The First Epistle of Peter Chapter 1 "Introduction, Thanksgiving, Exhortations as to Suffering and Glory." This Bible Study is written by Roger
Christopherson, and made available with written
permission by http://www.theseason.org The word "Peter" in the Greek tongue is "Petros" and it means "rock". Peter was one of the earliest disciples, and in the gospels he is identified as Simon, son of Jona". Though this letter is written in Greek, Peter was an Hebrew, and and his thoughts and idioms are Hebrew. So if the Greek of the New Testament is regarded as an inspired translation for Hebrew or Aramaic originals, most of the various readings would be accounted for and understood. Aramaic was Hebrew, as it was developed during and after the Captivity in Babylon. "Aram" is Greek for "Aram Naharaim" meaning "between the two rivers. It is important to understand this important thing concerning Peter, and it comes from a question that Jesus asked Peter after the Pharisees and Sadducees had tried to temp Jesus with their trick questions. The Jesus turned to Peter in Matthew 16:15; "He saith unto them, "But whom say ye that I am?" Mathew 16:16 "And Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." The question here was, "Who do you say that I am, Peter? Peter responded that he thought Jesus was the Christ who was prophesied from the Old Testament, the very Son of God. Remember the word Peter means "rock", and Christ is the Rock, not Peter son of Bar-jona. Matthew 16:17 "And Jesus answered and said unto him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father Which is in heaven." The belief and knowledge that Jesus is the Son of God, the Rock, could only come from the Spirit of God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 16:18 "And I say also unto thee, That (thou) art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." At this point it is important that you know that the word "thou" has been added by the translators, the subject is still the "identification that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Jesus is the Rock, which means Peter in the Greek tongue. It is on Jesus Christ that the church of this flesh age will be built, and not the man Simon Bar-jona. When Christ built His church, Satan and all his realm shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18 "And I give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Our authority to approaching the throne of God in Heaven, is the name of Jesus Christ and that is the key, for when we say, "in Jesus Name", we are recognizing the fact that Jesus Christ is the Rock, and that we believe that He is. In the Name of Jesus we have the power over evil spirits, serpents, which are the Kenites, and even Satan himself. In the Greek there is a difference between Petra and Petros, for one is an unmovable Rock, while the other is sort of a chip of the old rock, it is a rock that can be moved. We know that Simon Peter could be moved, because he denied Christ three time the night that Jesus was taken by the Kenite religious leaders. Peter will give us a deep look behind the hidden veil that flesh and blood cannot see. Before the end of these two letters from Peter, he will reveal all three of the earth ages. There was an earth age before the one we know live in, that was millions of years old. There is only one earth, only that earth has existed in three earth ages. Each of these earth ages are used by our Heavenly Father for the perfecting of His children. At the end of the Millennium age, the age to follow the age of the flesh, many will be blotted out. We will see Peter presenting Christ as our Savior, but even much more that Christ was a pattern for our lives. Even though we cannot walk in Jesus footsteps, it is a guide for us. When we fall short, that is the time to repent of those sins to the Father in Jesus name. This we must be done daily as we sin, for each of us will fall short of God's standards every day. Jesus paid the price and set the way for us, and upon repentance the Father stamps you as perfect, for our righteousness becomes Christ's perfection. That is the freedom that we have in Christ. It frees us from the gilt of sin. So the apostle Peter is presenting Christ as the Savior, and he makes it very clear that it is Jesus Christ's blood that paid the price. I Peter 1:1 "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia," The word "apostle" means "one sent forth", and it was Jesus Christ that sent Peter forth to preach the word of God. The phrase "to the strangers scattered throughout" is Peter's mission to take the Word of God to the dispersal, those of the ten tribes of the house of Israel that were dispersed and scattered throughout the world. It was the ten tribes of the House of Israel, not the house of Judah, that were scattered, and in their migrations through the Caucasus mountains and to this day they don't know who they are. Though they call themselves "Caucasians", they think of it as a race, instead of a name identifying the event of their scattering. This book of Peter is written to the elect of God, those that were chosen before the foundations of this earth age. They were chosen by God because they stood against Satan at his first rebellion in that age that was before Genesis 1:2. I Peter 1:2 "Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied." The election came by the foreknowledge of God the Father, and this is saying only that part of God's children fell short in that first earth age. Revelations 12:3-4 says; "And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads." [3] "And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born." [4] That is when one third of God's children followed Satan, that beautiful angel that God created. They turned against their creator and heavenly Father. It is important that we understand what is meant by "foreknowledge". In the Greek "foreknowledge" is "prognosis", the ability to know before hand what shall come to pass, or has taken place. This is what the elect have obtained through God's Word. The "sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ", is what comes even to our generation. This is done when each person determines whether they will receive the sacrifice that Jesus made for us, or refuse that gift. That is what this age of the flesh is all about. It is the passing of each soul through this age in a flesh body, born of a woman in the water birthing sack, and innocent of the first age. Then in our flesh body we have the free will right to chose God, or Satan who is a fallen angel. We know from Genesis 6:1-7, and Jude 1-6 that many fallen angels refuse to enter this earth age of the flesh as God required, and came to earth to mate with daughters of men against God's will. Genesis 6:1 "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them," Genesis 6:2 "That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." In the innocence of the flesh body, these "sons of God" which are the fallen angels, forced themselves on those woman in marriage. It is important to understand what this means because this is also a sign of the end times as Jesus warned us about in Matthew 24:37; "But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." God is going to cast Satan and all his fallen angels upon the earth again, and that time is not far away. This is recorded in Revelation 12:7-9. Revelation 12:7 "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels," Revelation 12:8 "And prevailed not, neither was there place found any more in heaven." Satan will lose the battle, and when he does you and I and anyone living on the face of the earth in the flesh will think he is Christ, if they are not sealed in their minds. The reason being for his great beauty, and deceiving wonders that he shall perform. He will look and do exactly what the church world expects him to do, and in ignorance they will marry Satan, exactly as it happened prior to Noah's time. In a spiritual sense, many of the bride of Christ will be with child on the sounding of the seventh trumpet. Remember that the entire time of Satan's time on earth will not exceed five months, and that is why Jesus said, with child in Matthew 24:19. Revelation 12:9 "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." When this time of Satan coming to earth with his angels happens it will be the sounding of the sixth trumpet. It will be before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and with Satan's supernatural powers that God will give him, he shall deceive all mankind, except those with the seal or Word of God in their minds. With the seal of God in their minds, the elect cannot be sealed because they know and expect Satan's arrival and they find Satan, the Antichrist an abomination. Remember that these angels that come with Satan will have supernatural strengths also, just as they did in Genesis 6. Jude 6 "And the angels which kept not their fist estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." The only habitation for any angel is heaven, and in defiance of God they left heaven and came to this earth. "Habitation" in the Greek tongue is "Oiketerion, oy-kay-tey-ee-on; a place of residence." Jude is reminding us that common, simple salvation is beautiful, and is the first step; however you must keep in mind all the other things that have happened because those things will happen again. The coming of Satan and his fallen angels will happen again at the end of this earth age of the flesh, and you are living in the final generation. So we have seen in the first two verses a condensed form of the plan of God. I Peter 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," When Jesus Christ was sent to the cross and after three days arose from the dead, flesh man received a new hope because of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This then created a New Covenant" because death had been defeated. Jesus obedience to the Father in fulfilling the prophesies of His Word, allowed you and I to have eternal life for our souls, when we accept that precious gift of Christ's sacrifice. When our old physical bodies die, instantly our souls go to be with the our Heavenly Father that gave it. Today there are many in this age of technology that have died, and man's machines and experiences have brought them back to life. When this has happened, many of those brought back to life report some out of the body experience, or knowledge that came to them when their soul had departed from their flesh. This happened to a man that I worked with for many years, and he told me of the great understanding that he had when his soul was free from his physical body. How he stood in a room, with his soul outside of his physical body, and watched the medical team operate on his physical body. Then the instant the machine indicated the physical body had taken life, his soul was back into that physical body. Each soul is appointed to one embryo at conception, and that embryo is formed into a physical body within the womb of a woman. That is God's plan for mankind, that each of His children be born of water with in the water birthing sack, and innocent of what happened in that first earth age. The fallen angels chose to come to earth another way, and for this the are condemned. Hebrews 9:27; "It is appointed to man once to die, and after this judgment." There is no coming back in another physical body. Those that say they lived hundreds of years ago in another body, and recall things that happened back then are mixed up in demon worship. Those evil spirit are called "familiar spirits" in the Old Testament, and though that demonic spirit lived then, the soul of the person making contact with those spirits did not live in any other physical flesh body except the one that they live in. Leviticus 19:30 "Ye shall keep My sabbaths, and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord." Leviticus 19:31 "Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God." Christ defeated death, and there is a time Paul spoke of when we will be changed instantly from these flesh bodies, into our new incorruptible bodies. That time is at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, after all the other events of this flesh age has passed. However, we are to prepare ourselves now for judgment, and to those that are in Christ, that judgment means rewards. In the expression, "begotten us again unto lively hope", means that you, as one of the elect were begotten once before. Peter is talking about "forehand-knowledge", from a time before this current age, and "begotten us again" would not be correct. This is talking about a rebirth from a prior age, and not a rebirth from the bag of water from your mother's womb. Begotten from the Father is our Heavenly Father's method of reclaiming His children. Allowing each souls, each of His children to be innocent of that first earth age, and then they chose for themselves whether they would chose God or Satan. God did not just put you in your mother's womb to develop and by chance wander back to Him, and that is why we have His Word or council to be our guide for living in these flesh bodies. When we follow His health laws we live a healthy life, and when we violate them, we get sick and have physical problems. When we follow His other laws and commandments we learn to get along with our neighbors in peace and harmony, and right with God. When we break them we sin, and need to be brought back to God, and that is why our Lord Jesus Christ was born in the flesh, so His perfection could pay the blood sacrifice price, once and for all times. However we must each accept that gift for ourselves, and when we pray in "Jesus name", we are telling the Father that we accept Jesus gift to us. "Jesus name" is our credentials at the throne of God. I Peter 1:4 "To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you," Remember that this is talking about the "elect" of God, and the inheritance is what has been given and committed to each of the elect by our Heavenly Father. That inheritance is not like the things we inherit in this flesh age, for money devalues and is taxed away, material things age, and sometimes even breaks. We can know exactly what that inheritance is, for God has written it all down in His book, the Scriptures. That inheritance is your new "incorruptible" body that shall never age nor get sick, and the things of that inheritance will never lose their value like the things of this earth age. That inheritance is "undefiled", meaning it comes not by what we have done to earn it, but by God's grace. It is unmerited favor, something that God gives to us when we really don't deserve it. An inheritance is something that is given and committed to you when the person is still alive, but collected after the person has died. When Christ went to the cross and died, then all the things that are part of His Word, which is our inheritance may be collected upon. I say "may be", because you have to accept that gift before it becomes your inheritance. I Peter 1:5 "Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." When you are one of God's elect, you are kept through faith by the power of God. Though you and I have not seen the Father nor His Son, it is by faith that we are saved. Peter walked with God, talked and even walked on water with Jesus Christ, and Peter was taught verbally and through his watching the miracles that Jesus preformed. Peter did not have to have faith to know that Jesus was the Son of God, however Jesus has gone to the right hand of the Father, and we are required to believe in Jesus through the faith that is within us. To have faith requires more then just believing, for it requires an action on your part. Faith requires your focusing on those promises that God gave to us, and in your confidence putting action to your belief. When Jesus walked up to Peter, James and John, they were busy in their fishing business, and all He told them was to "follow Me". When Jesus called, they quit what they were doing, laid down their nets, and followed Jesus. Those early disciples saw and observed those miracles, and you and I have not. When you and I take what God says in His Word, and acts on those words with confidence, God counts that as faith. Today we walk by faith and not by sight in our daily lives. The power that we receive from God is through His Word, and our following through with our actions on the basis that because God said it, it is absolutely true. When we are focused on God's promises from His Word there is no time to be depressed by doubt. We are to act like the royalty that we are, as one of the children of the King. God is giving to you the inheritance of the world, one that will never fade away, or be defiled. When you have faith you don't allow anything negative to dominate your life, order it out of your life. I Peter 1:6 "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptation," When you live in this flesh body, it is just a passing moment, a season compared to the never ending space of the eternity. lt doesn't matter that tough times come our way, when we are in Christ. A little trial and temptation sharpens you up, and gets you ready to face the problems that Satan will throw your way. God doesn't want those hot-house lilies that wilt away at the first showing of the sun. He wants us to be able to stand strong with the going gets tough, and the heat comes down on you. That is when we turn to Him, and He gives us the strength to stand firm. We are to be God's word in action, continuing in faith, love and humbleness. I Peter 1:7 "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:" "A trial" is a testing and reviewing of the facts to see if one is guilty or not. God is going to test your faith to see if your are fit for His kingdom, or not. God wants to test you to see if you are a person that He can count on when the going gets tough. He wants you to be a tested soldier ready for the spiritual battle that is coming very soon, when Satan and his hoards of fallen angels come to earth to test your worthiness. That time is what we call the great tribulation, and the first six seals are the deceptions that are of Satan, while the seventh seal and trumpet are from God. God intended that you have a trial occasionally. He placed you within the world, and He has promised that His power will protect you while while you are in the flesh. He has promised that He will never place more temptation on you then what you can handle. I Corinthians 10:12 "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." I Corinthians 10:13 "There hath no temptation taken you but such is common to man: but God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." This is why we are to learn His Word, so that we can use His instruction when those times of testing come against us. God wants you successful in what ever you do, and the trial of your faith is all looking forward to the second advent of Jesus Christ. When you are tested, many times you may fail the test, and that is the time to ask forgiveness in Jesus name, get up and keep right on going. Prepare yourself for the next test, for you can be assured that it will come. It is no sin to stumble a little but it is a sin when you refuse to get up, and find pleasure in that sin. Take authority over your life and those things that would tempt you, for God has given you the right to use that authority. When Jesus lived on this earth He taught us how to live in these flesh bodies, and take control over those evil things that would destroy you. When you buy a new car, you sit down and read the instruction manual so you can use all of the functions that the car has engineered into it. You want to maintain it properly so it will be free from defects, and give you pleasure. That is what the Word of God is all about: God has engineered our physical bodies and then given us a manual to go by when we live and use those bodies. That manual is His Word, and the maintenance manual is His health laws; while the laws and commandments are our operational guide for operating within the body. When you drive your car over the course of its life, there will be adversity and things that need to be tended to, and so it is with these physical bodies. God desire you to live your entire life in victory, and that is why He gave us His Word. When you neglect you car or your physical and spiritual body, you will have trouble. You can count on it. God gave you His Word so that you would have a complete set of instructions on living in your flesh body, and in that Word is the power to have victory over anything that you may come up against. I Peter 1:8 "Whom having not seen, ye love; in Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:" This is exactly what we can have when we study God's Word, and follow the instructions that He has given us, "joy unspeakable and full of glory". Those living by the standards simply cannot understand the joy that only comes through our Lord Jesus Christ, and the freedom that He gives us in our lives. Christians know that we are not here for only a short season, but when we are in Christ, our lives are for the eternity. We know that there is more than the physical body, however while in this flesh body, He will bless us. We are happy and we are full of glory to our Heavenly Father. "Though now ye see Him not", we felt Him through His Holy Spirit, and when His Spirit touches us and warms our hearts, we know of His love for us. How can you not love One that has given so much for you, and desires to care for your every need? He know your problems before the happen, and your thoughts when they come to your mind. Our Heavenly Father knows of your troubles before you do, so why would you not turn them over to Him for instruction. How do you know God is taking care of you? When common sense tells you that everything is going sour, only you see things are turning out fine, God is kicking those stones out of your path. God will only give you what you can take care of, and if there is not much in the account, stop and review what you have been doing with what He has given you. There is no sin in being poor, but it is a sin to stay that way because God's riches and blessings are poured out on those that ask for them, and take care of them. I Peter 1:9 "Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." Your faith brings about the salvation of your soul. You have it coming, so He will see to it that you get it. It is your inner being, that is your soul that is eternal. I Peter 1:10 "Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:" The prophets prophesied that a virgin shall conceive, and a child shall be born in Bethlehem. It is through that Child, Jesus Christ that the salvation of all that seek Him, comes. "Grace" is the unmerited favor that God gives to you, at the expense of another, and the one that paid the price was Jesus Christ at the cross on Calvary's hill. The prophesies were given over a long period of time, and Daniel even told us what year that the messiah would be born in Bethlehem, in that great seventy weeks of Daniel. Those prophets that spoke of the coming Messiah did not live to see their prophesies come true, but they believed because God told them. Peter not only saw and walked with Jesus Christ and saw His death and resurrection, but he will tell us exactly what Jesus did while in the tomb later in this book. Jesus went to those Prophets of old that did not have the opportunity that you and I have, and preached to their souls. We will discuss this in I Peter 3. I Peter 1:11 "Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." When the Kenite Jews took Jesus Christ and tried Him and then turned Him over to be mocked, spit upon, beaten, suffer humiliation and then crucified, and it was written in His Word hundreds of years before His birth. Even way back in Genesis 3:15, in the garden of Eden, God revealed what would happen to Christ and that He would have the victory. Genesis 3:15 "And I [God] will put enmity between thee [Satan] and the woman [Eve], and between thy [Satan's] seed [the Kenites] and her [Eve's] Seed [Jesus Christ]: It [Christ] shall bruise thy [Satan's] head, and thou [Satan] shalt bruise His [Christ's] heel." The details of Jesus' crucifixion and given in many prophesies. Psalm 22 even gives the words that the chief priest would say while gazing upon the cross of Christ. Isaiah 53 tells us of the beating and humiliation that Jesus would face, while hanging on the cross between those two transgressors, and that He would even preach to them while on the cross. All of the sufferings that Christ endured were told of long beforehand and testified as to where it would happen, when it would come to pass, and Why. It was God's sacrifice, within the plan of God that paid the price for sin, and allow lost souls to be brought back to Him. I Peter 1:12 "Unto whom it was revealed, that not minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into." When the gospel of Christ is revealed to a person, or soul, and that soul accepts the salvation that Christ has offered to them, even the angels rejoice over that soul. When a person dies and his soul returns instantly to the father, that soul enters its incorruptible body, as the angels have. Those that are rejoicing are the souls of those that have lived in the flesh, and their souls have passed on before. Jesus spoke of the body this body that all souls would be in after death of the flesh body, which is the resurrection of the soul in Matthew 22:23-33. The Sadducees, which did not believe in a life here-after but that the live of a soul was only for the time we live in our flesh bodies, came to Jesus with one of their trick questions. They asked Jesus, "If a woman died, and she had outlived seven husbands in this flesh life, in the next life, which one would she be with?" Jesus gave them an answer in Matthew 22:29; "Jesus answered and said unto them, "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God." Matthew 22:30 "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." Matthew 22:31 "But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying," Matthew 22:32 " 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?' God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." The word "angel" means "messenger". Don't you think your great, great grandmother rejoices when she see you accepting Christ, and standing up for that which is right? Of course she does. When the flesh body dies, the soul passes on instantly to the Father that gave it, and the body which that soul then posses is as the angels have. This is the same incorruptible body that all souls will be changed instantly into at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. There is not going to be a rapture, but a instant changing, as Paul wrote about in I Corinthians 15:50-54. I Peter 1:13 "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;" God is telling us to get our minds working and focused on what it is truly saying. Be sincere or sober when you study and follow His Word. The hope that we have in Christ is all the promises of His entire Word, not just picking and choosing what we feel that we want to believe. Today we have the complete revelation, from one end of His Word to the end. Today some ministers like to tell others that certain parts of the Old Testament are not to be read and understood, or that the Book of Revelation is not for them. Peter is telling us here that all of it is for your mind, and that it is up to you to study and seek out the truths, for that is what will bring you into the grace of God. "Grace" again is the "unmerited favor" or riches and wealth of God's kingdom that He is given to you as an inheritance for being His child. The very word "Revelation", means to "reveal", and the things that are revealed in the book of Revelation are the things that are going on right before our eyes today. We are living in the final generation, and the seals are the events that shall take place before Jesus Christ's return at the seventh trumpet. The Trumpets are those same seals, only it is identifying the order that the seals shall take place. When we read Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, we see these same seals that Jesus is revealing to His disciples on their visit to Jerusalem. The reason Jesus gave us His revelations is so His "elect" living in the days that those events are taking place would not be ignorant of what was taking place. When we see the one world system, the United Nation doing what they are doing, it is not a surprise to us. When we see our nation opening its arms and hearts to Sodomy, and all the other thing that God says that He hate, we know exactly that the end times are approaching. When we see our government lying to us, and stealing our property, perverting our children's minds, and households falling apart, these also are signs of the end times. God told us of them because He does not want His children deceived. The great deceiver, Satan the Antichrist is coming to earth at the sixth trumpet, and that is prior to the seventh trumpet. Jesus gave us the order of events because Satan's purpose for coming is to deceive the people of the entire world. The reason we are to keep focused on Jerusalem is that that is where Satan comes and sets up His kingdom. The Book of Revelation is a record of events that shall take place when Satan is here on earth, even to the last days and hours that will mark the end of this age of the flesh. This is what Peter is trying to tell you and I, living in these final days, Gird your mind up, and get studying in His Word so that you will not be deceived. Read all of the Revelations from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation. In His Word is our only hope of salvation, and the guide for bring us safely through this great deception that is coming upon us. The phrase "gird up the loins of your minds", comes from an expression of that day. In that day men wore robe like skirts, and when they were going to do some fast walking or working, they would draw the back hem of the skirt up between his legs to the front belt, and secure it so that his legs would be free, and there would be nothing to slow him down. I Peter 1:14 "As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance.:" When a child is being taught, there is an excitement in learning. When they really trust someone, they will believe anything that that person tells them. "Fashioning" as used here is the same as the word "conforming" in Romans 12:2. When you were a small child, you were taught many things that your parents believed to to be true, and many of those ideas were false and not according to God's Word. Though we were told that "the Bible says..." when we check out what was said, we find that much of it is nothing but man's traditions, which is sayings passed on from parent to child over many generation. As "obedient children" of God, we are instructed to check out those things in the Word of God, and not allow ourselves to conform to those former lusts of the flesh that we followed before by tradition in ignorance. I Peter 1:15 "But as He Which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation:" Within your physical body there are two persons; a physical man [woman] which is your flesh body, and your soul, which is your spiritual body. Within your mind there is a struggle going on, and that conflict is between your old nature or man, and your new nature, which Paul calls the "new man". When you repent to the Father in Jesus name, and believe on Him, then God's Spirit comes into your heart, which is to say mind and you become a new creature or person. Paul addresses this in Romans 12:1. Romans 12:1 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Romans 12:2 "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." When we give ourselves over to God, we are presenting Him all of our being and from that time forth we are to change the things in our lives that we are conformed to. That transformation or changing starts within our minds, and it deals with what we thing and do from that time forward. We are to guide our lives in the manner that Christ did when He lived and taught while here in the flesh. Christ set the example in which we try and set our goals to His perfection. Though we will fall short of His perfection, that is when we come to Him in repentance, and keep on trying. I Peter 1:16 "Because it is written, "Be ye holy; for I am holy." " This isn't hard to understand, you want a guide for your life, the Jesus is telling you to use His life for that guide. "Holy" in the Greek text is "Hagios", and it means without blame. When we live our lives according to His laws and commandments, there is no blame that can come to us, however when we fall short of that standard, then we ask the Father to forgive us, in Jesus name. That is the freedom that we have in Christ. We don't have to carry the burdens of sin from day to day, for when they are repented, God takes them from us, and it is as if we never committed them. I Peter 1:17 "And if ye call on the Father, Who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:" We all come to the point in time when we think of ourselves as being anything but holy, remember back to the fifth verse. "Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." You are kept "by the power of God", so when you come to a weak moment, rather then giving up, that is the time to ask God for the strength to overcome that weak moment. God will strengthen you to the point that you can overcome that weakness. When you are a child of God, it doesn't matter who you are, rich or poor, strong or weak, big or small, God will judge you "according to your work". God gives each of us different gifts and abilities, and it is what you do with what you have that you will be judged by. Those with much money and wealth, will be judged on the same scale as the poor man that has very little, for the thing that counts is what you did with what you had, while sojourning or living on earth in your flesh body. Did you give of your time in the study of His Word? How about the tithe, did you even think of God when you received your wage? When God gave you the opportunity to plant a seed of truth in the mind of another soul, did you plant that seed? These are all part of your works that you will be judged by. When you ask for more power, gifts or opportunities, the first thing that God views is the work that you have already done. Keep this in mind the next time you are requesting something of the Father. Your works are important, and many people teach that works have nothing to do with salvation. Your works cannot save you because Christ saves you through your faith in Him, however, the degree that God strengthens you and answers your prayers comes from your works. The works are important after you become right with God, and the fruits of your works is how you will be judged by God. They are also what other will judge you by. It just could not be any clearer to us, God is not a respecter of persons, He doesn't show favoritism of one over another, but the respect that God does give is based completely on your works. That should not be hard to understand, if you were the boss, who would you put over the rest of your workers? Of course you would put the one that has proven himself in the position that you had placed him, and by his works he or she has shown himself [herself] to be worthy of promotion. If God has not answered your prayers, you are the only one that knows the intent of your heart. It is only you that can search your heart and get it right with the Lord. If your prayers arn't answered, it is time to take inventory of your life. Though your works cannot save you, they are what produces your rewards both today, and in the age to come. I Peter 1:18 "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;" God is telling you that you are not saved by the traditions of men, or any act that came from you parents. You can't buy salvation, and another person cannot pay or do what is necessary for your salvation. It is only you that can see the sins in your life and repent to the Heavenly Father for those sins in Jesus name, and turn from them in your life. When you pass from this age of the flesh, whether by death, or the changing into your incorruptible body at the seventh trumpet, the only thing that goes into that next age are the works that you gave in the flesh body. Those works that were given in faithfulness to God's Word. Revelation 14:13 "And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, "Write, `Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.' " Those works are written in the Father's records, the book of Life, and that work determines your rewards. When you pass on, or go into the Millennium age, all things will take on a new and different form. I Peter 1:19 "But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot:" In the thirty three years that Jesus walked on the earth, there was not one blemish or spot as far as Jesus falling short of God's standard. That is why only the blood of Jesus Christ could pay the required blood sacrifice for the sins of those who would believe on Jesus, and repent of their sins in Jesus name. When we repent in Jesus name we are acknowledging that we recognizing that Jesus was the Lamb without blemish nor the spot of sin. To say that Jesus had sin is to reject the blood of Christ and the salvation that is offered to you. Jesus did nothing to deserve the hardships that came His way, but He endured them because what He did, was all written down by the prophets, and He came to fulfill the words of the prophets. In Christ only is our salvation. I Peter 1:20 "Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you," Every thing that Christ did while He was walking on the earth in His flesh body, was foreordained or as written in the Greek text, "proginosko", or "known beforehand". It was decided in the world that was, the first earth age, and written down by the prophets in this age of the flesh. It was written so that we can know that it was no accident that Jesus died on the cross, and that He would be rejected by those that called themselves Jews. The reason for this foreordination was so that when you and I read of the fulfillment of His Word in detail in these last days, we would know that we can rely on of His Word. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for one and all times, and the entire plan of God was worked out between the Father and the Son before Genesis 1:2 ever came to pass. Jesus was with the Father even before the creation, as we read in John 1:1. John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:2 "The same was in the beginning with God." John 1:3 "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made." John 1:4 "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." Then in John 1:14 we read where that Word became flesh in the form of Jesus Christ, and dwelt right here on earth. "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." Jesus came to earth for the purpose of living that perfect life so that He could be that perfect sacrifice for you. He is the Lamb without spot and blemish so at these times you can count on that Word who is Christ. I Peter 1:21 "Who by Him do believe in God, That raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God." This is the purpose that Christ came in the flesh, to die for your sins. Jesus came because God the Father sent Him, so that after His death, God could raise Him from the dead again. Then when we see with understanding that Jesus was raised from the dead, and the Father had given Him the glory, then we would see with an understanding heart or mind, and have the faith to believe in Him. Jesus is the only hope and way to the Father for the salvation from our sins. It is only through the sacrificial blood of Jesus that our souls can have eternal life, and have victory over death. I Peter 1:22 "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:" Don't read over this, it is not your flesh that is purified, but your soul that is purified at repentance. We then are purified by our obeying the truth of His Word, and the Spirit of God. Friend, God knows the real thing, the real love when it is there, and you just can't fake it. When you have the true Spirit of God within you, then you have the same love that His Spirit has. God loves all of His children, and He desires that not one of them perish. That same love of the Spirit of God, for the souls of God's children, is the love that will be present in you when you are one of God's. It is real and sincere, and can not be copied. That love comes when the Spirit of the Living God enters into your soul and changes you. What was important before will be gone, and in it's place is the love that God's Spirit has put there. As a child of God and an heir to His kingdom, you should care about those souls within His kingdom. You should desire to study God's Word for no other reason then to prepare yourself for the inheritance that God is going to give you. You prepare yourself for the understanding of what that kingdom and inheritance is, and how you can best accept it and use what is rightfully yours. It is not just for the life here-after, but much of that inheritance deals with your life in the flesh. When you follow His Word, it deals with the blessings that we receive in our flesh bodies, and instructions on keeping them healthy. If you are willing to place the understanding of His Word in your mind, God will direct you to those that need a word of advise from you. God's Word will not return to Him void, but will accomplish what He set it out to do. I Peter 1:23 "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." It is not the flesh that has the rebirth, but the inner man, the soul that is within you. That souls is rebirthed back to the Father that created or begat you in the first place. Being born again is not of this flesh body, but of your soul. The soul is the "incorruptible seed" or body that shall live eternally, or until judgment day of those that refuse the blood of Christ as the sacrifice for their sins. That change can only come by the Word of God, Who is our Lord Jesus Christ which liveth and abideth for ever. The word "born" used here is the same Greek word that is used in the third verse of this chapter for the word "begotten". It is important that you get this. "Being born again" is the same in the Greek as "begotten". You can better understand what "born from above" means when you know that it is in reference to being begotten from above. It is the soul that is begotten from the Father. So lets read it again in this manner. "Begotten again", is something that has happened over a second time, and the foundation for this we read of in the twentieth verse was from "before the foundation of this world age." It means that some time in the past, I was begotten by God once before. This is not in reference to your flesh, but your soul. Many times there is confusion between the literal sense of a verse and it's spiritual sense. However, this is one time where the literal sense, or reality is the spiritual sense. God is telling you that when you accept the blood of Christ as the covering for your sins, your soul is begotten again as it was in the time when it was initially created by Him, way back in that first earth age. We are talking souls here, and the spiritual is the literal. Remember that in the Millennium age, all flesh is gone, and all souls are in their incorruptible bodies [soul bodies]. Reality then is completely in the spiritual realm, the and it applies to what we are, what we do, and what is around us. Flesh and the things that satisfies it simply will not exist. So God is telling us that while we are in our flesh bodies, that we are to try to understand our inner man, or soul and through His Word we can do it. I Peter 1:24 "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:" God is telling us to do God's Word, to where we are literally "begotten again". Literally become part of the family of God, and set your mind on the things that pertain to that family. Today people train themselves in all the technology of different fields, and they are satisfied to remain completely ignorant of their soul, when it is the only thing that is eternal. People are focusing their complete attention of the things that are out dated before they can be used, and yet they neglect the important part of their lives that will be around for ever. God then compares all things of the flesh as grass. Grass doesn't last long, for if it isn't watered and taken care of it dies. It needs constant care to have it's beauty, and when you place something on it, in time it's crushed and dies. Flesh is as the grass as it ages and gets old, and it dies off. It is not for ever. All the glory that is in a flesh man is just as the flower of the grass. The moment a piece of grass flowers out, something comes along and snuffs out that beautiful flower. That is just as a man is, here today and gone tomorrow. If you live in the flesh, you can expect the glories of life to be very fickle. The fame and wealth people have one day, turns against them the next. The motto of people today is "what have you done for me lately?" If this is the way that you live your life, then you are living in a fantasy world. That is why in this chapter of I Peter, the spiritual is the literal. I Peter 1:25 "But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." The Word of God, with all the promises that are given within it, are just as sure today as they were he day they were written by the prophets. The Word of God is the truth, and it is the only good news or gospel that Peter is preaching unto us. The more you grow to understand God's Word, the closer you will be to our Heavenly Father. God has expressed His very emotions to us in His Word, He has told us what He like and what He hates. Our Heavenly Father never changes, so when we understand His Word, we understand what pleases Him, and how to receive His blessings. Man's traditions are like all the artificial conditions that are applied to plant life today, and when those additives are given over and over, the plants spring to life in all sorts of odd ways. When you listen to the traditions of men, that is exactly how your spiritual mind and life will become also, blind and confused to the real spiritual life. That real life is the life of your soul, the only part of you that is eternal, when you come to the saving knowledge of Jesus' death on the cross. Man's traditions will lead you to believe in some other salvation that come by man, and not by Christ. This applies to not only the spiritual life, but your physical health also. God has given us His health laws, and man's traditions have so changed God's Word that most Christians today think that the warnings of the care of your physical bodies are done away with also. The things that were a poison to the physical body in Moses day, are still a threat to your health. God's Word includes all of His Word from cover to cover. As a Christian, God expects you to use common sense in all that you do, and that applies not only to the physical, but the spiritual also.
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