The Word of God Abides Forever
1 Peter 1:21–25
É Speaking about studying the Word, Alan found an amusing cartoon today,
which I think you will enjoy. ItÕs somewhat appropriate as the pastor says,
ÒRecently IÕve had complaints that my sermons were too intellectual. The
following adults are invited to come up for the childrenÕs sermon ...Ó
My second church that I pastored would have
fit that perfectly. I would have named most of the adults.
Opening Prayer
ÒFather, again we express our gratitude to You for all that You have
provided for us. Above all, weÕre thankful for Your Word that is alive and
powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword because it pierces us and exposes
our thinking and enables us to be transformed from those who are following and
walking after the cosmic system, the world system, to those who are trusting in
Christ and living out Your will and operating on the basis of divine viewpoint
and not human viewpoint.
Father, remind us that this is not a study related to a philosophy of
life, although it is that, but it is much more. It is related to our personal
relationship and walk with You that You might be glorified and that we might be
prepared to rule and reign with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Kingdom and
throughout eternity.
We pray this in ChristÕs name. Amen.Ó
Peter is writing this epistle, much like James is, to a group of
Jewish-background believers who are facing the challenges of opposition and
maybe even persecution from those who are around them. They have trusted in
Jesus Christ as Messiah, but the Jewish community, generally, was rejecting
Jesus as Messiah.
Through most of the first century the Christian church was primarily
made up of Jewish-background believers. They are located in what we now know as
Turkey. At that time it was sort of the north central part of what is now
Turkey. He is writing them to encourage them on why you should live today in
light of eternity.
That summarizes this whole epistle. As we get into the study of the main
body, which started in verse 13 [the first twelve verses provide the
introduction], I pointed out that this is wrapped around some imperatives. That
gives us the structure.
The key, as weÕre going to see tonight, that heÕs going to transition to
at the end of this chapter, and it will become a focal point in the next
chapter, is the power of GodÕs Word to strengthen us in the midst of trials and
temptations.
In the verses that weÕre looking at, we have these four commands that
are given. 1 Peter 1:13–14 says to rest your hope fully on the grace
brought to you through objective thinking. The first thing he focuses on to
handle testing (fiery trials) is to focus on hope.
The second thing he says is to set yourselves apart for the service of
God in every area of your lifestyle. That is going to relate to experiential
sanctification. The word ÒsanctificationÓ means to set apart. The same word
group that is translated ÒsanctifyÓ is also translated ÒconsecrateÓ and Òbe
holyÓ.
The way this verse is translated commonly is, Òbe holy for I am holy,Ó but the language of holiness is often
misunderstood, so IÕve translated its meaning here as to be set apart to the
service of God.
That leads to living your life in a certain way, conducting your life in
fearful respect of God. What we see here are several of those spiritual skills
or problem-solving devices.
We see the idea of confession so that we are in right relationship with
the Lord, experientially sanctified, or set apart to His service.
Doctrinal orientation and the Faith-Rest Drill are part of those basic
spiritual skills exhibited in this mandate to conduct your lives in fearful
respect of God.
The problem-solving device of your personal sense of destiny is embodied
in the command to rest your hope fully in the grace brought to you in 1 Peter
1:13–15. Then as we get into more advanced spiritual skills weÕre to love
one another as Christ loved the church.
These are all embodied in this opening section.
When we stopped last time we were looking at the command in 1 Peter
1:22–23, ÒSince you have purified
your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the
brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again,
not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives
and abides forever.Ó
A couple of things you should note so we can understand this. It is a
long sentence in the Greek that begins in verse 22 and goes to the end of the
Isaiah 40 quote in verse 25. ItÕs comprised of two basic components, basically
the foundation and the reason for the command.
The command is given toward the end of verse 22. You have two reasons
given for it.
First of all, because you have purified your souls in obeying the truth
and second, because you have been born again. Those form the foundation and
they are basically two sides of the same coin, as we will see here.
Then in his content he transitions to talking about the Word of God
which lives and abides forever. At that point heÕs going to quote from the Old
Testament, from Isaiah 40:5–8.
ItÕs very important to understand why this is quoted and whatÕs going on
in his thinking. Because even though heÕs addressing these Jewish background
believers in the first century who are facing opposition, all of this applies
just as much to the body of Christ, whether youÕre Jew or Gentile.
It has a special resonance for them as Jewish background believers
because of their knowledge of the Old Testament and their knowledge of their
own history. That is going to be different for Gentiles. One of the things IÕve
noted in studying James and 1 Peter, and especially Hebrews, if yÕall remember
our study of Hebrews, the writers of those three epistles all assumed that
their audience really knows the Old Testament inside and out. It takes a lot
more time to teach those to Gentiles who have a paucity of Old Testament
knowledge.
As we look at this, itÕs important to recognize that the command to love
one another is qualified by two participles. This is where we get into grammar,
but the grammar is really important to expose the thinking of Peter and the
thinking of God the Holy Spirit. The grammar sets up whatÕs important and helps
us to understand the mechanics for our thinking.
WeÕre to love the brethren, but itÕs based on two reasons. Those reasons
are expressed in two participles. The first one has to do with purification at
the beginning of verse 22 and the second has to do with regeneration at the
beginning of verse 23.
TheyÕre both expressed by perfect participles, which mean that these two
participles roughly occur at the same time. ThatÕs important in understanding
the passage.
Peter is saying that since you have purified your souls in obeying the
truth through the Spirit, we have to understand how that relates. ItÕs a
perfect active participle. In the Greek it doesnÕt have an article with it. The
way the participle functions is that if an article is there it is used more
like a noun. If no article is there, itÕs used more like a verb. That means
itÕs adverbial. It modifies the main verb, which is to love in some ways.
It can be a number of different ways, but here it is causal, which means
because something has already happened in the past. ThatÕs the thrust of that
grammar there. It indicates that something has happened and is completed in the
past. ItÕs not talking about something ongoing.
Even though purification and HAGNIZO, the term here for purification, could refer
to those who are being purified in the process of their spiritual life, which
would be talking about confession of sin. Since itÕs talking about a
significant completed action in the past, it has to be talking about positional
sanctification, which is what occurs at the instant we are saved.
We become positionally cleansed. We become positionally pure because we
possess the perfect righteousness of Christ. ItÕs not because we receive an
infusion of righteousness. If you come from a Roman Catholic background, the
idea in Roman Catholicism is that you receive infused grace each time you
participate in the sacraments.
This is totally different. This isnÕt an infusion that changes you in
terms of reducing the sinfulness of your sin nature. It is talking about the
fact that we have been given the righteousness of Christ so that we are
declared righteous and pure. This is not because weÕve done anything or our
nature has changed, or anything like that, but because we have the
righteousness of Christ.
Then weÕre told that this main command at the end of the verse, Òlove one anotherÓ, is an aorist active
imperative. Again this gets into some technicalities in the Greek, but in Greek
grammar the timing of the participle is always in relation to the timing or the
tense of the main verb. Since itÕs an aorist imperative, the action of either a
perfect tense participle or an aorist tense participle means that that action
has to happen before you can fulfill the action of the command.
Again, we canÕt love one another unless first of all we are regenerate.
You canÕt generate this kind of love. ItÕs not something you can reach inside
yourself and pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.
Once again, the important principle we always have to remember is that
the spiritual life is not difficult. ItÕs impossible. The only way we can live
the spiritual life is by walking by the Spirit, letting the Holy Spirit produce
this.
Paul quotes this same idea, talking about loving your neighbor as
yourself in Galatians 5:14. He follows that two verses later by showing how you
do that. You do it by walking by the Holy Spirit. Then he talks about the war
between the Spirit and our flesh, our sin nature.
He talks about the characteristics of the life of a person who is
walking according to the sin nature, the works of the flesh. Then he talks
about the life of the spiritual believer, the believer who is walking by the Spirit.
He lists a number of characteristics, identified as the fruit of the Spirit.
WhatÕs the first characteristic? The first characteristic isnÕt sleep.
The first characteristic is love. The fruit of the Spirit is first of all love.
Then joy. Then peace. Love is the foremost.
We know that loving one another isnÕt something you can generate because
we can each look around or think mentally about people in our lives, in our
families, or people we work with, and apart from the grace of God and the power
of the Holy Spirit, weÕre never going to generate any love for them.
Think about that person in your life that has a political belief and
persuasion which is 180 degrees opposite yours.
And God says, ÒLove them as Christ loved the church.Ó
Okay, IÕve made my point. You canÕt do it on your own. None of us can.
We have to have the energizing power of God the Holy Spirit. So the command is
to love one another because weÕve purified our souls.
We recognize that this has to be done only through the Word of God. ItÕs
the Spirit of God and the Word of God that sanctify us. In John 17:17 weÕre
sanctified by truth.
Jesus repeats this concept both in John 17:17 and John 17:19. We know
this already so we know doctrinally that if Peter is going to be talking about
being able to live a sanctified life, heÕs not talking about Òwalking an aisleÓ
or having a moment of dedication or rededication. HeÕs not talking about some
sort of spiritual experience, which is what you get in many denominations.
ThereÕs a failure to understand the role of God the Holy Spirit and the
role of the Word of God. ItÕs the Word of God and the Holy Spirit that enable
us to live a set-apart life. Other than that it canÕt happen.
So Peter says that based on what has happened at salvation in terms of
being purified in our souls, we have to ask this question which IÕve already
answered. Is the purification a positional purification or experiential?
The answer is going to be that because of the fact of the participle,
verse 22, and the participle in verse 23 are both perfect tenses, which it
indicates it must be positional because it happens before the command of the
Word.
Even though the Scripture talks about this experiential cleansing in
James 4:8 and 1 John 3:3, using the same word, the perfect tense indicates past
completed action. ThatÕs important because heÕs reminding these believers, just
like me, just like you, who are going through opposition, going through
testing, and going through trials, that the way you get through it is by
focusing on what we have in Christ, what has already been provided for us, what
is ours positionally, and then living in light of that.
Paul does the same thing over in Romans 6:11 where he says, ÒReckon yourselves [consider yourselves]
dead to sin.Ó Positionally we die to
sin at the moment of faith alone in Christ alone.
So to love one another, we recognize that in order to do this, first of
all, there had to be this purification, this cleansing that occurred
positionally, making us a new creature in Christ.
John 13:34, Jesus says, ÒA new
commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved
you.Ó That is the prime directive for the spiritual life.
ItÕs not something that starts the day you are regenerate. I want to
bring this out in just a minute. ItÕs not something that starts as a baby
believer.
When you were a year old you really didnÕt love your parents. When you
were four or five you began to love them like a four or five year old. When you
get a little older you know and understand more about them. You have developed
a personal relationship with your parents. You love them in a more mature way.
When you get past your 20s, you begin to love them in an even more
mature way.
Loving one another is a growth process. ItÕs not something that happens
instantaneously, but it is the goal of the spiritual life.
IÕve said that because this is exactly what the grammar of the text
indicates. ÒBecause you have purified
your souls by obeying the truth [instrumental, the truth of the gospel, to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ] through
the Spirit ÉÓ He is the One who enables us to be regenerate. He is the
divine power that regenerates us.
We know this from passages like Titus 3:5 which says, ÒitÕs not by works of righteousness which we
have done.Ó It doesnÕt have anything to do with what we do or think. It has
to do with what we believe.
ÒNot by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by
the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit.Ó
So those two concepts: the washing of regeneration and the renewal by
the Holy Spirit, are connected. The Holy Spirit renews us and gives us new life
by cleansing us at the moment of salvation. That becomes our personal cleansing
and personal purification.
This text says that when we obeyed the truth through the Spirit, we were
purified. ThatÕs the same concept we have in Titus 3:5, and then it goes on to
say Òin sincere love of the brethrenÓ.
On the slide [14] you see on the left that this box represents the preposition
that is translated ÒinÓ in the New King James Version. ItÕs the Greek
preposition EIS, which expresses a direction or a goal.
We are purified through the Spirit toward the direction of expressing
the ultimate goal of a mature Christian toward the goal of a sincere love of
the brethren.
WeÕll talk about what that word ÒsincereÓ means in just a minute. It
means a love that is free from pretense or deceit. It has integrity. The only
way it can have integrity is if itÕs grounded in the integrity of God, the
character of God, His righteousness and His justice.
What Peter is saying here is that they are to love one another. ThatÕs
the command. The background is understanding what happened to you when you were
saved. We call that doctrine ÒPositional TruthÓ.
ThatÕs a nice label, but sometimes when we use these labels; it goes
over peoplesÕ heads. What it means is that you were identified with Christ in
His death, burial, and resurrection. You became a new creature in Christ and
part of what happened is you were cleansed and renewed completely. You were
made alive together in Him so that now you can move toward the goal of loving
the brethren.
The Greek word thatÕs translated Òloving the brethrenÓ is the word PHILADELPHIA,
the same Greek word for the city that we have here and a city that was in Asia
Minor in the ancient world. It means that this is a love that is expressed
toward other believers.
It is the compound word of PHILOS, which is the noun form of PHILEO,
which is the verb form, and ADELPHOS, which is the word for brother. ItÕs directed
toward someone else in the body of Christ.
WhatÕs interesting is that it doesnÕt say AGAPAO. ItÕs a compound
based on PHILEO. The difference here, and sometimes these words overlap and theyÕre
almost synonymous. The verb that Jesus used when He said to love one another is
AGAPAO.
When you look at how PHILEO is used in the New Testament, it is the only
word that expresses GodÕs love only to believers. God does not PHILEO
unbelievers. God has AGAPAO toward unbelievers, but He doesnÕt have PHILEO toward unbelievers.
You look at Revelation 3:20. ThatÕs a very famous verse that says, ÒBehold I stand at the door and knock;Ó if
anyone lets me in, ÒI will come in and
sup with him.Ó This is not a picture of salvation. A lot of Christians mess
it up. It doesnÕt have anything to do with getting saved and justified. HeÕs
talking to Christians. Christ is knocking at the door of the church wanting to
come in to have fellowship with them, not to save them. TheyÕre already saved.
Right before that (verse 19), it talks about the fact that He loves
them. The word used for love there is PHILEO, not AGAPAO, which means HeÕs not talking about
unbelievers. God does not have a PHILEO type love towards unbelievers.
Here I think that love of the brethren is expressed more in terms of PHILEO. That
compound word here is that itÕs emphasizing that itÕs within the body. It
emphasizes itÕs a more intimate love thatÕs within the body. AGAPAO
would have a slightly different nuance. IÕm really slicing the baloney kind of
thin here.
ItÕs still expressive. It isnÕt just sitting across the room and saying,
ÒI donÕt really like that person. IÕm just going to love them from afar.Ó
The classic illustration of the kind of love weÕre to show is the parable
of the Good Samaritan. It involves a person that doesnÕt know the person who
has been beaten up and robbed on the road at all, which is the impersonal love
aspect. It also involves action.
Jesus tells the story about a Jew who has left Jerusalem and is headed
home. ThatÕs why heÕs on the road and walking through Samaria. If he had come
down that way, he would have been unclean when he got to the Temple so he could
go home that way because heÕs done at the Temple.
HeÕs on his way home. He gets waylaid. He gets ambushed. He gets beaten
up and robbed and left for dead. The Jews hated the Samaritans. TheyÕre
unclean. They were considered to be a mixed-breed people. They werenÕt pure
Jewish blood so they, the Pharisees especially, just despised the Samaritans.
So this Samaritan comes along. And even though the person who is on the
ground despises him he picks him up and cleans his wounds. He takes him to an
inn and makes sure that he is taken care of. So impersonal love doesnÕt mean he
doesnÕt get involved or take initiative to do the right thing and the good
thing for the object of love. Even if itÕs not a person you really want to
spend time with. Even if itÕs not a person you like. Even if it is a person
youÕd rather love from a long, long distance.
LetÕs just put that whole idea that we can love someone from afar to
bed. That is a misrepresentation of this kind of love. It is a love where you
get involved in someone elseÕs life that you donÕt want to be involved in and
to help them. It doesnÕt mean you have to make them your best friend.
You donÕt even have to friend them on Facebook.
But you are going to treat them not only in goodness, but itÕs having an
objective and even an aggressive involvement in their life to help them when
theyÕre in distress and to demonstrate the same kind of love God had for those
who were at enmity with Him when He sent His Son to die on the cross for them.
This is the love of the brethren, and then he says to love them
fervently. IÕm not sure thatÕs a good way to translate it. ItÕs the Greek word EKTENOS.
ItÕs an adverb and it indicates more the idea of constancy. Again, this word
wipes out the idea of a passive loving of the brethren. It is consistent. It is
constant. It is day-in and day-out. ItÕs intentional. ItÕs focused. ItÕs
continual and itÕs purposeful.
This is not something youÕre going to generate from your nasty little
sin nature. Your flesh canÕt do that. Only if youÕre walking by the Spirit can
you demonstrate this kind of love. ItÕs impossible for any of us to do this in
the flesh. We can only do this when weÕre walking by the Spirit.
This is a sincere love, which is the idea of being free from pretense or
deceit. We canÕt fake it. WeÕre not trying to fake it. You canÕt fake the kind
of love Jesus is talking about in John 13. ItÕs through the Spirit toward a deceitless, or free from pretense type of love for other
believers. WeÕre to love one another constantly, consistently, with a KATHAROS,
with a pure heart. That indicates again a cleansing from sin.
WeÕre walking by the Spirit. WeÕre in right relationship with the Lord.
When we look at this, what heÕs saying is that one characteristic of any
group of believers, any church, any Christian group, is this constant love for
one another. On another note, what weÕve seen in this section is that Peter has
talked about faith, which we saw back in the previous section, where he talks
about faith and he talks about love and he talks about hope.
These are the same things that Paul talks about at the end of 1
Corinthians 13:13 saying that in this Church Age, after the apostolic period,
what continues is faith, hope, and love. That summarizes the Christian life.
Now we go to the next verse, itÕs a continuation of the same thought.
Remember the command is to love one another. HeÕs going to express another
reason or basis for that command and that is through this participle, which is
translated to be born again, ANAGENNAO. GENNAO is the basic verb for
ÒbirthÓ. ANA is a preposition, a prefix for ÒagainÓ. Again itÕs a perfect, passive
participle.
The perfect tense means itÕs a past-completed action. ItÕs not going on
now. ItÕs not something that began in the past and continues. It began in the
past and the results continue. ItÕs not a process. ItÕs something that
happened. ItÕs over with but the results continue into the present. ÒHaving been regenerated ÉÓ
Then he uses a couple of his favorite words, which we have already seen
in 1 Peter. He uses these words ÒcorruptibleÓ and Òincorruptible.Ó APHTHARTOS is
the word for imperishable or incorruptible. It begins with that first letter
ÒAÓ, which in the Greek is a negative. The root is what you see in the other
one. ItÕs PHTHARATOS, meaning something perishable or corruptible.
Peter has already used these terms. He talked about our inheritance as
being imperishable in 1 Peter 1:4. Later on he will talk about women who have
imperishable qualities, such as a gentle and quiet spirit. WeÕll get to that
eventually.
On the other hand he says that believers are redeemed with ChristÕs precious
blood. WeÕre not redeemed with perishable or corruptible things such as silver
or gold. Peter uses these words several times. He likes contrasting this idea
and it fits with something heÕs going to get to in a minute and thatÕs the
failure of grass and flowers that fade versus the eternal value of GodÕs Word.
Again, the words arenÕt used there but itÕs the same idea of that which
continues and glorifies God, which is imperishable, versus all the details of
life, which are perishable and corruptible.
He says that because we have been born again and itÕs not from
corruptible seed but incorruptible, that is, human beings are born through a
mortal seed that is destructible. You can destroy it. You can kill it. It ends.
Mortal life ends, but this is a seed which is incorruptible. It cannot be
destroyed. It cannot be killed. It is something that is going to go on forever.
A question is, what is the nature of this seed? ItÕs seen in the next
clause, it is through the Word of God. The Word of God lives and abides
forever. That means itÕs incorruptible. ItÕs imperishable. So that makes it
clear that the seed is the gospel. ItÕs the word of the message of God.
ItÕs the same thing we see in the parable of the sower
in Matthew 13. The sower comes along and he casts his
seed. As Jesus explains the parable, He says the seed is the message of the
Kingdom.
When we look at the phrase here Òthe word of GodÓ, weÕre talking
specifically about the divine message related to the gospel. Our whole context
here is talking about the process of regeneration. It is through the Spirit, we
are purified by obeying the truth through the Spirit toward the sincere love of
the brethren.
What he says in 1 Peter 1:23 is that this is also done through the Word
of God. ItÕs a different preposition used there. ItÕs the preposition EK,
which means from the source of, but EK and DIA (for through) are often synonymous, either
indicating instrumentality or means.
What we see again is this emphasis on the Spirit of God plus the Word of
God. You donÕt have the Word of God operating apart from the Spirit of God, or
the Spirit of God operating apart from the Word of God. It takes us back to
what I said about Titus 3:5 that it is through the washing of regeneration and
the renewal of the Holy Spirit, but it happens through the Word, the message of
God, the message of the gospel.
This becomes the focal point as he is shifting. We see a number of
places in the Scripture where the message is used for the Word of God. The word
thatÕs used here in the Greek for ÒwordÓ is LOGOS, which is also the
title given to Jesus by John, the apostle John, in the first chapter of John.
John 1:1–4, ÒIn the beginning was
the Word [the LOGOS] and the Word was with God and
the Word was God.Ó
That is referring to the Living Word of God. LOGOS is also used a
number of times to refer to the Written Word of God, or the message of God, the
message of the gospel.
Here are some related passages. IÕve just put three on the slide, but
thereÕs a list at the bottom. In Ephesians 1:13 Paul says, ÒIn Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel
ÉÓ The message of truth. When the gospel was proclaimed to them, they
responded.
Philippians 2:16, ÒHolding fast
the message of life ÉÓ We often get into these routines where we always
translate LOGOS with ÒwordÓ when a lot of times it can be ÒmessageÓ. When you look at
the word LOGOS, it has a wide range of nuances. ÒHolding
fast the message of life ÉÓ
In Colossians 1:5 Paul says, ÒBecause
of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in
the message of the truth of the gospel.Ó Again itÕs talking about the
message that if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you will be saved.
ThatÕs our hope. Without Christ we donÕt know what our future is. We
donÕt know what our destiny is. WeÕre bound up in a life based on [if we care],
a life based on religion where weÕre trying to work our way to Heaven. Whether
youÕre talking about Pharisaical Judaism and Rabbinical Judaism of the 2nd
Temple period, as it became during the life of Christ, or whether youÕre
talking about the Rabbinical Judaism as it developed through the Middle Ages
and on into modern times, or whether youÕre talking about Mormonism or
JehovahÕs Witnesses, or far Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Confucianism
or Hinduism, all of these various world religions, and even a number of
philosophies like Manichaeism, which was kind of philosophical and also
religious, or the various philosophies that came out of the Greeks or their
mystery religions, everything is based on works.
Somehow you have to do something to get the goodness of God in your
corner. The Bible contrasts itself with that so thereÕs nothing we can do. ItÕs
all God who does it. Man is incapable of doing anything to please God. We canÕt
generate enough righteousness.
This is why Isaiah says in Isaiah 64:6 that Òall of our works of righteousness are as filthy rags.Ó We canÕt
generate it. We canÕt do enough tzedakah to ever
please God. So itÕs that message of the truth that gives us life. It is faith
alone in Christ alone.
So Peter goes on to say that this Word of God is characterized by two
things. Again he has two participles. This is a lesson in participial grammar
tonight. He has two participles. Again they are adjectival, so theyÕre
translated like nouns, relative clauses in the New King James. ÒThe word of God which lives and abides
forever.Ó
Without an article present, they should be translated more like a
gerund, Òthe word of God that is living
and abiding.Ó Or through the Òliving
and abiding Word of GodÓ as I translated it there in brackets. The Word of
God is living. Hebrews 4:12, ÒThe Word of
God is alive, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even
to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and the
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.Ó
It is alive! Here it also abides. It continues. It is never going to
stop being alive and powerful.
Then we get into a quotation. We have to understand sort of the dynamics
of whatÕs going on here. Based on what weÕve read in 1 Peter 1:22–23,
weÕre commanded to love one another. How in the world are we going to do that?
The reason for it is to understand what happened at salvation, at
regeneration. WeÕre purified and weÕre cleansed, and weÕre given a new life and
itÕs because of that new life from this imperishable seed that weÕre going to
be able to move forward and love one another.
This imperishable, non-destructive seed is defined as the Word of God. ItÕs
given us a new spiritual life and itÕs our responsibility to push forward in
terms of that, on the basis of understanding that imperishable seed which is
the Word of God.
What Peter is doing here is thatÕs heÕs going to contrast the quality of
life that we should have as Christians, with the temporal quality of the things
around us. We can watch it right now. IÕve driven into the area around Houston
two or three times in the last couple of weeks. I donÕt remember a middle of
June or the end of June where itÕs been so green everywhere.
ItÕs green everywhere. Usually itÕs starting to get brown by this time,
but itÕs really green. Everything you look at is green, but if the grass grows
(and it stops raining for more than three or four days) it will turn brown. It
will begin to dry up and wither, and sooner or later when we get into late July
or August, weÕre going to see this.
ThatÕs what happens every year. The flowers that we see are going to
wilt and the flowers are going to fall off the stem and be destroyed.
Everything in our life gets destroyed. You just think about the people you know
and once you get past a certain age and those health problems begin to set in
as they get to those last few years or few months of their life, all the things
that they spent their life invested in, to build and develop and to grow, fades
in importance.
A lot of folks as they get to that period when theyÕre over sixty begin
to realize that itÕs not going to be long. Are we really prepared for the end
game? The end game isnÕt the last few weeks or years, or our retirement in this
life. The end game is what happens after we die.
ThatÕs what Peter is talking about here. Everything weÕre invested in in terms of the details of life is summarized through this
metaphor of grass and the flowers and how that is temporal and will fall apart.
The Word of God is what goes on forever.
ThereÕs a contrast between the perishable seed that ends up in something
which weÕve just destroyed, versus that which has ongoing glory and that lasts
forever. To do that he takes us back to the core and foundation for everything,
which is the Word of God, the truth about who God is, who you and I are, who
human beings are and what God has for us.
To do that heÕs going to take this quote from Isaiah 40:5–8 and he
is going to apply that. LetÕs think just a minute about what is taking place
here in Isaiah 40. What I want to do is have you turn in your Bible to Isaiah
40 and weÕre going to think about this broad context.
Isaiah 40 is a significant chapter in Isaiah. The book of Isaiah is
understood to be broken into two or three sections. The first section that
everyone agrees on is the first thirty-nine chapters. Then forty to sixty-six
represents the second half. Some people come in and break it up a little
differently, but generally those are the two categories which we see here.
In Isaiah one through thirty-nine heÕs really addressing his
contemporaries and telling them what is going to happen. In those chapters he
describes the coming judgments, not only on Israel, but also on Babylon, on
Edom, on Moab, on Assyria, and gives a look at the end times.
In Isaiah 40 he shifts his attention and heÕs really writing not for his
contemporaries, which is in the 8th century BC, but he is writing
to those who will be part of the Babylon captivity. HeÕs writing to those who
are in exile from Israel. They are those that are either taken into captivity
as young people into Babylon or their descendants. It is a message of comfort.
What weÕre reminded of in Isaiah forty through sixty-six is that God has
given them grace as He has every one of us before thereÕs divine discipline.
HeÕs going to give them grace during the divine discipline. And HeÕs going to
give them grace after the divine discipline.
TheyÕre coming to a time frame when they are nearing the end of the
divine discipline on Israel. It is a time frame close to 538 BC
when they will be restored to the land. The message shifts. ItÕs a message that
focuses on how God is going to comfort them when He takes them back to the
land.
The backdrop is the hypothetical, if youÕre obedient, if you fulfill the
covenant, then I am going to bring in the Kingdom and fulfill all the promises
I made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
This is that message of hope. That message of hope comes at a time when
theyÕre out of the land, when theyÕve gone through persecution, and theyÕve
gone through extreme testing. God is going to bring their focus back on Him.
The parallel is interesting in terms of Peter. Those to whom Peter is
addressing, they are in the Diaspora. They havenÕt returned back as Jews, but
beyond that they have become Jewish believers in Messiah. They are Jewish
Christians. They are facing opposition.
There are a lot of similarities between what they are facing in their
lives in the Diaspora and what the Jews at the time of the Babylonian captivity
were facing. The message for both is that even though you are going through all
this testing and opposition, there is still hope and God is still the One in
control.
If you respond in obedience to Him, then God is going to bless you, even
in the midst of adversity. This will accrue to GodÕs glory and will benefit you
in eternity.
ThatÕs the larger context here. God is telling them to focus on His
future redemption for His people, just as He would tell us as Christians to
remember that eventually Jesus is going to come back, weÕre going to be
raptured, and weÕll be taken. ThereÕs going to be a distribution at the
Judgment Seat of Christ of rewards.
Eventually when He returns at the 2nd Coming weÕll be with
Him, and we will rule and reign with Him in His Kingdom.
These themes that we find in Isaiah 40 are the same themes that we find
in 1 Peter.
Isaiah 40 begins in the first two verses with the key message. ItÕs
focused right at the beginning. God says to Isaiah the prophet, Ò ÔComfort, yes, comfort my people,Õ says
your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her, that her warfare has
ended, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received from the LordÕs hand
double for all her sins.Ó
What we have to understand here is that biblically the message of
comfort is not a message of handholding. ItÕs not a message of finding your
safe space. ItÕs not a message of giving people a hug.
None of those things are wrong, but thatÕs not the biblical message of
comfort. We look at 1 Thessalonians 4 and Paul is concerned about comforting
the Thessalonians because theyÕre very concerned about the fact that their
loved ones have died. They thought Jesus was going to come back before anyone
died.
TheyÕre dying and theyÕre upset and they want to know whatÕs happening.
He explains whatÕs going to happen, that there are those who are going to sleep
in Jesus. ThatÕs a euphemism for physical death before Jesus returns. Then when
Jesus returns, Òthe dead in Christ will
rise first and then those who are alive and remain will be caught up together
with Him in the clouds and thus, we will all be with the Lord forever.Ó
At the end Paul says, ÒComfort one
another with these words.Ó So ÒcomfortÓ in the Bible is not based on
feel-good sentimentality, hugs, and all these other things. ItÕs based on the
content of truth. Help people understand what is really going on in life and
that will comfort them with reality.
ThatÕs the same thing that we see here. Isaiah is told to comfort My
people. How? Go give them a group hug? No, thatÕs not what he says. ÒSpeak comfort [truth] to Jerusalem. Cry out
to her.Ó
WhatÕs the message? Your warfare is ended. You were under siege by the
Babylonians. They destroyed Jerusalem. They destroyed the Temple. All of that
ended. You were taken into captivity. As a result of that and the judgment,
your iniquity is pardoned, that is, the temporal discipline for disobedience
has been dealt with and that Israel had received double for all her sins.
God brought down the roof on them and judged them.
Then youÕre to cry out. ItÕs a new voice starting in Isaiah 40:3. YouÕre
to give a new message, a message relating to someone coming in the future. Now
these verses are taken and fulfilled in John the Baptist, who was Òthe voice of one crying in the wilderness
to prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert a highway for our
God.Ó
The message is that God is coming! ThatÕs the message of hope. YouÕve
gone through all of this horror, all this suffering, and all this difficulty
day-in and day-out. That comes in a lot of different ways in peopleÕs lives. It
can come through crises of health. It can come through financial crises. It can
come through crises in relationship and family, all kinds of ways.
The reality is this life is going to end. WeÕre going to forget about
it. God is coming.
So ÒPrepare the way of the Lord;
Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.Ó
Then Isaiah 40:4, ÒEvery valley
shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low.Ó Notice, how many
valleys? Every valley. How many mountains? Every mountain.
ÒThe crooked places shall be
made straight and the rough places smooth.Ó
This is just a poetic way to say that God is going to bring judgment for
everyone. Justice will finally prevail and He is going to level things out. He
is going to take care of those who are crooked and take care of all the trauma
and the adversity. His glory will be revealed.
ItÕs universal. It is to everyone. Everyone is going to see the glory of
the Lord. ÒAll flesh will see it
together.Ó Not just believers. This isnÕt just talking about the Rapture.
This is talking about Israel. ItÕs talking about the entire world at the time
Jesus, the Messiah, returns at the end of the Tribulation.
ÒAll flesh will see it
together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. The voice said, ÔCry out.Õ And he said,
ÔWhat shall I cry?Õ Ó
In context what is happening is that this introduces this last section
of Isaiah, which focuses on the realization of the literal geo-political
kingdom of Israel on this earth. This is going to be the time when the Messiah
comes in fulfillment of the Abrahamic, Davidic, and New Covenants. Israel is
going to be back in the land in fulfillment of the land covenant.
God is going to establish His Kingdom where He is going to roll back the
curse. ItÕs going to be a time of almost 100% perfection on this earth. The
problem is, those who are born during this time are still going to have sin
natures and thatÕs going to lead to a moderate amount of difficulty and
suffering as a result of this.
When we look at this and why Peter is going here, for IÕve taken us up
right to the brink of this quotation, what weÕre going to see is that Peter
recognizes and identifies for us that the Word of God that Isaiah is talking
about, the message thatÕs going to come to those at the time of the Babylonian
captivity, that this message is one of permanence.
Isaiah is introducing these promises that are going to be true. They are
not based on what Israel or anyone else earns or deserves. They are without
price.
Isaiah 55:1 says, ÒHo! Everyone
who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.Ó Salvation
has no price tag. You canÕt buy it. This is grace. YouÕre given it from the
Lord, so grace means that God does all of the work. We donÕt do anything. We
simply accept it as a free gift.
What happens in religion? All the religions of the world, all the
philosophical systems, say that people have to do something in order to have
eternal blessing and eternal happiness. ItÕs all based on human effort.
Because human effort fails, because the root has been destroyed, the
root has been corrupted, and everything that we do is the fruit of a poisoned
tree. Everything we do is corrupted because of that root in Adam. The only way
we can have a new life is if God does it. ThatÕs why Christianity emphasizes
faith alone in Christ alone.
What happens as we look at this passage is that the Lord says to cry out
and Isaiah asks what shall I cry? This is the message, ÒAll flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the
field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows
upon it.Ó
ThatÕs judgment. The reason the world is corrupt is because of GodÕs
judgment on sin. He goes on to say, ÒSurely
the people are grass.Ó TheyÕre the same way. TheyÕre going to dry up and
blow away. ThereÕs no permanence with people. Then he concludes, ÒThe grass withers, the flower fades, but
the Word of our God stands forever.Ó
WhatÕs interesting is that I ran across this quote by Edward Selwyn in
his commentary of 1 Peter. Many people think this is one of the finest
commentaries on the Greek text in the English language. He says when heÕs
commenting on this passage in 1 Peter 1, ÒEvery leading thought here [in Isaiah
40] fits in with what our author [of 1 Peter] has been saying. He, too, is
addressing readers who are exiled É and oppressed; and he has the same message
for them, the contrast between the perishability of
all mortal things and the incorruptibility of the Christian inheritance and
hope. É The passage quoted [Isaiah 40:5–8] is therefore the focal point
of a much longer passage, which must have been often present in the ApostleÕs
mind.Ó
That last statement is extremely perceptive. One of the things IÕve
brought out many times recently is that the Jewish people in the 1st
century were well educated in the Scriptures. Many of them knew all of the Old
Testament by heart. They had memorized it. Certainly the religious leaders did,
the scribes, the Pharisees, had all of the Old Testament memorized. When you
talked about a verse, when Jesus cries out from Psalm 22, ÒMy God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?Ó He probably recited the
entire Psalm. They didnÕt have chapters and verses at that time.
They would just quote part of it and assume that everyone else would
bring to their mind all of the context and information and doctrine that was in
that particular quotation. ThatÕs what Selwyn is saying here: that this
passage, even though it is only verses 5 through 8 that are quoted, Peter has
the whole context in his mind.
HeÕs thinking about all of the circumstances that surround Isaiah 40 and
what Peter is saying. We donÕt have time to go through all of it, but basically
what is going on here is summed up in the Latin phrase sic transit gloria mundi.
The first time I heard that I was watching a film in 1970. Most of you
saw the same film. It was Patton. IÕm
not sure what George C. Scott said as Patton, or if this quote was originally
written and stated by Patton. He was quite a prolific writer and I remember
Pastor Thieme used to give me all kinds of books on
military history when I was in college.
He gave me the Patton Papers,
two volumes. I loved reading them. That was very important, but at least the
character of Patton in the film made this statement. He said, ÒFor over a
thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of a
triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeters, musicians, and
strange animals from conquered territories, together with carts laden with
treasures and captured armaments.
ÒThe conquerors rode in a triumphal chariot. The daysÕ prisoners were
walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children were with him in the
chariot or rode the trace horses.
ÒA slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and
whispering in his ear a warning that all glory was fleeting, sic transit gloria
mundi.Ó
ThatÕs what Peter is saying here. Everything in this life is transitory
and it will leave. The only thing that matters is whatÕs in our soul from the
Word of God. ItÕs the Word of God thatÕs alive and powerful.
So 1 Peter 1:24–25 says: ÒAll
flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The
grass withers, and its flower falls away, But the Word of the Lord endures
forever.Ó
I set up this slide here to show that not all of Isaiah 40:6–8 is
cited here. Verse 7 is not. What we have is the last part of verse 6 and all of
verse 8. ThatÕs whatÕs cited because the focal point is at the end: that the
Word of the Lord stands forever.
Then in the very last verse of 1 Peter, Peter says, ÒNow this is the message which by the gospel was preached [or taught]
to you.Ó What heÕs concluding here is that this message, that the Word of
God is the power that brought this regeneration to you, is the foundation for
understanding how to live in the midst of trials and testing.
WeÕll come back to this because it immediately shifts to talking about
the importance of the Word when we get into 1 Peter 2. We have to lay aside a
bunch of sins. Most people have no clue what that means. Does that mean I have
to reform my life before I can study the Word? WeÕll find out next time.
Closing Prayer
ÒFather, thank You for the opportunity to study these things. We pray
that YouÕll help us to focus on them and to be reminded that we live this
Christian life only in the power of God the Holy Spirit. We constantly have to
be aware and conscious about walking by Him, depending upon Him, and trusting
in Him in terms of living the spiritual life.
Father, we pray You would challenge us with all that weÕve learned
tonight. In ChristÕs name. Amen.Ó