1 Corinthians 15:24, commentary and pictures

This verse belongs to the second appearing of Christ in power and great glory, when He will come from heaven to earth, put down every opposing rule and authority and power, and establish His everlasting kingdom to rule over all nations and the kingdoms of the whole earth. The expectation of a mighty monarch who would rule over every kingdom belongs to the events of that second coming, not to His first. The end comes then, when His kingdom is fully manifested and He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after bringing every opposing rule, authority and power to an end. This final victory is connected with the resurrection, when death, the last enemy, is destroyed, so that Christ's return is the hope of the church and the completion of believers' redemption.

The end comes at the final resurrection to judgment, which completes on the one hand the triumph of Christ and His church and on the other the destruction of Satan and his followers. The promise was wrongly applied to His first appearing, as if He would then come as a temporal prince to take the throne of David, end the Gentile power then ruling over them, restore the Jews to liberty and exalted privilege and earthly supremacy by force of arms, and compel every kingdom and nation into submission. Confusing the two comings led people to expect that deliverance and rule at the wrong time. That temporal reading came from a darkened understanding that reads prophecy with pride, resentment and contempt for all nations except the Jews, serving national pride rather than an eye single to the glory of God.

Herod shared this temporal view of Christ's kingship and, fearing a Jewish rival who would drive him or his descendants from the throne, hated the infant and determined to destroy Him and defeat Jewish hopes. The present earthly powers will be shaken and the nations will remain divided, like the unstable toes of Nebuchadnezzar's image, for the great day of God is near.