1 Peter 3:13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." 15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that is in you. But do this with gentleness and fear, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that when your good behavior in Christ is being slandered, the ones mistreating you may be put to shame. 17 It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in flesh but made alive in spirit, 19 through which also he also went and preached to the spirits in prison 20 who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now also saves you also--not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand--with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
Introduction
I will tell you right up front, today's sermon is not going to be a walk in the park. This text is one of the most difficult passages in the entire Bible to interpret. It demands the best from the interpreter, it demands the best from the preacher, and it demands the best from the listeners. I hope you are ready to work hard because this is one of those times when the Spirit of God takes us down so deep into the profound richness of divine truth that it taxes our utmost abilities to grasp it all. But if we are willing to roll up our sleeves and do this, the rewards will be visions of the triumph of Christ that, according to 4:1, will enable us to defeat sin in our lives. Almost every phrase in this passage has been interpreted many different ways. So the only way to make this all fit into a single sermon is to put most of the material in footnotes. So my plan is to just preach my conclusions, and if you want to see the defense for those conclusions, you can look at the footnotes in the sermon manuscript.
From Flesh to Spirit: Jesus Raised in Power
You will remember from last time that the first half of verse 18 is a summary statement of what Jesus accomplished on the cross.
18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.
Then, in the second part of the verse Peter points out something about how Jesus was made alive.
18 ... He was put to death in flesh but made alive in spirit
What do the phrases in flesh and in spirit mean?
Physical Death vs. Non-Physical Life? No
Could it be that in flesh means physically - Jesus died physically, but then in spirit means non-physical - Jesus was made alive in a non-physical way? No. Jesus' resurrection was just as physical as His death. The first time Jesus appeared to His disciples after He rose from the dead they thought they were seeing a ghost.
Luke 24:39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.
Jesus was raised physically, bodily, with flesh and bone. That is one of the essentials of the Christian faith.
Some people have said, "Made alive isn't even talking about the resurrection. It's talking about Jesus coming alive spiritually during the three days He was in the tomb - before the resurrection." But that is a problem too, because what part of Jesus was alive during those three days? His divine nature was alive, but not because it was made alive. It was already alive. Jesus' divine nature was never made alive, because it never died.
And the same thing could be said about His human soul. When your body dies, your soul does not die. Your soul does not have to be resurrected - just your body. The soul never dies.
Jesus was put to death, meaning He went from being alive to being dead, and then He was made alive. I do not know what made alive can mean other than He went from not being alive to being alive. And the only part of Jesus that went from not being alive to being alive was His body, so this must be a reference to the resurrection, which would not exactly be unheard of - that a New Testament writer would refer to the death and resurrection of Jesus in a passage that is summarizing the gospel.
In Flesh Means This Life
If we want to know what Peter means by the phrase in flesh, all we have to do is look at the other places in the book where he uses that phrase. Peter uses the word flesh numerous times in this book, and he uses it in a very specific way. The phrase in flesh, in the book of 1 Peter, refers to life in this fallen, cursed world mortal life. There is a huge difference between this life and the next life. In both this life and the next life we will have a physical body, but the nature of that body and that life will be very different.
1 Corinthians 15:42 The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
All those descriptions of this life - perishable, dishonor, weakness, natural – that is what Peter is talking about when he uses the phrase in flesh. It means this mortal, perishable life characterized by dishonor and weakness, as opposed to the next life, which is imperishable and immortal and characterized by honor and glory and power. It is easy to see that that's what Peter means if you just look a few verses ahead at 1 Peter 4:2.
1 Peter 4:2 As a result, [those who have suffered] do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires
That phrase translated the rest of their earthly lives is literally, "the rest of their time in flesh." So in flesh refers to this perishable, mortal existence in this life.
In Spirit Means the Next Life
So then what does in spirit mean? In spirit refers to the other side of all those phrases in 1 Corinthians 15:42 - the imperishable, glorious, powerful life. Jesus was raised with a spiritual body - still flesh and bone, but spiritual in the sense of being driven and characterized far more by spiritual realities than by physical ones.
So Jesus was put to death in flesh and made alive in spirit, which means He was crucified and then raised from the dead into a whole new kind of existence. He was no longer weak. You notice that even though Jesus remained on earth for forty days after the resurrection, you do not read about any suffering in that time. Rather than being characterized by lowliness and weakness and limitation, He was powerful and glorious and did not seem to have much in the way of normal human limitation or weakness at all. His humiliation was over when He died. After that He was raised to a whole new realm of existence - His "in spirit" existence.
Journey to the Jail: Jesus Proclaims Victory
19 in which he also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison
In that new condition - that spiritual, powerful, imperishable, glorious new life, Jesus went on a journey. It says He went - He travelled somewhere. Where? To the spirits in prison. Who are they?
20 who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.
What spirits were disobedient back in the time of Noah? The human race? I don't think so, because in the Bible people are never referred to as spirits. People have spirits, but they are not called spirits. (And nowhere in the Bible is the realm of the dead referred to as a prison either.) But on the other hand, there are references to fallen angels in prison, and both angels and demons are routinely referred to as spirits - especially demons. This is referring to spirit beings who disobeyed at the time of Noah.
The Sons of God
So turn in your Bible to Genesis 6 and we'll see what it was these spirits did.
Genesis 6:1 When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days--and also afterward--when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. 5 The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made men on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.
So, the sons of God had offspring by the daughters of men and the result was such extreme wickedness on the earth that God decided to destroy mankind with a flood.
Who were those sons of God? Some argue that they were human beings, but the exact Hebrew phrase is only used elsewhere in Scripture to refer to angels or spirit beings (three times in Job). I think that is the most natural way to interpret the phrase. The main argument against that interpretation is the problem of how angelic beings could have relations with women and produce children. After all, Jesus said in Matthew 22:30 that angels in heaven do not marry. But in that passage Jesus specified - angels in heaven. That is God's design for angels, but we know that some angels left their proper place.
Jude 1:6 He has kept, with eternal chains in darkness for the judgment of the great day, the angels who did not keep their own position but deserted their proper dwelling.
The proper place for angels in heaven is for them not to marry, but Jude tells us that some angels left their proper position and did something for which they were put in eternal chains in darkness for judgment.
"If the Sons of God were angels, then why was it that the punishment came on human beings? Floods kill people, not angels."
The answer is simple - man sinned too. The flood came to punish mankind for their own wickedness. But the angels were also punished - not with a flood, but with eternal chains in darkness until the Day of Judgment. That is the point the New Testament writers are making - showing us that neither the humans nor the angels escaped punishment.
2 Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others ... 9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.
In the time of Noah human beings sinned and angels sinned, and both were punished.
The Connection between Angelic and Human Sin
Now, here is a crucial key for understanding our passage here in 1 Peter 3. We need to understand that connection between the angelic sin and the human sin. It is not just that angels did something and got punished, and by sheer coincidence the human race also got into sin and was punished. The opening verses of Genesis 6 draw a definite connection between the sin of the angels and the resulting wickedness of mankind. Those angels corrupted the human race. The sin of mankind is not random. It is stimulated and instigated and then organized and orchestrated by demons. The spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms have a very organized system and are working toward large, world-wide, long-term objectives of evil. And they manipulate people to commit the sins needed to accomplish their goals.
Does that mean the people are innocent? We are responsible for all our own sin because it is always our choice to do it. But demons take advantage of the eager willingness of humans to sin, and push people into the various sins that accomplish their ends. I will give you a couple examples:
Daniel 10
In Daniel 9 the prophet Daniel had a rough day at work. He saw a vision that was so devastating it put him flat on his back for weeks. So Daniel cries out to God for help, pleading with God with prayer and petition and fasting in sackcloth and ashes (Dan.9:3). Then finally, after twenty-one days of silence from heaven, an awesome angel appears to Daniel.
Daniel 10:5 I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. 6 His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.
That is a powerful critter. This is a very scary individual. The sight of him was so terrifying it knocked Daniel out cold.
Then when Daniel finally comes to, here is what this mighty angel says:
12 "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.
And Daniel is thinking, "Wait a second - I started praying almost a month ago. And you were sent the very day I started? What took you so long to get here? Did you get stuck in traffic or what?"
The angel explains in verse 13.
13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days.
Who was the king of the Persian kingdom at that time? Back up to verse 1.
Daniel 10:1 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel...
Now, are we to think that Cyrus, a human being, somehow resisted this awesome angel for twenty-one days? No, this is obviously a spirit being - a very powerful spirit being. This angel, who had - a body like topaz and a face like lightning and - eyes like flaming torches and arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze - and a voice like the sound of a multitude, struggled and fought and wrestled and did all he could to get to Daniel, and could not get past this prince. The prince of Persia was not Cyrus - it was an incredibly powerful demon. So how did the angel finally get through?
13 ... Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.
The Archangel himself - Michael, had to come help. This angel was mighty, Michael is really mighty and Michael evidently makes short work of this demon, and the first angel finally brings Daniel the answer to his prayer.
It was commonly believed that behind the great human kings of the earth stood powerful evil spirits. And in Daniel 10 we see that belief is correct. In verse 1, the king of Persia is Cyrus, but the we find out the real ruler of Persia is a mighty demon. How does a man rise to such power to where he can conquer vast kingdoms? How does a man like Nebuchadnezzar or Cyrus or Alexander the Great or Nero or Hitler - how do these men manage to conquer nations? They have help. Powerful spirit beings are working behind the scenes to give them victories.
Another example is in Ezekiel 28. We won't take the time to read it now, but in that chapter the king of Tyre is rebuked - a guy by the name of Ithobal II. But as you move through the chapter you discover that behind the man Ithobal stood a former cherub, who used to be blameless and a model of holiness, but then fell. So some parts of the chapter refer just to the man, other parts just to the spirit, but most of the chapter applies to both the man and the spirit. Ithobal probably did not know it, but he was working in a partnership with a demon who used to be one of the cherubim. So both the man and the spirit were responsible before God for the sins, and both were punished. And when that demon was punished, that was the end of Ithobal's reign as well. When the demon goes down, the man also goes down.
So, at the time of the flood, when all of mankind became so wicked that every inclination of every thought was only evil all the time - the people deserved punishment for being so evil, but the fallen angels who instigated orchestrated all that evil also deserved punishment. So the humans were drowned, and the spirits were imprisoned.
Now, fast forward to the time of Jesus' resurrection. Those disobedient angels from Noah's time have been sitting there, chained up in horrible, pitch-dark gloom of this prison, for about 2300 years. And then Jesus rises from the dead, and then takes a journey to the jail, because He has something to say to those spirits.
Decent into Hell? No
Some people have used this passage to support the idea that that during the three days Jesus' body was in the tomb, His Spirit descended down into hell. For example, Joyce Meyer teaches that Jesus was tormented in hell for our sins during those three days and then was born again in hell, becoming the first born-again man. That doctrine is very popular in among the prosperity preachers (Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Fred Price, Charles Capps, Benny Hinn, etc.). I believe that doctrine is a heresy, because it denies the sufficiency of the cross. When Jesus died on the cross He said, "It is finished." He did not say, "It's almost finished - just three days of torment in hell left to go." Throughout the New Testament it is stated again and again that Jesus paid for our sins on the cross - never in hell. (And Jesus did not need to be born again because He was never spiritually dead.)
Other people has said, "Well, maybe He didn't go to hell to be punished for sin. He just went down there to proclaim His victory." The problem with that is the grammar strongly indicates that first Jesus was made alive and then went and preached. So the journey to the jail took place after the resurrection.
The word translated went in verse 19 is the exact same form of the exact same word translated has gone in verse 22.
22 who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand
I do not see any reason to make this two separate journeys. I think it all happened during Jesus' ascension in Acts 1. He ascended from the earth, went to wherever these spirits are imprisoned (Jewish tradition at the time held that they were in the second heaven - which is outer space), so Jesus ascends to the second heaven, proclaimed His victory to these sprits, clearly established His supremacy over them, and then from there continued on to the highest heaven and took His seat at God's throne.
What about during the three days in the tomb? Where did Jesus' spirit go during that time? We know exactly where He went. What did Jesus say to the thief on the cross?
Luke 23:43 This day you will be with Me in paradise
How long after His death did Jesus wait to go to paradise? He didn't. One second after that thief died he opened his eyes in heaven and said, "Wow! You weren't kidding! This really is paradise!" He was not standing around up there for three days looking at his watch saying, "Man, I thought He said He was going to meet me here." Jesus met the redeemed thief on the same day they died, as promised.
There Are Evil Spirits Behind our Human Opponents
Now, as you read through the end of 1 Peter 3 you might say, "OK Peter, this is all really very fascinating about all the angels and spirits and everything, but what does that have to do with our situation of being persecuted for righteousness?” We need to understand that our conflicts with people are not just conflicts with people. There are mighty, awesome, powerful, evil spirit beings behind the actions and words of the people who persecute us.
Ascended to Heaven: Jesus Reigns over All
21 ...It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand--with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
No Problem with Jesus' Enemies after the Resurrection
Have you noticed that after Jesus rises from the dead there is no hint of opposition from Satan? The evil one is all over Jesus during the forty days in the wilderness at the beginning, but no trace of him during the forty days after the resurrection. “Satan, if you are so powerful, why not block Jesus' passage to heaven? Where are you now?” The prince of darkness and all his demonic host could not summon the courage to so much as hiss at Jesus after He rose from the dead.
A Good thing for us
When Jesus told the Disciples in John14 that He was going away, they were very sad and scared and upset. But after the resurrection, when Jesus ascended into heaven in Acts 1, you do not see the Church lamenting His ascension. They loved the glorification of Christ.
When the high priest goes into the Holy of holies, the people are not sad that he is gone. They are glad he is in there on their behalf. And it is the same with our High Priest. Jesus is more benefit to us there, behind the curtain, than here. Sometimes I am distant from God, but the one who pleads my case before the Father is never distant from the Father. Sometimes my prayers seem to die outside the veil, but the one who entered behind that veil carries my prayers in to the Father.
God's Right Hand
22 who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand
God is infinitely greater than everything in His creation, correct? The distance between God and, say, a mosquito, is an infinite distance. What about the distance between God and a dog? Still infinite? (Yes!) How about the distance between God and the angels? (Infinite) What about the distance between God and the greatest created spirit beings in heaven - the seraphs or cherubs or whatever awesome, mighty creatures God has made in heaven? (Still infinite) What about between God and man? How much distance is there between God and humanity? Zero. The Man, Jesus Christ, is right there at the Father's right hand. He could not be nearer. Seated right next to God in the highest heaven, right at this moment, is a Man - a Human Being with a physical body - with ten fingers and ten toes - the God man, Jesus Christ.
A Place of Honor
The right hand of the king is the place of both unrivaled honor and supreme authority. It is the highest place there is.
Romans 1:4 ... he was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead
Jesus is now King of all kings. If the President of the United States said to Jesus, "How can you be the ruler over me? I have my office by the election of the people of the United States, and I was duly inaugurated," Jesus could answer, "I have my office as ruler over you by God's election and by virtue of my resurrection from the dead, and my installation at God's right hand. You are My subject; I am Your King." Jesus is King of all kings and rulers.
Angels, Authorities, and Powers
But the emphasis in this passage is not that Jesus is King of human kings, but that He is King of angels, authorities and powers. Who are they? Aren't all spirit beings angels? No. Angels are one group, authorities are another group, and powers are another group. And just as there are good angels and fallen angels, so there are most likely good and bad powers, and good and bad authorities. However most of the time when Scripture mentions the authorities and powers, it is referring to the bad ones. For example, Colossians 2:15 says that Jesus disarmed the authorities when He triumphed on the cross. And several times in the Old Testament Israel was punished for worshipping the heavenly host, and in the Greek translation they are called "the powers of the heavens."
So there are angels, authorities, and powers. And then there is a fourth group known as rulers.
Romans 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither the present nor the future, nor powers…
So there rulers are distinguished from angels. And Colossians 2:15 says Jesus also disarmed those rulers through His death. The rulers have a special connection in Scripture with the authorities - they are almost always mentioned together.
So there are angels, powers, authorities, and rulers. Then in Colossians 1:16 we see two more kinds of spirit beings.
Colossians 1:16 For by him all things were created: ... whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities
So we have angels, authorities, powers, rulers, dominions, and thrones. We also know that around God's throne are beings known as seraphs. And others called cherubs. Michael is called an archangel. You get the point - there are a lot of different kinds of spirit beings. And all these New Testament titles have connotations of authority and governance - thrones, rulers, dominions, authorities. Just like in the human world, there is a complex hierarchy of positions of authority. And if there are that many rulers, there have to be other spirit beings to be ruled. And the more powerful ones pose as gods. These are the beings that are worshipped in false religions.
Deuteronomy 32:16 They made him jealous with their foreign gods ...17 They sacrificed to demons, which are not God
It is the same way in the New Testament.
1 Corinthians 10:20 the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God
In our day, in our blind faith in naturalism, spiritual powers are dismissed as irrelevant or even nonexistent. But these beings are very real, very powerful and should be taken seriously. They should be taken seriously because they are powerful, and they have declared war on us. They are fighting hard to destroy us, and the main tool they use to do so is ... people. They tempt and deceive and manipulate and entice and whatever else they can do to get unbelievers to do things to harm us. So when you are mistreated because of righteousness by your boss or a kid at school or teacher or your kids or parents or husband or wife - there are spirits that are behind that. And it is the spirits we need to fight back against - not the people.
Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
We are constantly at war with these beings.
Satan Works through Demons
Sometimes people wonder, How can Satan always be the one responsible for every temptation? He is not omnipresent like God. He cannot be everywhere at once, and yet Scripture calls every one of us to beware of him (1 Pe.5:8), to resist him (Jas.4:7, Eph.4:27), and overcome him (1 Jn.2:13,14). And if someone gives in to temptation, or is deceived, that is always the devil's doing (1 Thes.3:5). If the Devil cannot be everywhere at once, then how can it be that if someone in China is being tempted right now, and you are being tempted right now, the Devil is the one tempting both of you? The answer is the Devil does what he does through His demons. When Satan sends a demon to do something, it is proper to say Satan did that thing, because he ordered it done. It is all masterminded by the Devil.
1 John 5:19 the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
And he exercises that control through his demons. And that control and influence is so pervasive that if you develop too close a relationship with an unbeliever you are actually yoked together with Satan (2 Cor.6:15). Every non-Christian is following Satan's ways and the Devil is at work in every single unbeliever's life (Eph.2:2) through his demons.
Satan is incredibly powerful. He is kept his throne throughout human history. That is amazing if you think about it. There has never been a time when 10,000 demons ganged up and overthrew him. And that never will happen – he is still in control when Jesus returns. Satan has all that power, and all those demons - some of whom are strong enough to overcome mighty angels like the one in Daniel 10, but all of them put together cannot so much as put a scratch on Jesus. Speaking of His ability to cast out demons, Jesus said,
Matthew 12:29 how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.
Satan is possibly the most powerful created being in existence, and yet Jesus bound that strong man without breaking a sweat, and plundered his house. But who can plunder Jesus' house? Who can bind Jesus? Not all the forces of evil all put together, if they all joined forces, and all the kings of the earth joined as well, and used all their nuclear weapons and everything else, could even so much as injure Jesus.
This is what Peter wants you to know. These people who are against you and who are mistreating you - the powers behind them are defeated powers. Greater is He who is in you than the ones empowering them. Your Dad can beat up their dad. Jesus reigns supreme over all who threaten you.
Hebrews 1:5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father"? Or again, "I will be his Father, and he will be my Son"? 6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him." 7 In speaking of the angels he says, "He makes his angels spirits, and his servants flames of fire." 8 But about the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
The Flood and Baptism: Jesus Saves Us from the World
We Are Outnumbered Like Noah
So what does that mean to us? Jesus reigns above all, but we are very often at the mercy of those who mistreat us. And they have us vastly outnumbered - which is also reminiscent of Noah's time. No one has ever been as outnumbered as Noah. He and his family are the only ones in all of human history who could literally say, "The whole world is against us." You think you have experienced rejection in your life? Or you have had some rough times in ministry? Noah preached to that generation the whole time he was building the ark, which was one hundred years. He preached one hundred years without one single convert! Talk about a discouraging ministry.
And if every inclination of every thought of every person was only evil all the time, how polite do you think they were to Noah? When you go somewhere where you find the absolute bottom of human depravity, how friendly are the people? There is no question in my mind that Noah and his family endured degrees of persecution that we cannot even dream of.
God was Patient
But God was patient with them.
20 ...when God waited patiently
God gave those people one hundred years to repent. Have you ever wondered why God did not just supply Noah with an ark? Why did Noah have to build it? If God can flood the entire world, surely He can create an ark. Why the one hundred years? Because that is how patient and merciful God is. Remember, God's mercy always goes before His wrath. It is a strong statement about God's patience.
Only a Minority
20 ...In it only a few people, eight in all, were delivered safely
A tiny, tiny minority were delivered. Everyone else drowned. Beware of thinking something is right because "everyone" believes it. There are some people who cannot stand against a large majority. They see the unified agreement of naturalistic, secular scientists about evolution or the age of the earth, and they hear the distain and mockery directed to anyone who takes the biblical account seriously, and they cannot stand against it. They are too intimidated. They think, "There's no way that many scientists can be wrong."
Do not ever fall into that kind of thinking. That many can be wrong - the whole world can be wrong. The godly have always been a tiny minority.
Saved Through Water
OK, so far so good, but now at the end verse 20, Peter says something very strange.
20 ...In it only a few people, eight in all, were delivered safely through water
The reason that is strange is because the word through means by means of. Noah's family was delivered by means of water. Why would Peter say that? Everyone knows that Noah was saved from the water. The ark saved Noah from the water, but what did the water save Noah from? – the evil, depraved, corrupted, demonic, hostile world. That cesspool of wickedness swallowed up every human being in the world, dragging every person right into the crosshairs of God's judgment; it had Noah and his family totally surrounded, outnumbered, outgunned, and what rescued Noah from all that? The flood. Noah and his family were rescued from the evil, hostile world by the floodwaters.
21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also
The wrath of God in the flood rescuing Noah and his family from the surrounding hostile culture symbolizes baptism. How? How is becoming a Christian similar to what happened with Noah? Well, what has Peter been talking about? The problem of mistreatment from an unbelieving, disobedient, hostile culture. Noah was delivered from that by a flood, how are we delivered from it? Through baptism.
21 ...not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.
Not something that happens with your body - something that happens with your conscience.
The pledge of a clear conscience toward God.
That word pledge was used of agreement to the terms of a contract. As we found last week - salvation involves a commitment to keeping a clear conscience toward God. Where there is no repentance from sin there is no salvation. But when we do repent of sin and entrust our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, then we are not only delivered from this fallen, depraved, condemned world, but we also share with Christ in His victory. And that is what the rest of this passage is about.
Conclusion: The Key to Victory
One writer conjectured that the reason Satan rebelled was because he heard that someday a man would rule over all the principalities and powers and angels. Not him, not Gabriel, not Michael - no seraph or cherub. A human being.
Hebrews 1:6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him."
Jesus commands all the angels. Do not forget that the next time you are calculating your resources. Next time you are trying to figure out whether you need to worry or be afraid of something, don't forget about the armies of heaven. Don't forget about the twelve legions of angels that Jesus said were waiting for His command at His trial.
Hebrews 1:14 Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?
When you get into trouble, the great Commander says the word and instantly the air around you will be teaming with these mighty warriors setting up a parameter around you. If He is supreme over the greatest beings in the creation, He is supreme over the lesser as well.
"But doesn't the Bible warn us to be on our guard against the Devil and demons? Aren't we told to engage in spiritual warfare, and warned that we could suffer terrible defeat if we don't fight the right way?" Absolutely. The protection Jesus offers is not automatic. We only get it if we engage in proper spiritual warfare. And that is not done through rebuking demons, or binding Satan, or casting demons out, or power encounters, or any of that. The Bible never tells us to do any of that. What does it tell us to do? What is the proper way to avoid being overcome and actually defeat these spirits? In the very next verse Peter tells us arm yourselves. Arm ourselves with what?
The full armor of God is listed in Ephesians 6, and the centerpiece of that armor is the breastplate of righteousness. You always gain victory over Satan and demons and persecutors through righteous living. That is Peter's point in that whole section on baptism - maintain a clear conscience before God and like Noah you will be saved from this wicked and depraved generation. Nothing can harm you if you keep a clear conscience before God.
But that is easier said than done, right? What is the secret to maintaining righteousness? How do we overcome sin? What weapon are we to use in that part of the battle? Peter tells us in the very next verse.
If you want to know what the weapon is and how to use it, come back next week. Next week we will plan on picking up right here where we left off, and we will talk about how to obtain and utilize this weapon in supernaturally powerful ways. And whatever you do – do not look at verse 1 on your own and spoil all the suspense. If you did that you might discover that this weapon involves a particular attitude about suffering, and if you discovered that, it would spoil the whole surprise, so just hold off, meet me back here next week, same time, same place, and we will dig in to chapter 4.
Benediction: Romans 8:33-39 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died-- more than that, who was raised to life-- is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1:25 Questions
1. Go through the list of items in the armor of God in Ephesians 6 and pick out two where you feel you are least equipped. What vulnerabilities do you face due to weakness in those areas, and what could you do to improve at putting on those parts of the armor? (For a full study of the armor see the sermon series on Ephesians 6)
