Consequences Of The Suffering Of Christ - Part 2

So, today, I thought last week was difficult, but this week may be even more so. The neat thing about teaching is you learn so much, and the Lord's ability to work through the Word that He's given us is so wonderful as we experience this together this morning.

So we're now turning to Part 2 of 1 Peter 3, 18-22, the consequences of Christ's suffering And ultimately they applied in times gone by and also to each and every one of us day in and day out. So I thought what we'd do is begin with the verses we covered last week first and then take on verse 20, perhaps one of the most challenging ones we have to deal with today. And we're going to look at the New King James first, and then I'm going to turn again to the inner linear Greek to follow in terms of verse 20.

So, for Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient when, once is omitted in most verses, when the divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water." And I'll read now the Interlunar Greek, a little clumsy in terms of its unique use of word order, but, "...to disobeying once, then waited of God long-suffering to days of Noah, being prepared on Ark in which a few, this is eight souls, was quite saved by water.

Interesting, quite saved, we'll come back to that. So whatever, whoever these spirits are, remember last week we used the Greek term pneuma, which only under one circumstance applies to the human spirit, These are presumably fallen angels and I think almost every commentator you look at aligns these fallen spirits to fall, I mean these spirits who are in prison to fallen angels. They're in prison and these were the disobedient, disobeying ones or the disobedient ones. So, Weiss, this is interesting now, so bear with me as we go through this, and I must admit I saw a few new things here that I'd never really appreciated before, but we'll see whether you think they're true, and I need your input here.

Weiss says the sin of these angels was committed just previous to the flood. I don't think there's much disagreement there in terms of the timing of these events, because, you know, eight were saved during this time period. We can turn to 2 Peter 2, verses 4 and 5. For God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell. And by the way, remember the best interpretation of this prison is in fact Hades. Okay, let's go on. And delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment.

It did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly. That's a powerful couple of verses, isn't it, that relates to what we're studying today. Wow. And it'll be interesting when we get to 2 Peter turning back to this and reflecting back to the first epistle and see how it fits similarly or differently in the epistle, the second epistle that Peter gives us.

And then in Jude 6, and the angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation, he hath reserved an everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." So presumably this prison or hell itself is an eternal lasting place for these fallen angels who in fact are in chains under darkness currently and historically.

Now what disobeying or sin was this? Anybody have any idea what this was? They're disobeying ones, it could have been many. Could this Bob go back to where a third of the angels rebelled and went with Satan? Okay, that's fine, but that was their choice, that was a free choice, was it not? It was. Okay, so do you think this was something that occurred in heavenly places only? Or could this have occurred on the earth?

I think the context here says it occurred during the days of Noah. Alright, good Roy, that's a good lead into where we're going here. So, what Lise points out and gives us page after page of support for this is that the idea of these fallen angels had fornication with women on the earth before the ark and that's strongly suggested by scripture and supportive references. Let's go back to Genesis. Genesis chapter 6, one through four, and it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born unto them that the sons of God, let me pause there, the sons of God exclusively refers to fallen angels.

They saw the daughters of men that they were fair and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he is also flesh, yet his days shall be 120 years. And there were giants in the earth in those days. And also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, really implying fornication, and they bear children to them, the same became mighty men which are of old men of renown."

So the concept here, if I'm going to paraphrase this, is that these fallen angels had the capability of reproducing with earthly women, we'll come back to that in a second, and in that capacity gave rise to these giants that were described well in Genesis that have never since been seen on earthly soil. Let's go ahead with that theme now.

Job 1.6 said, Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them. So, Roger, back to your point, I think this is where that relationship to Satan was probably immediate in times of the bonding of Satan with these fallen angels to leave heavenly thrones and be cast down to earthly spheres. Let me continue the Wiest commentary here, and I've kind of shortened it to some extent in this section.

The principal objection to the view that the fallen angels committed fornication with evil women, by the way, evil women, I think ultimately got to imply this in the days of Noah, remember only eight were saved, okay? So this committed fornication with evil women of the human race was the expected type of woman, is that an angel is altogether spiritual and immaterial and that such a thing is therefore impossible. And he goes on, after much other language, to say, the large physical proportions, the superhuman strength, and evil dispositions of the offspring of the union between fallen angels and evil women, the giants, men of renown of Genesis 6, 5, we do not read that verse, would be accounted for by a power thus imparted by the former.

And who are the former? It's the fallen angels. That's what Wyss brings across again in multiple pages of description and citing some scripture in addition to support this. But the question often comes up, can angels procreate, in other words, reproduce?

And the concept is these are spiritual beings and have no such capacity. But let me raise another possibility. By the way, they could have. I mean, we don't know historically whether they could have at that time. But also to be considered is that the human body can be possessed by demons who have spiritual intelligence like, but not of the same category as angels. And we see examples of that about demons indwelling human souls, the human spirit, in the Gospel account where in fact, you know, Christ was asked to cast out demons. Now, the question is, is demon possession still possible today? I don't want to go there. But anyway, let's further this to say, whatever, that's a great term we use today, whatever, the waters that saved eight souls by the ark would have destroyed this unintended race.

What are your thoughts about all that? Depending on there's so many opinions about you have the hardest verse probably in the Bible. That's what Roger does at the end. Yeah. I think I was a good Pedro. I was just going to say that there's more commentary on these verses than any other portion of the Bible. Yeah.

And I think that's misgiven, don't you, Roy? I mean, we're trying to understand every word in scripture in terms of exactly its meaning and implications, but nevertheless, go ahead, Andrew, I don't think you were done. Oh, but, um, so before I was of the opinion that it's just men who were alive during the time of the Ark that Noah preached to, just regular men, uh, and kind of was going with the commentators who were not, uh, going into the angelic realm with, uh, this new race.

But now I'm like, uh, now I'm, you know, you're It's it's hard to deny what you're the line you're taking here, especially with that second Peter to four through five stuff. It's it's really compelling. So now I don't know. It's good stuff. So, Andrew, I'm not sure why, but you're kind of interrupting there. I don't know whether that's on our end or yours, but anyway. Oh, it's probably my end. Yeah. Other thoughts about this? So let's read 2 Peter 2, 4 and 5 again.

For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into the chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment, and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one out of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly.

I think one thing that makes me kind of like this to some extent, whether these were the angels that procreated, or whether they indwelled the human male species, and ultimately that's who procreated, I don't know. But nevertheless, the idea, and I like this last point, this unintended race of giants in the world has never been seen since. I mean, so the flood has taken care of this and to think that the male species or man himself could procreate and give rise to giants in the absence of some satanic influence to me seems far-fetched. I thought you might want to, the verse actually says that the Nephilim were in the earth in those days. and after and when the children of Israel went up to the promised land that's what they found was the Nephilim, the giants and of course we have the account of David killing one who had five brothers that were giants and the implication is that God told Israel to kill them, women, children, animals, everything, to eliminate, just like the flood, that impurity. So it wasn't something that ended with the flood apparently. Apparently there was like 40 some odd years Satan had to do it again. I'd say Satan, it's the fallen angels here that are in you, I believe, that took part in this procreation of giants. The mighty men did not repeat but certainly there were giants that did repeat. But do we know that they're the same giants?

Oh no, we do not. I'm just giving you what the text of scripture says, that there were Nephilim, fallen ones, that were mighty men, and they existed then as well as after them. That's what the text said. All right, let's go ahead and go on then. We could spend the rest of the morning on this.

When once the long-suffering of God waited, it's an imperfect indicative, He must have waited a long time. We don't know exactly how long, but obviously when He gave Noah the command to build the ark, there was a lot of waiting going on. What kind of long-suffering of the Lord was this? So, I mean, it could have been, you know, centuries, actually, as all the events of the early Old Testament existed. Is this the same kind of longsuffering He gives to all of us today?

I would think God's longsuffering doesn't differ over eternity. And here we can turn to 2 Peter again, turning to the next epistle, 315, and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him as written to you. So in other words, you know, again, we're seeing Paul and Peter kind of aspiring the same kind of message to hear specifically related to the Lord's long suffering. And as you recall, I think from the very beginning of our study of the first epistle of Peter, I pointed out what was special to me personally was the fact that I thought I knew Peter pretty well in the gospel account. And now I'm looking at a different man who espouses truth in a very new and special way. And so just to point out that Peter and Paul, and Peter actually gives credit to Paul in terms of this long-suffering nature of the Lord here.

And this also occurred in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared. And what motivated Noah to build an ark? And I'm not going to go back and look at Genesis 6, 14 through 22, but that's where the details are. What motivated Noah to build an ark? The instruction of the Lord. Okay, but how did Noah respond?

He believed God. Yeah, by faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. By faith. And remember, define faith.

Believing what God has revealed, right? I mean, I go to Hebrews 11, want to reread that, and it's it's a it's a nice verse, but I think believing what God has revealed has been true from from Adam all the way to us today. Do we believe what God has revealed and and Noah did by faith?

Why were just eight souls saved? And by the way, saved is passive. It wasn't on their own account. Their faith led them to build the Ark. And why were just eight souls saved through the water? He's interested in families, you could say, maybe. There was more contact with Noah and with God through the family than would be otherwise. Okay, God had a purpose, okay. He was not polluted in his generation. Okay.

And by the way, what's the term saved mean here? If you look at the literal interpretation, it's to be brought safely. This is not salvation as we experience in the New Testament. This is the saved meanings being saved from the flood. They were brought safely through or by the water or from the water, however you want to have it read. Why was Peter espousing all of this now, do you think? Who's he writing to? Again, people that were suffering.

Okay, good. And a balance of Jews and Gentiles, and Roy, you've said previously, I think you feel that The Jew was the predominant recipient of his epistle. I'm okay with that. We had pretty good evidence up front that the Gentile was also being reached, the Gentile believer. Of course, these are people of the faith.

Well, this must have had important meaning to those to whom he was speaking and writing and to us in the trials we face today. So, Royce hit the nail on the head like he so often does. I mean, the trials that these people were going through, kind of reflects back on early times and the trial that Noah actually was asked to experience because of the flood for the ungodly, to destroy the ungodly. I like what Darby said here. Now, this is what the Jews had to learn.

The Christ was gone up to heaven and all the powers and principalities being made subject to him. He's at the right hand of God. And we have therefore not a Messiah on earth. but a good conscience and a heavenly Christ. Alright, that leads us... Just an observation, Bob.

I was a little puzzled by it being the water rather than the ark. It is the focus of the words of the Holy Spirit here. The water was the vehicle God used to destroy as well as to carry through those He wanted to survive. So his judgment using water saved eight and destroyed many. Interesting, I didn't pass him.

Well the water then is going to have additional implications and I'm going to be covering that a little bit as we get into the next verse. Yeah, it sort of sheds light on baptism, doesn't it? And that's really the topic of the next verse. Roy, you're reading ahead again. Oh, I'm sorry. Just teasing. Everybody's pretty quiet this morning. Is this too profound? Or do you think I'm off in the bleachers someplace or something? All right, let's go on to verse 21.

The light figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us. parenthesis, not putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God. That's why I put Darby in there, and it leads us into this good conscience towards God. And that occurs all by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So verse 20 indicates that the water brought them safely ashore. I mean, Roy, you've led into this beautifully.

Why does Peter extend this as a light figure to baptism? Isn't it that baptism is a picture? You know, the struggle with verse 21 is that it's saving people, right? Yeah, we're going to get to that, Roger. That's right. That's a struggle and I think we're going to indicate that that's not what baptism is, okay?

But isn't baptism maybe a picture? Well, we know it's an indication. We do it after we're saved to give a picture of what actually happened to us. about our identification with Christ? Why the term figure? It's a thing formed after some pattern. So it's kind of like a resemblance. It's a metaphor, if you will, that's formed from some pattern.

So that relates to baptism. So baptism is kind of being used as a figure of the ark and the water that was surrounding it that ultimately led them to a safe landing. What kind of baptism is this? Do you think Peter's referring to only water baptism or something more?

And effectively, you've kind of answered that already. Somebody comment? Roger? I had a thought. Okay. He said he was saved by faith. You know, it was his faith that brought him through. And then he went through the metaphor, if you will, of being in the ark and on the water. Much like the baptism that we would have would be not what saves us, but what demonstrates that we already had faith. All right. I like that. Okay. So I think we've already addressed the fact that likely this isn't that water baptism saved. I'm going to turn to another type of baptism and we're going to discuss this a bit more in detail now. Know you not, I love verses three and four in Romans six.

Know you not that so many of us as we're baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, the outcome is, even so, we also should walk in newness of life. If anybody read The Hungry Heart today, I mean, it kind of drills down on this very issue in terms of our life is hit above. I mean, we could spend just months talking about our life as believers here in terms of the source of that life, being the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I think, you know, it's really interesting because when you think of us being baptized into death, that baptism is not only for our sins being forgiven as so carefully and effectively occurred at Calvary, but ultimately that the sin nature was buried also. So keep in mind, he hath made him who knew no sin to be made righteousness, made us to be righteous in him.

So, I mean, 2 Corinthians 5.21 speaks very nicely to this.

Doesn't this without any doubt put away the filth of the flesh? in exchange for a good conscience towards God. I mean, it really reflects on this verse what baptism really relates to. Now, that baptism was not what Noah experienced, of course. This needed the cross to fulfill its purpose. But nevertheless, I mean, it saves us now. Peter's addressing us now, putting away the filth of the flesh.

And this is not water baptism. So, Roger, back to your point earlier, does water baptism save, and if not, what does it indicate? Roger, you want to tell us again? The reason we have a water baptism service is to indicate, first of all, that we've come to faith in Jesus Christ. Water baptism is not saving us, but it's a public declaration of what has happened to us.

But you bring up the point, which I like, that spiritual baptism actually may fit better here than water baptism. And think about how the mainline churches, or perhaps even those that are a little bit gone astray, think infant baptism saves, right? How many people here were baptized as an infant?

I was. I mean, it didn't do a whole lot for me, I'll tell you. Who's laughing? I was laughing there, too. I'm going to see you later this morning, Roger. I'm going to take you on. I think we're all laughing, Bob. Yeah, that's good. Laughing internally, anyway.

But isn't it shameful to think that people are carrying their infant up to the altar and having some priest put water on their head and saying, you know, now you have an eternal presence? Anyway, it just is another one of those figments of people's imagination.

Anyway, 1 Corinthians 1 17 speaks of this, for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, right? I mean, in other words, he's not going for water baptism, but he's going to preach the gospel and not with the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. I mean, in a sense, you could almost tie baptizing with making the cross of Christ be of none effect. I mean, Paul went to preach the gospel, and that's where true baptism actually arises.

I love Acts 10.47. I rarely go to the New Living Translation, but I went there here because I think it says it best. Can anyone object to their being baptized now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?

I mean, you could look at other versions of Acts 10.47, but doesn't that say, can anyone object to their being baptized and now that they've received the Holy Spirit just as we did?

Or doesn't that say a lot? Well, Bob, it's the right connection. If you make the connection erroneously that baptism is going to give you some standing with God, water baptism of itself, then you've gone down the wrong path. And many people are. Many people say, well, I've got this covered. I've been baptized, even as adults. And so they don't go any farther. They just, well, I'm good. And how tragic. You know, what I found in Lightning II was to, you know, this is something that I think many of us have believed that I did too, but it's nice to find verses like this that really do document the importance of baptism as evidence of who you now are.

So, you know, before I was unsaved, now I'm saved. I want to let you know about this as we're baptized either with water or submersion or however else it occurs. But this is a public expression of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. And you don't need to be water baptized to get into heavenly places if you're a saved individual.

This is outward evidence of an inward change. That's what it means. Answer or a piratama is a craving or an intense desire. Let's go back to the verse a second. This like figure where in turn even baptism death also now save us is the answer of a good conscience towards God. Okay, back to answer. And here, this is the only New Testament use of this word, which doesn't mean it has any spatial interpretation, but it just kind of, nobody else asks an answer using this word in the New Testament.

But as we emphasized last week, notice again the importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So here, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Remember last week we put at the end of the lesson some emphasis on the relevance and incredible importance of Christ's resurrection. Without his resurrection my faith is dead. It's worthless.

So Peter goes back and re-emphasizes the importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So as we go forward, Jason, Fawcett, and Brown, I often look at and I like a lot of what they share. And I thought this was really an incredibly nice summary of this section of scripture.

The flood was for Noah a baptism, as the passage through the Red Sea was for the Israelites. And by baptism in the flood, he and his family were transferred from the old world to the new. from immediate destruction to lengthen probation. Probation, good term here, in terms of the timing the Lord utilized to get everyone to the cross. From the companionship of the wicked to communion with God, from the severing of all bonds between the creature and the creator, to the privileges of the covenant. So we, by spiritual baptism. And that spiritual baptism is not by water, but by word. Okay, let's go on to the last verse of this section.

It says, who is gone, meaning the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he is gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. Why do you think Peter states his heavenly position? Why is Peter bringing up in this part of scripture to the suffering members of the body at the time of this epistle's writing, why does he state the heavenly position of the Lord Jesus Christ? I'm certainly waiting for somebody else to answer, but the thing that hit me here was that he was emphasizing that the suffering that Christ exhibited brought reward of authority over all in the heavenly powers and it's in the parallelism of believers' suffering being rewarded in eternity in a similar way because we're identified with Him so we share His glory. Well, right, right. I think, again, it relates to the similarity in the growth that Peter has experienced to be more Pauline-like in terms of this incredible positioning the believer at the right hand of God. Right.

You know, it's not what we do for God that brings us credibility before him. It's what he does through us. And Noah is a great example of responding by faith to build an ark that took him 100 years to do. I mean, this is an incredible act of faith on his behalf. And our act of faith is also these trials and circumstances we're going through requires our position in heavenly places with our Lord and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And by the spirit that life we now live is carried out by his authority and his power being made subject unto us. Well, I have a thought on that. Okay, yeah. And that's, you know, when you're talking about suffering and trials, it's important to remember who's in control. And, you know, the Lord is in control, and He has all power. And it gives us a different perspective, doesn't it, when we take that position and have faith in that position. Amen. All right, of interest. Go ahead, I'm sorry. Oh, it just, I think also, if I'm not breaking up, he's putting these believers' focus right on Christ above in heaven, putting the focus there too, to get through the suffering. Absolutely. Absolutely.

And, you know, I think, Andrew, you know, I'm going to be Paul-like for a second, but it's not a matter or actually it's your dad-like or Miles-like, you know, keep looking down, you know, this idea of looking up for his great mercy and grace to be expended unto us.

When we begin in our heavenly position, it puts this earthly shame into perspective and it's for our growth. So to end this very critical passage of scripture, which again we've commented on has more commentaries than you can shake a stick at, ultimately it's our heavenly position wherein victory really comes. Of interest, who is gone is passive tense. What do you make of that? Let's go back to the previous page.

Speaking of Christ, who is gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to Him. Who is gone? Did Christ raise Himself from the dead? Was He resurrected on His own? Did He have the power to do that in His new heavenly body? The fact that it's passive means this is God's eternal purpose to raise Him from the dead. And this... Right. Alright. He was rejected from this earth too. No place here anymore, right? Except beneath each and every one of us.

Hebrews 6.20, whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And I always have a little trouble with this, after the order of Melchizedek, I think just relates to his eternity. And we could talk, you know, for a long time whether Melchizedek was, nevermind, I'm not going to go there.

So Hebrews 12.2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy, I love this verse, for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shaman. What happened then?

He sat down the right hand of the throne of God. So this heavenly position is incredibly well described and Paul has a lot of verses we could also turn to in terms of all eternal blessings given to each and every one of us in heavenly places by The Lord Jesus at the right hand.

And I think just to bring it to current days in which we're experiencing now, this is an important reminder during these COVID-19 days, isn't it? God knows about this pandemic quite well. And the question is, how long is he going to allow the human race to suffer because of this? And keep in mind the world system has a very different view of this than we do as believers.

Angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. Do you think that this in part relates to the fallen angels from verse 19? And by the way, Roger, we're going to end in the next few minutes, so no worries. That's good, Bob. I appreciate your being on time. So I think it does relate a little bit to the fallen angels. I mean, now God is in a position where the Lord Jesus Christ has rejoined him in heavenly places, and the fallen angels have been put to their place. in chains for eternity. Yeah.

Just a thought on that, that the angels and principalities and powers in heaven and positions, apparently Lucifer goes to heaven periodically and reports to God along with the other angels that have not fallen and he will fail the knee as well. All principalities and powers will bow the knee to Him. Doesn't mean that they will believe and trust in Him, but they will acknowledge Him as the one and only God. Just a thought there that even in unbelief for salvation a person can acknowledge who God really is. Okay.

And I go ahead and re-emphasize that point in Ephesians 1.21, who's far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. So again, a position of not only oversight, but incredible power. And think about this and how we relate to it. I'm going to turn to Romans 8, 38 and 39, verses we hear often at celebrations of life when people have gone home to be with the Lord.

For I'm persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. and I'm going to end with Amen. That's good. Amen with you Bob. Amen.

All right, let's close in prayer. Father, we're thankful for this section of Scripture, and although the interpretation is difficult, the times we're not quite certain about how the times of Noah and before him and the flood relate to us today, we do see what Peter writes in terms of the comfort we have in the resurrected Jesus Christ in the time of trials and tribulations. We're thankful for Scripture, we're thankful for the leading of the Holy Spirit, and we're thankful for The fact that we've been saved, we're being saved, and we'll eternally be in your presence based on your great love for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.