Month: March 2022

1 Peter 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Great Flood of Noah is used as a figurative image (“like figure”) for Christian Baptism. In the Ark ”eight persons were brought safely through water [verse 20].” In baptism we are ”brought safely through water.” That is the promise for us: Baptism does also now save us. In the Flood, God rejectors and unbelievers drowned and died; faithful believers were saved from death for life.. In baptism, the old man, the sinful flesh, drowns and dies; a new man comes forth and arises to new life. Baptism saves by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In baptism, God gives forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

It is not the outward, physical bathing of the body cleansing away dirt, but it is the inward, spiritual cleansing of sin from the soul. Baptism gives us a clean conscience toward God, so that we may live in His Presence forever and enjoy His glorious Holiness, Light, and Beauty forever in His Kingdom.

The baptismal promise also affects our daily earthly life every day. Baptism is one time event, but its power continues to work throughout life. As Christians, we remember our baptism every day and every week. What happens daily is that the old man drowns and dies daily and the new man arises to new life. We do this by repentance and faith in the gospel. We need the promise to be in effect because the deceitfulness of Sin within, the pull of the World without, and the lies of the Devil are always around and in us. Exercising God-given repentance and faith renews the soul, lifts the spirit, and makes us feel better.

Baptism doth also now save us, once for all for heaven and continually through earthly life. We are saved from sin, death, and hell for good works that we should walk in them.

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.

What Jesus did for us by His death and resurrection was bring us to God. This was what God promised to His separated people, what Jesus accomplished for us, and what will be completely fulfilled at Christ’s Second Coming.

We are born blind, dead, and enemies of God. Sin brings death; death is separation, separation from God. God created us for Himself, out of love, so that He could have a reciprocal, loving relationship with us. But we spurned that love and rejected God by our self-centered Sin. Therefore, death came upon all men, and all people come into this world dead in sin and separated from the God who made them for Himself.

But the Lord God didn’t give up on His original purpose. He injected Himself into human history, into our lives, in the person of His Son to redeem us from Separation by becoming separated for us. Through Christ we are reconciled to God. We are brought back to God where we belong. And that is the only place in the created universe where we will find rest, peace, joy, love, satisfaction, meaning and purpose.

As Christians, we live in two worlds at the same time: one world without God one world with God. We know which is better beyond a doubt; however, our sin continually separates us, the world deceives us and pulls us back, and our own flesh doubts God. But we come back to God by daily and weekly repentance and faith in forgiveness through the Gospel. We need this promise, that Jesus brings us to God and keeps us there forever, whenever we sense the symptoms of separation and death. We suffer in sins; Jesus suffered for sins to bring us to God, where there is no sin or death.

1 Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, his ears are open to their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

The Lord uses anthropomorphism (attributing human features to God who has no body) to describe Himself so we can understand. ”Eyes” means He sees and watches over the believer. ”Ears” means He hears our prayers. “Face” means Presence: God is present and active in our world for blessing or judgment. in this case the Lord is thwarting the plans of evil people to protect His people.

God promises protection and blessing for His people. He is constantly watching over us, day and night, to defend me against all danger and guard and protect me from all evil. This ”eyes” promise gives us a sense of safety and comfort whether we are asleep or awake. ”Whom shall we fear?” God, the Shepherd, is able to deliver us from evil, to overcome spiritual enemies, and to work out all things together for good. We can live life in peace, knowing we always have the Good Shepherd nearby.

In the same way, God promises to hear our prayers. We discuss with Him our needs and wants, sifting through our own will versus His good and gracious will, and trusting Him and submitting to His will, knowing that it is working out something good for us in eternity. When we pray, we are confident that His ears hear, and that He is working out the answer according His better wisdom and lovingkindness. His timing and specifics may not be ours but it is always good.

1 Peter 3:9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

God promises that you shall inherit a blessing. This blessing was first given to Abraham, who was promised a land (kingdom of God), children (Jesus), and blessing to the nations (salvation).. The promise was carried through Moses, David, and other OT believers, and finally fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Now we believers in Christ have received the inheritance of the Kingdom and of the Blessing.

”The Blessing” is all the spiritual wealth and riches of grace that God has freely bestowed upon us. These are things like forgiveness of sins, eternal life and salvation, the love of God, the joy of the Lord, the peace of God, and many other spiritual blessings. We do not yet experience the kingdom and its blessings in all its glorious brilliance, but already now by faith we enjoy the kingdom in the heart.

We have the promised inheritance of blessing as a hope and a guaranteed sure thing. This hope is genuine and real. Hope is an anchor of the soul with the other end of the rope secularly tied in heaven. That anchor will keep us stable and secure during all the storms and winds of life. Nothing will remove us the love of God.

What this inheritance means for our daily life is that we will be a blessing and speak a blessing to others, even to those who have hurt us. Instead of paying back or getting even we will render a blessing. We live this way because we believe the promise that we are heirs of a blessing.

1 Peter 2:25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

God promises that you are returned. You are now in safe place, where you are protected, fed, nourished, loved, and cared for. Once you were lost, strayed, separated, alone, isolated, and dying in the desert of the world with predators and dangers all around. We were born that way, lost and alone, living in sin and shame, separated from God, with nothing but misery and death to look forward to.

But the Good Shepherd searched for us found us, picked us up, carried back home where we belong, nurtured and cared for us. We are returned to the shepherd of our souls. That is the promise. We have been graciously and wonderfully found and safely returned home to the flock of the Good Shepherd, to the family of God, to the Kingdom of God, to the safe place, to the Presence of God where we enjoy meaning and purpose, and to the home where we belong. This was God’s original design and purpose in creating me in the first place.

The Father planned my rescue and return, the Son carried it out, and Holy Spirit through the gospel makes it real and makes it mine by faith. The promise is fulfilled: I am returned! The return is complete, but there are still times when we are still deceived into thinking we are strayed and lost and God is nowhere near. But the promise is still true: Jesus, the Shepherd, is still looking for us and finding us.

We Re returned to the Shepherd of our soul. The soul is the essence of the self, the unique character and personality of who we are. It is defined as the mind, will, and emotions. And each aspect is being mended, fixed, and made whole as we speak.

1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

Because Christ took our sins in His body on the cross, we have this promise: we are dead to sins, and we will be alive unto righteousness. It is mind-blowing to try to envision all the sins of all the world over space and time in the body of Christ on the tree of the cross. But, more importantly and personally, it is soul-cleansing to believe and see all my sins, past, present, and future, in His body on the tree.

Jesus took all my sins upon Himself and paid the death penalty for each one for me. This truth sets me free and makes me dead to sin. By faith there is an absolute separation between me and my sin. Death = Separation. Death is one side of the promise. The new me does not know sin. 1 John 3:9: ”Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin…and he cannot sin.” However, sin remains in the corrupt, sinful flesh, which cannot be changed. It must be crucified daily. ”Consider (reckon) yourselves dead to sin.” Believe the promise: the new me does not sin!

The flip side of the promise is this: you will live unto righteousness. ”Consider yourselves alive unto God.” By grace you are declared righteous, now and forever. By faith the new man (Jesus in me) lives and does righteous deeds in my life, and more and more as I am being sanctified. When we believe and renew our faith daily the new man subdues the old man and lives unto righteousness. Faith in this promise influences how we live our day to day lives.

1 Peter 2:10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

The people were not a people in time past, but now (since Jesus came) they are the people of God. The promise is for us: we were born sinners separated from God belonging to Sin, Death, and Satan, but now (since believing in Jesus) we are the people of God. We were once not a people, separated from God and everyone, alone in the world, isolated from anything good and from life, and belonging nowhere. But now we have this promise: we are part of a loving group, part of the family of God, in the eternal Kingdom of God, connected to God and His life. We belong, we have meaning and purpose, we are a part of something big and long-lasting. We will never be alone again, ever. The good God is by our side and on our side.

Now it is true that we belong to various groups, family, work, interest groups, community groups, school, nations and states, but these are temporary, they do not last, and they will disappoint, let us down, and eventually die and separate. And some groups to which we ”belong” will be mean and harmful to us. But it is not so in the kingdom of God. It will always be good for us forever. We belong to God and His people.

The further promise is that in this people group we have obtained mercy. Sinners like us cannot live long or live well without mercy. Sin is always getting us into a mess and into trouble, but since Jesus came there is always and ever Good News: we have mercy. Pride may deceive us into thinking we don’t need mercy, but sooner or later, our life catches up to us and shows us we need mercy. Without it we are dead, isolated, and not a people. We live by faith in grace and mercy. Praise God, we have it!

1Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

The promise to me is that I will show forth the praises of God. As a loved and saved child of God, my life and words will praise God. The good words and good deeds of a Christian are praises to God. God is praised by my life. I by myself was in sinful, ignorant darkness with no life that praises God, or even pleases Him. But God called me out of darkness into His marvelous light. In the light the life of God is reflected in our life. This is the promise: my life will praise God in word and deed for who He is and for what He has done. I am not commanded to praise God; it is a promise that I will, for thanks and praise is the natural response to the goodness, grace, and mercy of God.

Another part of the promise is that the way I lives causes others to praise God. Matthew 5:16: ”Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” A good Christian life draws attention to Jesus and not to us. He gets the glory for any goodness that is seen in us.

It is extremely difficult to live that way. Self-centered sinners want credit for being good. Pride makes it hard to give God the glory and the credit for every good thing we do. So the Lord promises humility and penitence on our part and praise and glory on His part. We are nothing; Jesus is everything. With that in mind He makes us chosen, priestly, holy, and peculiar.

1 Peter 2:6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

The conditional promise is: if you believe, then you will not be confounded. Believers need to take this promise to the bank in confounding, confusing, bewildering, frustrating, and disappointing times. ”Confounded” means disappointed, put to shame, humiliated. Place your hope and trust in Jesus and you will not end up being let down and disappointed. You won’t be sorry you trusted in Christ. We may confidently place our life and our future in His hands. Romans 5:5: ”Hope does not disappoint (put us to shame).”

Jesus is the chosen and precious cornerstone that gives shape and structure to the whole building. In other words, all of us living stones ”look like Jesus,” we reflect the love of God. If you believe in Jesus you will be Christ-like.

There will be times when we become disappointed with God, when it seems that prayers are not being answered, when things look bleak. It is especially during such times that we look not at the things that are seen, but we look with faith at the things that are unseen, at the cross and at the faithfulness of God. No matter what it looks like now, in the end you will not be confounded or disappointed.

1 Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

God makes two promises: one, that we will be built up into a spiritual house, the invisible Church on earth; and two, that this House, and the living stones in it, will be a holy priesthood, making spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.

When we are baptized and come to faith in Christ we become a living stone that is placed by God in the spiritual house of believers. We have a function and a role in the Body of Christ according to our gifts and calling. The promise for each believer is that he/she is a part something big and eternal, and that there is a purpose and a role for each life in Christ. Life has meaning.

Secondly, we will be priests in the priesthood of all believers. A priest is a person who presents people to God and represents them to Him. The priests of the priesthood of all believers make spiritual sacrifices for the good of other people. We sacrifice our time, money, and effort to pray for others, to act kindly to all, and to witness to others.

Called and functioning as priests, we fulfill the promise of Jesus to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. ”You are salt…you are light.” This is not a command; it is a promise. Whether we always see it or not, Christians make a difference in the world and are an influence for good. Enjoy the promise of being a living stone and a priest.