1 Peter 1:20
20 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you
He was chosen by God before the world began for the purpose of giving His life for us; and He appeared in these last days at just the right time to carry it out.
1 Peter 1:18-19
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
In our evaluation of things, seeing what value Christ put on us, that He gave His very life-blood for us (His precious blood; unblemished), this may influence your conduct.
1 Peter 1:3
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Here Peter exhorts believers to bless, or to praise (NIV version) God for His great mercy, a mercy that has reached down in love and forgiveness, to give us new birth (to be a new creature in Christ, 2 Cor. 5:17). In this new birth we have a “living hope.’ This is a hope in what we will receive in our glorification at the Rapture—when we see Him in His glory (1 Jn. 3:2). This living hope is “through” the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; that is, His resurrection gives us hope in our resurrection; hence, it makes our faith valid (1 Cor.15:17). Likewise, because He is resurrected to life, we also will live in a resurrected body (Jn. 11:25, 26).
1 Peter 1:2
2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.
Here in verse two, Peter introduces these alien recipients as people who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. This means that God predetermined their salvation; and He did it by the sanctifying work of His Spirit, by which He made them holy (justified and righteous by His blood). But in addition to their justification, they were chosen to daily obey Jesus Christ by faith (Rom. 1:5), and also, to obtain a daily cleaning from sin, which Peter calls here to be “sprinkled with His blood.” This daily cleansing may be accomplished by a regular confession of sins, with the promise of His forgiveness and cleansing (1 Jn. 1:9), and by our understanding, in our faith, that the Lord automatically and continually forgives and cleanses His own (1 Jn. 1:7).
And so, according to what God has declare to us, we may have, and are welcome to have, a full measure of God’s grace and peace.
The return of Jesus Christ, His visible appearing and what He does, is the climax of Armageddon and of the Tribulation. It is the victory for believers, and the awaited, deserving punishment for unbelievers. Since there is so many important things to cover in this section, we will be careful to study all of the essential Scriptures that pertain to this topic (Matt. 24:29-31; Rev. 19:11-16; 14:14-20; Zech. 12:2-14; 14:3-15; Matt. 16:27, 25:31, 26:64, Rev. 1:7, and 16:15).
Christ’s Appearing
It will be just as the Tribulation ends, when all the world is dark and when the powers of the heavens have been shaking the earth (Matt. 24:29; Zech. 14:6) that He suddenly appears. Though the lights in the world have gone out, the heavens will open (Rev. 19:11) and He will appear as bright as the sun; and every eye will see Him (Rev. 1:7). He will come with glorious clouds of heaven; not with earthly clouds, but with heavenly clouds of glory that blaze with magnificent heavenly light (Rev. 1:7). Perhaps this will be the same glory clouds, or the shekinah glory, written about in the Old Testament that led the Israelites through the wilderness (Ex. 13:21; 14:19-20). Nonetheless, He will come triumphantly, in His brilliance, riding on a white horse, and the armies of heaven, clothed in fine linen, will follow Him on white horses (Rev. 19:11, 14).
The physical sight of Him will definitely be glorious and magnificent; yet, when we see Him, I think He will also bring to the world a spiritual and emotional awareness of His nature and purpose. The apostle John perceived these things about Him. In Revelation 19:11-16 John wrote,
And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name Is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
We know that John knew Jesus well. He was the disciple that loved Him. More than any of the others, he knew Him. However, I think in His vision of Him (from this passage) God revealed more about Him—things that will also be revealed to us and to those on the earth at that time when they see Him. What I mean is that when He comes, we will be able to sense more about Him—that He is “Faithful and True;” and that He comes in righteousness to judge and wage war. And I wonder if we will see His eyes, that they will actually be “a flame of fire.” And we will see His glorious kingship, that He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Now I think that some things in this passage are symbolic, such as that “He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood.” But certainly, we will be able to perceive that He is the One who has been fighting many battles for us; and that He has shed His blood for us. Surely, all eyes will see that at the time of His coming He comes with the fierce wrath of God against the enemy; and He comes with a sharp sword—literally, and figuratively (which is the Word of God) to strike down every foe.
This is our thirty-sixth study. Please click HERE for an introduction to this study.
John 9:39-41
39 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
Observations
In these verses I think a better translation of verse 39 is… “so that the blind will see and those who think they see will become blind.” (will be humbled). Of course, the Pharisees were offended by this because they believed that they could see (understand) the Scriptures just fine; but they were spiritually blind.
When Jesus said to them, “If you were blind you would not be guilty of sin,” He meant that if they were physically blind and could not read the Scriptures, they would not be guilty, because they would have an excuse; but they were guilty because they were fully capable of reading and understanding the Scriptures. They had no excuse.
Application
If you can read and have a good understanding mind, you should do all we you to obey His word. And be always listening to Him for more insight.
I have read the book before—a while ago. Now I’m reading it again, this time more carefully. I may give a series of blog posts on it, hoping to inspire some of you. Parts of it are gory, but I would focus more on the strength and boldness of the precious martyrs who loved the Lord. They were all so willing and even joyous in their suffering and death, as cruel as it was.
I will start with what happened after the crucifixion of Christ. According to the research of John Fox in 1516, Pontius Pilate was so moved by Christ that he may have become a Christian and tried to convert the whole Roman senate. But Tiberius Caesar would have none of it, and, as Foxe points out, almost all the senators were destroyed and the whole city of Rome was “most horribly afflicted” for almost three hundred years. As for Pilate, he was “sent to Rome, deposed, then banished to the town of Vienne in Dauphiny, and at length did slay himself.”
So, as it appears, Christ was the first of the martyrs. It was his death that so stirred up all of Rome either to believe and not to believe. But it was the evil emperors that were so full of the devil that started the flames of persecution and martyrdom. After Tiberius it was Caligula, Claudius Nero and Domitius Nero who began the reign of terror on the Christians.
Cuomo
I am excited to hear that a woman has come forward and filed a criminal complaint against Gov. Cuomo for groping her. It’s the best thing for all—for New York, for the country, for this woman, and also for Gov. Cuomo. Confessing the truth is always best, and even though Cuomo will probably not confess and agree with the charge, his conviction and possible arrest and demotion will be a great victory for the side of good.
Masks and Shots
I am generally not in favor of masks and vaccines. I think hydroxychloroquine is a much better idea, and there are some other very good drugs out there too. But nonetheless, I’m trying not to get too bent out of shape over the whole mask and vaccine thing. There are some who really fight it, but I guess I’m just not that type. I tend to just let things happen and go with the flow. I know we need warriors who will fight for our rights and freedoms; but for me, I’m not sure its all that important. There are so many other things that are worth fighting for, but shots and masks are not on my list. Except maybe for the kids. Your kids should not be forced to wear masks. That’s ridiculous and not necessary. They are not that apt to get covid. I can’t imagine kids having to sit all day in a classroom with a mask on. I am all for what Gov. Desantis of Florida is doing.
Mask and Vaccination Mandates: An indication of Jesus’ Coming
I hate wearing the mask and dread doing it again—I am waiting for it. But I consider it my Christian duty to suffer through it without complaining. I do think that the evil forces in this world are using this whole thing for evil purposes—to condition people to fall in line with the dictator—who will eventually be the Antichrist. It is coming! Until that time I sit and wait for His coming. And the worse things get, I will take it as an indication and a reminder that time is short and His coming is soon. He is our blessed hope.
The verse we are following today is Matthew 7:12:
Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
There are certainly tragic results of mistreatment on both sides: others mistreating me, as well as my mistreatment of others. And that mistreatment affects not only the one being mistreated, but also the one who is causing the mistreatment.
For this post today, I want to write on how others, as well as myself, have been mistreated. I will start with myself. I couldn’t have been more than seven years old, first grade. My dad had helped me make a boat, really an old clipper ship. It was a great project. We carved it out of a four-by-four block of wood, then we gave it three masks made of dowels, we made sails made of white cloth, and then we tied strings all over it—which were to be the ropes holding the sails in place. I was surprised at how good it looked when it was finished. It was the first project I had ever attempted before—even though Dad had done most of it. Nonetheless, I really felt good about it and proud of myself.
But the very next day after it was finished, I discovered that all the strings (the ropes) were cut. Someone had cut all the ships ropes. Who would do such a thing? I was devastated. At the time I didn’t give much thought on who could have done it. Or why. It didn’t matter to me. The only thing that mattered is that my ship was destroyed.
Obviously, whoever did it didn’t stop and think how they would want to be treated and then how they should treat me. They were thinking only of themselves.
Another victim of mistreatment we often think of is the biblical character Joseph. The story is found in Genesis 37:2-36. He was his father’s favorite son, and so he gave him a beautiful coat of many colors. Well, as the story goes, his brothers were extremely jealous of him, and one day they threw him in a pit and left him for dead. How tragic. As we know, God made things work together for good, and Joseph became the great savior of the Jewish nation. But even so, think of all the pain Joseph went through because of those brothers who thought only of themselves.
Another character we could think of is David. He was such a man of God; he had a heart after God’s own heart. Yet think of how he was abused by others. The Psalms are filled with the prayers of David—how he was chased and was fearful of his enemies—those who certainly were not following the Golden Rule.
The ultimate example of mistreatment by others was our Lord Jesus. And we are all guilty. But the Pharisees seemed to be the ones who were after Him the most—to be rid of Him. And Scripture tells us that they handed Him over (to be crucified) “because of envy” (Matt. 27:18). Think of it. Their sin of envy was so strong that it blocked out any thought of how they should treat others.
Of course, they were not believers, and that is the entire problem. The Golden Rule makes no sense to a non-believer. Only true believers will carry it out. And only a true believer can carry it out. If you want to make a huge impact on peoples lives, if you want to really love them as God loves them, give your heart and soul to God and then practice this Golden Rule. I think it is how we can really begin to love others.
This Golden Rule is so simple, yet profound. It is simple because there is only one thing we are required to do—think how I would want to be treated by others and then treat them that way. It is profound because it works. And it starts with us. We start this process of love, and other will pick it up and carry it on.
And when a non-Christian sees how we lovingly treat each other, they will be curious and will want to join us. I think so. I pray so.
This is our sixth study on this topic. Please click HERE for an intro to this study.
Matthew 12:38-4138 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.”
39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.
Observations
In this text we see that the Pharisees wanted to see a sign from Jesus. They of course were already seeing miracles of healing, but they wanted something more spectacular. Evidently, they wanted more proof that He was who He said He was. They wanted a show. This reminds me of what the second end times beast will do, the one called “the false prophet.” In Revelation 13:13-15 it says that he will perform great signs, even make fire come down out of heaven; and he will “give breath to the image of the beast.” He will do these things obviously to win the people over and for an evil purpose.
Jesus knew their heart and would not give them what they wanted, because it would be evil and adulterous (a spiritual adultery, or idolatry). Instead, He gave them a sign from Scripture, the sign (or miracle) of the resurrection. This sign was given in the experience of Jonah: that “as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” This saying was a type of Christ’s interment and resurrection.
Applications
The message that Jesus gave the Pharisees was meant not just as a prophecy of His resurrection, but more as a rebuke for their wanting a sign. He rebuked the Pharisees (v. 14) by telling them that even the wicked people of Nineveh were better (more responsive to God) than they were because the people of Nineveh repented by the preaching of Jonah, but they refused to repent even though one greater than Jonah was there—Jesus Himself.
Stephen Nielsen 