A New Life Of Reverence - Part 2

First, Peter 20 and 21. Does anyone, someone read 20 and 21 for us? I have this last two verses of this, I think it's the last two verses of a section that Roy began two weeks ago. I think it really starts, instead of verse 17, it really starts in verse 13 with what Roy covered first, even though I think it was, Roger, was it Macaulay who kind of came up with the outline? Yeah, right.

So, Peter is on this dissertation about the greatness of salvation and things I think it's yet future salvation yet future when these scattered believers in were they Galatia, Cappadocia they're up they're up north and they need they need guidance and they're going through trials and he's encouraging them in their situation but he's telling them about Christ and his salvation and what they can expect when Christ returns and things like that and just the wonderfulness of salvation.

That's why it's called, that's why Macaulay called it a new life of reverence there. That's what he's coined it as, this section. So let's begin with verse 20, for he was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but appeared, has appeared in these last times for the sake of you. So foreknown, we have to look at that. The content, the context that he's talking about, because he has a fore, right? And fore means He's giving a reason for something.

The context is Jesus Christ and he's just covered how precious Jesus' blood is in the previous verse. And the fact that they're redeemed by that precious blood. And you guys, do you want to review what you, because I heard it two weeks ago or last week with with Bob's class what precious what is meant by precious and you remember when you said see I listen to you guys so I know what you said so I have the answers but uh you said uh you were going through well gold is precious silver is precious diamonds and I think you got into the discussion about well you can break down gold and so you can burn off gold and so maybe it's not so precious after all things like that but what I didn't hear which how about this that it's rare how about rarity is a form of being precious right because there's only one Jesus Christ and he was a human being And he had blood.

How many pints of blood do we have? Ten pints? Twelve. Twelve, okay. So twelve pints. So the only really precious thing is contained in twelve pints. And we're talking about real blood. Christ's real blood. And that's precious. And I think he spilled it all that day on the cross. Even though, I think just a drop, just an ounce would have done it, but everything was super abounded and blood was spilled violently.

So the emphasis of that redemption, here in Peter, in the previous verse, is on the value of that price paid, isn't it? and it even goes and this is why I think that 13 begins a section with the fix your hope on the grace brought to you through the revelation of Jesus Christ that fixing of your hope because what we're going to find in verse 21 is a bookend fix your hope in verse 13 and then bookend by verse 21 and verse 21 goes back to hope you see that in verse 21 and raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God so there's a nice bookend there for hope let's look at foreknown prognosco a verb to know beforehand or before knowledge right the noun form of prognosco is and here's my only joke for today The noun form of prognosto is prognosis. And what English word is, do we give to prognosis?

Prognosis. No. And I say, not a trick question, right? It's a prognosis. Yeah. So I was like, whew, one English or one Greek word where the English translation is the same as English. So I caught a break, and I went up and got some more chips. I didn't have to look at that prognosis too hard, right? So prognosis.

To know beforehand. So what does a, and Bob, you can jump in here, please. But prognosis is a doctor knowing the course of a disease, right? Can look into the future and know exactly what's going to happen, because he's seen it before. and can work out a diagnosis and then a course of action, right? To heal a patient, would you say?

Yeah, I think that's close. I think with prognosis you're outlining the expected future based on the data that exists. Yeah. I don't like telling people they have so many months to live or weeks to live. You give them an idea of what the expectations are. Yeah. but it's not pinpoint. Right.

Prognosis is a general outcome. But you're putting, you're taking facts, you're using knowledge to, yeah, so that's what is meant here that Christ was foreknown before the foundation of the world. Prognosis. So some commentators, and see if you agree with them, warn against the the dangers of in the King James it has foreordained it says for he was foreordained before the foundation of the world but why would that be some commentators are very against that foreordained word why would that be do you think any any guesses I've had more time to sit up nights and because this confused me for many a time and then I think I've got what it is and that is you see how in verse 19 he's talking about salvation, right? and he's talking about the precious blood and the lamb slain from the foundation of the world so he's talking about salvation but then here in verse 20 he goes off on a little tangent And he's expounding on who Christ is. He was ordained before the foundation world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you, who are believers in God, and God raised him from the dead and gave him glory.

So your faith and hope are in God. So he takes a little tantrum, like sometimes Paul does. He's on a subject, and then he veers off, and he explains something, and he comes back. So I think our subject, and this is my interpretation, I didn't find anyone else who really explained this, but I think his subject is Christ himself in verse 20.

So my question was, can Christ himself be foreordained? In other words, can. Was he at one time not the Lamb of God, not Christ, not the Son of God, but God ordained him to be then the Son of God. And I said, no, that's not the case, because if that were the case, we'd all be Jehovah's Witnesses, right? That's what they believe, that Christ wasn't God, but God raised him up to be a God.

He ordained him. before the foundation of the world. So his person is not foreordained, but his, I think, yeah, my next point, I say his work is ordained through eternity past. So God saw that sin would come into the world, and then he made a plan for it. The efficacious blood is satisfaction for sin, is a foreordained thing.

And Romans 8.29 says that believers are foreordained and predestined. But the person of Christ himself, separate from anything else, is not foreordained.

He's foreknown. He already is God. Yeah, he already is God. He's in the substance of God. So that's why I think that foreordained is only in the King James and it's foreknown in the other texts. Oh, and I have that, what essential nature of God is tied to foreknown? What about his characteristics allow him to be foreknown by God? And that would be maybe his eternity, right?

He's eternal. He exists through time. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows the end from the beginning. So what is that? That's omniscience. Right, right. So I think it's the fact that he's infinite, eternal and omniscient there is how God foreknows him.

So Andrew, another place this is used I think is in Romans 8.29 where he talks about conforming us to his destined us to be conformed to his image. So it's kind of neat, we're tucked into this. Oh yeah, right, right. Yes. It all relates to Christ and what his task was.

So it's interesting, the parallel to Hebrews 1.11 Hebrews 1.11 God after He spoke long ago to the fathers and in the prophets in many portions and in many ways in these last days He has spoken to us through His Son whom He appointed heir of all things through whom also He made the world and He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power when he had made purification for sins and that's isn't that the efficacious blood of verse 19 there he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high having become as much better than the angels as he inherited a more excellent name than they and then I won't read it all but He goes, and you know the passage, for which of the angels did he ever say, you are my son, today I have begotten you, and I will be a father to him and he shall be a son to me. And when he again brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all the angels of God worship him. And then he goes on into the throne and the scepter. But look at verse 10 there, and I've highlighted it. You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth.

And isn't that very similar to what we're dealing with today? He was foreknown before the foundation of the world. So I just thought that that was an interesting parallel and ties in nicely especially how Hebrews 1 in verse 2 also talks about these last days. I don't know if this helps us or not but the foundation of the world of course is a term that we use in looking at the past. Before that foundation God in his foreknowledge knew that he would have to send God himself, his only beloved son, to take on flesh. That's new.

And it is that that he foreknew. He knew that he would have to do that to redeem us from the fallen nature that we have now, and his perfect nature is what was foreknown. Certainly God knew himself from eternity of eternities, but to foreknow something regarding flesh, that's special. He knew that He would have to send Himself in the form of a man.

Isn't that neat? That's new. That's one of a kind. And that's where we get the term Son of God. That He begat Himself in the form of man. We can't wrap our mind around how perfect He is. as a man, as still God. Yeah, the perfect man, the perfect sacrifice.

Yeah, but God knew that. Oh yeah, yeah. Before the foundation of the world, he knew he'd have to do that. Right. And see, you see, and I don't know if I made the point well, but that was We're not diminishing God when we say that. Right, that was all foreordained. And planned. Yes, and foreknown.

But the person, Christ in his essential essence was never... He never was created, but he created a son. Isn't that neat? He took upon himself human form. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world and this, Roy, this kind of gets to the point you were talking about. A lot of times in scripture you have versus going back to the foundation of the world, and then some, fewer, but some go before the foundation of the world. So what's his eternity? It's his deity, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So foundation is catabolic, and it's a throwing down or laying down, you can throw something down really fast. One commentator said, you know, He, to create the heavens and the earth, he spoke the words and it was just laid out, laid down very fast. And it was. So it's a founding or a laying of a foundation is what that word means.

And Job 38, does someone want to read Job 38 to 11, to verse 11, 1 through 11? If you haven't. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, and you instruct me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

Who sets its measurements, since you know? Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone? When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Or who enclosed the sea with doors when bursting forth it went out from the womb. When I made a cloud its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band. And I placed boundaries on it and set a bolt and doors. And I said, thus far shall you come, but no further. And here shall your proud waves stop. Thank you. Isn't that a beautiful way to describe a founding of something, a foundation?

I mean, look how much specifics he gets into, and I've highlighted that. He laid the foundation of the earth. He set its measurements. And I guess, Phil, when you lay a foundation, do you measure it first? Make sure the angles are 90 degrees. On what were its bases sunk? That gets into really specific. He's in engineering territory here, isn't he? Who laid its cornerstone?

So that's what that foundation, before the foundation of the world, that's the foundation of the world, but before that he was formed. about that section of Job is this, is that Job has just been advised by all his quote-unquote friends, and then what Job does is defend himself. So, I mean, even though this is Old Testament stuff, there's a principle of God here, in terms of us as believers, in terms of getting the world's view on things, and then defending ourselves from our earthly perspective, and God comes back and reminds Job what you're all about. And he's a little perturbed here, isn't he? Not that one, where am I here? Right, yeah, okay, here we are. So he comes out of the whirlwind and he says, yeah, who is it that darkens counsel by words without... so he's perturbed.

Oh, and then look what he says in verse 3. Roy, we recognized that from two weeks ago. Hey, gird up your loins, right? You know what that means? Like a man, and come on, let's spar here. So I was going to highlight that gird up your loins like a man, but then it would be confusing because it doesn't. But the passage of the Lord says, come let us reason together. Yeah. No, this is come let's fight. Let's fight this out, right? Challenge has been laid. Yeah, challenge has been laid. Okay.

But he has appeared in these last times for the sake of you. And appeared, the word appeared is phenerao. And it means a lot of things. You can make known, visible, make manifest. You can make something plainly recognized or thoroughly understood. And it can be, you can either manifest or make known, uncover a thing or a person or a concept, right? It can also be knowledge, knowledge that becomes thoroughly understood, that was hidden. And someone said that, Oh, I can't, I don't think I can describe that well. So I'll skip it, because that'll come out confusing. So I'll skip that. Note the word, the use of phanerao in verse 20, fulfills the want and the desire of the prophets in verse 10 through 12. Does anyone want to jump back and read 1, 10 through 12, if you have it?

At this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that not to themselves but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you. through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things which angels desire to look into. Therefore, gird up your mind, be sober and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Yeah, those prophets, so they were looking, they were getting this prophecy but they couldn't figure out, they couldn't meld together how the Messiah was going to be glorified and they were going to suffer and that didn't make sense.

They searched and searched and couldn't figure it out. But this phanerao, this appearing, this revealing, this manifestation of Christ himself answers all these questions. Don't we have all these answers here in the New Testament by Peter and Paul today? We know exactly what was, we have the full picture because we have Christ and he was here and he died and he rose again and he's resurrected and we know all those answers now so that's he has appeared and everything was laid plain now and that's Phoneral.

A period of these last times for the sake of you last times is Escaltus Chronos last times, of course, but you see that word eschatology in that word, that phrase. So I asked, what does it say about this letter of Peter and possibly the second letter of Peter too? And my take is that both of these books are eschatological in nature.

There, in a way, books on, because he talks about the melting of the elements and the returning of Jesus Christ, he gives warnings and admonitions about last day sobriety from verse 13 or so, was that, Roy? Or 14? Roy covered that two weeks ago. Be sober. to live morally, to pursue holiness, to become holy, as in Roy's class you learned.

And then when he started out the latter, he was talking about perseverance and trials. And then in 2 Peter, he'll really go into that. So it's my bias, but I think that these two books are very primarily eschatological. I mean that Christ physically returning to the earth and these believers up in northern Turkey dying and being resurrected and having eternal life in physical glorified bodies and hoping for that is what but that's what do you think that's my personal bias instead of Because we know at Holly Hills positional, conditional truths. We're very well versed on that. But I think that's all Paul's stuff. Paul is the positional, conditional man. Peter here is... he's just laying it out plain.

What do you think? And what about verse 10? What did the prophets prophesy for? I mean, they prophesied for... the grace that would come unto us. Yeah, and you have to unpack that grace, yeah, that word. I'm not discounting what you just said, but it's founded on God's grace, right? You do, yeah, if my bias is to, yeah.

Because think of it, Paul was writing to believers all over the place, and he was traveling. And just a couple of years before this, he wrote Colossians. And he lays things out logically, Paul does, in basically a Socratic method. And he proves things out. But Peter doesn't use that sort of logic. puts it out there really, really quickly, right? And he lays it down very quickly. Doesn't go through the logic, but gives you all this truth. Yeah. I've been wrestling with this for three weeks now.

Because it's present tense in verse 13, where it says, the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. If you notice that, it's translated in my version that I'm reading out of, to be brought to you. But in the Greek it says, is being brought. It's present tense.

It's not future. And so it is literally there that the things that the Old Testament prophets were looking for, the grace that is going to be revealed to them, is being revealed to them by the Holy Spirit. It is confirmed in John's statements of the Lord Jesus where he says I am going to leave and I'm going to ask the Holy Spirit to come and he'll bring to your mind all the things concerning me. He's going to take the things of me and give them to you. And that's present tense. That's in the time of Peter writing this letter to these folks that they have the Holy Spirit revealing Christ to them. That's what he says in the text.

Yeah. And I've been reading commentator after commentator that takes this as future. Yeah, well, and I'm glad you're bringing this up because I was, when you, when I was going through your lesson two weeks ago, I had my special pencil that is thin enough to, and I crossed out 2B and I put, you know, or brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, and I put, what did I put there? I can't even read it now. Oh, by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Like you, because you made an excellent point. So I did that, I crossed that out, and then I was thinking, and then I was like, wow. But where do we get divine? It's by the context. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not, God is revealing in the future, But it is now being revealed to you by Him.

Yeah, and I was like, Roy, oh he sunk my battleship because this is, this is what my lesson was going to be about. I found two commentators, if it helps you. I did find two who treated the passage honestly and literally said, should be translated is being revealed to you by the revelation of Jesus Christ. I did find two, and that was just this past week. Oh yeah, and you had that one preposition, right? That you can go with a lot of ways. Well, if you take that preposition and then read what you're reading here, that in verse, who verily was ordained before last times. That's the same idea. It's not the future, it's right now. Well right, yeah, because they were in the last times. They thought they were right then, right? Didn't Peter? Yeah. But isn't it, can it be yes and?

Well sure, but that's not what the text said. Right, yeah, but it's because it's There is a future for us after we're dead, right? And in heaven. That's yet to be revealed. Yeah. That's yet to be. Just like it's translated here. They translated it as if the whole emphasis is to be revealed. No, he's doing it now.

Right, yeah. And I wouldn't say I'm... I'm sort of... I totally agree with you. I think too it has a future feel to it. Can it be both? I don't know. Let's look at us right now in this room. People have a nature right now. But we have that nature right now. The new nature exists at this place.

And that's what he was pointing him to. He says, this is being revealed to you right now, Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit. Take strength from that in this persecution. Okay, I was hoping this, that would elicit... I'm sorry guys, but this is where I'm at in my thinking.

Right, right, yeah. No, I was hoping for that, because let's look at all, you know, let's, and it's a, it comes down to, really in this passage, some of the prepositions you choose. Yeah, and the tense, right? Right. Okay, so he was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last days for the sake of you, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your hope and faith are in God. We are believers in God, the Father through Christ, right? And here's the preposition again, dia. So, you have to choose what this dia means. Is it by the means of Christ? Are you believers in God? On account of Christ, are you believers in God? Or because, or for this reason, are you believers in God? The interlinear has the ones through Him believing in God. So it is... What would you say, Roy? I think by means of, and account of, and because, and for this... This is more of a because. Yeah, right. Than a means. It's because He exists, we exist. Yeah. It's that kind of parallelism there.

So you know what you can do is, in the New American Standard, cross out the sake of, I got kind of tied up on that word sake, for the sake of you. But if you just go, he's been revealed or appeared in these last times for you, it's much more clear. I got sort of tripped up and that's why I went through this and I said, wait, it's been easy all along, right? Look at how the interlinear reads there. Having been foreknown on the one hand, from the foundation of the world manifested on the other in the last times because of you in the interlinear it has this on the one hand he was foreknown before the foundation of the world on the other hand he's appeared in these last times because of you and that that got me I was confused for a long time about is it on the one hand he was foreknown and on the other hand manifested and I couldn't I couldn't square that out in my mind so and no one writes that in the English even though it's in the Greek that's on the one hand he is foreknown from the foundation of the world on the other hand he appeared these last times because of you and I think I have the answer and I'll jump to it On the one hand, it's time-wise, before the Foundation, and on the other hand, these last times, right?

Time-wise. So you guys are like... But see, it took me, like, three days to figure that out, so... You guys are way ahead of me. I think that eternity was going to be... Okay, Lord. Wow, that's great. Okay. Am I on this? We're on eight. We're on eight. Am I here? Okay, eight. Good, I'm glad you guys know where we are now. Who through him are believers in God, verse 21. Wait. Yes, we covered this, didn't we? Oh, but look at my verses. I'm in a time warp here. You see you see the verses that I've put out and slide eight I'm the door if anyone enters by me.

He will be saved John 10 9 Let not your heart be troubled believe in God believe also in me I'm the way the truth in the life. No one comes, but to the father except through me Believe in me Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.

So that's how we are, through Him, believers in God. And it's pretty clear, right? That through Christ, we are believers in God. He's the door that we enter through, yeah. Who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory. I just have the facts that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead.

Acts 3.15, and you killed the Prince of Life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are the witnesses.

Acts 4.10, let it be known to all of you, all the people of Israel, that by the name of Christ Jesus of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. And the facts that After he was risen from the dead, God gave him glory.

John 17, right? Glorify your son. Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son, that he may glorify you. And then verse 5. Now, Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory I had with you before the world was. John 17. So that, when Christ prays that prayer, because of Jesus Christ praying it, praying the prayer is as good as done, right? Even though He hasn't gone to the cross yet. But that, you're witnessing the fulfillment of that request, to be glorified together with God. Even though it's yet future, right? Because anything the Son prays, comes to fruition.

I have Colossians 3 we are raised up with Christ we are to keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God so there we have that the fact that he's risen and then in the last part of Colossians 3.3 we will be revealed with him in glory well what does that say if it were going to be revealed with him in glory, that means he's in the glory now, right? So that's how I just wanted to prove out the fact that he was raised from the dead and gave him glory. Okay, last part of this. So that your faith and hope are in God, so that it's based on the facts, and we outlined the facts from Roy's class two weeks ago, that Christ is risen from the dead he's been given glory he's appeared to us he's foreknown before the foundation of the world another fact we are redeemed by his precious blood shed by that death fact he was revealed to us by revelation verse 13 fact and this revelation was given by prophets at one time in the past which is a fact and angels longed to look into these things, verse 12.

So based on these facts presented, I'm reading what I wrote here. Based on this, your faith and hope, the expectancy of future things, and confidence in the future, we are resting upon we are rested, all rested upon or dependent upon God, His very self. And that's that phrase, in God. So all these things, all these facts, are seeded in who, you see what I'm saying? They're seeded in who and what God is. All the facts of who and what God is.

And I put down Hebrews 1.11.

Now faith is the Now, this is from the Interlinear, so it's hard to read. Now is faith of things being hoped for the reality of things, the proof not being seen? So in English, it's faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, right? That word reality is substance, hupostasis, so it's the reality of the things of God. And it's interesting that word faith in the interlinear has a definite article in front of it.

So I think that the facts of all who God is and all what has God done are what's being talked about in this verse. These things are independent of us and they're in God. And we believe those based on the fact that they are real, they're total reality.

I'm trying to summarize the kind of the booklet that my dad put out that is pretty good. It's kind of hard to in just a few minutes, but there it is. All the things that he is, his essence, are all reality. It's all substance and KUPA sauces. So clear. Maybe not. I could go on about that, but we're out of time. I had another slide, but I think I'll stop there. We're done.

Any anyone who want to close this up. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for our time today, Lord. Thank you for the blessings we have in our Savior. Thank you for your wonderful word. We pray that we listen carefully. Thank you for our time. In Christ's name, Amen.