work to its final expression.
And when that expression reaches the deepest realm—the body itself—Scripture introduces the final sound.
The last trumpet.
That trumpet does not announce effort.
It announces transformation.
And it is there—at the last trumpet—that the Finished Work reaches its visible conclusion.
Chapter 9 — The Last Trumpet and the Redemption of the Body
From Partial Manifestation to Full Transformation
If the reign of Christ continues until all enemies are placed under His feet, then the last battlefield must be the last enemy.
Scripture names that enemy without hesitation:
“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”
(1 Corinthians 15:26)
Death is not the first enemy addressed, and it is not overcome merely by declaration. Death belongs to the body-realm, the lowest and most resistant layer of human experience. Until that realm is transformed, the Finished Work has not yet been fully manifested, though it remains fully finished in origin.
This is why Scripture reserves a specific announcement for this moment:
“At the last trumpet… the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
(1 Corinthians 15:52)
The trumpet is not new truth—it is truth reaching its final depth.
Earlier trumpets affected creation, systems, and authority. The last trumpet addresses mortality itself. It does not teach, warn, or judge—it transforms.
Paul continues:
“For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”
(1 Corinthians 15:53)
Notice the language. The body is not discarded. It is changed. Redemption does not mean escape from embodiment; it means embodiment brought into agreement with life.
This is why Scripture speaks of:
“The redemption of our body.”
(Romans 8:23)
The body is not ignored by the Finished Work—it is awaiting it.
Up to this point, the Finished Work has:
been settled in spirit
worked out in the soul
applied through reign
extended into creation
Now it reaches the realm where death once reigned unquestioned.
This moment does not contradict present life in Christ. Believers already possess eternal life in the spirit. Yet Scripture refuses to collapse that truth into premature bodily claims. It honors order.
The body must be redeemed, not merely confessed over.
This is why Scripture uses shall language here:
shall be changed
shall put on immortality
death shall be swallowed up in victory
This is not delay—it is design.
The last trumpet announces that the Finished Work has now penetrated every realm:
heaven
spirit
soul
body
creation
death itself
Nothing remains untouched.
When death is abolished, resistance ends. Not because God has fought endlessly, but because there is no realm left to resist.
And when death is swallowed up, Scripture does not linger in celebration. It moves immediately to consummation.
The reign that was necessary until now has achieved its purpose.
What remains is not effort, not warfare, not patience—but completion.
The Finished Work has reached its final expression.
And with that, Scripture leads us to its ultimate declaration—not about Christ alone, but about God Himself.
Chapter 10 — God All in All
The Consummation of the Finished Work from Alpha to Omega
When the last enemy is destroyed, Scripture does not end with Christ reigning in conflict. It ends with God at rest.
Paul describes this moment with deliberate clarity:
“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.”
(1 Corinthians 15:24)
This is not loss of authority—it is completion of purpose. Christ does not relinquish victory; He fulfills it. The mediatorial reign that was necessary during process gives way to consummation. What began in Christ now fills all things.
Paul continues:
“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 15:28)
This is the final statement of the Finished Work.
Not Christ separated from creation.
Not God distant from humanity.
But God all in all.
This phrase does not describe annihilation, absorption, or loss of identity. It describes perfect union without resistance. Everything that once required mediation, instruction, patience, and reign has now come into full agreement with life.
This is the return—not to Eden, but to glory surpassing origin.
At the beginning, life existed in Christ before time. At the end, life fills all things through Christ, having passed through experience, redemption, and transformation. What was once known only in the spirit is now expressed in every realm.
The Finished Work has not bypassed creation—it has completed it.
This is why Scripture never presents the end as escape. The story does not conclude with souls leaving earth behind, but with heaven and earth fully reconciled. The God who lowered creation into vanity now fills it completely with Himself.
“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.”
(Revelation 21:3)
No more separation.
No more resistance.
No more death.
No more mediation.
God is not merely ruling—He is indwelling all things without opposition.
This is why death had to be addressed last. As long as death existed, resistance remained. As long as resistance remained, reign was necessary. Once death is abolished, reign has achieved its purpose.
The Finished Work now rests.
What was finished before the foundation of the world has passed through time, patience, experience, suffering, resurrection, indwelling life, reign, and transformation—and has emerged fully manifested.
Alpha has reached Omega.
Faith has given way to sight.
Hope has given way to fulfillment.
Patience has given way to rest.
The Finished Work of Christ was never merely about forgiveness, nor merely about heaven, nor merely about personal salvation. It was about God filling all things with Himself, through Christ, without loss, without failure, and without remainder.
This is the full counsel.
Not partial truth.
Not delayed victory.
Not denied process.
A work finished in origin.
A work revealed in time.
A work consummated in glory.
And when God is all in all, nothing remains unfinished—because nothing remains outside of Him.
Author
Carl Timothy Wray is a longtime biblical teacher and writer who has spent over four decades studying Scripture through the lens of the Finished Work of Christ and the full counsel of God. His teaching emphasizes discerning the realms from which God speaks—spirit, soul, and body—so that Scripture is understood in harmony rather than contradiction. Known for addressing long-standing tensions in Christian theology with clarity and balance, Carl writes to reconcile “It is finished” with “He must reign until,” guiding readers from origin to consummation without compromising faith, patience, or truth.
Read The Finished Work of Christ Series:
- Finished Work of Christ: Faith Receives What Is Finished — Patience Reveals What Is Complete
- The Finished Work of Christ — What Was Fully Accomplished at the Cross
- The Finished Work of Christ — Settled in Heaven, Unfolding in the Earth
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