Obedient Children

In verse 13 of the first chapter of First Peter, the apostle begins to apply the glorious doctrinal truths of salvation to the practical lives of his readers. This application requires preparation, seen in the metaphor of men tucking the hem of their robe skirts into their belts, allowing their legs to move freely. This figure is applied to our minds. We are to have a mindset of sober or serious and clear thinking that leads to sound judgment. Something with respect to the salvation we claim to possess must shape and control our thoughts and resultant actions.

With this caution, Peter commands us to fix our hope completely on this salvific grace that we do not yet fully possess. It will be conferred on us as the reward of obedience when Jesus returns. What we now possess is hope or better, living hope (v. 3) in what is promised. But what is promised? Peter calls it an inheritance reserved for us (v. 4). It is an expectation ministered to us by the prophets, announcing the good news to us through the Spirit (vv. 10–12). What is promised is unqualified acceptance with God with full forgiveness of all sin and everlasting life (Jer. 33:8–11; Rom. 3:23–26).

We possess this hope, not by wishful thinking; we experience it with confidence. It is a reality now though not fully realized (vv. 8, 9). The evidence of true faith is seen in our rejoicing in the unseen even while we may suffer (v. 6). God’s purpose in this suffering is to test our faith, not prove it false, but to purify it and, thus, demonstrate its genuineness (v. 7).

Peter addresses our responsibility (v. 13). First, we must not see responsibility as an effort to earn grace by doing something. Our obedience is not to provoke a response from God. Rather, we obey in order to demonstrate grace already at work in us (Phil. 2:13). Neither is our responsibility automatic. We are to learn obedience by trusting God as we struggle to keep His commandments and exhortations (Heb. 5:8). That is our goal, and we will not deviate from the course or compromise in our pursuit of it.

To encourage obedience, Peter cites one issue that we must overcome and two behavioral modifications to help us to govern obedience (vv. 14–17). First, our new position, as “obedient children” requires that we overcome and abandon worldly “conformity” due to former patterns of desiring. These deeply ingrained desires produce habits of sinning established through long practice. We fail to take them into accountable and deal with them because they come so naturally. Second, in order to establish new patterns of right conduct, we need to establish habits of holiness in the fear of God (vv. 15–17). Holiness refers to how we are to present ourselves to God in His service (Rom. 12:1, 2; 1 Pet. 2:9, 10). The fear of God is the conscious awareness that God really does see us and will impartially judge our works according to His established standards, not ours (Isa. 40:10).

Glorious Grace

I recently read an article by a pastor who shared some of the strange things people have told him over the years. Some were barbs, criticizing him of often very silly things. One that amused me greatly was the charge that he was “trying to preach caffeineism.” I identified with that. Caffeineism, I guess, is sovereign grace with an extra kick. But, then, I am in good company. Peter is also guilty of preaching Caffeineism, long before John Caffeine gave it his name.

Peter addressed his first letter to the “elect exiles” (1:1, 2). Election is choosing. God chose certain people to salvation according to His foreknowledge, a term relating to their relationship to His elective love. He set His love on them while they were still His enemies (Rom. 5:8).

Election involves means, “the sanctification of the Spirit.” The elect are set apart to God’s ordered purpose. Predestination (Eph. 1:5) is twofold. (1) Predestination is “for obedience to Jesus Christ.” (2) Predestination is “for sprinkling with [Christ’s] blood.” Sprinkling is a covenantal commitment referenced in Exodus 24:3–8 where God confirmed and sealed the covenant with sacrificial blood. Jesus sealed the New Covenant with His blood (Mark 14:24; Heb. 9:13, 14). In this, the promised obedience of His people is secured and the full benefits of His suffering are guaranteed (Eph. 1:13, 14).

Verses 3–9 expand on why we must praise God for elective love—mercy. He lists ten things to praise the God of grace that caused us to be born again to a living hope in an inheritance that cannot be destroyed, defiled, or wasted. This hope rests on the power of God that shields us through faith as we hold on to His promises while we wait for Christ’s return.

In light of our great salvation, we must also “prepare our minds for action” (vv. 10-22) in order to live out the purpose for which God saved us. Four things support this preparation. First, we need to appreciate the glory of God’s salvation. It was a mystery so great that OT prophets carefully searched it out (vv. 10-12). In fact, angels longed to investigate it; it was that glorious.

Second, we must “prepare our minds” in order to serve this holy God who saved us (vv. 13-16). The holiness that God requires here refers to how His servants present themselves in their service to Him (Rom. 12:1, 2). God expects no less of us than He did of the sons of Aaron who served Him in His temple, bearing the inscription, “Holy to the Lord” (Ex. 38:36).

Third, preparing our minds relates to our duty to conduct our lives in the fear of God (v. 17). Our sojourn here is very brief and our God is a just judge. Therefore, we are to fear God and not man, particularly those who would persecute us.

Last, preparing our minds means that we reckon the cost as seen in the example of the Son of God, who gave Himself for us (vv. 18-21). That sacrifice is to shape our own pure-hearted love as we love one another in Christ, holding to the example of our Savior (v. 22).

Living Hope

We are living in a very unsettling time. We have witnessed the rise of terrorism on a global scale that seems to be escalating with no end in sight and no solution confronting it. At home, we are seeing the country deeply divided over issues ranging from racial and moral ideologies to political philosophies. Can anything bring us together? Is there any leadership with real answers?

With much hand-wringing and head-shaking, we wonder if there is any hope at all, although, of course, we have been promised hope and change. Still, we don’t see much to make us hopeful. Should we just believe in hope? But what does that mean? Just wishing things would get better is a fool’s errand. We need something solid on which to hang our hope.

The apostle Peter wrote to suffering churches in Asia Minor near the end of the first century to encourage them with hope that they already possessed. This hope was the gift of the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Moved with mercy, He caused them “to be born again to a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3). This is more than hope; it is living hope because it is the work of the living God. Peter likes to use that term, living—living hope, living stones, and living Word. It is this term that makes all the difference, for it defines hope in the framework of, not just possibility, but reality. That reality is assured because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

The resurrection of Christ is an irrefutable fact of history. More than five hundred eyewitnesses saw the risen Lord after his crucifixion, which solidly supports the claim (I Cor. 15:3-8). Skeptics could have interviewed witnesses still living when Paul made his assertion.

To the persecuted saints in Peter’s audience, the resurrection of Jesus Christ formed the solid foundation of their hope. Those who were martyred would not die in vain, for like Jesus, they too would be raised again to “an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven” for them (1 Pet. 1:5). This inheritance was guarded by nothing less than the power of God through their faith until its unveiling in the last time (v. 6). Note, however, that the hope outlined here does not immediately fix things for these people living in difficult straits. Nevertheless, it comforts, guides, and fills them with inexpressible joy as they wait for Jesus to return (vv. 6-9).

The bottom line is the realization that nothing is out of God’s control and that all that happens, good and evil, is directed by His certain hand to fulfill His purposes in the earth. God is a just God, and all injustice will be settled before the Judge (1 Pet. 2:23). This life is a brief staging area for eternity, and everyone is either part of the company of those sheltered in Christ’s salvation (1 Pet. 3:18) or those who “will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” (1 Pet. 4:5). In which company are you?

Josiah’s Revival

Scripture records a reprieve in Yahweh’s determination to judge Judah after years of persistent and heinous devotion to idols. This reprieve occurred during the reign of Josiah (640-609 b.c., recorded in 2 Kings 22 and 2 Chron. 34). He was only 8 years old when he began to reign, but he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. In his eighth year of rule, Josiah began to seek God. This seeking manifested itself in an active reformation in Judah, purging the land of its idolatry.

We need to look deeper into this account. First, we must ask how Josiah came to seek the Lord. His fathers were evil, leaving him no godly example. Yet Josiah sought the Lord in the final years of Judah’s spiritual decline. Judgment was already pronounced on the nation. Babylonia would soon defeat Judah, indeed, just four years after Josiah’s death. So, what caused Josiah to seek the true God? Paul, quoting Psalm 14:2, argues that no natural man will seek after God (Rom. 3:10, 11). He loves only his unrighteousness. It is only when God’s Spirit sovereignly opens a sinner’s heart that he seeks Him. Again, Paul affirms this in Romans 10:20 (quoting Isa. 65:1), “I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”

God was working in Josiah to accomplish His own purpose in that dark hour of Israel’s history. That is what drives the narrative. It spotlights God’s glory, not Josiah’s goodness. We are prone to read Scripture from a human standpoint, looking for personal encouragement. Of course, we do find such encouragement, but we also need to understand that what is revealed there is not ultimately about us. It is all about God and how He will get glory to Himself through His incredible acts and power.

In the eighteenth year of his reign, Josiah set about to repair the house of the Lord. In the process of clearing debris from years of accumulated neglect because of forsaking the Lord in the worship of other gods, the high priest, Hilkiah, discovered a copy of the Pentateuch, which he delivered to the king through his secretary, Shaphan (2 Kings 22:8). This discovery humbled the king in repentance because saw that God’s wrath was already kindled upon Judah because of her disobedience. What should he do next?

To this point, the reform was apparently driven by remembered tradition. The discovery of the book of the law set the revival on the proper foundation. Nevertheless, the king still sought the counsel of a prophetess who affirmed that judgment was indeed coming but that there would be a short reprieve because of Josiah’s humbling as he heard the Scriptures read.

Surely God had a special purpose in this stay. It is very probable that the Lord did so to prepare His servants to be His witnesses in Babylon. Daniel was born two years before the book was discovered and its truth revealed. Josiah’s revival furthered God’s kingdom plans. May this understanding encourage our own hearts in our dark hour of spiritual decline. 

Nourishing Faith

True believers are sinners who were predestined by God in order that they might be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:29). To accomplish this, Christ came to replace Adam, thus becoming the federal head of a redeemed new race (Rom. 5:10-21; I Cor. 15:44-49). The Holy Spirit regenerates His chosen ones into believers and children of God, transferring them from Adam’s condemned race into Christ’s new family (1 John 3:1-3; 2 Cor. 5:17). Thus, the entire world is either in Adam (bearing his image and being condemned) or in Christ (bearing His image and being redeemed).

Although believers are immediately made children of God, they do not at once fully reflect Christ’s image. Yet Christlikeness is to be the believer’s main pursuit. It is to be a life-long work that will not be finished until Jesus returns in glory (2 Cor. 3:18; Phil. 3:21, 22; 1 John 3:2). Progress in this process is non-negotiable. We are to “pursue holiness, without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). The great blessing is that God has provided for His own “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (1 Pet. 1:3). Therefore, there is no excuse,  for each is commanded to “make every effort” to avail himself of God’s provision (v. 5).

These things are given as a gift (granted) “through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and virtue.” They are packaged in “his precious and very great promises” that may be claimed in order that one may “become a partaker of the divine nature.” Just as humans bore the nature of Adam, they must now evidence the new nature of Christ (1 Cor. 15:49. For one to continue life based on sinful lust (Adam’s nature) would probably mean that no spiritual transformation took place. On the other hand, the new birth provides “escape from the corruption that is in the world.”

In His infinite wisdom, the Lord knows just the right conditions to motivate His people to this work of developing Christlikeness, which is affliction, persecution, and suffering. “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (1 Pet. 4:12, 13). There are three reasons why suffering is God’s incubator in producing Christ’s image in us.

1. Suffering drives us to what is real and true and away from the tawdry, counterfeit, and corrupting influence of the world. 2. Suffering allows us to share in Christ’s sufferings, which end in victory and triumph (1 Cor. 15:57). 3. Suffering drives the believer to the sympathetic Savior for protection and comfort (John 17:10, 11).

When believers make every effort to nourish their faith with the seven virtues listed in 2 Peter 1:3-11, they will be fruitful in the correct and precise knowledge of Jesus (v. 8). However, when a believer fails to procure God’s grace in this process, he will be blind and forgetful (v. 9). 

God’s Heavy Hand

God is a God of justice. While His patience is very long, He will recompense judgment upon those who sin against Him (Deut. 7:23; Joel 2:13). He often uses third-party means to judge His own people after careful and prolonged warning (Jer. 7:25; 25:9; 26:5; 46:27, 28). This was true of his judgment on the house of Eli (1 Sam. 4; Jer. 7:12, 14; 26:6, 9). The Philistines were His agents to judge His sinful priests. Having done so, He turned His wrath on the Philistines, first defeating Dagon in his own temple at Ashdod (1 Sam. 5:1-5). Then, His hand (signifying His acts of might and power) was heavy against the people—“He terrified [destroyed (KJV); ravaged (NASB); brought devastation on (NIV); Micah 6:13] and afflicted them with tumors” (v. 6). The exact affliction here called tumors is probably lymph abscesses of the groin or possibly a hemorrhoid-like abscess. The fact that it seems to be associated with a plague of mice (6:4, 5) also suggests that it may have been the bubonic plague common in the coastal region.

There were five city-states that composed the confederation of the Philistines in the south of Canaan on the coast of the Mediterranean: Ashdod, Gath, Ekron, Ashkelon, and Gaza. The Ashdodites complained to the five Lords of the Philistines assembled to evaluate the situation (v. 8). It was decided that the ark should be moved to Gath, a move which met with the same results, causing a very great panic. When the Lord afflicted the people of Gath, they sent the ark to Ekron but were met with loud protests (v. 10). Another meeting of the five serens or lords was called to answer the protest of the people of Ekron. Nevertheless, a deadly destruction spread throughout the city (v. 11; the ESV has “deathly panic”) killing many men and afflicting the rest to suffer from the horrible tumors (v. 12).

Seven months the ark remained in Philistia and the question persisted: “What shall we do to the ark of the Lord?” (6:1, 2). Everyone agreed it must be returned to Israel, but how was that task to be accomplished without inflicting further damage on Philistia? The priests of Dagon and the diviners were called to advise. This revelation emphasizes the level of disobedience that characterized the Philistines. Yet, they had no understanding of either the Creator’s expectations of them or of their failure in those expectations. As we stated before, the Philistines do not abandon their powerless and humiliated Dagon for the true God. They just want to get Him out of their lives. That is the true human condition with respect to God.

Without question, the level of thinking that permeates modern culture reflects the Philistine mindset. Having fallen under the judgment of God, as evident in the ceaseless barrage of bad news, the “lords” of the nation remain clueless as to the condition or the cause of the humiliation. Yet, the cries of men under judgment reach to the skies (v. 12) while they refuse to acknowledge the Lord in all things (Rom. 1:28-32).

Overcoming Defeat

The tragedy of the period before us (1 Sam. 4 through 7) is the revival of mere religiosity devoid of the deep experiential trust and fellowship with God that results from true repentance. Religious people confuse symbols with reality. Isaiah wrote, “This people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men” (Isa. 29:13). Israel’s sin, while different in its expression was essentially the same as that of Eli’s sons. Their religion was a mere externalism played out in heathen tones established on carnal pride. For this reason, God judged both the house of Eli and the nation of Israel by removing from them the symbol of His presence, the Ark of the Covenant.

The elders of Israel immediately understood that their initial defeat at the hands of the Philistines was due, not to any secondary causes, but to Yahweh Himself. Yet, they did not inquire of the Lord as to the reason for His displeasure. It never occurred to them that their sin was the problem. Thus, they presumed that victory was assured by the presence of a mere symbol and determined to bring it to the fight.

This approach to life is not confined to ancient Israel. Many professing Christians use the same logic. If one experiences spiritual defeat, the way to overcome that defeat is to renew commitment to some activity—Bible reading, prayer, church attendance, counseling, or perhaps, giving up something like TV-watching. This approach is good for the conscience but fails ultimately to restore real spiritual vitality. Only genuine repentance and wholehearted seeking after God Himself will produce a proper solution. Only God’s Spirit can bring that about, and that destroys pride. Eli’s response to the prophetic messages pronounced upon him reveals this lack of true spiritual discernment: “It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him” (1 Sam. 3:18). It was a half-hearted resignation due to his own spiritual disinterest. How different was David’s response to Nathan’s word from God (Psa. 51).

It is the work of God that we are tracing in this narrative. Israel’s focus on externals, deliberate disregard for God’s standards, disobedience to His commandments, and open flirting with pagan idolatry became the very avenue of Yahweh’s plan to restore His kingdom on earth. The Israelite elders’ false presumption provided the means to fulfill His will to judge Eli and the priesthood. At the same time, God would judge the Philistines and inflict more damage upon them than Israel’s armies could do. Thus, we read, “The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory” (1 Sam. 5:6).

To the discerning reader, the Philistines demonstrated an identical pattern of thinking as that of Israel. One need only observe the Ashdodites’ remedy for their affliction: “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us” (1 Sam. 5:7). Would it not be better to abandon Dagon and sue Yahweh, the true God, for mercy?