“Then shall the Son also Himself be subject.” He was serving here—the very thing the devil tried to get Him out of. If he had, it would have been Christ doing His own will;
“But though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered.”
But when all things shall have been subdued under Him, He is subject after that.
Just now He is on His Father’s throne, our High Priest. But He will take His own throne and power, and reign, bringing everything into subjection. Then it is not serving, but reigning; afterward He gives up the kingdom to His Father, for everything is brought to order. In the millennium it is a King, reigning in righteousness; but then it will be new heavens and new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.
Innocence dwelt in the first paradise; sin dwells in the present earth; and then, in the new heavens and earth, it will be “wherein dwelleth righteousness.” He gives up the mediatorial kingdom, as it is called, to God, and takes His place as a Man— “The Firstborn among many brethren.” He never gives up the place in which He can own us as associated with Himself in the blessedness of Firstborn of many brethren.
As all was ruined in the first Adam, all shall be blessed in the last. “As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” Then I shall find myself enjoying everything that God can give to the objects of His love, and enjoying it with Christ, then at the head of everything—Son of God and Son of Man—we associated with all the blessedness, and He administering to us, so that the heart can taste His love. And He does not just bring us there, but it is to all eternity. He has purchased us too dearly to give us up. His love will be in constant exercise toward us. It leads us to adore Him more than anything that can be thought of; but we can trust a love that will never cease throughout eternity.